Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Meet the Fed’s New Bully

Posted on by Adrienne Gonzalez

bully.jpgEditor’s Note: Want more JDA? You can see all of her posts for GC here, her blog here and stalk her on Twitter.
There’s a new regulator in town and if his recent comments are to be taken seriously, he’s not kidding around.
The Fed gets plenty of face time these days as the regulatory face of the financial crisis, leaving the SEC, PCAOB and auditors limping behind. Unlike federal regulators, the Fed has a unique muscle due to its dual role as central bank and supervisor and Fed governor Daniel Tarullo would like you know that he is not afraid to flex it.
That’s great, but Tarullo might be getting a tad ahead of himself. I believe one former Fed official called him an “egotist”.


In recent months, Tarullo has been fairly quiet since he was installed at the Board of Governors in January of this year but he seems intent on speaking out lately, positioning himself as an early hero of commercial real estate and a regulatory force to be reckoned with. He even kicked off his week with a thorough Wall Street Journal rub:

The rise of Daniel Tarullo, a lawyer with a longstanding interest in bank regulation appointed to the Federal Reserve Board by President Barack Obama, is a sign the era of light-touch bank regulation is over.
New guidelines on bankers’ pay proposed by the Fed last week reflect Mr. Tarullo’s influence. He is shaking up the Fed’s 2,858-person army of bank supervisors, weighing in on issues ranging from the way regulators deal with troubled commercial real estate loans to the rules that will govern global banking for years to come.

Oh please, how ominous.
Regulatory rewrites might not be the first thing on his to-do list as newbie Fed governor, Tarullo’s first big takedown may be the Atlanta Fed.
As Tarullo came in, Atlanta Fed’s head of banking supervision went out, with the Board in Washington dispatching a few Board goons to keep an eye on Atlanta’s supervision department until they find a new sucker to head things up over there. With 20 Georgia bank failures for 2009 (out of 106), you can see why Daddy in DC might be worried about what Atlanta is (or isn’t) doing.
Tarullo appears to be positioning himself as a bad ass regulator ready for war and I wouldn’t take that threat lightly if I were Atlanta Fed, especially since they already know what it feels like to be on his shit list.

Related Posts

>75: Procrastination

Procrastinate.jpgEditor’s note: This is the latest edition of >75, our weekly post on questions that you have related to the CPA Exam. Send your questions to tips@goingconcern.com and we’ll do our best to answer as many of them as possible. You can see all of the JDA’s posts for GC here and all our posts related to the CPA Exam here.
First of all, I have to give it to all of you little future CPAs of America, you REALLY know how to put things off until the last minute, don’t you?
I’m going to let you in on a tiny little secret: the exam never goes away.
Let me paint an “imaginary” scenario where CPA Review classes are starting in less than 48 hours. Classes have been on hold for over two months and suddenly, within this 48 hour period, there is a rush of panicked CPA exam candidates realizing they’ve got less than a day left to figure out a plan. Anyone else see what’s wrong with this picture?
I’m not talking about a handful of people, I’m talking about a significant chunk of you. You know who you are and you know exactly what I’m talking about.


So what is it? Do you believe that the exam will pass itself? Or if you put it off long enough somehow you’ll wake up one day a CPA? I hate to break it to you but that’s really moronic.
There are students in our classes that are 50-some years old. Think about that. They graduated 30 years ago and are STILL putting this stupid ass exam off. So don’t think you’re some hero of procrastination just because you let 18 months go by and started losing exam scores, you aren’t special.
The bottom line is this: it is all about what you want to do with your life. Do you really want to be a CPA? Then you’ll suck it up and finish. Don’t do it because your parents want it or your girlfriend wants it or it’s your grandma’s dying wish. You are only setting yourself up for a life of half-assed failure, misery, and disappointment.
Which is kind of like what you’re setting yourself up for with a CPA and a career in public accounting except + tchotchkes. Win* (I think).
Point is, stop. In the time it takes for you to come up with 1000 excuses, you could have already booked your exam and gotten through at least 150 MCQ. Yes, it sucks but guess what? You picked it. You can make it worse on yourself and be that 50 year old guy in the back of our Live class or you can just get through it and stop bitching.
/end rant. Do it.
*I’m obligated to say that because of my day job

How To Get “Monitoring The Conversation” Right

Being an incendiary, I’m used to getting unfollowed, ignored and even blocked (yes @mark_to_market blocked me, Lord knows who else, I stopped caring at 2000) and I’m definitely used to seeing the rats scatter across my stats every time I mention [insert firm or company name here] so it’s obvious to me from my various online interactions that some communications departments are keeping an eye on the conversation.

Since we’re all interested in the accounting side of things, I have to say that I notice more “official-looking” Twitter activity from firms based outside of the US (generally Big 4 coming from the UK or Canada) that leads me to believe most of them are at least keeping an eye on the Google alerts. PwC had the large pair to follow me once, very early on, and probably unfollowed when I started ripping on them for bumbling Satyam. Anyway, someone has to watch what’s being said and a company (or organization) can only choose to engage or not engage.

Engaging, of course, comes in several forms but to vaguely pin down what “engage” means, I’d define it as any activity that alerts others they are listening and/or give a shit.


For Comcast, they swarm Twitter responding to complaints about their crappy service, extortion boxes, and complicated remotes. Not all companies choose to take that route, nor should they be expected to. Protecting or guarding your brand means figuring out how much “engaging” is appropriate as any more or less than is appropriate for your particular organization’s needs will come off as fake, lame or just forced. And no one wants to interact with that.

For Dave and Buster’s, I give them credit for totally engaging me by following me. I’ve been publicly ripping on them for at least a week but I’m not doing it just to be mean, I’d really really like to know what went down with E&Y (welcome to your new gig, KPMG). I’ve never actually been in a D&B and any inquisitive tweets on my part were not returned but so far they haven’t sued me so I guess I’m doing well on that front.

Some agencies choose to completely ignore some of the more “questionable” interaction that isn’t exactly a pissed off customer. They’re already trained to handle that (any social media idiot can teach you how to talk to customers who talk about you in a list of 3 items or more) but they aren’t likely prepared for a fake accounting firm to ask them if newly-single D&B would want to try them out as auditors.

I don’t expect Dave & Buster’s to answer or acknowledge that but following me shows that they are at least aware I’m trying to egg them on and aren’t afraid of my bitch ass. Unlike the fake accounting firm, I’m a voice out there spreading whatever I know about [insert company] to a huge audience. They can’t send me 10,000 free tickets to shut my trap and I’m not exactly making a complaint they can resolve so what can they do? Keep an eye on me?

I admire that tactic. And may leave them alone… I’m more likely to do so if I get a tweet about what happened with E&Y but won’t be holding my breath for that particular @.

A Thanksgiving Reminder from >75

turkey.jpgEditor’s note: Welcome to latest edition of >75, our weekly post on questions that you have related to the CPA Exam. Send your questions to tips@goingconcern.com and we’ll do our best to answer as many of them as possible. You can see all of the JDA’s posts for GC here and all our posts related to the CPA Exam here.
For CPA exam candidates, the final few weeks of the year can be a time of extreme pressure and/or procrastination. I won’t name names and bust any of our CPA Review students out (you know who you are) but I can tick off at least 25 people taking the exam today and next Monday, trying to squeeze in one last part before the New Year.
So how exactly is one supposed to show up for an exam the Monday after Turkey Day before the tryptophan coma has worn off?


• Plan better next time: This is a terrible time of year to be sitting for the exam but unfortunately it’s also the busiest. More candidates cram into the final testing window of the year than any other window so if you’re testing in the 4th quarter next year, keep that in mind when you’re scheduling your exams. Schedule early and don’t get stuck testing the week after Thanksgiving.
• Prioritize: Do you really need to hit your parents house, your in-laws’ house and your best friend’s grandma’s house for Thanksgiving? If you’re really serious about preparing through the weekend (which you should have already been doing weeks before this), cut dinner short, stick to one holiday meal and spend your Black Friday studying instead of getting trampled in the Wal-mart parking lot. It’s better for your brain and better for your wallet.
• You might have to have a chat with friends and family: If you’re trying to get a section in right when 2010’s first window opens up, you will be doing some studying through the December holidays and your absence might cause just a little bit of resentment. If you’re serious about getting the exam over with, sit down with loved ones and let them know that you need their support, not their shit. They have no idea what you are going through unless you tell them to back off and give you the time you need to study. And if that doesn’t work, coal for everyone in their stockings.
• My final point is this: it goes without saying that the holidays can be a stressful time for everyone and we all know what sort of stress taking the CPA exam causes. Mixing these two can be a dangerous cocktail of end-of-the-year misery if you don’t stay focused and plan your time accordingly. And look at it this way, you might get out of having to wear an ugly sweater or two.