Last week we checked in with those of you working on 10-Q’s for the second quarter and it sounded like it was pretty quiet.
Large accelerated filers have until 5:30 EST today to get their 10-Q’s submitted. Any last minute meltdowns out there? Anyone going on 48 hours of no sleep to pull this one off? Let us know in the comments or email us at tips@goingconcern.com.
- Apparently Shouting “Promote Me! Promote Me!” in a Partner’s Face Can Get You Promoted at Deloitte
- Monday Morning Accounting News Brief: You Can’t Spell Audit Without AI; An Elaborate Scheme to Defraud the Air Force | 4.6.26
- Friday Footnotes: EY Tells Tax to Get Back in the Office; Associates Are Vibe Coding Now | 4.3.26
Bean Counter Obituary: Eli Mason, 1920-2009
Eli Mason, a driving force for the independence of accountants and an outspoken critic of large accounting firms, died last week at the age of 88.
He was a CPA for more than 60 years, starting his own firm in 1946 with two clients. He served on the NYS Board for Public Accountancy for ten years, including two as the chair. He was also the President of the NYS Society of CPA’s for 1972-1973.
According to the New York Times obituary:
Mr. Mason went to the business school of the City College of New York, where he studied accounting with Emanuel Saxe, a distinguished professor and one of the accounting world’s stars at the time. He graduated in 1940 and was a lifelong supporter of the college, now Baruch College of the City University of New York , where he endowed a chair for accounting in 1992 and financed the restoration of the school’s biggest auditorium, now called Mason Hall.
More, after the jump
Mr. Mason was taking on the big firms before most of us were born:
In 1979, he helped found the National Conference of C.P.A. Practitioners, which consisted of 1,500 small firms, and became one of the profession’s most vocal critics of the big accounting firms, then known as the Big Eight. In particular he resented the practice he referred to as lowballing, or aggressively cutting prices, sometimes below cost, to attract new clients.
He also saw the danger of firms offering consulting services and the consolidation of the large firms when the mergers began in the 1980s:
He also spoke against the industry’s mergers in the 1980s, which reduced the number of major firms to five, and he was critical of large firms that offered consulting services as well, fearing this would erode their independence from their clients. Many of his fears turned out to be justified later when the accounting scandals of Enron and WorldCom highlighted the cozy relationship between some of the world’s top accounting firms and the companies they were supposed to audit. Arthur Andersen was one, having been Enron’s accounting firm.
Mr. Mason was known as an accounting purist and earned the nickname “the conscience of the profession”, something we could certainly use more of. Follow this link to read an interview he did with the CPA Journal in 1999. He will be missed and our condolences go out to his family.
Eli Mason, 88, Outspoken Accountant, Is Dead [New York Times]
Rumor of the Morning: Tax Layoffs to Come After Filing Deadlines?
Over the weekend we received an email that basically confirmed our suspicions that many of you were working over the weekend. Considering the time of year, it doesn’t come as much of a surprise that hours are starting to pile up and you’re spending at least one hour a night deciding where you’re ordering take out from.
We received word over the weekend that tax groups at KPMG PwC all the major firms are working like crazy already in anticipation for the September 15th and October 15th filing deadlines.
There have also been whispers among some in the tax practice at KPMG that layoffs may occur after the deadlines due to large number of idle hands that will be around after the deadlines pass.
Tax associates out there, let’s know what your hours have been, what you’re hearing about post-deadline layoffs, and where you don’t want to get take out from ever again.
Preliminary Analytics | 08.10.09
• Paulson’s Calls to Goldman May Have Tested Ethics – “During the week of the A.I.G. bailout alone, Mr. Paulson and Mr. Blankfein spoke two dozen times, the calendars show, far more frequently than Mr. Paulson did with other Wall Street executives.” Paging Representative Waters. [DealBook]
• Textbooks Offered for iPod, iPhones – “A provider of subscription e-textbooks for college students is making its 7,000-plus titles accessible on Apple Inc.’s iPhone and iPod Touch as interest heats up in the digital-textbook arena.” [WSJ]
• States End Up Losers in Gambling Pullback – Now, everyone loses! [WSJ]
• Expert: Madoff Victims May Wait 15 Yrs. For Full Payout – “…some non-wealthy clawback subjects paying $50 to $100 a month in an installment plan.” [New York Post]
• Even sex tough to sell in this recession – BAIL-OUT! BAIL-OUT! BAIL-OUT! [Greg Burns/Chicago Tribune]
Going Concern Weekend: Your Weekend Plans
The summer weekends are running out people. So what are you up to? BBQ? Beach? Baseball?
10-Q’s? TAX RETURNS?
Here’s an email we received late last night:
Check out one accountant’s plans, after the jump
I am working both days this weekend. On top of that, I had to work (although not explicitly enforced) on a holiday. The problem is upper management says all these things about maintaining a healthy balance at work but in reality it can never be realized. They say to eat your lunch in peace but they also say do a boat load of work by the end of the day. No sane human can even take an hour in the middle of a day to do such a thing. The duplicity is beyond annoying. Shitty management across the board. Nothing is sacred to these people except for the revenue generated from a bunch of stupid clients.
Sounds like a party. Are you working this weekend? Let us know what’s going on at tips@goingconcern.com. If you know someone that is working this weekend, pass this along so we can get the scoop on how much fun they’re having.
10-Q’s are due Monday, Corporate tax deadline is just a month away, sleep is becoming optional but GC is here for you. Let it out. You’ll feel better.
Review Comments | 08.07.09
• Don’t forget to join our group on Facebook!
• Enforcement push gives SEC image boost Let it be known that we still think very lowly of the SEC. [FT.com]
• Ethics Panel Clears Dodd in Countrywide Refinancing If only Chris Dodd had that Angelo Mozilo glow there might have been more of an obvious connection. [Bloomberg]
• A Defense of Bank of America’s Chief FTW Ken Lewis! [DealBook]
• Former Rabbi Charged in $35M Tax Fraud Scheme 3,300 tax returns using the names of prison inmates. [Web CPA via TaxProf Blog]
• D.C. Circuit Slams IRS, Opens Door to Billions of Dollars Telephone Excise Tax Refunds [TaxProf Blog]
Madoff CFO to Be Charged
Frank DiPascali, Bernie Madoff’s CFO Number-Maker-Upper is going to be charged in connection with some money gone missing. DiPascali has agreed to skip the grand jury and get down to business, according to Bloomberg, indicating that he might flip. DiPascali seems to be taking a cue from another pseudo-bean counter who’s only plausible defense is stupidity.
U.S. to File Charges Against DiPascali, Ex-Madoff CFO [Bloomberg]
Your Token IRS/UBS Update
In, oh for the love of God make it stop, news, Judge Alan Gold has allowed the IRS and UBS more time to hammer out a deal over 52,000-someodd names of American account holders.
There was supposed to be a deal today but then the judge said the 10th would be fine. Now the 12th is the date and if that doesn’t work, then they have until 17th. OH to hell with it. Who needs a drink?
U.S. and UBS Get More Time to Reach a Deal [DealBook]
Michael Jackson’s Doctor is a Deadbeat
We have failed again to avoid deceased King of Pop news. Turns out the doctor who is suspected of providing Jackson with drugs that may have killed him is also is a tax scofflaw.
Dr. Conrad Murray is facing a $20k tax lien to the State of California, who, we’ve heard, needs the money. It was filed nine days before Jackson died which will likely add to the batsh!t crazy conspiracy theories surrounding his death.
Michael Jackson Doctor Faces Tax Lien [Web CPA]
Colonial Bank Shouldn’t Make Any Late Summer Plans
So all that fuss over at Colonial Bank? Accounting irregularities, natch. According to Reuters, “Colonial BancGroup Inc (CNB.N) said it faces a criminal probe by the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) related to accounting irregularities at its mortgage lending unit, and the struggling lender warned it may be put under receivership.”
The SEC is also taking a peek at the bank’s participation in TARP. Book cooking for taxpayer funds may have its poster child. Top notch, Colonial. Top notch.
Colonial BancGroup faces criminal probe, FDIC action [Reuters]
The FDIC May Have to Seize Itself
Editor’s note: Adrienne Gonzalez is founder and managing editor of Jr Deputy Accountant as well as regular contributor to leading financial/investment sites like Seeking Alpha and GoldmanSachs666. By day, she teaches unlicensed accountants to pass the CPA exam, though what she does in her copious amounts of freetime in the evening is really none of your business. Follow her adventures in Fedbashing and CPA-wrangling on Twitter @adrigonzo but please don’t show up unannounced at her San Francisco office as she’s got a mean streak. Her favorite FASB is 166.
In honor of Bank Fail Friday, let’s take a look at our doubt over the FDIC continuing as a going concern. Sure, we know it’s technically a government agency and therefore not subject to the same sorts of worries as public companies but there is certainly something brewing here.
We are not in the business of auditing the financial statements of the FDIC, even if they provided such information. Frankly, if they did, we really aren’t equipped to analyze said statements. Be that as it may, you don’t need to be an expert to see that the FDIC is in a whole shit ton of trouble (yes, that is our qualified opinion).
More, after the jump
Remember Colonial Bank? Surely Sheila Bair has been up late since the news broke on Monday that they’d cooked their books, or something about TARP fraud (though the bank never received TARP funds after that TBW deal for $300 million fell through Friday). Maybe it was undercapitalization? Who keeps track of these things?
Anyway, the point here is that the FDIC well has run dry and there’s no magically conjuring up a Treasury line of credit. While Congress has offered up a $500 billion “line of credit” to our friends at the FDIC, that money technically does not exist. (Psst: hate to break it to Congress but yours truly is only a tad concerned that there may be trouble in the bond market ahead).
I’m no mathlete but this should be fairly simple to understand:
Colonial has about $25.5 billion in assets, while the FDIC has about $13 billion remaining in the fund. According to Sheila’s math, new FDIC fees levied against Too Big to Fail will net the fund about $27 billion this year. To put this into perspective, the FDIC lost $33.5 billion in 2008 to cover 25 bank failures. Add it up, as we’ve had 69 bank failures in 2009 to date. Carry the 1 and I believe we arrive at the following figure: the FDIC is screwed.
Like I said, someone might want to check my numbers but it doesn’t look good.
I could also point out that perhaps the FDIC should have chosen the “proactive” route and collected insurance premiums for the last 10 years instead of assuming the good times would last forever but again, not my jurisdiction.
Disclosure: the author has long since diversified her “investments” in the First National Bank of Her Mattress, thankyouverymuch.
Bob Herz is the Most Dangerous Man in America
According to Reuters columnist, James Pethokoukis, that is. JP argues that the FASB’s most recent attempt to go balls to the wall with mark-to-market will endanger the economy:
“What if an upgraded mark-to-market standard forced slowly healing banks to set aside huge sums to cover paper losses and further crimp lending? Not FASB’s problem.” He also argues that the FASB is motivated by the ideology around transparency as opposed to “practicality and experience”.
The problem, as we see it, with this argument is that JP sees mark-to-market as an inconvenient rule considering the circumstances that the economy is under. That very well may be but we would ask, what the hell is the alternative? “Massaging” the rules every so often, as he puts it? So making the rules less principled when they are inconvenient is the solution? Accounting rules are not written so that we can change them when they don’t work in our favor.
Make no mistake, we’re not crazy about the current system as it exists. GAAP continues to look more and more like the U.S. Tax Code, so the FASB’s sloth-like attempt to develop a “principles system” is promising encouraging something. Mark-to-market is the best reflection of that something. The idea that tweaking of the rules under duress is an acceptable form of determining the direction of financial reporting is what drives accountants f’n berserk.
America’s Most Dangerous Man? An Accountant [James Pethokoukis/Reuters]
