Going Concern

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Job of the Day: Genworth Financial Needs an Assistant Controller

GoingConcern
February 9, 2010

Genworth Financial needs an assistant controller that can manage a variety of responsibilities including overseeing the SEC reporting process, staying cognizant of technical accounting issues, and engage with external auditors.

Qualified candidates need a CPA and a minimum of 8 years experience with a Big 4 or public company experience; preference to those with insurance and international experience.

Get more details after the jump.

Company: Genworth Financial

Title: Assistant Controller

Location: Raleigh, NC

Experience: 8 – 12 years

Description: Reports to the International Controller in the International Headquarters in Raleigh, NC. The role has oversight of 3 reports across the globe.

Responsibilities: Manage monthly close process facilitating with our Corporate headquarters and our platform level controllership teams within the various countries; individually perform and oversee aspects of GAAP reporting, maintaining strong communications between our countries and our Corporate partners (Analytics, Financial Statement Review); provide technical guidance on US GAAP treatment to our in-country Controllers in conjunction with our Corporate TAG (Technical Accounting Guidance) group; develop and lead change process internationally to ensure continuing compliance with technical developments; responsible for Controllership aspects of New Country and New Product Launch, Acquisitions, and Divestitures in conjunction with our Corporate partners; provide analysis and business input on quarterly SEC reporting and necessary audit support; responsible for participating in Genworth wide finance and non-finance initiatives as required by the business; oversee and manage the account reconciliation process; follow-through and execution of all identified audit findings, as necessary; proactively identify and facilitate global resolution of issues; participate in policy review and implementation.

Qualifications: CPA; BA/BS in Accounting; Strong understanding of ERP Ledger systems (Oracle, SAP, PeopleSoft); Public Company Experience; Big 4 Accounting Experience; Strong Project Management and Process Skills; 8 – 12 years Experience.

Preferred Qualifications: Insurance Industry Experience; international experience; MBA

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

News

‘Subversive’ Organizations Must Register in South Carolina; Terrorist Tax to Follow?

Caleb Newquist
February 9, 2010

Do you have a client thinking of starting a subversive organization in South Carolina? Are they looking to expand their network of businesses to include one with the expressed mission of overthrowing the U.S. government? Thought so!

Just so you know, they are required by law to register with Secretary of State and declare their intentions or they will be subject to a $25,000 fine and 10 years in prison. Let’s keep the ship tight people.

The Subversive Activities Registration Act was passed last year by the Palmetto State legislature and is now officially on the books. Oh! And there is a $5 filing fee (we attached for the form below for your convenience).

If you’re not sure if the new entity will qualify, the law defines subversive organization:

(1) “Subversive organization” means every corporation, society, association, camp, group, bund, political party, assembly, body or organization, composed of two or more persons, which directly or indirectly advocates, advises, teaches or practices the duty, necessity or propriety of controlling, conducting, seizing or overthrowing the government of the United States, of this State or of any political subdivision thereof by force or violence or other unlawful means

South Carolina, clearly not satisfied with the job being done at DHS, obviously enacted this little gem of legislation to exploit these organizations’ propensity for full disclosure. What’s the point of organizing a business with such an important purpose if everything isn’t going to be on the up and up?

The Raw Story reports that enacting redundant legislation is the norm for the Palmetto State as “[it] is among those states which require drug dealers to declare their illegal income, or face additional criminal penalties on top of the already established penalties for buying, possessing and selling drugs.”

We can only assume that the SC pols will now get to work on a new “Terrorist Tax” that will be known as the Super-Anti-American Business Sucks Act. It seems like a natural progression of the legislation there.

No joke: South Carolina now requires ’subversives’ to register [The Raw Story]
Terrorists Must Register With SC Secretary Of State [Fits News]
[h/t Joe Kristan and Russ Fox of Taxable Talk]
SubversiveAgentForm

News

Ex-KPMG Associate Sets New Bar for Expense Reimbursement Abuse

Caleb Newquist
February 9, 2010

We meant to get to this on Friday but as you recall, our plans we’re slightly derailed by forces beyond our control. We’re sharing it now because there are lessons here for all the newbies out there. Pay attention, this could one of you.

During busy season the temptation to get a little aggressive with the expense reimbursement comes naturally to just about everyone. If you deny this particular bit of weakness then you are either A) lying through your coffee-stained teeth or B) in the wrong profession; join the clergy.

It should be noted that the abuse of reimbursement policy has relative levels of ridiculousness. Partners can rationalize and get away with more extravagant abuse than a mere associate so keep that in mind here.

So maybe every once in awhile you and some team members slip out for a three martini lunch that falls on the expensive side and you ram it through on your expense report because you figure you deserve it. Totally natch.

It gets overboard when you have the tendency to place some wagers and because you’re a degenerate loser, you start submitting expenses to fund this little gambling hobby.

Vikas Gupta was employed by KPMG until he couldn’t pass his “accountancy exams” aaaaannnnddd it was discovered that he claimed expenses of £25,000 to fund his gambling and to pay off debt. Gupta claims that he hit “various internal charge codes” to charge the expenses; which, we hear, is a typical methodology.

Gupta also claims that he suffered from depression (losing streaks will do that), is now in Gamblers Anonymous and is employed by a new firm, so he’s back on the straight and narrow.

This didn’t impress a tribunal of the Institute of Chartered Accountants for England and Wales (the AICPA of E&W), who has recommended that Gupta be banned from having provisional membership for 12 months and to be “severely reprimanded.” Since he has no means to pay fines (he entered an individual voluntary agreement), one can assume that the reprimand will consist of 30 lashes, a marathon of technical accounting trainings, or both.

Ex-KPMG trainee admits £25,000 expenses fraud [Accountancy Age]

News

Winners and Losers in the Overstock Restatement

Caleb Newquist
February 9, 2010

With Overstock.com announcing last week that they would be restating their financial statements for the the last three quarters and their 2008 consolidated financial statements, it marked another open-mouth-insert-foot moment for Patrick Byrne and his Company.

This will be the third restatement in the last three years. We understand that financial reporting can be tricky but this doesn’t make for a very good pattern.

Winners:

• Steve Cohen, Michael Milliken, Sam Antar, Joe Nocera, Gary Weiss, Roddy Boyd, Barry Ritholtz, Felix Salmon, Henry Blodget, John Carney, Joe Wisenthal, et al. – Anyone and everyone vilified by Patrick Byrne because they questioned either him, his Company, or both. Patrick Byrne has always maintained that these people were part of large conspiracy of short sellers and financial bloggers and journalists. The restatement simply proves that whatever suspicions they had about Overstock, they were right. Plus all their friends and family on Facebook were violated by creepazoid and Deep Capture hatchet-man, Judd Bagley. That’s just not cool.

• Grant Thornton – Not sure if GT realized it at the time, but getting fired by Overstock is looking pretty good right now. So they changed their minds on the accounting; BFD, right? It happens and clients typically get over it. Pat Byrne decided that it was unacceptable and that LOUDLY crucifying GT in SEC filings, the press, and on conference calls would convince everyone that the auditors were idiots and Overstock and he would triumph over this injustice. Grant Thornton did not hesitate in chanting “liar, liar pants on fire” to Patsy’s face (nothing to lose, they were already fired) and now they’re clear of this three ring circus.

Losers:

PricewaterhouseCoopers – PwC was the auditor for Overstoc prior to Grant Thornton and had always signed off on the company’s financial statements (excellent service in PB’s mind). Now that the restatement has occurred, PwC gets dragged back into the fray to explain what they did, why they did it, and how they got it wrong. A) That just sucks and B) who the hell is going to remember what the hell they did four years ago?

Overstock shareholders – Any Company that restates their financial statements with any regularity whatsoever should be avoided like a group of lepers. If you’re still currently long in Overstock, you have the chance to make the right the decision: sell while the shares are worth something. Your humble servant Patrick Byrne has failed you.

Jury is out:

KPMG: For some reason, Klyneveld Salt Lake City decided that despite Overstock’s dubious past, they were willing to roll the dice. The firm now has the pleasure of guiding the firm through this restatement and somehow pulling the audit for fiscal year 2009 together. The whole exercise reeks of futility. Anyone that happened to be assigned to this engagement and a shred of sanity would have given their notice on the spot. For the time being, the firm seems to be sticking it out but time will tell if the firm changes their mind about their risky new client.

SEC: Everyone knows that the Commission doesn’t have the best track record of late. They have managed to be the laughingstock of the entire bureaucracy and despite a lot of huffing and puffing about new divisions and putting together a dream team of enforcement and financial experts, we haven’t seen much for results. Overstock may be a chance to show everyone that they’re done taking shit and that they are going to start smacking companies around.

Accounting News Roundup: New IASB Short-change Investors; Can California’s Budget Process Be Fixed?; The SEC Dream Team Profile | 02.09.10

Caleb Newquist
February 9, 2010

• Investors Dissed as Two Appointed to IASB [The Summa]
Investors appear to have been short-changed by the latest appointments to the IASB. Dr. Elke König and Darrel Scott both have corporate accounting backgrounds and represent decidedly different ideas about what accounting rules should be, according to Prof. Albrecht, “Corporations prefer flexible accounting rules so that similar transactions can be accounted for differently by companies or even by a single company. Investors prefer more rigid accounting rules so that transactions are accounted for in a uniform manner.”

Further, the purpose of financial reporting is quite different between the IASB and the FASB, “In the United States, the purpose of financial accounting is widely viewed as providing information to investors so they can make the best investment decisions. In contrast, the purpose of financial accounting under the IASB is to help companies raise capital.”

• Fixing Seasons of California Discontent [WSJ]
California is approaching the last few months of its fiscal year and that means one thing: another huge budget shortfall! The Journal reports on the State Legislature trying to fix it’s impotent ways:

Two groups are pushing ballot initiatives they say would purge that chaos from Sacramento’s budget process. A bipartisan group, California Forward, is pushing a reform to let legislators pass budgets by a simple majority instead of the current two-thirds threshold. Repair California, which is affiliated with a pro-business group, is gathering support to hold a constitutional convention to rewrite state laws. Such a convention could alter the budget process and other facets of governance in California.

California Forward would like to put a measure on the November ballot that allow the legislature to pass budgets with a simple majority but require a two-thirds majority to raise taxes. That sounds like something, plus these IOUs are just plain embarrassing:

“We just have to stop the madness of these IOUs being issued and these horrible budget delays,” said Bob Hertzberg, a former Democratic speaker of the California Assembly who is co-chair of California Forward. “It sends a message…that California is dysfunctional.”

Yeah, we’ve gotten that message; specifically about the legislature.

• S.E.C. Enforcers Focus on Avoiding Madoff Repeat [NYT]
The Times profiles members of the new SEC Dream Team where Bernie Madoff is not to be spoken, “Many here refer to the scandal…as ‘the event’ or ‘the incident.'”

It was an incident all right.

Of course, the mind-numbing bureaucracy didn’t help, “Under Ms. Schapiro’s predecessor, Christopher Cox, investigators had to get approval from the five S.E.C. commissioners to negotiate financial penalties against corporations. She lifted that restriction. Enforcement lawyers had always had to get permission from the commission to open an investigation involving subpoenas. She has authorized the enforcement division to do that on its own.”

Now that Team Khuzhami can get down to business without all the rubber stamping, we’re expecting great things. It’s not like they can get worse.

Quote of the Day

Quote of the Day: So We Should Expect That SEC Filing Any Day Now? | 02.08.10

Caleb Newquist
February 9, 2010

“In my opinion, KPMG will resign the engagement if there is reason to doubt management integrity, and will not be rushed into issuing an audit opinion by NASDAQ-listing deadlines needed to avoid Overstock.com becoming a Pink Sheet or Bulletin Board stock.”

~ Howard B. Sirota, former lead counsel in Crazy Eddie class action suits

CFOs

Broadway Production of Enron Has Its CFO

Caleb Newquist
February 9, 2010

As we anticipate the greatest thing to happen to Broadway since George Bush’s penis, we now know who will play the most important role of the entire production: numbers magician Andy Fastow.

The honor goes to Stephen Kunken, best know for his role as James Reston in Frost/Nixon. He will be alongside Norbert Leo Butz who will be playing Jeff Skilling.

We located the list of the cast for the London production of Enron and there is a role for “Arthur Andersen” and two for “Lehman Brothers” so these key roles still need to be filled.

Back to the future Tony winner; we don’t envy the research that Kunken has ahead of him since we’re assuming that he’ll have to channel the book cooking prowess of AF. Then again, since he’s an actor, he only has to pretend to know what he’s talking about with regard to accounting and financial reporting; there’s accountants out there doing that every day.

Kunken Will Play Enron CFO on Broadway [Playbill]

News

This Man Hates Taxes More Than He Loves His Family

Caleb Newquist
February 9, 2010

Well, he doesn’t come right out and say that but actions speak louder than words, amiright?

This is Guy Hands, Founder, Chairman and Chief Investment Officer of Terra Firma a private equity firm with locations in London, Frankfurt, and Guernsey where he currently resides.

He moved there last April from Kent, a county in Southeast England, to “protest at higher income and capital gains tax rates,” and that “he has ‘never visited’ his school age children since he left the [the United Kingdom]. They have remained with his wife at their former family home in Kent and they now have to travel to Guernsey to see him.”

Guy “Father Knows Best” Hands also doesn’t visit his parents any more “and would not do so except in an emergency,” so he’s not much of a son either.

The devoted family man is an “‘outspoken’ critic of UK tax levels,” so this level of commitment to avoid paying taxes shouldn’t be a surprise. Non-resident tax status is at stake here; he won’t set foot in a UK airport even to transfer.

GH’s shrewd sensibilities were revealed in court papers last week as the venue for his dispute with Citigroup over Terra Firma’s purchase of music group EMI is being decided. If the proceedings are moved to London, Hands’ tax planning could be completely thwarted and — gasp — he might see his children in the UK (if time permits of course).

I save tax by never visiting my family, says tycoon Guy Hands [Guardian]

Ex-Ernst & Young Partner Sentenced to One Year and a Day for Securities Fraud

Caleb Newquist
February 9, 2010

James Gansman, a former E&Y partner in transaction services, was sentenced to one year and one day in jail on Monday after being convicted on six counts of securities fraud last year.

Gansman had provided his mistress, Donna Murdoch, with tips on mergers that Ernst & Young were advising which she subsequently traded on. Despite the help, Murdoch needed more money and she began an affair with another man who used the tips to make trades.

To add insult to injury, Murdoch ultimately cooperated with investigators and testified against Gansman. She is still awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to fifteen charges of securities fraud, obstruction of justice, and making false statements.

Beside making bad relationship choices, Gansman’s hot tips were in violation of E&Y’s “written policies and the duty of trust owed to the firm’s clients.” That extra day in prison should give him just enough time to study better decision making.

Ex-Ernst & Young Partner Gansman Sentenced To 1 Year, Day In Prison [WSJ]

News

Five Things That Make Busy Season Suck

Caleb Newquist
February 9, 2010

Here it is the second week of February and we’re concerned that many of you are working too hard. We’re guessing that many of you are already having nightmares about your senior/manager/partner putting condiments all over your work and then eating them while you watch in horror.

However your busy season is going, we here at GC decided to put our heads together to give you a list of some of the things about busy season that make it such a bitch; not to remind you of them but to let you know that we feel your pain. These appear in no particular order and were created by our own sick minds so if anything is missing you’ll have to point out the omissions.

• Gaining weight – Unless you’re a die-hard gym rat, your exercise regiment has probably been paired back significantly. Combine that with the all the cheap soda and takeout you’re eating on a nightly basis, that button on your pants is hanging on for dear life.

• Losing sleep – As we mentioned, work dreams seem to be part of many accountant’s busy season routine. Maybe it isn’t dreams for you; maybe you just wake up at 3 am thinking about the meeting you have coming up that day and you can’t get back to sleep so you throw on the business casual uniform and get to the office at 4 am to start your day. OR maybe you’re just working so many hours that the time between your departure and arrival times at work have shortened precipitously.

• Your busy season plan has been completely shot to hell – There’s a some saying about a road, intentions and Hell or something that we can’t remember but it basically means however good your plans were they probably hit a snag somewhere along the way and now you’re scrambling. When we asked our Tweeps about their busy seasons we got one response “it’s all about planning and execution.” Right. That execution is the tricky part.

• You’ve somehow ended up in an unexpected relationship – The busy season bitch if you will. Let’s not pretend it’s not happening people. One of you made an awkward advance and now you’ve got a situation on your hands. Whether it’s someone on your team or a client contact, more often than not, this ends badly. A band aid breakup is needed.

• Hours – Face it; this is the cause of all your pain. Regardless of what your teams do to make things bearable, the hours are just a bitch. Sitting on your ass, in front of that computer, listening to the person next to attempting to burp quietly while sucking down five sodas a day is about to drive you postal. Of course there are the sickos out there that somehow gear up every day to put in another 14 hours but those demented bastards plug in when they go home.

Career Center

Job of the Day: Morgan Stanley Needs a Stock Option Guru

GoingConcern
February 8, 2010

With all the outrage around big bonuses more executives (read: Jamie, Lloyd) will be getting larger portions of their payouts in the form of equity. This is good news for those of you that can’t get enough of FAS 123(R) or Topic blah blah blah in the codification.

Morgan Stanley is looking for an associate or senior associate to join their financial controllers group that will specialize in compensation reporting, preferably a CPA or CPA candidate with proficiency in equity-based compensation plans.

Get the details after the jump.

Company: Morgan Stanley

Title: Associate/Sr Associate – Financial Controllers (Compensation Accounting)

Location: New York, NY

Experience: 2 – 5 years

Description: Compensation Accounting Team within HR Controllers is seeking to fill a newly created position at the Associate or Sr. Associate level. This position will be responsible for functions related to compensation reporting and will work on the accounting related to the firm’s equity-based compensation plans.

Responsibilities: Managing the reporting of actual and estimated earnings per share information for external reporting purposes and monthly forecasting to senior management; Monthly, quarterly and year-end financial close activities: general ledger maintenance, journal entries and account reconciliations; Booking amortization for stock-based compensation performance awards and cash-settled equity awards; Maintaining a strong control environment and audit documentation over various share reporting & earnings per share related areas; Improving the reporting and analytics related to equity-based compensation plans.

Skills: B.A./B.S. Accounting or Finance; CPA or CPA-candidate preferred; approximately two to five years related work experience in financial accounting and/or financial reporting preferred; financial services industry and stock-based compensation experience preferred; proficiency in technical accounting research skills related to earnings per share and stock-based compensation preferred (e.g., FAS 128, FAS 123R, ASC 718, ASC 260).

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

News
Tax

Reminder: Your Super Bowl Gambling Winnings Are Taxable

Caleb Newquist
February 8, 2010

So it’s the Monday after the Super Bowl and most of you are suffering from some kind of hangover. Whether it was caused by food, booze or you’re simply wallowing in a lack of a Peyton Manning comeback, this day should really be a national holiday (even non-football fans can agree on that notion).

Melancholy, indigestion and cocktail flues aside, the other certainty that comes with the SB is gambling. And we’re not talking friendly-poker-game gambling, we’re talking recklessly wagering on every single aspect of the biggest spectacle in sports gambling.

Two of the most creative wagers we’ve seen so far was the betting on rating for the Focus on the Family (featuring Tim Tebow and Mamma Tebow!) ad and the betting the spread between Kim Kardashian’s measurements and Reggie Bush’s rushing and receiving production. Both of which are completely ridiculous, yet sheer genius.

Regardless of where you put your money yesterday (we took the overs on Archie Manning appearances and lost), there are plenty of big winners from yesterday’s game. And now that we have a government who is feverishly trying to close a deficit gap, the question remains: will the IRS more aggressively pursue taxpayers for their unreported gambling winnings?

If you’re a degenerate loser than this obviously doesn’t apply to you but if you’re lucky enough to find some extra scratch in your pocket, you’re legally obligated to report that income next year.

Our government is looking for solutions anywhere possible, so it’s entirely possible that you could find yourself on the wrong end of an IRS-issued shotgun if you’re leaving your winnings off next year’s 1040. Look, it’s not that crazy and the pols need all the ideas they can get. You’ve been warned.

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