Going Concern

Teens Volunteering for VITA Wise Beyond Their Years

Caleb Newquist
April 18, 2011

As you’re all aware, the teen years are a confusing time. Trying to fit in, keeping the parents off your back and trying to determine what exactly is going with your body is enough to drive you to underage drinking.

Some junior and seniors at a high school in Monticello, New York have been brave enough to add tax preparation to the mix volunteering for the IRS’s VITA program. “It’s a little confusing, but you get the hang of it,” said Marcus Daniels-Penn, told the Journal. Of course not everyone participating has such a optimistic view of the experience as Adam Kaiser, who was struggling with determining who can be claimed as a dependents, noticed something most people don’t realize until long after they leave the quad, “The government can’t do anything simple,” he said.

Tax Preparers Straight Out of ‘Glee’ [WSJ]

Tax Day Rally Photos (2011)

Caleb Newquist
April 18, 2011

Editor Note: Last Friday students from my Internet Media class (What? You think I just surf the web all day?) took to the streets of the Mile High City to cover the Tax Day Rally at the Colorado State Capitol as part of an extra credit opportunity. Their photos appear on the following pages as well as a brief commentary presented here by Nikita Blue.

Friday’s Tax Day Tea Party Protest at the Denver Capitol Building seemed more like crossword puzzle hour at Golden Meadows than a politically-charged rally to action. There was even a row of lawn chairs up front near the steps for the severely fatigued. Many a lackluster punch-line received half-hearted titters of laughter, and the crowd had already thinned significantly afMaher, conservative blogger for WhoSaidYouSaid.com, opened with, “Tax the Rich! Tax the Rich! Oh, wait… wrong rally.” Onlookers were momentarily confused; possibly thinking, “Wait… does that mean she goes to Obama rallies, too?”

Then Michelle Morin, a Mom for freedom, warned her audience that there was a “long, black train coming.” (That is, a Marxist, Obamacare train.) She managed to pry a few vacillating yeah’s and whoo’s from the group with her passionate anti-Marxism sentiments. And let’s face it; trains are scary. Especially black ones.

Unfortunately, the awkward moments just kept coming. One speaker suggested that one of the Tea Party mottos should be, “Get your hands off my lollipop!” The confused hush and mumbled responses reinforced the impropriety of hands, suckables and unwanted advances.
Denver’s Tea Party was once a fiery bunch of outraged, impassioned citizens demanding acknowledgement and consideration. Sadly, this get-together packed little of the previous fiscally-conservative punch found in rallies past.

Although this humble protest began with all the necessary elements of a minority uprising, its moxie was deflated prematurely. At one point, we were encouraged to “party like it’s 1773.” (Get it? The Tea Party?) Upon examination, it seemed that we were indeed partying with all of the puritanical, long-faced sobriety of the 1700’s. All we needed now was a crumpet.

Atlas Shrugged also opened on Friday.

The rally was a formal occasion for some.

[caption id="attachment_28849" align="aligncenter" width="261" caption="Photo: Anna Shethar"]

[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_28855" align="aligncenter" width="560" caption="Photo: Anna Shethar"]

[/caption]

Some people got a jump start on the early spring lawn chair sales.

[caption id="attachment_28856" align="aligncenter" width="560" caption="Photo: Nikita Blue"]

[/caption]

Somewhere in Denver, someone needs an editor.

[caption id="attachment_28857" align="aligncenter" width="560" caption="Photo: Nikita Blue"]

[/caption]

Either someone is ready to go home or doesn’t know which direction east is.

[caption id="attachment_28858" align="aligncenter" width="525" caption="Photo: Nikita Blue"]

[/caption]

News

If the Federal Government Were a Business, It Would Be WorldCom

Adrienne Gonzalez
April 18, 2011

Deroy Murdock seems to feel that the government should revisit its accounting practices since it appears government accounting is little more than legal fraud. Obviously he has absolutely no idea how accounting really works or he’d call the entire thing fraudulent (I mean, let’s be real, it is and everyone knows it), so let’s humor his opinion for a moment and consider government accounting.

Rep. John Shimkus (R., Ill.) grilled Health and Human Services secretary Kathleen Sebelius about this before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health. He wondered how, in essence, the Obama administration could move $500 billion from its left pocket (Medicare) to its far-left pocket (Obamacare) and somehow finance $1 trillion worth of Medicare and Obamacare.

“Your law cuts $500 billion in Medicare,” Shimkus reminded Sebelius at a March 3 hearing. “Then you’re also using the same $500 billion to say you’re funding health-care [reform]. Your own actuary says you can’t do both.”

“So,” the eight-term congressman continued, “are you using it [the $500 billion] to save Medicare, or are you using it to fund health-care reform? Which one?”

Secretary Sebelius confessed: “Both.”

“So, you’re double-counting,” Shimkus replied.

“The same dollar can’t be used twice,” observed Health Subcommittee chairman Rep. Joe Pitts (R., Pa.). “This is the largest of the many budget gimmicks Democrats used to claim Obamacare would reduce the deficit.”

As any college business major knows, such double counting would earn a big, fat F on an accounting final. Far worse, this is illegal.

Obviously Joe Pitts is not at all familiar with how accounting works. The funny part, as Murdock points out, is that the SEC does not consider non-GAAP financial statements to be anything but misleading and inaccurate. It’s a good thing the federal government won’t be trying to file an IPO any time soon.

Peep Title 17, Part 210 of the Code of Federal Regulations:

Financial statements filed with the Commission which are not prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles will be presumed to be misleading or inaccurate.

Question: is there a particular reason “generally accepted accounting principles” is not capitalized? Because GAAP and gaap are two different things, one of which is a set of rules (not principles, no matter what James Kroeker may believe) while the other is basically a bunch of bullshit that we call “accounting” and agree is OK. Sort of like Don’t Ask Don’t Tell for financial statements.

Accounting News Roundup: Tax Cut Debate Revisited; PwC London Staff to Pilot Electric Cars; Short Lifespan for Bank CFOs | 04.18.11

Caleb Newquist
April 18, 2011

Greenspan Says U.S. Should Let Bush-Era Tax Cuts Expire [Bloomberg]
Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said tax cuts put in place by former U.S. President George W. Bush should be allowed to expire and the U.S. should return to tax rates that were in effect under former President Bill Clinton to help address the budget deficit. We should “allow the Bush tax cuts to expire,” Greenspan said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” today, calling the economic crisis “imminent and dire.” We should “put the rates back to where they were during the Clinton administration,” he said.

$1.1 Billion Error in Australian MNC? Yes, Says Mum PwC Partner [inAudit]
In the latest development concerning the debt classification error in Australian MNC Centro Properties Group, a PricewaterhouseCoopers partner admitted he was silent on the matter on the belief that he needed not to say again what the firm’s accounting manager has already raised at a “high level.”

Pricewaterhouse-Coopers (PWC) to pilot electric cars with London-based staff [EB]
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) will pilot electric cars with London-based employees as part of its sustainable travel strategy. The electric cars, which will be made available at the firm’s locations in Southwark and Westminster, can be charged onsite and through the Hertz and Source London charging network.

Prom Night Tax Tip [Tax Update Blog]
“Textbooks” has a funny definition in Iowa.

Top 10 tax tips from CPAs, also known as Letterman’s annual spoofing of taxes [DMWT]
6. H. Block, good guy. R.Block, complete greaseball.

PwC: U.S. Companies Pay World’s 6th-Highest Effective Tax Rate [TaxProf Blog]
However some people are calling this study “extraordinarily disingenuous.”

ANOTHER ONE: Chili’s Serves Alcoholic Mudslide To A Four-Year-Old [BI]
Maybe these casual dining restaurants are too casual.

Where Have All the Bank C.F.O.’s Gone? [DealBook]
CFOs seems to be a bit of a rest stop at some of the world’s largest banks.

Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. Blames iPad For American Unemployment [HuffPo]
On Friday, Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-IL) addressed the United States’s current unemployment crisis and claimed the iPad was “probably responsible for eliminating thousands of American jobs.” Jackson, himself an iPad owner, expanded on his statement by pointing to the recent bankruptcy of Borders Books. “Why do you need to go to Borders anymore? Why do you need to go to Barnes and Noble? Just buy an iPad and download your book, download your newspaper, download your magazine,” the Congressman said.

Tax
Video

Last Minute Tax Help Ideas: Advice From Gary Busey

Caleb Newquist
April 17, 2011

With just over 24 hours until the tax filing deadline, some taxpayers may be getting desperate and many CPAs are too swamped to take any last minute clients. Faced with such a dilemma, some people are freaking out since it’s rumored that any non-compliance with the IRS will inevitably lead to interrogation techniques approved by the Bush Administration. To avoid this, you’ll need someone that is impervious to physical pain, high stress and has a smile that will frighten yet calm the most anxious of procrastinating taxpayers.

To wit:

Of Course There’s a Nicolas Cage Tax Story on April 15th

Caleb Newquist
April 16, 2011

It wouldn’t be tax day (in form, if not necessarily in substance) if the Raisin Bran™ of celebrity tax delinquents, Robert Snell, didn’t have a scoop today.

To make it even better, today’s edition is none other than perpetually tax-plagued Nicolas Cage.

In a storage locker last month, cops found Nicolas Cage’s rare $1.5 million, Superman comic book, which was stolen from the actor a decade ago. About the same time, the Oscar winner found kryptonite in his mailbox.

The IRS just sent the financially strapped screen star a $624,934 bill for delinquent federal taxes, according to public records.

If this level of irony doesn’t cause you to believe in some kind of benevolent god, then I feel sorry for you.

IRS hands Nicolas Cage pocket full of kryptonite [Tax Watchdog]

Big 4

Blind Item: Which Big 4 CEO Sent This Poorly Timed Email About Working in the Wee Hours of the Morning?

Caleb Newquist
April 15, 2011

In light of recent events, the following email was forwarded to us with our tipster admitting that intentions were good while the timing was not.

I recently met with a [BIG executive] who formerly served as a Former Big Four partner and [some hotshot internal group (I think)]. Most of the discussion was focused on how we might help [BIG executive’s company] with their global HR transformation. Quite unexpectedly, he began our meeting with a story about a senior manager on our team, [Sally Worksherassoff].

Just a day earlier, he had asked [Sally Worksherassoff] if she could find any information explaining the relevance of Dodd-Frank legislation to Human Resource leaders. When he woke up the next morning, he noticed that [Sally Worksherassoff] had emailed a whitepaper outlining exactly what he needed…at 2:00 am. The timing was critical, as he needed to deliver a presentation to [BIG executive’s company] leaders later in the day. After I left [BIG executive]’s offices, he sent an unprompted note to our project team recounting this story and remarking that “seemingly small things like this can add significant value to [BIG executive’s company].” The subject header of his note: How to “wow” a client.

My takeaway: small things, big difference. It can be easy to get lulled into reserving our extra energy and special effort for those situations, requests, and issues that seem like “big deals”. But as our client pointed out, there are no small things when it comes to delivering an exceptional client experience.

— [Big 4 CEO]

Can a KPMG Audit Intern Pull the Switch to Advisory?

Caleb Newquist
April 15, 2011

Welcome to the tax-day-tease edition of Accounting Career Emergencies. In today’s edition, a young Brit has an audit internship with KPMG but would wants to pull The Switch and work in the advisory practice. Proposing a ménage à trois probably isn’t going to work so what’s the alternative?

Are you tired of being tired? Trying to build a celebrity client practice? Need some gift idea for your new overlords? Email us at advice@goingconcern.com and can recommend something other than a fondue set.

Back across the pond:

Dear GoingConcern Team,

Firstly I have really enjoyed reading your articles and as a budding/ aspiring accountant I was hoping you could help me. I got a internship offer for KPMG in audit which is great, but I think its likely I would feel more comfortable going into Advisory, probably Transactions and Restructuring branch of the Firm. Obviously I have to stick it out in audit for the internship, but is it possible to switch between service lines after, and probably location too?

I know that in the KPMG selection process I still need to go through the Partner Interview, so would you say I am potentially blowing my chances if I switch from Audit to Advisory, or should I play it safe, stick it out with Audit, and the ACA, and then transfer, assuming I passed and survived?

Thank you!

Dear Flip the Switch,

In the words of another, “Well, if I hear you correctly–and I think that I do–my advice to you is to finish your meal, pay your check, leave here, and never mention this to anyone again.”

Now maybe things are a little different in the UK but what you’re proposing is almost impossible to pull off and I’m not sure how you got in this situation in the first place. If the revelation that you’re more interested in advisory just came to you recently, that’s one thing. Your desire to pull a switch may be understandable but that doesn’t make it any more feasible. If, on the other hand, you accepted an audit internship with the knowledge that in reality you wanted an advisory internship, why didn’t you apply for an advisory internship?

On top of that you are also wanting to inquire about a moving to another office before you start full time? Let me see if I understand this correctly: you took an internship in a service area where you have no interest, in a location where you don’t want to live. Do you see why I’m confused? I’m not suggesting that you can’t ask but expect some side-eyed looks after you broach the subject. In other words, you could be “blowing your chances” because you sound like a person who doesn’t know what they want. These firms want people who are ready to hit the ground running, not someone who can’t seem to choose a path. If you can sit still for a year or three, then maybe you can start to inquire about a transfer of service line or location but as an intern-about-to-become-first-year, you’ll just sound like a lost puppy.

Kvetching About the Complexity of the Income Tax Is Nearly a Century-old Tradition

Caleb Newquist
April 15, 2011

Joseph Thorndike writes over at Tax.com that bitching about the burdensome nature of income tax is as old-fashioned as plutocrats wearing top hats.

In 1915, Chicago lawyer Charles H. Hamill of Rosenthal & Hamill made headlines with some vigorous complaints about the new income tax, then less than two years old. The law, he said, was “the worst piece of legislative draftsmanship I have ever seen placed upon a statute book anywhere.” Indeed, it was very nearly incomprehensible:

“It is so complicated that it is utterly impossible to understand its meaning save by consulting a palmist.”

So as you can see, things haven’t really changed. To this day, whether you’re paying a lawyer, CPA or palm reader for your time, you walk out more confused than when you walked in and you definitely don’t feel like you got your money’s worth.

Think Taxes are Too Complicated? They Thought So in 1915, Too [Tax.com]

CPA Exam

Desperately Seeking a CPA Exam Study Buddy?

Adrienne Gonzalez
April 15, 2011

Contributor note: with busy season winding down and such awful CPA exam performance the first quarter of this year, we suspect many of you are thrilled to cuddle up with Peter Olinto and dust the cobwebs off your CPA review books. That being the case, though you might still be mad at us from last quarter, we invite you to send in your CPA exam questions so we can do our best to answer in a way that offends the fewest candidates possible.

Being an accountant already isolates you from a large number of non-accountant people, most of whom automatically assume you do taxes for a living and will never understand why it’s funny to claim Ex-lax as “moving expenses.” Taking on the CPA exam naturally isolates you further; from your significant other, who doesn’t get why you never seem to have time for them anymore, from your friends who are still trying to get you to do their taxes and from your higher-ups who seem determined to tell you for the 40th time how much harder the CPA exam was back in their day.

Seeking a CPA exam study buddy doesn’t need to feel like having to find a partner in middle school gym class and it doesn’t matter where you are, you can find one. Here are a few tips:

• Try CPAnet – You can find an entire section of the forum dedicated to study groups, ranging from Phoenix to Seattle to Dubai. Don’t see your city listed? Register for the forum and post your own.

• Get on Twitter – Try the #twudygroup hashtag on Twitter to chat with other CPA exam candidates, bitch about how your review courses have let you down and talk about how messed up it is when asshole bloggers call you out on their websites. Speaking of, we’d like to send a very personal congratulations to former #twudygroup member @CStrunk for passing the CPA exam, proof that alcohol and computer cleaning in lieu of studying can help, if you’re willing to put in the work when you’re sober. Congratulations, Chris, we knew you had it in you otherwise we’d have never called you out in the first place.

• Ask around your office – Unless you are in a two-man office in which one of you is the accountant and the other one the boss, someone in your office is also studying for the CPA exam. You can do a quick cube check to determine who might be studying but if you’re too shy to ask, just look for the sleep-deprived look in their eye, MCQ on their computer screen during lunch or the “kill me now” sign taped on their wall the day scores come out. Just make sure to pick someone you actually like, sharing the next year and a half with someone you can’t stand can only lead to conflict and/or increased diversity training later down the road.

Grover Norquist Knows What It Will Take to Enact Real Tax Reform

Caleb Newquist
April 15, 2011

Nemesis of all-things-taxation Grover Norquist believes that there can be good changes to our tax system (lower rates, DUH!). But seriously, as Ronald Reagan as his witness, this is really simple,

“A lot of good tax changes are going to require a different president and a different Senate.” So at the very least, you’ll have to wait two years. That’s all. [The Hill]

News

You Can Thank Abraham Lincoln For Not Having to File Your Taxes Today

Adrienne Gonzalez
April 15, 2011

As everyone knows, today is usually tax day but thanks to Emancipation Day – a recognized public holiday in the District of Columbia, home of the IRS, since 2005 – we get an extra weekend to put off plugging our earnings into our 1040s.

The official holiday is April 16th but since Emancipation Day falls on a Saturday this year, the District gets Friday off. Buses run as usual but those heading to Tax Day events around DC (Federal Reserve Board protest, anyone?) can rest easy knowing the DC Parking Gestapo will not be out circling the streets for blood, er, expired meters.

Fact: slavery was legal in the U.S. from 1619 until 1865. By 1860, there were about four million slaves in the United States. On April 16, 1862, Abraham Lincoln signed the Compensated Emancipation Act, which freed more than 3,000 slaves in the District of Columbia. Slavery did not officially end in the United States until the end of the Civil War in 1865 when the 13th Amendment was ratified by 30 of the then 36 states. Bet you didn’t know that Mississippi only ratified the 13th amendment in 1995!

This holiday is especially near and dear to my locale, which boasts itself as the wealthiest majority African American county in the entire country. Though don’t believe everything you read in Ebony, PG is far from the luxurious country club the magazine painted it as in this 2006 article.

April 15th falls on a Sunday next year so you’ll also get an extra couple days in 2012 but Honest Abe doesn’t get credit for that, maybe Copernicus or whoever came up with the 365 + 1 every four years calendar year.

Happy Emancipation Day!

Careers

Big 4

News

Technology

Practice Management

Site Search

Twitter Feed

Get the Accounting News Roundup

Quick Reads

Sponsored Content

Get the Accounting News Roundup

Remote Client Accounting Manager

Remote Client Controller, CAS Firm

Remote Tax Supervisor

Remote Client Accounting Manager

Remote Client Controller, CAS Firm

Remote Tax Supervisor