Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Monday Morning Accounting News Brief: A Billionaire KPMG Alum; EY Split Stalled (Again); NSA Accountants | 11.14.22

a woman waking up with her cute dog

Good morning and happy Monday! Here’s some news:

The EY split vote has been delayed, says FT: The main stumbling block in setting dates for ballots is finalizing the so-called global framework agreement, the legal document covering details of how assets, liabilities and people will be split between the businesses. Deloitte has been awarded a $199,600 contract to work on a public transportation system plan for the Cayman Islands. PwC Deals Director Orla Fisher, who switched from Audit to Deals in 2007, tries to explain what she does for a living: “Deals is essentially helping people to buy and sell companies. We guide them through the process, and ensure that as much potential value is gained as possible, and equally that they don’t lose any value in the process either.” You’re probably going to hear a lot about FTX in coming weeks, for now former and current auditors Armanino and Prager Metis face scrutiny over FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s bankrupt crypto empire (CoinDesk also joined us in ripping on the Prager Metis metaverse space). A recent agreement between Washington and China allowing U.S. accounting regulators to inspect China-based audits is raising questions about the role of unregistered auditors in the Chinese gambling enclave of Macau, where several U.S.-listed casino businesses operate. Here’s a profile of KPMG alum slash billionaire Bill Stone and the good stuff he does for the people of his Indiana hometown. Danny Werfel has been picked to replace Chuck Rettig at the IRS. A previously undisclosed government-ordered audit of Twitter Inc.’s privacy and data controls performed by EY missed failures later exposed by a whistleblower.

The NSA talks about what its accountants do on International Accounting Day:

Todd and the Financial Reporting team relay important financial information to NSA’s overseers and others.

“We issue financial statements and reports to the Department of Defense, Treasury, Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Office of Management and Budget, and Congress. We adhere to strict reporting deadlines on a monthly, quarterly, and annual basis,” said Todd. The annual Agency Financial Report is their biggest deliverable: “It contains information on the Agency’s performance, financial results, and the top management and performance challenges as identified by the Office of the Inspector General, and takes nearly a full year to produce.”

“The role of the accountants is to ensure that Agency internal controls are designed properly and working effectively, the core financial system is processing transactions timely and accurately, and the financial reports are accurate and reliable,” said Todd.

In other words, an accountant’s role here at NSA isn’t for the faint of heart, and in case you couldn’t tell, it’s crucial and much more involved than just counting numbers.

“The goal is for the Agency to receive a clean audit report from the external auditors, which will demonstrate to our overseers that the Agency is being a good steward for the appropriations and resources entrusted to us,” explained Todd.

A student ready to pick a major asks r/accounting about work-life balance. It goes about as well as you’d expect:

Related:

Speaking of Reddit, a clip of this 2019 talk with NYU Stern prof Scott Galloway was posted the other day, the entire video is worth a watch.

A few things we’re working on this week:

  • Starting to put together year-end “best of” lists, oh joy
  • We may have another report on Alliantgroup
  • I keep meaning to write about “gas station weed,” you can make an educated guess as to why I keep forgetting to do it
  • Got a test tip for all you high-strung, Type A CPA exam candidates out there
  • Going to try very hard not to mention the accountant shortage this week, let’s see if I can do it

The way these posts lined up in our Twitter feed this morning:

a Twitter screenshot

That’s it for now, hope your thirst for accounting news has been sufficiently sated. If not, there’s always our newsletter. Thanks for reading and give me a shout if you see anything interesting out there this week. Be good, y’all.