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Have You Considered Working For the FDIC?

Adrienne Gonzalez
July 22, 2011

We talk a lot about the Big 4 and even crappy IRS jobs but we here on Going Concern tend to avoid a very lucrative corner of accounting work: government.

Specifically, I’m talking about the FDIC. Peep this job post (and if you can decode its requirements, you’re probably hired) and tell me if it sounds like something you’d like to shoot for:

Financial Institution Specialists participate in the assessment of financial institutions to determine:

* safe and sound practices, violations of law and regulation
* the adequacy of internal controls and procedures
* the general character of management
* compliance with consumer protection, fair lending and civil rights laws and regulations, and the Community Reinvestment Act

To carry out these responsibilities, Financial Institution Specialists:

* review, monitor and provide analysis of information pertaining to resolutions, settlements, pro-forma preparation, information package preparation, and deposit insurance claims.
* write comments and analyses for inclusion in reports and meet with insured depository institution officials to discuss the findings of an examination and, if necessary, any corrective programs.

Think about it… you get to roll into a bank on a Friday with the rest of the FDIC task force, take over a bank and spend the rest of the night counting your loot. Sounds awesome!

If you are in Atlanta, Boston, New York, Chicago, Dallas/Memphis, Kansas City, San Francisco or Washington, DC, now’s your chance to get in on this hot bank failure action.

To qualify, you must be a federal level grade 7. Here’s all you have to do for that:

A college graduate with a Bachelor’s degree and without previous experience can expect to start in the GS 5 grade, unless they meet the criteria for Superior Academic Achievement or finished a year of graduate school, but did not receive a degree, in which case they will start at the GS-7 level. A college graduate with a Master’s typically starts in the GS-9 grade. More information about the amount of qualifying education for each pay grade and what constitutes Superior Academic Achievement can be found at: http://www.opm.gov/qualifications/SEC-II/s2-e5.asp.

Now the important part… the money. I know that’s all you pricks care about, and/or the only reason you don’t mow down a bunch of people on the freeway with an AK-47 on your way to your cube:

The top four steps of a pay grade are higher paying than the bottom steps of the next highest grade. For example, step 10 in GS-7 pays $44,176/year, step 1 in GS-8 pays $37,631/year.

You can follow the link for specific cost of living numbers based on the area.

Now, as far as I am aware, Big 4 new hires in the San Francisco area get offered $50 – $55,000… generally speaking. In comparison, this gig doesn’t look as good on the surface. But think about it… you’ll have work for life. And benefits that you might want when you’re 50 (I know, that’s a long way off).

If the government makes it to you turning 50, that is. Think about it.

CPA Exam

Let’s Try to Talk This Soon-to-Be CPA Exam Candidate Off the Ledge

Adrienne Gonzalez
July 22, 2011

I’m no longer surprised by the fact that otherwise (allegedly) rational human beings think it is appropriate to ask a bunch of assholes on the Internet what they should do with their lives. No offense to any of you but I’d hardly bet my life’s decisions on the input I get from a bunch of Internet trolls hiding in cubes around the country making dick jokes amongst themselves.

That said, I’m hoping you guys have some good input for this guy. And by good, I think you know what I actually mean.

Dear GC,

I’m a B4 intern graduating in May 2012. Unfortunately, I won’t have 150 credits by that time, but I’ll hopefully have a full time offer from the firm. While this doesn’t seem like an uncommon problem, I feel like I’m between a rock and aof hefty Master’s programs’ tuition rates and the intensity of CPA studying. Therefore, I have the following dilemma…

I could take the CPA right after graduation (to become NY certified) and take a one-semester Master’s program in the Fall. I’d have the whole summer to study and pass the CPA, but I’d be paying $15K for the Master’s and delaying my start time (and future promotions/bonuses) to January 2013. I want to start making money sooner rather than later to pay off my mounting college debts.

The other option is finishing off my last 12-15 credits at a local community college (far cheaper obviously) immediately following graduation. I could then study for the exam either during or after the extra courses. I would be able to start (I think) around October and avoid the massive MAcc tuition. However, I don’t think I’d have enough time to study and pass before beginning full time work, and I’ve heard the longer into your B4 career, the harder it is to find time to study and pass the first time.

I have a tough decision to make and enough time to become more well-informed. People have been telling me it’s all about preference, but I don’t think that’s a good enough answer. There are strong pros and cons in both, but I’m worried my mind will continue to stagnate as it gets closer to decision time. Do you have prior-experience-related advice that will lead me in the right direction? Thanks in advance.

Sincerely,
TooYoungForThis

Where do we start with this? First of all, you’ve a) already fallen into the debt trap and b) totally fallen for the myth that you’ve got to get a MAcc to get anywhere in this industry. You’re tripping. Nowhere in the NY exam requirements does it state that you have to take on more debt and another degree to be a CPA in the state:

A bachelor’s or higher degree from a program that is registered by the Department as meeting New York’s 150 semester hour education requirements; or a Masters degree in accounting from an AACSB accredited accounting program; or a bachelors or higher degree from a regionally accredited college or university and completion of 150 semester hours in the following content areas, including the following:

* 33 semester hours in accounting with at least one course in each of the following areas:
• financial accounting and reporting
• cost or managerial accounting
• taxation
• auditing and attestation services
* 36 semester hours in general business electives and
* The curriculum must also include, either as stand alone courses or integrated into other courses, the study of business or accounting communications, ethics and professional responsibility, and accounting research.

(Acceptable course work is detailed further in the 150 semester hour course content table.)

As for the rest of it, anyone who has taken any of the routes you mentioned will probably have some advice for you related to their experience but please keep in mind that it is just that: their experience. Your own will be based on a lot of factors, such as the actual level of debt you are willing to sustain, your motivation to get a CPA/MAcc/awesome Big 4 job, your skills and how committed you are to any of the decisions you make. So that’s probably why you’re getting really vague answers on this from others.

What’s this about your mind stagnating? Knock it off, take responsibility for whichever path you desire to take (not which path the Internet or your parents told you to take) and take that path like a motherfucker. It sounds to me like you’re not all that into any of these options, and that’s probably the biggest cause of your inability to make a decision right there.

Do you want a MAcc? Do you want to get through the exam in less than a year? Do you want to take Advanced Accounting from some musty community college teacher? No one can answer those questions for you. You’re a grown up now and obviously NOT too young for this if you managed to get this far, so grow up and decide already.

You are doing the right thing by reaching out but what I mean to say with all this yelling at you is that, ultimately, the decision is yours. I would always advise you to avoid as much debt as possible at this stage in your life; you are already assuming you are going to have to slave away to pay it off, why would you want more unless you either absolutely have to or truly desire a MAcc? It doesn’t sound to me like you do. So don’t.

Accounting News Roundup: Grover in the Times; Democrats Evoke Reagan; FASB Stalls on Lease Accounting | 07.22.11

Caleb Newquist
July 22, 2011

Read My Lips: No New Taxes [NYT]
Grover Norquist gets a spot on The New York Times Op-Ed page.

Obama and Boehner Advance Toward Deal to Cut Deficit [WSJ]
Until now, Republicans have shot down every proposal that involved higher taxes. But Democrats could be the major obstacle to this package because they worry that upfront spending cuts would be ironclad while any tax increases would be subject to later agreement. With prospects of a government default looming in early August, leaders on both sides denied Thursdaose. But the White House provided an outline of the deal to Democratic congressional leaders, aides said.

Democrats Recall Reagan’s Tax Increases [Bloomberg]
Reagan, renowned by Republicans as a tax-cutter, also increased revenue about a dozen times when confronted with surging deficits. The Treasury Department has estimated those measures would be the equivalent of $300 billion annually today — more than what many Democrats are now seeking as part of a deal to raise the U.S. debt ceiling. That often-forgotten history has some lawmakers trading places, with Democrats hailing the former Republican president as an example for today’s budget negotiators.

Four More Credit Suisse Bankers Charged in Tax Case [WSJ]
U.S. prosecutors on Thursday charged Credit Suisse Group’s former top offshore banking executive in North America and three other senior bankers with defrauding the U.S. government, increasing pressure on the Swiss bank over U.S. customers’ secret accounts that the officials say were used to evade taxes. The charges add senior-level executives to an indictment filed in February against lower-level bankers who were charged with conspiring to defraud the U.S. by opening and maintaining thousands of offshore accounts for wealthy Americans with as much as $3 billion in hidden assets.

Congress Plans Oversight Hearing on IRS Tax Preparer Regulation [AT]
The House Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee plans to hold a hearing next Thursday on the Internal Revenue Service’s recent efforts to step up regulation of tax return preparers. “This hearing is a continuation of the Subcommittee’s oversight of the IRS and the alarming rates of tax noncompliance,” Charles W. Boustany Jr., R-La., who chairs the subcommittee, said in announcing the hearing Thursday. “With so many Americans relying on paid professionals to prepare their returns, it is critical that we better understand what the IRS is doing and what impact the new regulations will have on taxpayers, paid tax return preparers, and tax compliance.”

PKF and BDO in hot water over China fraud [Reuters]
The fourth time was the charm for shareholders suing the auditors of Shenzhen-based China Expert Technology. China Expert shareholders have been trying unsuccessfully to sue the company’s accounting firms for failing to detect an alleged $132 million fraud. U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein in New York has previously dismissed the suit three times, saying the shareholders’ claims were inadequate.

Florida Rep. Rivera faces federal probe over casino contract [MH]
Agents with the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service have begun interviewing witnesses knowledgeable about a $1 million consulting contract between Flagler Dog Track — now known as Magic City Casino — and Millennium Marketing, a company co-owned by Rivera’s 70-year-old mother and her business partner, according to sources familiar with the investigation.

Ex-NASA agent pleads guilty in church theft case [AP]
A former NASA special agent pleaded guilty Thursday to failing to report nearly $300,000 he stole from his Southern California church on his tax forms. Alvin Danielle Allen, 42, of Lancaster admitted before U.S. District Judge George H. King that he filed fraudulent tax returns from 2004 to 2008. He faces up to three years in federal prison when he is sentenced Nov. 7.

Accounting Cops Delay New Rule on Leases [WSJ]
The Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board said they will reintroduce a revised lease-accounting proposal for public comment later this year, with changes from their original proposal last year.

‘Nerdy’ accountant ready to lead healthcare merger [Reuters]
For a self-described nerdy accountant who shuns attention, Express Scripts Inc (ESRX.O) chief George Paz just thrust himself into the limelight. With his $29.1 billion planned purchase of rival Medco Health Solutions Inc (MHS.N), Paz would run the clear leader in managing prescription drug benefits for millions of Americans.

IRS Whistleblower Office Issues Annual Report [TaxProf]
It was a banner year!

News

Pondering Bank of America’s Balance Sheet

Caleb Newquist
July 22, 2011

As far as the market is concerned, more than half of the company’s book value is bogus, due to overstated assets, understated liabilities, or some combination of the two. [Jonathan Weil/Bloomberg]

News

Are Accountants Planking at Work?

Caleb Newquist
July 22, 2011

If you’ve been paying attention, you’re familiar with the lamest Internet meme since last year’s bros icing bros – planking.

Planking is a “game” that involves people laying face down in normal to not-so-normal places and then having a friend take their picture while the planking is occurring. It’s been going on for a couple of months now but right out of the gate it was abundantly clear that planking was STUPID. Not stupid in the sense that “you can die while doing it” stupid but more so, “you and your friends are idiots” stupid. Despite this, people are “crazed” with it because, obviously, they are losers. And maybe racist.

ANYWAY, I bring this up A) it’s a fairly slow news day and B) a friend of a friend of GC emailed us the following query:

This is kind of a random idea but when watching this video, http://youtu.be/vQNTN8Z8AJY, I was wondering if accountants are planking at work, especially at Big 4/Big Regional firms like on copiers, partners’ desks, etc and have captured them in a video or in pictures. Even though I think the concept is kind of lame, I think about doing it every day including planking inside of one of the partner’s convertible which he leaves the top down all day. I would love to see if anyone has any great planking poses at work.

Yes, I am really bored at work and my mind tends to wander (a lot).

No problem friend of a friend, it’s summer and you’re a CPA, so boredom happens. Here’s the video in question:

Quite the montage of planktitude, isn’t it? Someone even took the opportunity to plank during Carmageddon which resulted in “Plankmageddon” (obv).

But back to our reader – even though I’m against planking in a general sense, I would not oppose planking inside a partner’s convertible. Especially if you emailed the picture to us. Of course you would have to take great precaution to not be identified but it may be worth the risk. And that goes for the rest of you. If the clock seems to be moving backwards at any point this summer, you should consider planking and then sending us the pictures. I’ll put forth a few conditions for scoring:

• Planking on a manager’s desk – 100 points.

• Planking on a partner’s desk – 500 points.

• Planking on the office managing partner’s desk – 1,000 points.

• Planking on the client’s conference table – 1,000 points

• Planking in the lobby with your firm’s sign in view – 1,000 points

• Photo of the office managing partner planking on his/her desk – 5,000 points.

• Planking on a partner’s [insert luxury car here] – 5,000 points.

Of course this is not meant to discourage creativity on your part. If you have other suggestions, please offer them up below along with the points to be awarded. Happy planking.

Letting the Bush Tax Cuts Expire May Not Be a Violation of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge But Grover Norquist Would Still Advise You Against That Course of Action

Caleb Newquist
July 21, 2011

As you well know, signing Grover Norquist’s Taxpayer Protection Pledge is the equivalent to having your name written in the Fiscal-Conservative-Starve-the-Beast Book of Life. If you break tservative credentials will go up in a poof of red, white and blue smoke, you’ll be bludgeoned to death with a rolled up copy of the U.S. Constitution and hopefully Ronald Reagan will have mercy on your soul.

Lately though, partly due to this little debt ceiling debate, the Pledge has come under increased scrutiny and after the Senate approved a repeal of ethanol tax credits without a corresponding reduction in tax rates, some suggested that it is meaningless. Since this is obviously nonsense, Grover has gone on a PR offensive, in order to spell it for the RUBES out there so they can understand what constitutes a violation and what does not. Everything seemed to be back on the up and up until today, the Washington Post ran an editorial that may further muddy the waters:

Would allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire as scheduled in 2012 violate this vow? We posed this question to Grover Norquist, its author and enforcer, and his answer was both surprising and encouraging: No.

In other words, according to Mr. Norquist’s interpretation of the Americans for Tax Reform pledge, lawmakers have the technical leeway to bring in as much as $4 trillion in new tax revenue — the cost of extending President George W. Bush’s tax cuts for another decade — without being accused of breaking their promise. “Not continuing a tax cut is not technically a tax increase,” Mr. Norquist told us. So it doesn’t violate the pledge? “We wouldn’t hold it that way,” he said.

Naturally, some DOPES out there got all worked up as The Hill reports, “Democrats had jumped on that quote, suggesting it was a sign that Norquist was willing to be more reasonable on taxes than many congressional Republicans.”

As you can see, the words “Norquist,” “reasonable,” and “taxes” are in extremely close proximity which indicates that these “Democrats” are what I’d like to call “COMPLETE IDIOTS.” Problem is, whomever grabs the loudest megaphone first in DC usually gets dibs on what the dish is so Americans for Tax Reform has AGAIN clarified how this Pledge thing works:

ATR opposes all tax increases on the American people. Any failure to extend or make permanent the tax cuts of 2001 and 2003, in whole or in part, would clearly increase taxes on the American people. In addition, the failure to extend the AMT patch would increase taxes. The outlines of the plans are deliberately hazy, but it appears that both Obama’s Simpson-Bowles commission proposal and the Gang-of-Six proposal dramatically increase taxes on the American people.

It is a violation of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge to trade temporary tax reductions for permanent tax hikes.

In other words, if you let the “Bush Tax Cuts” expire that’s fine but you just be sure replace them with “Obama Tax Cuts” to ensure there’s no trouble.

Out from under the anti-tax pledge [WaPo]
Grover Norquist tries to clarify Bush tax cut remarks [The Hill]
ATR Statement on Washington Post Editorial [ATR]

Comp Watch ’11: Deloitte’s New Structure Is Taking Shape

Caleb Newquist
July 21, 2011

A couple of weeks ago, we heard that Deloitte was considering a similar compensation structure as PwC. This would result in Senior Associates making approximately 1.5x their starting salaries in three years, managers making 2x their starting salary and so on and so forth. At the time, it didn’t strike me as surprising that Deloitte would get all monkey-see-monkey-do on its employees simply because the Green Dot is a far more conservative firm than P. Dubs. While the structure at PwC was welcome with largely positive reviews, the Deloitte version was received less warmly.

Today, we have a little bit of an update for you – with slides! – on hure is progressing. From our tipster:

I’m surprised there was no article about this yet. Tuesday we all had a compensation call which went into great detail how raises and bonuses were handled. Here are some slides you might be interested in. It appears PwC scared them and they are copying. These numbers are still not official yet as they “are working out the numbers”…

Here’s a slide from the presentation on Deloitte’s total compensation earnings multiplier that our tipster sent over:

And here’s PwC’s:

So they’re pretty darn close, with Senior Associates doing slightly better at P. Dubs but Senior Managers faring slightly better at Deloitte, thus it ends up as a wash. Granted, the Deloitte slides only present information for AERS Advisory professionals (sorry audit and tax peeps) but it would seem odd if they opted to only change the structure for one group.

Other items worth noting include the 500 promotions for this year and the 3-5% bonus that accompanies the bump.

The pictures on the following pages show merit increases based on ranking (1 to 5 scale) for Consultants, Senior Consultants and AIP – Senior Consultants.

Presumably, in the bad years some high performers may see a paltry raise of around 4% but in the good years, it will push 16%, depending on metrics listed:

And even more impressive for Seniors, with highest performers receiving a merit increase of ~20%:

What’s interesting to note here is that Deloitte claims to have awarded bonuses to 95% of “eligible professionals.” So if I understand that correctly, 5% of those people ranked 3 or higher didn’t get a bonus. It may also get you a little weak in the knees if the AIP pool is already larger than last year’s “highest ever” pool:

Lots to digest and discuss here, so let it rip.

News

America’s Hottest CPA Goes on Reality TV Looking For Love

Adrienne Gonzalez
July 21, 2011

Do you guys remember Tripp Davis? Last year, this number-crunching Southern gentleman from Mississippi made Cosmo’s Hottest Single Bachelors List, calling first date sex skanky and girls sans chonies sexy. Our kinda man.

Anyway… Judgmental hater and bad Photoshopper that I am, I made the mistake of publicly rre angle at which his stunningly perfect abs appeared to be cut in the photo Cosmo used. It took a few hours of staring to figure it out but I finally saw that it was just a weird camera trick (part pose, part flowy white shirt they stuck him in) and word is Tripp has been a pretty loyal reader of Going Concern since. Yay kismet (and forgiveness)!

So when he recently got in touch to tell us about his latest adventure, we absolutely had to share it with you all.

What happens when you put 10 “city” guys and 10 “country” guys in a house to battle for the affection of one gorgeous bachelorette? Well, you get Sweet Home Alabama, which debuted last week on CMT. What does this have to do with Tripp’s perfect swimmer’s abs? Well because he’s on the show, obviously.

Raised on fried chicken, turnip greens and grits, it’s no wonder show producers reached out to Tripp to get him on the show after spotting him on Cosmo’s list. He’s actually looking for the love of his life (how cute) and says he won’t date a girl unless he can see himself marrying her down the road. Some of his opponents include a tobacco farmer from Tennessee, a Hollywood financial adviser, a Birmingham bartender named Tribble (first, not last, bitch) and – wait for it – one of Snooki’s ex-boyfriends who calls himself a singer/musician. This ought to be good.

Now I’m not easily swayed by southern manners and ripped abs but I have to say I was charmed by Tripp in our brief phone call for this post. So he may just have a shot to win the heart of Devin Grissom – a student at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa – if he can warm this salty Fedbasher’s cold black heart.

Check out our boy Tripp (he’s the one bawling at 1:55) on the show, which you can catch on CMT Thursdays at 9pm (8 Central).

Sweet Home Alabama: Thursday’s 9/8c on CMT! from Sweet Home Alabama (CMT) on Vimeo.

We hear the show includes lots of drama (surprise), douchebaggery and even a fight over the grill. Everyone knows you don’t mess with a man’s meat. Just sayin.

Tripp sums up the plot in words somewhat like this:

City guys are more interested in what they can buy the girl and showing their wealth, it’s all about the bling. They are defined by who they have dated. Country guys are more about who they are and their character, that shows through. Money shows through for city guys.

Good luck, Tripp, we’ll be rooting for you. Seriously. We’re pretty sure “reality star” wasn’t one of the manufactured scenarios many of you fell for when you were seduced into public accounting (much like work-life balance and prestige), which is why our hot little CPA friend here works for an unnamed private firm. Think about that next time you’re having a reality crisis, this guy is off chasing a chick. On teevee.

“It was such an amazing experience!” [Devin] says to a fan. “I’m a lucky girl … All of the guys on the show were so great,” said chick says on Facebook.

Someone has to blaze a trail with his sizzling fried chicken abs, it might as well be this guy. The accountant stereotype has been rewritten in recent years, not everyone is a WoW-playing, Dorito-eating shlub who doesn’t know what business casual actually means. Some are, yes. Some are also ripped. And, uh, on a reality show.

News

Accounting News Roundup: Big Tax Break or Big Spending?; Ernst & Young Partner Promotions in DC; Friend-on-Friend Fraud | 07.21.11

Caleb Newquist
July 21, 2011

As debt talks intensify, Obama opens door to short-term deal to buy more time [WaPo]
The contentious budget talks that have dominated Washington for months intensified Wednesday, prompting President Obama to say he would accept a short-term hike in the debt ceiling if it gave lawmakers time to finalize a comprehensive deal. Obama had pledged to veto any short-term measure, but White House spokesman Jay Carney said Wednesday that the president could accept an extension of “a few days” if it allowed a long-term deficit-reduction and debt-ceiling deal to work its way throug>My Big Tax Break Looks Like Your Big Spending [Bloomberg]
There is plenty of spending to cut. For instance, we’ve got one government program that hands people money to buy houses that, in most cases, they would buy anyway. They get even more money if they buy a more expensive house. Over the next five years, that program alone will cost almost $500 billion. Another federal agency will spend more than $400 billion to reward people for making money by investing and earning capital gains and dividends rather than by going to work and taking their income in wages. I like investors and I participate in the market, but is this really the sort of activity that requires a $400 billion subsidy?

Fed planning for potential default [Reuters]
The Federal Reserve is actively preparing for the possibility that the United States could default as a deadline for raising the government’s $14.3 trillion borrowing limit looms, a top Fed policymaker said on Wednesday. Charles Plosser, president of the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank, said the U.S. central bank has for the past few months been working closely with Treasury, ironing out what to do if the world’s biggest economy runs out of cash on August 2.

Cisco’s 6,500 Job Cuts Could Hurt Push for Offshore Tax Holiday [Bloomberg]
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO)’s plan to eliminate about 6,500 jobs worldwide is complicating the corporate lobbying campaign for a tax holiday that would allow multinational companies to return $1 trillion in offshore profits to the U.S. at a low tax rate. The San Jose, California-based company, the world’s largest networking-equipment maker, has been among the most vocal supporters of a repatriation holiday being considered in the U.S. Congress. Cisco chief executive John Chambers has said he wants to return as much as $30 billion in overseas profits to the U.S. The company could increase its headcount by 10 percent, depending on details of a repatriation bill, he said before the job-elimination announcement.

Federal auditors scold IRS for slow notification of security breaches [WaPo]
In a recent report, the Treasury Department Inspector General for Tax Administration reprimanded the Internal Revenue Service for failing to notify taxpayers in a timely way — if at all —when the tax agency inadvertently exposed their personal information. IRS records showed 4,081 inadvertent disclosures of taxpayers’ personal information in fiscal 2009 and fiscal 2010. The IRS sent letters to taxpayers whose privacy was violated 86 days after the fact in 20 percent of the cases auditors examined in a sample of incidents from July 2010 to February 2011.

3 Groups Denied Break By I.R.S. Are Named [NYT]
Three nonprofit advocacy groups that were denied tax exemption by the Internal Revenue Service were all units of Emerge America, an organization devoted to cultivating female political leaders for local, state and federal government. The I.R.S. denied tax exemption to the groups — Emerge Nevada, Emerge Maine and Emerge Massachusetts — because, the agency wrote in denial letters, they were set up specifically to cultivate Democratic candidates. Their Web sites ask for evidence that participants in their training programs are Democrats.

Twitter Poised to Close a Two-Stage $800M Funding, With Half Used to Cash Out Investors and Employees [All Things D]
In a move reminiscent of one done by Facebook in 2009, Twitter is close to completing an $800 million funding deal that will include a second part in which around $400 million of the total will be used to cash out current investors and also employees. According to several sources close to the situation, the complex transaction could be completed within two weeks. Along with basic funding needs, this is largely being done this way to give those with stakes in the San Francisco microblogging company an ability to monetize their privately held common stock and also to do this selling in a more organized — and legal — manner.

Ernst & Young’s Greater Washington Office Announces Leadership Promotions [E&Y]
Four new partners in the DC office. If your office has announced promotions, we want to know.

PwC US Appoints Robert W. McCutcheon as New Industrial Products Leader [PwC]
RWM is the Pittsburgh OMP and will continue in that role but now is also responsible for leading the group that services several industries including “aerospace & defense, chemicals, engineering & construction, industrial manufacturing, metals, transportation & logistics, and forest, paper and packaging.”

Friend-on-friend swindles increase as economy flounders: Prosecutors [NYP]
Don’t forget family members.

News

WFT Names New Chief Accounting Officer Who Will Hopefully Avoid Any More Giant Tax WTFs

Caleb Newquist
July 21, 2011

Remember Weatherford International? That’s the oil services company that had a ton of material weakness around their tax accounting that led to $500 million error. This resulted in restatements, a humiliated CFO and the Chief Accounting Officer resigning “to pursue other opportunities.”

But now, four months later, everyone has moved on and the company has some new blood:

Weatherford International Ltd. […] announced today that John H. Briscoe has agreed to join the company as Vice President –Chief Accounting Officer. Mr. Briscoe will report to the company’s Chief Financial Officer.

Mr. Briscoe served as Vice President and Controller of Transocean Ltd. from October 2007 to present. He also fulfilled additional roles in internal audit, investor relations and field finance. Prior to joining Transocean in 2005, Mr. Briscoe served as Ferrellgas Inc.’s Vice President of Accounting and served in other senior roles during his eight years with the company. Mr. Briscoe also served as Controller for Latin America for Dresser Industries Inc. Mr. Briscoe started his career with seven years in public accounting beginning with the firm of KPMG and ending with Ernst & Young as an Audit Manager. Mr. Briscoe is a certified public accountant.

Yes, that Transocean.

News

At Least the Jerks in Your Family Won’t Impersonate an IRS Agent to Swindle You Out of $20k

Caleb Newquist
July 21, 2011

All families have individuals who seem to rub everyone the wrong way. Whether it’s that deadbeat brother-in-law who seems to owe everyone money or the bratty grandmother that threatens to cut you out of the will if you get another tattoo, there’s always someone who nobody can seem to stand. Despite these and other proclivities of your grade-A dick relatives, they’ve got some work to do to top this guy:

A 48-year-old Hilo man is going to federal prison for 17 months for duping his cousin out of $19,250 in an elaborate swindle involving a fictitious Internal Revenue Service employee in Honolulu and fake correspondence from the IRS in California and Utah.

Hua told his cousin she was being audited by the IRS and that she could pay a lower auditing fee if she hired him to do the audit rather than have the IRS do it when he knew the IRS does not charge taxpayers to audit them, according to federal court records.

At the time, Hua offered professional accounting and tax services under the business name Tri-Y Enterprises.

To persuade his cousin to continue paying him for auditing services never performed, Hua sent his cousin threatening mail and email purportedly from the IRS in Fresno, Calif., and Ogden, Utah, and from a fictitious IRS employee in Honolulu, said Tracy Hino, assistant U.S. attorney.

Hua also had his wife and daughter sign documents stating that they too were auditors working on the cousin’s tax case, Hino said.

Go hug your bitchy grandma.

Hilo man sentenced in scheme to cheat cousin [HSA]

CFOs
Tax

Google CFO Addresses Company’s ‘Evil’ Tax Savvy

Caleb Newquist
July 21, 2011

When asked whether it is “evil” to pay a 6% federal tax rate, he laughed it off. “I don’t make the laws,” he said. “I’m just like every other corporation.” [Fortune]

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Remote Accounting & Tax Director

Senior Accountant / Client Account Manager (CAS & Tax)

Remote Tax Senior

Remote Accounting & Tax Director

Senior Accountant / Client Account Manager (CAS & Tax)

Remote Tax Senior