Polls Are Now Open in Going Concern March Madness 2012: The Coolest Accounting Firm

Posted on by Caleb Newquist

You may recall that last year we launched Going Concern March Madness: The Coolest Accounting Firm, in an effort to give you a break from your spreadsheets and grossly outdated email management software. It proved to be quite popular so with that in mind and since it's brackets season, we're doing it all over again. Plus, it just seemed like the right thing to do. Yes, the mere idea of a "cool accounting firm" could be considered a paradox, but after careful consideration, "douchiest accounting firm" or "lamest accounting firm" or "nerdiest accounting firm" might perpetuate the stereotype that you are so desperately trying to shed. Accordingly, we opted for "cool" again, insecure accountants be damned.

Last year we saw a number of interesting story lines that included a global effort from Reznick Group, a Big 4-less Final Four, and Rothstein Kass emerging as the coolest firm for 2011. We're hoping for similar drama this year, so let's get right to it.

First things first. A look at the bracket:

To determine seeds for coolness, we've used Vault's 2012 Prestige rankings again, which I think we'll all agree, is about as an accurate measure as we'll find. Vault's rankings did not include the newly combined CliftonLarsonAllen (probably because it wasn't a story), but the predecessor firms each were in the top 16 (Clifton Gunderson 12; LarsonAllen 14), so we slapped them together, gave them the 12 seed and called it good. This allowed Baker Tilly to assume the role of the ultimate underdog against the Duke of the accounting world. Other intriguing match-ups include defending champ Rothstein Kass against Lehman Brothers' auditor and Vault 50 champ Grant Thornton against CliftonLarsonAllen. Of course "intriguing" is on the same plane as "cool" in this instance.

All of the match-ups are embedded below for your voting pleasure. Polls are open until 11:59 pm Sunday night, so that should give any underdogs plenty of time to craft emails and send them to their international offices.

So let the voting begin and don't feel like you have to be nice to your opponents in the comments. See you in round two.

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What Can Be Purchased at the McGladrey Store?

There are a few things that you take for granted when working at a public accounting firm. First, your superiors will take you to nice lunches. This practice starts at the top and trickles down to the lowliest associates getting approval to throw steaks at interns. Second, you get a computer. It may not be the greatest piece of technology you’ve every used but rest assured, you won’t be crunching numbers using a pencil and paper. Third, you get tchotchkes. Tons of them. Pens, Nalgenes, poorly knit polos. The works. All of the firm swag your little heart desires can be yours. So it’s especially shocking to learn that McGladrey has a “McGladrey Store,” where items can be purchased. We don’t have a copy of the mail-order catalog but it’s safe to assume that there are items emblazoned with “McGladrey” in ample supply.

I learned of this “store” because Mickey G’s is rolling out a “Work Smarter” initiative so that the firm’s employees can maximize their time doing “high-value” work. What “high-value” entails is not entirely clear but presumably it doesn’t involve doing “research on blogs.” ANYWAY, McG boss C.E. Andrews emailed the troops to encourage them to take an online training to learn a few “Work Smarter” tips and to get the creative juices flowing so that they can submit their own “Work Smarter” ideas to the brass. For the first 25 employees that manage to throw out ideas that aren’t completely awful, they will receive “$50 to spend at the McGladrey Store.”

After the training, you will probably find yourself full of good ideas on how McGladrey can Work Smarter. Don’t keep them to yourself! Share them through our Lean thinking website and be eligible to win prizes. The first 25 people who submit an actionable idea will win $50 to spend at the McGladrey Store.

Our tipster in this matter, expands with some details:

[T]his “lean fundamentals” initiative seems irritating similar to KPMG’s “Next Step” program that I’ve seen come across your website. The dangling carrot of $50 in McGladrey bucks (cash value: 1/100 of a Monopoly bill) is particularly patronizing. Just another example of the cheapskate culture that seems to ooze from the brass at Mickey G’s these days…unless of course we’re talking shelling out for putting green-sized cakes and headlining golf tournaments that take place during the freak show of the PGA season (aka the”Fall Series”).

Unfortunately, Oanda doesn’t have a exchange rate for “McGladrey bucks” so there’s no way for us to confirm this valuation at this time. Regardless, it’s still not obvious if the $50 is enough to get you a stress ball, let alone a chance to take Natalie Gulbis out for drinks. We’d love to see a product list with prices in order to confirm/disconfirm some of our suspicions, so do get in touch with any particulars.