Going Concern

Preliminary Analytics

Preliminary Analytics | 12.02.09

Caleb Newquist
December 2, 2009

• SEC Steps Up Insider-Trading Probes – Healthcare and retail mergers from the last three years are getting the scope. [WSJ]
• Why accountants need to be bloggers – Tracy Coenen makes the convincing argument. [Blogging Suits]
• Catholic Archdiocese to Pay $14.4 million in Taxes to City of San Francisco – Too bad The money is already spent. [JDA]
• Wells Fargo to shut 122 branches in California – Mostly Wachovia branches that are too close to existing stagecoach branches. [Los Angeles Times]
• Whisky Makers Spend $800 Million to Age Scotch for China, India – Apparently, the Chinese and Indians are into the Glens. [Bloomberg]

Review Comments

Review Comments | 12.01.09

Caleb Newquist
December 2, 2009

• Several blogs mentioned here are nominated for ABA Journal’s Top 100: TaxProf Blog (Legal Theory), Tax Girl (Practice), and our sister site Above the Law (News). You can view all the nominees ABA Journal but kindly vote for these. They’re good people. [ABA Journal]
• Recommended Reading for Accountants in a Job Search – Courtesy of Lou Grabowsky, GT’s soon-to-be COO. [FINS]
• Most asked questions of 2009 reveal our financial psyche – No, “Where’s my raise?” was not among them. [CFOZone]
• Daszkal Bolton Merges in Chaves & Armstrong – Marriage was effective today. Send them a red pencil. [Web CPA]
• The Donor Bill of Rights – Looking for some last minute charitable contributions? Consider these first. [Nonprofit GPS]
• AIG Uses Accounting Gimmick To Reduce Money It Owes Taxpayers By $25 Billion – Try to act surprised. [Clusterstock]

Here’s a Good Example of How Not to Sue a Big 4 Firm

Caleb Newquist
December 2, 2009

Were you at all concerned that you would never hear another story about a lawsuit related to the AOL/Time Warner merger from 2001? A merger described by BusinessWeek as possibly being the “worst of the worst.”
AOL’s revenue recognition practices for booking online ad revenue led to restatements of their financial results from 2000 to 2002. This led to hundreds of shareholder lawsuits, most of which were consolidated into a class action suit. All of the suits have been settled or dismissed.
E&Y, who audited the AOL portion of this little gem, has now had the final lawsuit against the them dismissed. Back in 2003, AOL shareholder Dominic Amarosa decided that he was going to file suit on his own rather join the class action. Problem was, he didn’t file suit on time and failed to connect his losses to statements that were made by E&Y. Those both sound kind of important.
On top of that, Judge Colleen McMahon didn’t really care for the plaintiff or his attorney Christopher Gray, calling Amarosa a ‘vexatious litigant pursuing clearly frivolous claims’ and Gray’s tactics, ‘shenanigans.’ Judge McMahon also indicated that she was considering sanctions against Gray for said shenanigans.
So if you’re looking for a blueprint on how to completely screw the pooch on a lawsuit against a Big 4 firm, this is probably a good place to start.
Lawsuit over Time Warner-AOL merger dismissed [Reuters]

PCAOB

The PCAOB Chairman Is in It for the Money

Caleb Newquist
December 2, 2009

How’s this for awkward: Mary Schapiro makes $162,000 as the big chief at the SEC. The Chairman of the PCAOB makes $672,676 a year and board members get $546,891. And just so you know, B to the H to the O makes $400k.
The Berg says that, “Salaries for PCAOB members exceed the pay for most public officials to make the jobs competitive with the private sector,” which probably explains it but cripes. That’s good scratch for sitting in meetings all day and continually telling auditors how much they suck at their jobs.

The whole subject came up in the article because Schape and Co. are trying to find a permanent chairman to replace interim chair Dan Goelzer and two retiring board members.
The lead horse is Kurt Schact, the managing director of the CFA Institute’s Centre for Financial Market Integrity. Mr. Schact has a JD and BS in chemistry from the University of Wisconsin. Candidates for the two soon-to-be vacated board seats include one CPA, Helen Munter (Deloitte) and two former SEC attorneys, Linda Griggs and John Sturc.
Does anyone see a problem here? Does anyone think for one minute, that the PCAOB will be better off with fewer auditors guiding the ship? There must not be a single qualified auditor in the entire universe that could possibly want to chair the PCAOB. Thankless job to be sure but at least the money is decent.
Anyway, the good news is that arguments for Free Enterprise Fund v. PCAOB will be heard at the SCOTUS next week. Maybe we’ll all get lucky and this appointment crap will become meaningless.
SEC Said to Consider CFA’s Schacht to Lead U.S. Auditor Board [Bloomberg]
See also: CFA Institute’s Schacht May Chair PCAOB [Web CPA]

Uncategorized

Thanks to This Week’s Advertiser

Caleb Newquist
December 2, 2009

A quick word of thanks to this week’s advertiser on Going Concern:
• Verizon Wireless
If you’re interested in advertising on Going Concern, email us at advertising@breakingmedia.com. Thanks!

Uncategorized

Hertz Has Second Thoughts About Suing Audit Integrity

Caleb Newquist
December 1, 2009

Turns out Hertz doesn’t have the stones to follow through on its lawsuit against Audit Integrity, as the car rental company has dropped its libel suit against the independent research firm.
Audit Integrity issued a report back in September that stated that Hertz was one of several companies that “face[d] ‘the greatest risk of bankruptcy’ in the next 12 months.” Hertz took the high road, suing Audit Integrity for saying such mean (and untruthful) things.
Well now Hertz has decided that it’s not worth the time and money. That very well may be, although were more inclined to think that they came to their senses that suing an independent research firm for their opinion wasn’t such a hot idea.

Crain’s New York:

Hertz’s aborted suit joins the pantheon of other unsuccessful legal efforts by companies to silence disagreeable analysts. Those that brought such actions include BankAtlantic Bancorp, retailer Overstock.com and drug-maker Biovail.

Overstock suing an analyst for saying not-so-nice things? There’s a shocker. BankAtlantic went after DB’s favorite woodland creature, Dick Bové (which is sort of embarrassing since he’s so cuddly), and Biovail’s lawsuit caused the SEC and DOJ to launch investigations which resulted in the company paying millions in fines and pleading guilty to criminal charges. Not exactly pristine company.
Audit Integrity — not being one to just bend over for some a company that once was endorsed by a certain acquitted murderer — called on the SEC to investigate Hertz for this dodgy lawsuit and now Hertz seems to have seen the light.
Press Release.pdf
Hertz puts brake on libel suit against analyst [Crain’s New York]
See also:
Hertz caves [Felix Salmon/Reuters]

Career Center

The Partner Track: Open Thread

Caleb Newquist
December 1, 2009

A friend of GC recently brought up the holy grail of public accounting: admission to the partnership. We were informed that in one Big 4 office in the west, the timeline for making partner had recently increased from 12 – 13 years to 15 – 16 years.

Maybe three additional years after a dozen is NBD but it might cause some to jump ship.

We would assume that this trend would be more likely in smaller markets but we’re opening this to you to discuss what you’re hearing about your office and firm.

Vote in our poll below about your partner aspirations and discuss further in the comments (and anything else partner-related for that matter). For the current partners kindly give your future partners some perspective on the journey. The good, the bad, whatever.

Online Surveys & Market Research

SHOCKER: Tax Reform Will Have to Wait

Caleb Newquist
December 1, 2009

If you’re like us, you’ve been anticipating the report on tax reform from the President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board like teenage girls jonesing for New Moon.
Unfortunately, the report has been delayed and the Board will only be issuing “an almanac” of ideas at this point. The original deadline was for this Friday but you know how that goes.

Apparently you heeded the call put forth by the White House because they’re still reviewing all your brilliant ideas:
Tax Vox (our emphasis):

The White House statement says the board has not yet had time to review the hundreds of ideas it has received from the public. At the time same time, it asked for more suggestions. Yet, it is hard to believe that the panel is going to hear much new. After all, the ground of simplification and enforcement has been pretty well-plowed for years.

So keep those ideas coming people. Anything goes. Abolishment? Sure, they’ll think about it. Taxing the stupid? Best idea we’ve heard so far. If you’ve got suggestions, drop them here first then ring up the WH. They’re waiting.
White House Tax Reform Report Delayed Until Next Year [Tax Vox]
Also see:
President’s Tax Reform Task Force to Miss Dec. 4 Deadline to Issue Report [TaxProf Blog]
Tax Reform Panel: Something Someday [Tax Update Blog]

Uncategorized

Patrick Byrne Misses Golden Opportunity to Solicit Potential Auditors

Caleb Newquist
December 1, 2009

Just when we thought the hubbub around shareholder servant Patrick Byrne had gone on hiatus, we came across a post from Gary Weiss telling us that Patsy bailed on a CNN appearance for State of the Union with John King.
According to the website, “Patrick Byrne, Chairman & CEO of Overstock.com, looks at how consumer spending will fare this holiday season during a global recession.”

As Weiss notes:

Seriously, though, CNN’s bookers had no choice. What other CEO of any retail outlet bigger than a pushcart would be available during the busiest retailing weekend of the year? Byrne was scheduled to appear from studios in San Francisco, not Salt Lake City, where the corporate headquarters is located.
Here he was, while his company teetered on ruin, either flying into San Francisco for the chance to get his puss on national TV, or living it up on Telegraph Hill or wherever, far from his beleaguered and SEC-investigated company.

Apparently Byrne was late and dropped from the show. There is no transcript available for his appearance but if his smiling mug (hopefully posing on a Segway) made an appearance, by all means let us know.
In all likelihood, he was on the hunt for Friehling & Horowtiz’s San Fran office but an open plea on national television seems like a better way to find his company’s next auditor. Oh well. Next time!
“Economic Expert” Patrick Byrne Dumped by CNN [Gary Weiss]
More GC Coverage of Patrick Byrne/Grant Thornton saga:
Patrick Byrne: Noooo, Grant Thornton, You’re Lying
Grant Thornton: Patrick Byrne’s Pants Are on Fire

Preliminary Analytics

Preliminary Analytics | 12.01.09

Caleb Newquist
December 1, 2009

• Arming Goldman With Pistols Against Public: Alice Schroeder – Team Jehovah is packing. [Bloomberg]
• Federal Estate Tax Bill Up for A Vote – Four weeks to go until the estate tax is repealed and now Congress is trying to vote on legislation to extend it. The original repeal passed in 2001. Our representatives at work. [Tax Girl]
• Grant Thornton LLP launches Aerospace and Defense industry group – Forget the “Global 6” thing, this will make GT an intergalactic firm. [Press Release]
• Ensuring Integrity: 4th Annual Audit Conference – Short on CPE? Get seven hours over at Baruch tomorrow for $345. Jim Peterson of Re: Balance will be on one of the panels and the keynote will be given by Robert Kueppers, Deputy CEO of Deloitte. [Baruch College]
• GE, Vivendi Forge Tentative Deal on NBC Stake – How does Jack Donaghy feel about this? [WSJ]
• Rothstein surrenders himself to the FBI – “Rather than a formal indictment, federal authorities will file what is known as ‘an information’ that would suggest that Rothstein has already agreed to eventually plead guilty.” [Miami Herald]

Review Comments

Review Comments | 11.30.09

Caleb Newquist
December 1, 2009

• Corporate America to workers: We’re not hiring, you’ll just have to work harder – Sound familiar? [NYDN]
• The Tax Code ENCOURAGES Leverage – Phase out the interest deduction? [Naked Capitalism]
• Year-end tax planning – Yes, it’s almost here. [The Fraud Files Blog]
• Bankruptcy Filings Continue to Surge – Business bankruptcies are up 52% for the same twelve month period from one year ago. [D&O Diary]
• Grant Thornton LLP Business Optimism Index reports little change with U.S. senior executives – The gist: few are hiring, they think the recession will last longer. [Press Release]

Uncategorized

The Latest Solution to Your State’s Fiscal Troubles

Caleb Newquist
December 1, 2009

CNN, who sometimes puts out pure and utter crap, has issued a 50-state ranking of potential tax revenues that could be earned if marijuana was legalized and taxed.
The ranking is based on “state-by-state marijuana consumption, from Jeffrey Miron (Harvard University, Department of Economics), Budgetary Implications of Marijuana Prohibition,” according to Paul Caron at TaxProf Blog. The total tax revenue projected by the study is $778 million.
Shockingly, California would benefit the most (especially since they won’t get additional money from Ahnuld), earning an estimated $105 million. A couple of notable states in the top twenty include Colorado and Oregon who both jumped considerably on the list as compared to where they rank in population. In other words, ganja use per capita is higher there (yes, that’s an intentional pun).
What the study fails to incorporate is the increase in sales tax revenues that would result from the surge in junk food and movie ticket sales. Despite this omission, the study demonstrates that all states would earn money that they would otherwise gone to some weird dude that only has black lights in his apartment.
Since this partial solution makes entirely too much sense, we expect the majority of states to continue to cut education and public service jobs to meet their budget goals.
Projected Revenues From Marijuana Tax [TaxProf Blog]

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