Here Are Two More Brackets Accountants Can Enjoy
As you may have heard, it's bwacket season and there are many fine tournaments going on that don't exploit the athletic talents of young men and women, not least among them, our own #BusySeasonProblems bracket. For those of you that just can't get enough, we heartily recommend two more: 1) BYU's Tournament Using Accounting Research […]
This Poor Guy Is More Bummed Than Anyone at KPMG About Billion Dollar Brackets
Remember when KPMG reminded its employees that they — and their immediate families/baby mamas/dogs — were ineligible to participate in the Yahoo/Quicken Loans Billion Dollar Bracket Challenge because KPMG was serving as "independent observer" to the contest? And remember how angry that made you if it affected you? Deadspin has the story of a guy […]
Going Concern March Madness: Busy Season Survival Has a Champion (And Some of You May Need a Sponsor)
Bracket season came to close yesterday afternoon on Going Concern and your Busy Season Survival champion is none other than booze. Hooch. The Sauce. Firewater. Whatever your flavor, alcohol managed to overcome it all to win GCBSSF&BvsT. Yes, those of you who cry busy season tears into beers managed to outnumber the BYU alums, CPAs […]
Going Concern March Madness: Busy Season Survival — Food & Beverage vs. Technology, The Final Four
Well, we have our survivors from GCMMBSSF&BvsT. It's been quite a journey so far, and now we will crown the kings of both Food & Beverage and Tech in your quest to come out of busy season with your sanity intact.
So let's get to it. We're keeping the polls open until Friday at 1 pm ET so you can stuff the channels appropriately.
Going Concern March Madness: Busy Season Survival — Food & Beverage vs. Technology
For the last two seasons, Going Concern March Madness pitted accounting firms against each other to decide just which firm was the coolest in this fair land. Sadly, we have decided to end this exercise. It was a good (?) run but has been exhausted for reasons that include: 1) a Rothstein Kass three-peat was not something anyone was prepared to endure and 2) the underlying premise of the bracket was based in fantasy or, dare I say, complete bullshit. Does this mean that Vault's annual prestige ranking has lost all purpose? That's not for me to say.
(UPDATE) Going Concern March Madness 2012: Final Results and Debrief
~ Update below includes statement from Rothstein Kass Co-CEO and Co-Managing Principal, Steve Kass. After an exhaustive tournament, and a fair amount of comments that stated the obvious (i.e. there's no such thing as a cool accounting firm), we have a repeat champion in Rothstein Kass. Despite coming in as the defending champion, RK only […]
Going Concern March Madness 2012: This Town (i.e. Roseland, NJ) Isn’t Big Enough for Two Cool Firms
Last Friday, someone was hoping for a Rothstein Kass/J.H. Cohn Final in Going Concern March Madness for no other reason than to make things as awkward as possible in the elevator at 4 Becker Farm Road, Roseland, New Jersey: I am hoping for a JH Cohn vs Rothstein Kass final as they share an office […]
Going Concern March Madness 2012 Enters Round 2: No More Big 4
Today marks the day that you're pulling out brackets again that just serves as a reminder of how horrible you are at picking winners. Accordingly, we'll dive right into round two of Going Concern March Madness 2012: The Coolest Accounting Firm. Again this year we saw a bunch of upsets in round one with all […]
Polls Are Now Open in Going Concern March Madness 2012: The Coolest Accounting Firm
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. […]
Top Accounting Schools Had a So-so Year in Men’s Basketball, According to the Nerdiest Bracket Ever
For the last couple of years, our friends at Brigham Young University have put together a simulated bracket to see how the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament would shake out if the schools with the most productive accounting researchers were crowned winners rather than shooting a leather ball through a hoop. Exciting! Why do you need […]
And the Coolest Accounting Firm Is…
After four rounds of bracket magic including a back and forth championship match-up, we have our very first winner of the Going Concern March Madness: Coolest Accounting Firm competition. Let’s look at the final bracket.
For those of you that haven’t been refreshing the page for the last 48+ hours, Rothstein Kass pulled their final upset, this time of West Coast rival Moss Adams. Along the way RK dismantled the biggest of the Big 4, Deloitte, McGladrey and BDO.
You may think that such a run of upsets was the result of the double-entry stars perfectly aligning themselves but RK Co-CEO and Managing Principal Steve Kass explained it differently, “Many will look at results and call Rothstein Kass a ‘Cinderella story,’ or characterize our victory as an upset. Though we embraced the underdog role, we knew that our low seeding was more likely a function of strength of schedule. The fierce competition we encountered during the season prepared us for the rigors of the tournament, while quality of our recent recruiting classes left us confident that we could make a run at the title,” Mr. Kass said. “As thrilled as we are by our success, however, there will be no champagne sprayed in locker room celebrations, nor ticker tape parades through the halls of our offices. Over the years, we’ve observed that the more time you spend reflecting on how cool you are, the less time you have free to do cool things. Notwithstanding, winning was pretty cool!”
So it sounds like it’s back to business as usual for RK. Undoubtedly, this victory will catapult them up Vault’s prestige rankings making for a much more difficult tournament next year but for now they get to enjoy the spoils of a champion (which, in this case, is nothing – our publisher wouldn’t spring for a trophy but he’d love to hear from you about it). So congrats to Rothstein Kass on a great run and to the rest of the firms out there – get better.
Oh, and anyone expecting a “One Shining Moment” montage needs to slap themselves across the face right now. And then again.
Going Concern March Madness Update: Reznick’s Magic is MIA; Grant Thornton, BDO on the Ropes
Look gang, since too many of you are distracted with doing billable work to email us anything half way interesting, I’m guess I’ll just update you on the progress in Round 2.
The two highest remaining seeds – Grant Thornton and BDO – are looking defeat square in the face right now to their respective opponents – Crowe Horwath and Rothstein Kass. First round comeback kid Reznick Group is currently getting worked by Moss Adams which makes should make us all wonder what happened to the teamwork we saw in the first round. Perhaps they’re a one-trick pony?
Finally, in the least talked about match-up, Mickey G’s and Dennis Rader’s favorite firm (ideas for something better are welcome) look like they’ll be taking it down to the wire. There’s just over thirteen hours left to vote, so get the word out sooner rather than later (sorry Clifton Gunderson).
Going Concern March Madness: The Coolest Accounting Firm – Round 2
Okay people, after a crazy first round, we’re here to present round two of Going Concern March Madness: Coolest Accounting Firm. With all of the Big 4 sent home with their spreadsheets between their legs, the title is up for grabs, although it’s abundantly clear that Reznick Group isn’t taking this shit lightly (they did get their Indian office involved, after all).
With that setup, let’s check out the match-up href=”http://www.goingconcern.com/2011/03/going-concern-march-madness-the-coolest-accounting-firm-round-2/picture-8-11/” rel=”attachment wp-att-27437″>
As you can see, Grant Thornton is now the highest seed left making them the new favorite but judging by how things went in the last round, seeds are basically meaningless.
Voting will start tomorrow morning at 5 am PT tomorrow morning and will end at 11:59 pm PT (don’t ask, that’s just Vizu does) Friday night. Check back here tomorrow to start the voting but in the meantime, place your bets and discuss round 2 below. As always, check with your local bookmaker for actual odds.
UPDATE:
Since I have no plans to get up extra early, I’ve added the polls to the post but you won’t be able to starting voting until tomorrow morning. I realize that many of you will stay up all night and refresh until voting begins but I need my beauty sleep.
The comeback kids vs. the left coast kings (or queens).
Team purple vs. a murder of Crowes.
The most interesting accounting firm in the world (but the coolest?) takes on Arnold Rothstein’s firm…oh, wait…not really, that guy fixed baseball games.
Rounding out with Mickey G’s and BKD.
Here’s How This Year’s NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament Would Shake Out If It Were Based on Accounting Research Production
It’s that time of year again where thousands of Americans spend countless hours of company time researching basketball teams and agonizing over which #12 seed will pull a minor upset only to have someone from marketing, who doesn’t know a damn thing about basketball, to win the pool. It also marks the time of year when the accounting faculty at BYU puts outs their own simulated version of the tournament, played out based on the productivity of accounting researchers over the last six years.
As you can see, a lot of similar schools are making a run again this year including Texas (last year’s simulated champion) and Michigan State. If you’re interested in what this year’s non-bracketed accounting rankings are, you can check them out on the campanion research page.
Games start on Thursday tomorrow (obviously I’m not in a pool) so if you’re having trouble filling out your bracket, this seems like a good place to start. You could do a helluva lot worse when it comes to strategy.
Is RSM McGladrey Worried That Natalie Gulbis Isn’t Sexier Than Lane Kiffin?
It’s bracket season and while many of you are trying to get out of work to watch hoops, the good folks at Esquire have a much more pressing matter at hand.
The Sexiest Woman Alive Bracket is: “A single-elimination battle royale: sixty-four women, seven rounds, one readers’-choice champion, and not a single Kardashian,” and RSM McGladrey’s own Natalie Gulbis is a number one seed.
Her first round cruise match is against…Lane Kiffin?
Yes, Lane Kiffin. For those of you not pigskin inclined, Lane Kiffin recently left his job as the University of Tennessee football coach for the job at the University of Southern California.
As you might expect, Volunteer fans didn’t take too kindly to a young first-year coach bolting for the sunny confines of L.A. This is not lost on the folks at Esquire and they opted to include the Trojan coach in this year’s bracket.
And as it stands right now, Natalie is trailing Lane in the first round match-up with just under 35k votes to Kiffin’s 46k-ish votes. How does Kiffin, who at first glance does not even qualify for this particular bracket, manage to hold on to what seems to be a insurmountable lead? Is it possible that LK is sexier than Natalie?
Plus, if this lead holds up, isn’t this a public relations disaster for everyone involved? How will RSM explain this to their clients? Will this lead to a desperate move by the firm to drop NG in favor of someone else, say a newly recovered sex addict — who’s a little down on his luck re: sponsors — that will be playing in the Masters?
Vote for the Sexiest Woman Alive! [Esquire]