Going Concern

Career Center

Accounting and Finance Professionals Like Their Job Prospects While the Rest of the Workforce Is Screwed

GoingConcern
October 26, 2010

The following post is republished from AccountingWEB, a source of accounting news, information, tips, tools, resources and insight — everything you need to help you prosper and enjoy the accounting profession.

The Accounting and Finance Employee Confidence Index increased 0.6 points to 53.9 in the third quarter of 2010, according to a recent survey. The index is a measure of overall confidence among U.S. accounting and finance workers.

The survey indicates a decline in employee confidence in the economy and job market, while workers’ optimism in their own personal employment situations increased. The survey was conducted by Harris Interactive and commissioned by The Mergis Group, the professional placement division of SFN Group, Inc.

Additional results from the Accounting & Finance Employment Report:

• Twenty-three percent of accounting and finance workers believe the economy is getting stronger, representing a 10 percentage point drop from the second quarter of 2010.

• More than half of accounting and finance workers (60 percent) believe there are fewer jobs available, up 10 percentage points from the previous quarter.

• Nearly three-fourths (73 percent) of accounting and finance workers are confident in the future of their current employer, an increase of 11 percentage points from the second quarter of 2010.

• More accounting and finance workers are confident in their ability to find a new job, with 44 percent reporting confidence as compared to 36 percent the previous quarter.

“While our Accounting and Finance Confidence Index showed little movement in the third quarter, our latest report reveals significant fluctuations in workers’ viewpoints,” Brendan Courtney, president of The Mergis Group, said of the report’s findings.

“The report illustrates that workers’ confidence in the economy and job market have dimmed. Conversely, workers are now indicating greater confidence in the future of their current employers and in their ability to find a new job. Moreover, three in ten workers indicate that they are likely to make a job change in the next 12 months,” Courtney said.

“With 2011 right around the corner, employers are encouraged to make an extra effort by acknowledging employees who have weathered the economic turbulence with the company,” he said. “Employers who heed these statistics are less likely to be faced with an unhappy workforce that jumps ship at the first sign of a full economic recovery.”

Additional demographic and survey background information.

Some Early Returns From Deloitte Salary Adjustment 2.0

Caleb Newquist
October 26, 2010

As you’re no doubt aware, last Friday Deloitte made the announcement that the market for audit salaries had been misunderestimated and a second adjustment was going to be communicated to opiners this week.

Checking with a source inside Deloitte, we’ve heard some of the preliminary returns:

I have heard rumors of 5k in Hartford and 4k in Chicago for Seniors. But nothing to prove them out. The general range I have heard though is 2kish for 2nd years and 5k for seniors.

No word at at this point on what managers are receiving, so if you’ve gotten the news, let us know below.

The question now is – was all this hoopla worth it? Granted it’s early but if the range is in the ballpark, there’s likely a few people that are simply, “meh.” On the other hand, maybe if you got called in for another meeting to be told that you’re getting an extra $2k – $5k you might be really flippin’ stoked. However, many people will likely remind you to get some perspective.

Either way, the tax practice is feeling short-changed and advisory is too busy rolling around in their cash-filled bathtubs to care.

Discuss the situation at present and keep us updated with the adjustment news just as soon as your sit-down is over.

UPDATE – 12:45 ET: This just in:

Deloitte experienced assistant from South Florida – $2k for audit assistants, $5k for seniors.

total raise for the year with comp adjustment – 8%. Could be better but could be the original 4% I got in August…

UPDATE – crica 2 pm ET: The latest:

Miami: 2nd years: $2k, Seniors: $5k
Parsippany: 2nd years: $5K Seniors: $8K Managers: $6K

CPA Exam

CPA Exam Dilemma: Do I Take Audit or FAR Before 2011?

Adrienne Gonzalez
October 26, 2010

Bypassing the pleasantries and getting straight into the reader question:

I passed BEC & REG on my first try, but I failed FAR & AUD. I need to take FAR or AUD before 2011. Which one do you suggest? FYI: I had 66 on FAR, 56 on AUD.

We’ve discussed what to do when you fail an exam section in the past and if you are familiar with the formula, you know that anything less than a 70 means you can pretty much go back to the drawing board. So the short answer here is that either FAR or AUD is fine but with a little over a month left before the end of 2010 testing, I am a little concerned that you may not have enough time to really prepare. Let’s be real here, you must not have put in much time or effort on either the first time around, am I right?

That being said, FAR looks like the more promising option though a 66 tells me that you’ve got a ways to go before you will be ready. It could be that you simply bombed one testlet and a simulation, in which case you don’t need to spend too much time going over all FAR topics in extensive detail but if you skimmed most of it the first time around, now might be the time to get serious and put in the work.

If you are asking which to take before 2011 because you are scared to death of the CBT-e changes, I would suggest taking AUD this year as the research will be harder next year while most of FAR will actually be easier (between removal of written communication, shorter “simlet” problems and fairly straight-forward IFRS vs GAAP content).

Regardless of which you choose, work on time management (perhaps that is your issue as it coincidentally tends to be a problem on both FAR and AUD) and use your score report to figure out where you need to focus for your second attempt.

Good luck!

Ed. note: Adrienne is currently trudging across this fine country, moving her life from not-so-fabulous-anymore San Francisco to an undisclosed location just outside of Washington DC. She’ll return to a full posting schedule next week after getting settled. As always, you are still welcome to get in touch with any CPA exam questions and/or post suggestions.

Accounting News Roundup: GOP Targeting IRS Funding to Stall Healthcare; Grant Thornton, BDO Merge in South Africa; What Your Recruiter Isn’t Telling You | 10.26.10

Caleb Newquist
October 26, 2010

IRS Funding A Target In Health-Care Implementation Battle [Dow Jones]
Funding for the Internal Revenue Service could become a battleground in the next Congress as Republicans seek to halt implementation of the new health-care law.

GOP candidates are running on a pledge to repeal that law. But some repeal advocates say a strategy of choking off funding to the IRS and federal health agencies is more politically viable.

“Repeal is not within the set of possible outcomes while President Obama holds his veto pen. However, a defunding strategy could throw sand in the gear bring it to a near standstill,” said Michael Cannon, director of health policy studies at the libertarian Cato Institute.

Stephen Lukens Named Grant Thornton LLP Advisory Services Leader [Business Wire]
Another Stephen! Mr Lukens came on board from IBM Global Business Services and was with PwC Consulting prior to Big Blue’s purchase of the practice.

Accountant describes ‘totally’ different transaction between GM and Delphi [Crain’s]
A forensic accountant testifying at former Delphi Corp. CEO J.T. Battenberg’s civil fraud trial in a federal courtroom in Detroit today said that the auto supplier recorded on its books a payment to its largest customer, General Motors, “totally differently from” the actual transaction conducted by the supplier and its former parent company.

Merger will create new accounting giant [Business Day]
THE merger between Grant Thornton and BDO Cape, which will become effective next Monday, will create the biggest accounting firm in SA’s mid-tier market , followed by Mazars.

The deal positions the merged firm to obtain more work, particularly from privately held businesses and listed companies. Previously the two firms obtained most of their work from privately held businesses.

The firm, which will be led by Grant Thornton national chairman Leonard Brehm, will have a staff compliment of 900 and 97 partners and directors, with combined revenue of R400m.

In Finance Team Building, Xerox Copied No One [CFO]
[M]ajor groundwork was laid through a finance reorganization and team-building effort that Lawrence Zimmerman began eight years ago after ending his retirement from IBM to become Xerox vice chairman and CFO.

“The big change Larry brought was to make the accounting unit independent of all other organizations,” says Gary Kabureck, who stayed on as chief accounting officer after Zimmerman joined Xerox. “That was a huge, very positive change.” The independent model, says Kabureck, replaced a Xerox structure that had tied accounting to business units. Now, accounting is used for “measuring operational results, which may which may [sic] not be what the local operation manager wants them to be, but it’s what the CFO wants them to be.”

Grassley: Three years before unemployment’s back to normal [The Hill]
2013 doesn’t sound that bad.

PayPal Names Patrick Dupuis as Chief Financial Officer [Business Wire]
Pat got his chops at the likes of Sitel, BJC Healthcare and GE Healthcare.

Should you upgrade QuickBooks? [AccMan]
SaaS/cloud upgrade issues are NOT the customer’s problem. They lie with the developers. Contrast this with the advice being given for a QuickBooks upgrade. There is plenty to think about. The same broad principles will apply to any on-premise solution. That’s a fundamental difference SaaS/cloud vendors should emphasize a lot more than they do. SaaS/cloud upgrades are usually seamless to the end customer while bug fixes are often more or less invisible to the user.

10 Things Employment Recruiters Won’t Say [SmartMoney]
You mean this person may not be completely honest with you? GET OUT.

Vast Improvement in Volunteer-prepared Tax Returns Proves That the TIGTA’s Nagging Pays Off

Caleb Newquist
October 26, 2010

Last year the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration came down pretty hard on volunteer tax preparers, noting that 41% of the returns contained errors. As is the IG’s wont, they scolded the IRS to improve this shameless display by volunteers and made some suggestions to help them suck less.

And it worked! Ninety percent of the tax returns prepared by volunteers were accurate thus earning praise from the IG:

Ninety percent of the 39 tax returns volunteers prepared for TIGTA auditors were prepared correctly, a sharp increase from the 59 percent accuracy rate reported by TIGTA in its 2009 review. TIGTA attributed the improvement to an increase in volunteers’ use of the IRS’s Intake/Interview and Quality Review Sheet (Form 13614-C), improved training, and enhanced oversight. Only 5 percent of the 39 tax returns were prepared without use of the Form 13164-C, versus 33 percent in TIGTA’s 2008 Filing Season review, and 22 percent in its 2009 Filing Season review.

“This report is a positive indication of the good work that the IRS is doing for America’s taxpayers,” stated J. Russell George, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. “I commend the IRS on the progress it has made in helping volunteers accurately fulfill the very important task they assumed.”

This isn’t the first time that the TIGTA has managed to give the IRS credit for doing a decent job. Last month J. Russell George managed to give tepid kudos to the Service for providing satisfactory service at assistance centers but also reminded everyone that a mind-numbingly complex government bureaucracy can always get better. They’re blowing off the deaf and mute, after all.

Technology

The Time Wasted Fiddling with Your Smartphone Is Adding Up

GoingConcern
October 25, 2010

BlackBerrys and iPhones have become the latest bane for employers concerned about lost productivity, according to Employment Law Advisory Services.

The company reported that its help lines are taking more and more calls from employers worried about the amount of time staff waste playing with their smartphones when they should be working.

Over the past couple of years, employers have equipped their people with phones that let them send and receive emails. Now that worries about productivity are taking hold, one of the common questions is whether taking smartphones away from employees might constitute a change in their remuneration package.

“What started as a trickle is certainly building up to a stream as more and more employers start looking at what they really need from their employers,” said Peter Mooney of ELAS.

“Being able to email staff at seven or eight o’clock was certainly seen as a benefit, but now the phones can do more and more, they are realizing that giving staff such powerful technology has its drawbacks too.”

ELAS estimated that accessing emails on a smartphone typically saves the employer between five and 20 minutes a day, depending on how much time the employee spends out of the office. Time lost to Facebook, Twitter, checking football scores, and so on can amount to 30 to 90 minutes a day.

As well as being a potential distraction for them, staff with expensive phones are also more likely to have their phones stolen, the firm advised.

In the past year or so, social networking sites were employers’ biggest online bugbear and this concern was addressed by a range of web monitoring and blocking programs. But companies that restrict staff Internet access through computers are finding it harder to control staff surfing habits on their mobile phones.

According to Mooney, downgrading an employee’s phone from a smartphone to a standard handset does not constitute a reduction in their overall package.

“Because most companies’ IT policies state that any technology staff have is for business not personal use, then it is no loss of benefit to take that away,” he advised.

Share your thoughts on this topic in the General Business forum on our sister site, USBusinessForums.

This article originally appeared on our sister Web site, AccountingWEB.co.uk.

Career Center

How To Explain Why Fantasy Football Is Always on Your Computer

Caleb Newquist
October 25, 2010

Back with another edition of “Accountants’ Questions: ANSWERED!” – a reader needs advice on the age-old question (for about a decade or so) of explaining why fantasy football is always on your laptop.

Caught in an accounting career conundrum? Looking for some atypical icebreakers for your next firm event? Want advice on how break free from the unwelcome massage that creepy co-worker always tries to give you? Email us at advice@goingconcern.com and we’ll dish it out.

Back to our gridiron geek:

How do I explain why fantasy football is always up on my laptop?

Many cube dwellers have had the unenviable experience of explaining why an imaginary roster of players is constantly on their laptop screens. The temptation to always have it available at a moment’s notice is completely understandable since at the drop of a hat someone’s penis (allegedly!) can end up on the web and his backup is instantly becomes a hot commodity.

For many of you vets out there, years of experience has afforded you to develop your own techniques, so please share your best methods. As for some general advice, there are some key things to remember/consider:

1. Include a manager/partner in your league – That will allow you invoke “team building” and “rapport.”

2. Key Shortcuts are your friend – Two words: Alt-tab. You don’t have to explain anything if you’re fast enough.

3. Cite research – Studies show that time on the web boosts productivity. Explain to your taskmaster that you’re simply saving time by keeping the Fantasy screen available at all times. Further explain that the amount of time that you actually spend looking at it is miniscule compared to the spreadsheet for that analytic.

4. You’re human – If you find yourself schelping for a fantasy-hating superior, simply point to everything you’ve accomplished in the past hour/day/week and you’re simply taking a break. What are you, a robot?

The most important thing to remember is to have other tabs in your browser with things that are, at the very least semi-related to work. This way, you don’t have to explain yourself every time someone pops in. Keep a relevant section of the tax code open. Or a SFAS that is currently giving you fits (even if it isn’t). Or a substantive article from this fine publication.

Just because you have an imaginary football roster available at all times, doesn’t mean that you also aren’t struggling through a mind bending financial reporting issue or keeping abreast of the haps in the industry.

Oh, and for the love of God, keep your cool and play like it’s NBD. “Oh, that? Yeah. I’ve been sitting on this trade and this stupid person in my league was bothering me about it. Just trying to get them off my back.” There’s nothing worse than someone stammering for an awkward answer to an awkward question.

Again, we’re sure there are many advanced techniques out there, so we invite you to share yours below.

CFOs
SEC

Berkshire CFO Attempts to Kill SEC Curiosity

Caleb Newquist
October 25, 2010

When you’re a folksy billionaire octogenarian, you can afford to have others do your dirty work. In the case of the Warren Buffet, he has Charlie Munger hate on accountants for anything and everything under the sun.

Similarly, when the SEC comes calling, the Sage of Omaha can ring up Berkshire CFO Marc Hamburg. On the one hand, you might expect WB to shoot the breeze with the SEC employees since they likely share a fondness for a certain film genre.

However, when the conversation turns to business, the old man probably claims that he has an interview on tax cuts, a bridge match with WHGIII or a lunch date with Z-Knowles. This allows him to turn the SEC scamps over to Hamburg who plays a little bit of a bad cop to the Buffet’s chatty, dirty Grandpa. The CFO then lets the SEC know, in no uncertain terms, that they’re barking up the wrong tree:

In an April letter, the SEC asked Berkshire why it was not recording write-downs on shares with $1.86 billion in unrealized losses, all of which had been in that position for at least a year.

Given the duration of those losses, the SEC said they appeared to be more than temporary and as such should have been written down.

In a detailed response, Berkshire Chief Financial Officer Marc Hamburg said most of the losses with more than 12 months’ duration as of December 31 were concentrated in Kraft and U.S. Bancorp, shares it had acquired in 2006 and 2007.

Hamburg said that as of December 31, Berkshire determined both companies had enough earnings potential that their share prices would eventually exceed the original cost of the stock. It also has the “ability and intent” to hold the shares until they recovered, he said.

“We believe it is reasonably possible that the market prices of Kraft Foods and U.S. Bancorp will recover to our cost within the next one to two years assuming that there are no material adverse events affecting these companies or the industries in which they operate,” Hamburg said.

And if this doesn’t work, they’ll just schedule Munger for another speech.

SEC questioned Warren Buffett’s Berkshire on loss accounting [Reuters]

News
PwC

PwC Doubling Headcount in China

Caleb Newquist
October 25, 2010

All the other Big 4 firms have gotten some digital ink hyping their hiring plans for the next fiscal year and beyond. Before today, PwC had only mustered some rumored poaching which isn’t ideal PR.

The rest of the firms have already made it known that they are doing their part to create jobs here and abroad – Deloitte’s numbers are dumbfounding, KPMG’s spree includes Europe and asking its alumni come crawling back, while E&Y is picking up 6,000 recruits off campus.

P. Dubs finally gets puts some hiring news out there announcing that they will double their headcount in China over the next 5 years to over 20,000 employees.

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP plans to double its headcount in China to more than 20,000 people within the next five years to meet rising demand for professional services as the nation’s companies become more international.

“We expect more Chinese companies to expand their presence overseas, and we’d like to be part of that growth,” Silas Yang, the firm’s chairman for China and Hong Kong, said today in a statement.

PwC to Double China Headcount to More Than 20,000 Over 5 Years [Bloomberg BusinessWeek]

Accounting News Roundup: Brits Investigating Services KPMG Provided BAE Systems; How Many Times Did Harry Reid Vote to Increase Taxes?; PwC Scoffs at ‘Big 5’ Idea | 10.25.10

Caleb Newquist
October 25, 2010

BofA Finds Foreclosure Document Errors [WSJ]
The Charlotte, N.C., lender discovered errors in 10 to 25 out of the first several hundred foreclosure cases it examined starting last Monday. The problems included improper paperwork, lack of signatures and missing files, said people familiar with the results. In certain cases, information about the property and payment history didn’t match.

KPMG investigated over BAE audit [Accountancy Age]
The investigation by the Accountancy and Actuarial Discipline Board (AADB) focusBritish Aerospace/BAE Systems between 1997 and 2007, looking at commissions paid by BAE to subsidiaries, agents or other companies.

Any professional advice, consultancy or tax work provided to BAE by KPMG during that period will also come under the microscope in relation to commission payments. The investigation will focus on commissions connected to three legal entities: Red Diamond Trading; Poseidon Trading Investments; and Novelmight.

Key Tax Breaks at Risk as Panel Looks at Cuts [WSJ]
The tax benefits are hugely popular with the public but they have drawn the panel’s focus, in part because the White House has said these and other breaks cost the government about $1 trillion a year.

At stake, in addition to the mortgage-interest deductions, are child tax credits and the ability of employees to pay their portion of their health-insurance tab with pretax dollars. Commission officials are expected to look at preserving these breaks but at a lower level, according to people familiar with the matter.

Harry Reid Voted to Raise Taxes ‘Only’ 51 Times [TaxProf Blog]
Apparently there was some talk that it was actually in the ballpark of 300.

Reflections on the Basel Committee Principles for Enhancing Corporate Governance [Marks on Governance/IIA]
News you can use.

Business leaders press administration for repeat on tax break [On the Money/The Hill]
The National Association of Manufacturers and other groups argue allowing companies to “repatriate” money earned abroad to the U.S. at a lower tax rate could spur the economy by providing businesses with a burst of cash they could invest in their companies.

“The business community is looking at ways to jumpstart the economic recovery and here is one you could do without increasing the deficit,” Dorothy Coleman, vice president of tax and domestic economic policy for the manufacturers.

PwC slates FRC idea to create Big Five [Accountancy Age]
Paul Woolston, head of public sector assurance at PwC, criticised the Financial Reporting Council’s suggestion the Audit Commission be used to create a fifth player in the audit industry, currently dominated by the Big Four – PwC, Ernst & Young, Deloitte and KPMG.

“It is at least ironic that the FRC has said what it has, in that the Audit Commission itself has operated with a large monopoly,” he said.

“It is odd that the FRC is concerned about any one organisation having the market share.”

SEC Aims to Streamline Complaint Process [WSJ]
The launch is a step in the agency’s efforts to avoid bottlenecks and duplication in the handling of complaints, which traditionally have been fielded by individual SEC offices and filed there. Complicating matters is the variety of forms in which such complaints come—mail, phone calls, emails and interviews.

“This process is going to ensure that it’s all transferred into a structured format so that it can be more easily searched and analyzed,” Robert Khuzami, director of enforcement, said in an interview.

“We will have all of it in one place, searchable, which will do a lot for us in the long run,” he said.

Thus Far under Obama, the Only Individuals Paying Higher Taxes Are Smokers and Tanners, But They May Have Company Soon [Tax Foundation]
Jersey Shore quips go here.

Tree Huggers Are Indirectly Responsible for Undetected Fraud

Caleb Newquist
October 23, 2010

“How about going online and printing [the statement or report] every month as if it were mailed to you — and actually looking at it?”

~ Stephen Pedneault, a veteran forensic accountant, isn’t crazy about all the benefits of technology.

Jim Turley Explains Why You Should Work at Ernst & Young Rather Than Facebook

Caleb Newquist
October 23, 2010

JT spoke to NYU students earlier this week and of course during the Q&A, Diane Brady, a senior editor at Bloomberg threw him a softie, asking if the firm was hiring, to which Diego responded, “we’re always hiring.” This, of course brought the house down (laughs, raucous applause).

Anyway, Brady decided to throw Jim a curve and asked why a young recruit would pick E&Y over Zuckerland.

“Should students ever consider starting at a big firm of yours?” Brady said. “Why not just go out there and make the billions with Facebook? What is the attraction at Ernst & Young?”

Turley responded by saying that most entrepreneurs, despite common misconceptions, are not just out to make money.

“[Entrepreneurs] go out there to find a need,” he said. “At Ernst & Young, you have opportunities to be extraordinarily mobile and move around the world.”

His advice? “First, find something that you love doing,” Turley said. “Second, align with an organization that actually thinks about where the world is going. And lastly, find an organization that wants you to change them as opposed to them to change you.”

See, if you can’t find a need then you need care about being “extraordinarly mobile.” Seems like a fair trade-off, especially since billionaires don’t travel much.

And just curious, how would the members of Ernie’s army like the firm to change? We’re assuming JT goes with the “whatever is good for the goose” mantra. Leave your suggestions below.

Ernst & Young CEO speaks at Stern [WSN]

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

Staff Accountant

Remote Senior Tax Manager, CPA

Remote Tax Manager

Staff Accountant

Remote Senior Tax Manager, CPA

Remote Tax Manager