• Deloitte Consulting is Hiring [BusinessWeek]
According to BW, Deloitte is making 50 – 60 offers to experienced consultants a week, 800 new MBAs and undergrads have started with the firm in the last six months and 1,000 more offers will be made to 2010 graduates. That’s an impressive hiring spree from where we stand.

What’s not clear from the article is why the hiring is occurring at such a furious pace. You would think with the addition of 4,000 BearingPoint employees, hiring at the firm would be muted but apparently that’s not the case. The article cites DC’s utilization rate at 80%, so there’s plenty of work and DC is “inordinately high market share in mergers and acquisitions and other deals of more than $5 billion in value” and a new focus on “implementation” and “putting together strategy” for their clients.

While there’s no reason to doubt the hiring numbers, the article cites few specific examples of why the all the new blood is needed. If DC is unable to develop new business in a weak economy, the 80% utilization rate might be temporary.

• The Holy Grail of Accounting Is a Fool’s Errand [The Summa]
Professor David Albrecht doesn’t mince words on the issue of International Financial Reporting Standards, “Let me say it again, so no one can possibly misunderstand: The United States quest to join in a single set of global accounting standards (either by convergence or by adoption of IFRS) is a fool’s errand–completely absurd, pointless and useless.”

Okay but in case you’re not inclined to take him at his word, he goes on to explain:

What makes this a fool’s errand is there exists no reason for it. No one has explained what benefits exist that outweigh the need for regulation on a country by country basis.

I understand that the partners of some of the largest auditing firms will get rich, as will certain regulators that facilitate the convergence (such as David Tweedie, Mary Schapiro and James Kroeker).

What I don’t understand is why a move to a more independent private accounting setting organization with increased reliance on large audit firms will produce more effective government regulation when such actions in the past have resulted in less effective government regulation.

It’s almost a certainty that the market would become more reliant on the largest firms if the U.S. moved to IFRS and firm failure is a big concern since some are already preparing for it. Maybe the U.S. regulators are making like the ostrich?

And since the Big 4 were pushing IFRS at Davos and the SEC seems to be going along with things (tepidly) maybe the Professor is onto something here?

• Snipes asks ‘What’s new?’ about IRS plane crash [AP via TaxProf]
Well, to our recollection, no one has flown a plane into an IRS facility to complain about tax law.

• James L. Kroeker [Web CPA]
The Chief Accountant sat down for a Q&A with Web CPA to talk about the Tiger Woods press conference, the upcoming Oscars, and how his own “situation” is far more impressive than anything you’ve seen on Jersey Shore.

Actually, no he didn’t. He talked about what you’d expect him to talk about including the so-called SEC roadmap that we’ve been wondering about:

We’ve been turning our focus back to the proposed roadmap. The staff has spent innumerable hours over the late summer, throughout the fall, and now the beginning of this year turning our attentiomment letters. It’s not that the volume of comment letters is extraordinary, but the depth of thought is particularly impressive

So in other words, those of you that took the time to write the letters, it’s your fault the Commission is so far behind. Sounds to us like your 50 page, single-space masterpieces aren’t exactly breezy reading. But don’t worry, they’re muscling through.

When asked about the June 2011 convergence “deadline”, Kroeker said that he was “cautiously optimistic” that the FASB and IASB will get the lion share of the work done even though the IASB has been sending mixed signals lately. At least someone is confident.

• PCAOB Disciplines Grant Thornton Auditors [Compliance Week]
The PCAOB layed the smackdown on two Grant Thornton auditors this week for not questioning some the accounting policies of Imergent, Inc., a Salt Lake City tech company.

Partner Ray O. Westguard and manager Jennifer Nakao, were barred from practicing public company audit work for two years and one year respectively for their lack of auditorness.

According to the PCAOB, the two failed to question the revenue recognition policies and the allowance for doubtful accounts of Imergent, despite the fact that these two issues were addressed by the concurring review partner. Regardless of those concerns, the issues eventually led to an SEC investigation, the restatement of the financial statements for FY ’03 and ’04 and the firing of GT as the auditor. Maybe Grant Thornton should just avoid Salt Lake City clients altogether.

• A Prisoner’s Dilemma: AIG and Goldman Sachs Game Each Other And PwC [re:The Auditors]
Our contributor Francine McKenna describes PwC’s front row seat for the negotiations between AIG and Goldman Sachs while the two were attempting to sort out their differences:

Why did PwC decide to point the finger at AIG? Neither AIG nor Goldman Sachs had been willing to defect or betray each other thus far, per the prisoner’s dilemma, even to save them both. The dispute had been going on for more than a month, more than a quarter, more than a year. It may have been excusable for PwC to allow a mismatch in valuation on the same assets in two of their clients for a month or a quarter due to timing differences in access to information. But a serious, contentious mismatch for more than a year, through several 10Q’s, and now going on two 10K’s?

The rest over at RTA.