Going Concern

Career Center

Job of the Day: Wescott Financial Advisory Group Needs a Senior Accountant

GoingConcern
March 23, 2010

Wescott Financial Advisory Group is a growing Philadelphia based financial advisory firm that is looking for a senior accountant to join their accounting team.

This job requires 4 years experience with QuickBooks familiarity and a CPA license is preferred.

Check out more details for this position, located in Philadelphia, after the jump.

Company: Wescott Financial Advisory Group

Title: Senior Accountant

Compensation: $55,000 – $65,000

Location: Philadelphia, PA

Responsibilities: Evaluating, improving and maintaining the accuracy and integrity of all financial databases and reporting systems; Providing accurate and timely financial reports; Developing an annual budget; Working on special financial analysis, forecasting and business modeling projects as assigned; Provide system-wide testing assistance to Wescott’s Chief Compliance Officer and, along with other members of the Wescott team, identify, recommend and implement improvements to Wescott’s financial reporting practices, processes and systems.

Qualifications: 4-year degree with a emphasis on accounting or finance; Minimum of 4 year’s general accounting experience, Familiarity with Quickbooks and advanced Microsoft Excel spreadsheet construction and financial analysis skills; Financial Services experience in a multi-business unit/ regional operation and a CPA are a strong plus.

See the entire description over at the GC Career Center and visit the main page for all your job search needs.

Small Business

Venture Capitalists Pushing Bill That Would Help Small Businesses Create New Jobs

GoingConcern
March 23, 2010

This story is republished from CFOZone, where you’ll find news, analysis and professional networking tools for finance executives.

With all the talk lately about how small businesses are vital to job creation, turns out it’s a relatively small number of high-growth entrepreneurial firms creating much of that employment. And, now, there’s pending legislation, pushed heavily by venture capitalists, that could encourage the growth of such companies.

First, about those high-flying startups. According to recent research from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, fast-growing relatively young firms generate about 10 percent of all new jobs in any given year. That includes what the study calls “gazelle” firms–enterprises three to five years old. And, these ventures create all those jobs even though they’re less than 1 percent of all companies. The average firm in the top 1 percent contributes 88 jobs per year; most end up producing between 20 and 249 employees. The average firm in the economy as a whole adds two or three net new jobs each year.

Of course, these findings have important implications for government policy and what types of small business it should focus on. Among other recommendations, the study urges the passage of legislation just introduced in the Senate, informally known as the “Startup Visa Act.” Sponsored by Senators John Kerry and Richard Lugar, the bill would address the problem facing many foreign entrepreneurial wannabes who can’t get a visa to come here and start a company.

To that end, it would create a new visa for such entrepreneurs who are sponsored by a US venture capital firm or angel making an investment of at least $100,000 in an equity financing of no less than $250,000. The legislation would modify the EB-5 visa program; that requires recipients to invest at least $500,000 in a US company and create no fewer than 10 jobs.

The bill is the product of heavy lobbying by such investors as Brad Feld, who is with the venture capital firm the Foundry Group. Of course, they have their own business reasons to push this legislation but there seems to be sound research to back it up.

Is the Shortage of Good Accountants in the Sex Industry an Opportunity?

Caleb Newquist
March 23, 2010

Okay my friends, this is a serious problem in our country that needs addressed. The vast shortage of competent, professional, tax advisors and accountants for escort service businesses, brothels, and your run-of-the-mill houses of ill repute can go on no longer. If not for the business opportunity, then for the good of your fellow Americans and maybe your state’s dire fiscal situation.

Today we learned that the one of the proprietors of Companions, “a call-out escort service” in Salt Lake City that was convicted of one count of tax evasion. Jodi Hoskins and her husband Roy were both convicted of dodging taxes (he in May 2009) for the year 2002. They managed to underreport their gross receipts by $1,204,354 which resulted in evaded taxes of $485k-ish. As you can tell, this is a bit of a problem. And with all challenges/problems/giant pains in the ass, therein lies an opportunity.

Our position is that these businesses simply cannot go on without more accountants and tax professionals stepping up to help these pillars of the business community run their whorehouses better. This means you, GC readers. Your knowledge of the double-entry accounting, inventory, derivatives, and payroll will be invaluable for these entrepreneurs and their employees.

Plus! If more of these businesses are in compliance with state and federal taxes, that’s one more step to states becoming fiscally solvent AND Tim Geithner can give the cash printing machine break. Everyone wins!

Escort Service Operator Convicted of Tax Evasion [Web CPA]
Companions Website [Warning: NSFW]

Let’s Try Out the White House’s Tax Savings Tool

Caleb Newquist
March 23, 2010

After yesterday’s words of wisdom from Joe Biden on your taxes, we stumbled across the “tax savings tool” that’s so easy ~~a caveman~~ Joe Biden can do it.

We actually do believe the VPOTUS when he says it’s easy because he made the announcement yesterday with two men who aren’t exactly known to be tax mavens: IRS Commish Doug “I find the tax code complex” Shulman and Tim “I think I’ll try using TaxCut this year” Geithner.

Try your hand this thing and make up your own mind, after the jump.

Our feeling that it’s like tax planning a step or two above what Fisher-Price might put out. Which, for the majority of the American People, might still be tricky.

White House Unveils Online Tax Savings Tool [Web CPA]

Accounting News Roundup: Joint Taxation Committee Explains IRS Penalties Under Health Care Bill; Madoff Owes New York $1 Mil in Taxes; ACORN Shutting Down | 03.23.10

Caleb Newquist
March 23, 2010

• What Happens If You Don’t Buy Health Insurance under Health Care Reform Bill? [Tax Policy Blog]
Believe it or not, there is misinformation out there about the health care reform bill. No, it’s true!

One big fear is the IRS getting all up in your shit for not buying health insurance. According to some, heavily armed IRS agents will kick down your door if you haven’t made the necessary arrangements for coverage, take your children away and kick your dog as they exit your house with your money and your freedom. Fortunately, Tax Policy blog has presented the Joint Taxation Committee’s explanation of what would really happen if you decided to skip on the coverage.

The penalty applies to any period the individual does not maintain minimum essential coverage and is determined monthly. The penalty is assessed through the Code and accounted for as an additional amount of Federal tax owed. However, it is not subject to the enforcement provisions of subtitle F of the Code. The use of liens and seizures otherwise authorized for collection of taxes does not apply to the collection of this penalty. Non-compliance with the personal responsibility requirement to have health coverage is not subject to criminal or civil penalties under the Code and interest does not accrue for failure to pay such assessments in a timely manner.

• NY is newest Madoff victim [NYP]
Apparently Berns didn’t sort out all of his affairs before taking his permanent vacation to the Carolinas. He owes nearly $1 million taxes to New York State according to the Department of Tax and Finance’s list of largest delinquents.

• Acorn to Shut All Its Offices by April 1 [NYT]
After getting dropped from the VITA list by the IRS and getting snubbed by the Census Bureau, Glenn Beck’s favorite NPO is closing up shop on April Fool’s Day. Beck will certainly be on hand to see the headquarters burned to the ground to assure that the American people aren’t being duped again.

Quote of the Day

Quote of the Day: Kansas Jayhawks Fans Can Quit Crying at Any Time | 03.22.10

Caleb Newquist
March 23, 2010

“It is most accurate to say that prior to the game, most people thought that KU would win the game. Many, though, thought [that] UNI’s chance of winning was at least reasonably possible. If KU supporters didn’t think enough of UNI to … acknowledge its chance[s], it just shows they weren’t thinking.”

~ Professor David Albrecht, on why Northern Iowa’s “upset,” at least from an accounting perspective, wasn’t really an upset.

News

Former Jack Bauer Nemesis Will Portray Ken Lay in Enron the Musical

Caleb Newquist
March 23, 2010

So preview of Enron the musical opens in just over two weeks but most of you probably aren’t aware because busy season has been sucking the life out of you. Since we always feel your pain here at GC, it somehow slipped past us that the role of Ken Lay was announced last month and the role has gone to Gregory Itzin who played spineless President Charles Logan in one of the seasons of 24 that we can’t remember.

Anyhoo, since most of you living in New York avoid Times Square (except 5 TS peeps) like the Plague and the rest of you probably need a break, check out a few photos from the Broadhurst sent to us by readers:

The Top Ten Tax Procrastinating Cities

Caleb Newquist
March 23, 2010

So capital market servants, filed your tax returns yet? No? Too busy, you say? Fine. We’ve all got our excuses. Personally, we’re holding out until Doug Shulman and/or Tim Geithner start returning our calls about their compliance efforts for 2009. Since we’ve been encouraged to not hold our breath on this, we’ve already filed our extension.

But where are most of the kings of putting off the 1040 until the last minute? The greatest concentration of “I’ll do it this weekend” types? The engineers of procrastination station?

Well if you guessed Houston not only are you correct but you’ve got more useless knowledge in your brain than Ken Jennings.

TurboTax’s rankings are based on the largest number of people that file between April 14 – 17. Here are your biggest putter-offers for 2009 (with previous year ranking in parents):

1. Houston – (#2)

2. Chicago – (#4)

3. New York – (#3)

4. Austin, Texas – (#11)

5. San Francisco – (#1)

6. Seattle – (#7)

7. San Diego – (#5)

8. Los Angeles – (#8)

9. Dallas – (#9)

10. Las Vegas – (#10)

This marks the fourth time that H-town has topped this list but we’ll be damned if we can figure out why. Does the humidity and obesity cause a hibernated state that we’re not aware of or is just good old fashioned, “we’re Texans and we hate taxes”? California too. What the hell is their problem?

In order to get to the bottom of this, we asked a friend (and strangely enough, a tax guru) who is a current Los Angeles resident and former resident of Houston to explain and she put in this way:

“Well.. Californians are selfish and think they can do whatever they want to get theirs…and pretty much Texans are the same, but they do it with a smile and an accent.”

Makes total sense now.

Free Tax Filing, Efile Taxes, Income Tax Returns – TurboTax.com

Houston, We Have a Problem [Tax Break]

Who Wants to Hear Joe Biden’s Tax Advice?

Caleb Newquist
March 22, 2010

You’re welcome!

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Everybody got it?

“It’s not hard. Not even hard for me.”

“I used to do my own taxes but now everybody thinks it’s too dangerous.”

“The American People pay me a really good salary. I don’t deserve a tax break.”

Then there’s the Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr. kitchen table talk; you know the drill.

[via TaxProf]

News

Most Top Ten Accounting Firms Saw Lower Revenues, Headcount for 2009

Caleb Newquist
March 22, 2010

Accounting Today put out their annual Top 100 Firms list late last week and while it focuses on the practices in United States it give us a little bit of room to speculate about who the real contenders are for the Global Six whathaveyou.

The ranking is based on net revenues from U.S. operations but it includes a lot data on each firm including # of offices, partners, total employees, and fee split.

Deloitte runs away with this list in three of the major categories – revenues, number of partners and total employees. The Casa de Salzberg had U.S. revenue of over $10.7 billion which was greater than #2 E&Y by over $3 billion.

Here are the top 10 firms along with their revenues, number of offices, number of partners and total employees

1. Deloitte – $10.7 billion; 102; 2,968; 42,367

2. Ernst & Young – $7.6 billion; 80; 2,500; 25,600

3. PricewaterhouseCoopers – $7.4 billion; 76; 2,235; 31,681

4. KPMG – $5 billion; 88; 1,847; 22,960

5. RSM McGladrey/McGladrey & Pullen – $1.5 billion; 93; 751; 7,755

6. Grant Thornton – $1.1 billion; 37; 535; 5,414

7. BDO – $620 million; 37; 273; 2,712

8. CBIZ/Mayer Hoffman McCann – $601 million; 180; 465; 4,580

9. Crowe Horwath – $508 million; 25; 240; 2,428

10. BKD – $393 million; 31; 258; 1,891

Some other interesting information from the list includes:

• Declining Revenues – Revenues for all firms dropped with the exception of CBIZ/Mayer Hoffman McCann, Crowe Horwath and BKD. KPMG had the largest drop of nearly 11%.

• Big 4 Dominate – The non-Big 4 firms’ combined revenue (approx. $4.7 billion) is still less than KPMG (smallest of the Big 4).

• Personnel Changes – E&Y had a percentage increase in partners of 8.7% while total employees dropped nearly 6%. CBIZ/MHM saw a 32% increase in partners while total employees decreased over 12%. Only PwC and Crowe Horwath saw net increases in the number of partners and total employees.

• Audit Heavy Firms – According to the list, PwC (52%), BDO (60%), Crowe Horwath (65%), and BKD (52%) all receive at least 50% of their revenues from audit fees.

So the whole Global Six thing, as much as we like to making a BFD out of it, is a non-issue. All the firms have global connections whether it’s through their own cooperative or through an international network so to cut it off at six seems a little clique-y. We’ll flip through the AT100 for any more interesting factoids but in the meantime feel to embellish any of the information presented here.

Top 100 Firms 2010 digital edition [Free registration for Digital Edition]

Career Center

Job of the Day: Computer Sciences Corporation Needs a Tax Manager

GoingConcern
March 22, 2010

Computer Sciences Corporation is searching for a tax professional to join their corporate tax department for the purposes of managing their tax compliance and planning functions.

This job requires supervisory and management experience. Big 4 experience is a plus.

Check out more details for this position, located in Falls Church, VA, after the jump.

Company: Computer Sciences Corporation

Title: Senior Manager – Federal Tax

Location: Falls Church, VA

Description: This position directs and controls the activities of one or more functional areas, divisions, product groups or service areas.

Responsibilities: Manages tax planning and compliance function, including the preparation of Federal corporate and partnership returns; Manages the tax budgeting and forecasting process, including the preparation of estimated payments; Assist with IRS audit defense (fact gathering, tax law analysis and positioning); Research and draft tax position papers for FIN 48 and Sarbox documentation requirements; Coordinate with Legal and Business Development on due diligence for mergers and acquisitions; Develop and maintain critical relationships between Tax, Controllers, Treasury, Legal, and Business Units to ensure Tax has a well-informed view of the business operations; Coordinate closely with Tax Accounting and Reporting team to ensure timely and accurate preparation of quarterly and annual tax provision and related disclosures; Coordinate closely with International Tax function to ensure timely and proper pickup of international results in consolidated returns; Coordinate and assist State Tax function with their planning and compliance objectives; Mentor and coach Managers and Senior tax accountants in department.

Basic Qualifications: Master’s degree in accounting, finance or related field preferred; Twelve or more years of tax accounting or finance experience; Nine or more years of supervisory or management experience included; CPA preferred; Big Four experience a plus; Experience working with tax laws and procedures; Experience working with tax forms and processing; Experience working with accounting principles and accounting software and databases; Experience working with auditing and generally accepted accounting principles; Familiarity with SAP, Hyperion and CorpTax a plus.

See the entire description over at the GC Career Center and visit the main page for all your job search needs.

CPAs Spanked by SEC for Porn Site Audit

Adrienne Gonzalez
March 22, 2010

Let it be known that if you are peddling porn and engaged in online pimping, you do not want the SEC on your back.

WebCPA reports that Stephen Corso of Las Vegas and Brian Rabinovitz of Oak Park, CA got the SEC smack down in a Nevada federal court for filing materially false and misleading financial statements from 1999 – 2002 (that’s quite a backlog) and that audit staff – under the boys’ supervision – omitted important info and violated the sanctity of auditor independence during audits of Exotics.com

While the enforcement doesn’t go into specifics, we’re happy to. Exotics.com bills itself as the world’s premiere source for – wait for it – beautiful female adult entertainers. Not to be outdone, Exotics also boasts a veritable cornucopia of escort options including “BDSM & fetish providers, exotic dancers, strippers, sensual and erotic massage specialists, TSTV and other adult entertainment.” It’s that “other that really scares me. Self-billed as the Quicker Pecker Upper (kid you not), the site headline right around the time the SEC brought the heat was “Better than Wives, Girlfriends, and Porn” – and apparently above performing audits according to GAAS?

So, who wants to wildly speculate as to how audit staff violated auditor independence?

Here’s the 2005 release from our friends at the SEC:

[T]he accountants fraudulently participated in audits of Exotics-Nevada’s year-end financial statements and in a review of its quarterly financial statements and failed to conduct those engagements in accordance with GAAS, as required. The Commission also alleges in its complaint that, among other things, the accountants prepared or created many of Exotics-Nevada’s books and records and then audited the financial statements they created. According to the complaint, they also caused their firms to issue false audit reports which, together with the underlying financial statements, were incorporated in Exotics-Nevada’s public filings with the Commission.

Now listen, little auditors, you don’t shit where you live and you don’t audit your own statements. Audit sampling? I could see how it would be hard to resist in this particular instance.

CPAs Disciplined for Porn Site Accounting Fraud [Web CPA]
SEC Complaint

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