Who Wants to Live Like a Deloitte CEO?

Newly minted Deloitte CEO Joe Echevarria is upgrading his digs and he needs your help! His 6,000 square foot house in Westchester is on the block for $2.8 million and he dropped the price just last month, so now i


There are all kinds of nice amenities including: fireplace, high ceilings, patio, sprinkler system for the lawn, walk-in-closets [!], and a walkout basement and more. If that doesn’t sell you, read the broker’s description:

Spacious, striking residence in prestigious Matthiessen Park, built for gracious living & comfort. The home embodies spectacular craftsmanship with superior attention to detail. Beautiful stone entryway from local quarry, masonry fireplaces, soaring ceilings with dentil molding, red oak herringbone inlaid floors. Expansive family room, breakfast area & deluxe kitchen. Elegant library with exquisite mahogany millwork. Additional 2,000 [square feet] in finished lower level.Seasonal views of the magnificent Hudson River.

Sounds lovely, no? Anyway, take a peek over the next few pages and then hit up the team at Houlihan Lawrence to make an offer.

Naturally, you’ll want to look at a few photos

Jeremy Newman’s Blogging Career Is Coming to End

Related: he’s also stepping down as BDO International’s CEO on September 30:

[After] 33 years in total with BDO UK and BDO International, I will be stepping down on 30 September 2011.

I have had a fantastic career and have been privileged to lead BDO UK for 7 years and BDO International for the last 3 years. I have had some great colleagues, worked with some brilliant people and, in my earlier career, been involved with some terrific clients.

Martin van Roekel, the firm’s Managing Partner in the Netherlands, will officially be the new International Chief on October 1.

Newman says “it is time for a change,” but he “[doesn’t] know what I will do but after 33 years in this business, I am looking forward to seeking new opportunities outside the accounting profession.” He is promising to keep blogging through September, so hopefully he’s still working on his delicate sensibilities.

Moving On [CEO Insights]

McGladrey & Pullen Names Joe Adams as New Managing Partner and CEO

Joe Adams is 30+ year vet of the firm and gets some high praise from the M&P Chairman of the Board, Jerry Bourassa, “His commitment to quality and McGladrey’s success make him an excellent choice for the Managing Partner position. I’m looking forward to working with him in his new role overseeing McGladrey & Pullen’s national strategy and business operations.”

Joe takes over for Dave Scudder who turned in his papers back in February. Joe was kind enough to give Dave a nod of appreciation in the press release, “I’m looking forward to these new responsibilities, and continuing the excellent work that Dave Scudder did in this role.” He gets the big chair on May 1st and we assume cake and punch will be served but an appearance by Natalie Gulbis has yet to be confirmed. [McGladrey]

How Would You Vote on the Deloitte Leadership Candidates?

Last month, we shared with you the concerns of a Deloitte partner who has a lot of issues with the processes around electing the firm’s leadership. As the partner explained it to us, “The elected individuals are the Chairman, the CEO, and a CEO ‘Alternate.’ The CEO ‘Alternate’ is there in the event that the CEO elect is also elected as the Global CEO (which will typically happen).”

Recently, we were able to confirm the candidates and thought we’d share them with all of you since some of you might not be aware of who they are:


Punit Renjen, for Chairman of Deloitte LLP (Current CEO of Deloitte Consulting)

Barry Salzberg, for CEO of Deloitte LLP (Current CEO of Deloitte LLP)

Joe Echeverria, for CEO Alternate (Current Managing Partner of U.S. Operations)

What’s not immediately known is when Deloitte partners will be voting “Yes or No” on these candidates. One of our sources speculated that the vote could be as early this week.

In our previous post, we learned that the partners vote up or down on these candidates as a group as the partner in our last post explained “The partners get to vote ‘YES or NO’ on the ‘slate’ of candidates that is advanced.” Since we know a lot of you out there in Internetland are Deloitte employees but not partners, we thought we’d get your perspective on this slate of candidates and whether you would give them a “Yes” or “No.” And since the comments box allows for further explanation, feel free to elaborate on your vote. We know of one person who will be voting no.

A message left with Deloitte spokesperson Jonathan Gandal was not immediately returned.

Earlier:
Deloitte Partner Encourages Brethren to Take Back Their Firm

Deloitte Global CEO Jim Quigley Is Tweeting

There goes the Twittersphere.

Jim Quigley has broken the Big 4 CEO cherry on Twitter (to our knowledge) and he decided to do it in honor of the World Economic Forum (aka: The annual CEO ego strokefest) in Davos, Switzerland that gets underway in less than two weeks. Above is Quig’s one and only tweet so far and it’s very CEO-ish. We’re not expecting anything of the Kaplan variety but cripes man, add some color. May we recommend our series of “Doing it Wrong” Twitter posts from our resident expert?

Anyhoo, here’s the video from the tweet:

Thoughts on the performance are welcome. And JQ should know that we know Twitter can have a slight learning curve, so we’ll save you the trouble: you can follow Going Concern here. Oh, and Adrienne will be writing a review, so tweet to impress.

[via TS]

Accounting News Roundup: Ernst & Young Expresses ‘Sympathies’ to Equitable Policyholders; ABA: Fair Value Will Result in ‘Craziness’; Annoying Is a Vital Accountant Trait | 06.04.10

E&Y pays out almost £3m following Equitable verdict [Accountancy Age]
“E&Y successfully contested a claim they were not objective in their audit of the firm. However the JDS finding that the 1999 Financial Statements from Equitable did not show a true and fair view, still stand. The firm extended ‘our sympathies’ to policyholders of Equitable Life, who have been impacted by the near-collapse of the company.” Is expressing sympathy a new strategy for E&Y?


FASB Exposure Draft Alarms Bank CFOs [CFO]
What kind of alarm you ask? So alarming that a lobbyist spoke out against it with statements like, ‘aw-dropping’ and ‘You don’t want that craziness in your financial statements.’ That’s the words of the American Bankers Association’s Senior VP of Tax and Accounting who was hospitalized with cardiac trouble.

CFOs were a little less sound-bitey, but still aren’t jumping for joy over the proposal, telling CFO “I don’t see how that improves transparency” and “[FASB] they will end up with is a situation where there is a ton of judgment involved.”

Field narrows in race for top Deloitte job [Times Online]
The Times Online is having fun speculating about the new Deloitte CEO in the UK, now that Vince Niblett, “The early favourite” has been appointed as the head of audit there. It’s a three horse race according to the Times, with David Sproul, head of tax, and Martin Eadon, a senior audit partner also rumored to be taking the head spot after John Connolly retires next year.

TaxProf Blog Crosses 10 Million Visitor Mark [TaxProf Blog]
And counting…congrats Paul!

Friday tip: embrace your annoying accountant [AccMan]
“In order to be a successful accountant you do not need to be ‘born dull.’ But you do need to be born annoying.”