When accounting goes unaccounted for
From a soon to be ex-Ernst & Young SA:
Being employed by a big 4 is like being in an abusive relationship. You know its bad for you but its still kind of addictive.
Right on the money? Dead wrong? Addictive like salt & vinegar potato chips or addictive like the stuff that’s in Rush Limbaugh’s medicine cabinet? Discuss.
On Sunday, The Emmys will be handed out to several cast and crew of Mad Men and a few other people. In order to give these proceedings some legitimacy, Ernst & Young partner Andy Sale (and possibly a few others) counts these votes and certify the results.
The L.A. Times published a Q&A with Sale today since the big day is nearly here and we took the liberty of bringing you the highlights.
For starters, Andy understands that the MSM could really get two shits about accountants except when there are audit failures or celebrities involved:
How cool is it to walk on the red carpet?
It’s one of those things where for at least one day a year, being an accountant is something the press wants to shine a light on.
He also doesn’t appreciate the LAT’s presumption that being an accountant is boring:
Is it the one day of the year it’s fun to be an accountant?
I think it’s fun to be an accountant every day.
Cool fact: if one of the presenters is Mel Gibson-drunk and just blurts out a name that is completely wrong, Andy must sprint on stage give the presenter a roundhouse uppercut and state unequivocally who correct winner is. Fortunately, that has happened…yet:
Has anyone ever screwed up reading a winner?
Part of our role is to ensure the appropriate name is read onstage. If a name was omitted or read inappropriately, we would be duty-bound to go onstage and correct it. It’s never happened. We hope to continue that streak.
The security around these events has to be tight and Sale and the team have to keep things creative when hiding the results. That means the results could be anywhere – a vault, his underwear drawer, Jon Hamm’s pants:
Let’s talk security. After you’ve finished counting the votes, where do they go?
Where they are secured and how they are secured changes every year. It can be in a vault. It can be under a pillow. We have multiple sets of envelopes and those multiple sets of envelopes arrive at the Nokia Theatre by different means. For security reasons, I can’t divulge those specific means. They’re delivered by a means both conventional and unconventional, and that’s all I’ll say on that.
And as glamorous as this gig is, it still not getting Andy as much action as he would like:
Do you get groupies out of this?
I can’t say I’ve seen a lot in the way of groupies.
Andy Sale is counting on Emmy Awards [Los Angeles Times]
On Tuesday, a bunch of PwC partners and staff in Southern California, Arizona, and Nevada […]
Of course the investors are appealing but one win at at time, amiright?
The suits were filed in the fall by investors who lost millions in the LuxAlpha Sicav-American Selection fund which had 95% of its fund invested with Bernie Madoff. The fund claims that it had $1.4 billion in net assets a month prior to Madoff’s arrest.
UBS acted as the custodian while E&Y was the auditor and were sued for “seriously neglecting” their supervisory duties for the fund. Investors in the fund filed more than 100 lawsuits against the two companies.
Luxembourg’s commercial court said in a ruling today concerning 10 test cases that investors can’t bring individual lawsuits for damages. The court said it’s up to the liquidators of the funds that invested with Madoff to seek the “recovery of the capital assets.”
In other words, UBS and E&Y, you’re going to get sued by Irving Picard de Luxembourg rather than 100+ pissed off individuals whose life savings went *poof*. Setting legal precedent aside, taking emotion of the equation works wonders for making an argument.
UBS, Ernst & Young Win Bid to Block Madoff Lawsuits [Bloomberg BusinessWeek]
Earlier:
Ernst & Young Is Thankful for Lawyers, Possibly Toblerones