On Sunday, The Emmys will be handed out to several cast and crew of Mad Men and a few other people. In order to give these proceedings some legitimacy, Ernst & Young partner Andy Sale (and possibly a few others) counts these votes and certify the results.
The L.A. Times published a Q&A with Sale today since the big day is nearly here and we took the liberty of bringing you the highlights.
For starters, Andy understands that the MSM could really get two shits about accountants except when there are audit failures or celebrities involved:
How cool is it to walk on the red carpet?
It’s one of those things where for at least one day a year, being an accountant is something the press wants to shine a light on.
He also doesn’t appreciate the LAT’s presumption that being an accountant is boring:
Is it the one day of the year it’s fun to be an accountant?
I think it’s fun to be an accountant every day.
Cool fact: if one of the presenters is Mel Gibson-drunk and just blurts out a name that is completely wrong, Andy must sprint on stage give the presenter a roundhouse uppercut and state unequivocally who correct winner is. Fortunately, that has happened…yet:
Has anyone ever screwed up reading a winner?
Part of our role is to ensure the appropriate name is read onstage. If a name was omitted or read inappropriately, we would be duty-bound to go onstage and correct it. It’s never happened. We hope to continue that streak.
The security around these events has to be tight and Sale and the team have to keep things creative when hiding the results. That means the results could be anywhere – a vault, his underwear drawer, Jon Hamm’s pants:
Let’s talk security. After you’ve finished counting the votes, where do they go?
Where they are secured and how they are secured changes every year. It can be in a vault. It can be under a pillow. We have multiple sets of envelopes and those multiple sets of envelopes arrive at the Nokia Theatre by different means. For security reasons, I can’t divulge those specific means. They’re delivered by a means both conventional and unconventional, and that’s all I’ll say on that.
And as glamorous as this gig is, it still not getting Andy as much action as he would like:
Do you get groupies out of this?
I can’t say I’ve seen a lot in the way of groupies.
Andy Sale is counting on Emmy Awards [Los Angeles Times]
This country sucks! THE GOVERNMENT NEEDS TO ALL GO ROT IN A PRISON HOLE! Horrible monsters!
Leave and go to a country that prohibits freedom. We don’t need that attitude in America.
Only corporations have freedom, the rest of us are too poor for choices.
I thought that there was a shortage of accountants/CPAs? Just a joke – moving it all to India! I feel sorry for those going into accounting for a career.
2030 prediction, < 100 US employees…
If someone hates America, they should leave. Go to a third world country for a few weeks and see if you still hate America.
It sucks for 130 people but it’s not even a drop in the bucket for the greatness of America. America is great again!
130 people is a drop in the bucket. The bigger issue is that this is a secular trend in that the headcount will slowly be chipped down to bare bones.
My question is…how do partners still make a yuge amount of money? When I think about skillsets and trends, and technology, how are they not being disrupted?
I know some principals at the Big Four and at second tier firms. For infosec work these “experts” are charged out at $350 an hour to produce powerpoints and reports, but 95% of these experts have never run a backup, never designed a network, never encountered a single security incident, and never run a scan.
How are they staying employed, but even more importantly, WHY ARE COMPANIES PAYING these massive fees for someone who is an accounting firm lifer, and has zero information security experience??
I can tell you that some companies are getting wiser and they are not paying for crap skills.
Not to mention the sheer volume of work being sent overseas. Their plan now is to train new hires to supervise work that they themselves haven’t performed with the firms claiming this is due to AI rather than admitting it’s because nearly entire teams are operating out of India.
How can they continue to justify Big 4 prices? Name recognition and “prestige” can only get them so far.
Clients and potential clients are waking up, B4 bottom lines have been struggling for a couple years now and it’ll only get worse if they keep up the way they have which they will because they don’t know any other way.