Go out of your way to communicate to your top performers that you value their work and want to keep them. A few years ago, we reviewed research from one of the world’s leading accounting firms. They conducted interviews with top performers who were leaving the firm. What did they discover? Over half of the best people who left had no idea that the company thought they were important or even that the company wanted them to keep working there! They did not leave because they wanted more money; they just wanted to know that the company cared about them.
43-year-old David Ibels, missing KPMG Australia partner
A KPMG spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia that some of his colleagues are taking part in the search.’We are in close contact with and are providing support for his family during this difficult time of uncertainty,’ they said.
‘Many of our people are participating in the police search.
‘We are all hopeful that David is located shortly and is safe and well, and we especially send our thoughts to his family.’
Over the past three years, Mr Ibels was a key figure in the development of KPMG Australia’s $800million Brisbane headquarters at Heritage Lanes, in the city’s CBD.
The building, developed by property giant Mirvac, is powered by renewable electricity and has net zero carbon emissions.
Just one month ago, Mr Ibels was proudly posting about the achievement on LinkedIn.
A controversial author and professor is scheduled to give a talk to Deloitters across the pond on Halloween and people aren’t happy. The Telegraph:
Deloitte staff have expressed concern after the company invited a professor who described Winston Churchill as a white supremacist to give a talk about identity to employees.
Professor Kehinde Andrews, whose latest book is entitled The Psychosis of Whiteness, is set to give a talk to Deloitte staff on 31 October about “identity and authenticity and black excellence” as a part of a series of lectures the City consultancy firm hosted for black history month.
Mr Andrews, a professor of Black Studies at Birmingham City University, described Winston Churchill as the “perfect embodiment of white supremacy” and the British Empire as “far worse than the Nazis” at an event in Cambridge in 2021. In the same year, discussing Queen Elizabeth II, he said on Good Morning Britain: “The Queen is probably the number one symbol of white supremacy in the entire world.”
A Deloitte source told The Telegraph: “My colleagues and I find Deloitte’s association with Andrews, a prolific anti-white race activist, highly concerning and uncomfortable.”
“He recently published a book called ‘The Psychosis of Whiteness’, in which he implies that whiteness, and therefore white people, are mentally ill by nature.”
“His views are unpleasant and divisive, and he should not be anywhere near an important British company like Deloitte.”
Reaction to the Telegraph article:
If Telegraph writers engaged Kehinde Andrews’ work in good faith they’d learn a lot from him. May even agree with some of his thoughts and critiques. In not engaging with his work yet expressing fury and demanding his ‘cancellation’, they prove KA’s assertions to be accurate. https://t.co/5X9oTf7r6c
Meanwhile, global accounting firm Deloitte posted a LinkedIn message, signed by the leaders of its Israeli business, expressing “support for our fellow citizens on the home front and those on the front lines”. Dozens of employees from elsewhere in the region sought to disassociate themselves. Mutasem Dajani, chief executive of Deloitte Middle East, then condemned “needless human suffering” and highlighted support of humanitarian efforts for Palestinians.
Some commentators stressed that companies needed to be consistent — if they have made a statement on Ukraine, they should do so for Israel and Palestine, for example.
[DEI vet Bo Young] Lee disagrees. “The unfortunate thing about our world now is that something is happening every single day. This idea of consistency is fundamentally flawed . . . a company would be making a statement every single day. Make a statement when it impacts your business, you have something to say about it and you can have a meaningful impact.”
A member unit of the global network of multinational professional services firm Ernst and Young (EY) has opened a new office in the Philippines, expanding its footprint here with a second branch located in Cebu City.
Global Delivery Services (EY-GDS) said the opening of its Cebu center last Oct. 11 represented a significant scaling up of operations in the Philippines, starting with 25 individuals in 2015 and which has since grown to over 5,000 this year.
“The Philippines is a vital component of our growth strategy, and we are delighted to broaden our footprint in the country by building teams (of) extraordinary talents in and around Cebu,” EY-GDS global operations leader Mukul Pachisia said in a statement.
The live feed was suspended mid-broadcast due to the fact that the Lotto Plus 1 draw machine began selecting balls earlier than the sequence should have started.
The operator said that the recording of the draw continued but the live TV broadcast was halted as a result. In a statement, the National Lottery that the issue did not affect the integrity of the draw.
“The National Lottery would like to inform its players that there was a minor technical issue with tonight’s Lotto draw. However, there is no issue with either the integrity of the draw or the numbers drawn,” the statement reads.
As is standard procedure, when a technical event occurs, the recording of the draw continues but the live tv broadcast is halted.
“This is in order to protect the integrity of the draw and is in line with our approved game rules and processes, all of which are and were independently observed by KPMG.”
PwC Australia’s Kristin Stubbins, who has had to say “I’m sorry” nonstop since she became acting CEO in May, is leaving the firm. No one can blame her.
Ms Stubbins held the acting CEO position for three months, and in that time she had to repeatedly apologise for the scandal, move on a number of partners, commission reports into what went wrong and organise the fire sale of the firm’s public sector consulting arm.
In June, it was announced that she would be replaced by UK partner Kevin Burrowes, who was parachuted into the CEO role after PwC global took effective control of the local firm in response to the scandal.
Ms Stubbins will leave at the end of January. She is the firm’s most senior auditor, a former managing partner of its all-important assurance division and the signing partner of the flagship Macquarie Bank audit.
Marco Perez, who used to be accounting manager at a storage and modular space company and read other people’s emails as a fun hobby, is pleading guilty to SEC charges of insider trading. Current article from Pasadena Now, September 27 SEC complaint.
He also performed assignments for the company’s chairman, including printing out the chairman’s emails.
As a result, Perez had access to material information belonging to General Finance, including offers to buy the company, before the information was released to the investing public, the DOJ said.
In violation of his fiduciary duties to General Finance and its shareholders, and in violation of company policy against insider trading, in March and April of 2021, Perez purchased a total of 66,585 shares of General Finance stock that he was later able to sell for a total of $1.26 million, according to prosecutors.
Perez purchased the General Finance stock after reading confidential emails sent to the company’s chairman in early 2021 that concerned the pending sale of General Finance for a price in the range of $19 to $20 per share. Perez paid prices between $10 and $12 for the 66,585 shares he bought, the DOJ stated.
Gibson Dunn covers the following topics in their Q3 update for accounting firms. Swing on over to peruse the PDF if any of them are of interest.
PCAOB Staff Report Finds 40 Percent of Audits Have Part I.A Deficiencies
SEC Chief Accountant Issues Statements on Crypto Assurance Work and Risk Assessment
Second Circuit Decertifies Investor Class in Long-Running Dispute
UK Supreme Court Strikes Down Litigation Funding
NYSE and Nasdaq Listing Standards on Clawbacks Take Effect
New York DFS Proposes Second Amendment to Cybersecurity Regulation
California Broadens Restrictions on Employee Non-Competes
California Passes Legislation Establishing Climate-Related Reporting Requirements
Alright that’s enough of that. Be well and give me a shout if you see anything interesting (“interesting” is open to interpretation given our niche, feel free to take generous liberties with the definition).
GOP Balks at Taxes to Finance Jobs Plan [WSJ]
Mr. Obama proposed limiting itemized deductions for families with taxable income of $250,000 or more a year, ending tax breaks for oil companies and corporate jet owners, and cutting out a tax break for investment-fund managers. The White House says the tax changes would take effect in 2013 and estimates they would raise $467 billion in additional revenue over 10 years. Republicans in Congress, who had been striking a more conciliatory tone about backing at least parts of the proposal the president unveiled last Thursday, disputed the White House conten ould cause no additional job losses for the struggling economy.
How to Raise Revenue Without Violating the Tax Pledge [Economix/NYT]
With Republican control of the House of Representatives and enough Republicans in the Senate to filibuster to death any measure deemed by Mr. Norquist to violate the sacred pledge, spending cuts appear to be the only permissible means of reducing the deficit. There are, however, ways of cutting spending by raising revenue. While this sounds like magic, it is done all the time.
Payroll-Tax Cut Is the Working Part of Jobs Plan [Bloomberg]
In contemplating another stimulus package, we should restrict ourselves to interventions that carry the biggest benefit relative to cost. That’s why the president is right to emphasize payroll tax cuts, which get money into the hands of ordinary Americans, and have little potential for public waste. They also create stronger incentives for people to work and for companies to hire. The downside is that lower payroll taxes hurt our long-term fiscal situation, but there is an easy remedy for that. We can create a quid pro quo in which lower payroll taxes are paid for with an offsetting increase in the age at which people can start drawing Social Security. If the age increase occurs many years from now, the reduction in the payroll tax can be budget neutral and wouldn’t hurt the current economy.
Ernst & Young Acquires TPC Tax Risk Practice [AT]
Ernst & Young has acquired the Tax Risk & Process Reengineering Practice of True Partners Consulting, a firm based in Chicago. E&Y also acquired the intellectual property related to the practice as part of the deal. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The acquisition will enable E&Y to expand its team and capabilities for helping corporate tax clients, especially in the Midwest, deal with globalization, regulation and other challenges.
Mandatory Auditor Rotation — The Financial Times Stumbles Onto the Carousel [Re:Balance]
Round and round it goes.
NYSE Euronext Bulks Up In Market for Receivables [WSJ]
NYSE Euronext plans to boost its role in helping companies secure short-term funding, hiring a longtime GE Capital executive as part of an initiative that includes buying a stake in an electronic market for corporate receivables. The parent of the Big Board aims to use its investment in the New Orleans-based Receivables Exchange as another venue for public companies to borrow money, complementing the long-term funding provided via stock-market listings at a time when businesses face financing difficulties.
Obama May Limit Tax Breaks on Muni Bonds [Bloomberg]
The president’s $447 billion job-creation plan would pare the tax break for municipal-bond interest to 28 percent for couples earning more than $250,000 a year. Such tax-exempt interest is currently worth 35 percent for earners in the top tax bracket because that’s the amount they would otherwise have to pay on their income. Any move to limit the tax advantage for municipal securities would face resistance from local-government officials because the break bolsters demand for their debt, driving down the interest rates they pay when borrowing for public works. Investors in the $2.9 trillion market for municipal bonds are willing to accept lower returns because the income isn’t taxed.
