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Tag: Get better

I Am Mad Not Disappointed: A Parting Shot on Changes to the 2011 CPA Exam

On this, the final CPA exam testing day of 2010, I feel compelled to skip the advice column and launch straight into the rant. It’s finally over and here’s hoping you people will stop asking the same five questions about the 2011 exam over and over.


I don’t mean to offend anyone in particular so if you catch a feeling on this, it’s probably because I’m talking directly to you. You know who you are and I respectfully request you knock it the fuck off.

First, the misinformation surrounding the 2011 exam changes absolutely blows my mind. The AICPA announced these changes well in advance of the planned launch of CBT-e and I can’t speak for everyone but know that we here at Going Concern have covered just about every tiny detail of what’s ahead. Regardless, I still get my inbox blown up with the same simple questions, the answers to which may be found with a simple Google search or by checking out our previous posts on the subject. Information is everywhere, you’ve just got to get off your lazy ass and look for it.

I think you guys are forgetting that this is a professional examination and that you are allegedly professionals. Is it reasonable for professionals to work with financial statements being misinformed and confused by simple instructions? No. Is it reasonable for CPA exam candidates to have absolutely no idea what is happening in 2011? HELL NO.

The “OG” CPAs of the paper and pencil days laugh at candidates who have to take the computerized exam and for good reason, you guys can’t even figure out a simple change like CBT-e. People still seem to believe BEC will contain simulations in 2011 and for Christ’s sake, let’s all keep in mind that about 90 – 95% of what is being tested in 2010 will still be tested in 2011. Do you really think the AICPA Board of Examiners is going to trash all those wonderful questions they worked so hard to get? Please.

So while you guys are freaking out over changes that aren’t even going to happen, you could be studying current material and educating yourself on what’s new for next year. I’m shocked that so few of you know that the exam actually changes twice a year, every year anyway and that 2011 is really no different except for the fact that it is a bit larger a change than usual. It sickens me, actually, because I had so much more faith in you guys to go into the exam prepared and informed. Instead I continue to get the same 4 or 5 questions over and over and over and always walk away with the sense that you guys aren’t listening and unless it is handed to you, won’t go looking for the answers you need.

Seriously, knock it off. Now that 2011 is very nearly upon us, I expect ALL OF YOU to get off your asses, get to the Google and do some reading. It’s really not hard, the info is plastered all over the AICPA’s website as well as places like the CPAnet forums and various blogs strewn throughout the blogosphere.

You’re making the profession look bad, you know. How can accountants protect the public interest if they can’t even figure out a simple change to the CPA exam?

Side note: While I’m ranting about the 2011 exam, I should also throw in a few expletives meant specifically for the AICPA Board of Examiners for choosing to do this in the first place. WTF were you thinking?! We don’t even use IFRS and don’t know when we will, why the hell should we be so eager to test it now?!

/end rant

John Veihmeyer Wants to Know: How Can KPMG Become a More Awesome Place to Work?

‘Cause – DAMN! – it’s already pretty solid, right? Sure, Irish football isn’t having the best of seasons but JV isn’t going to let that perpetual disappointment keep him from making the House of Klynveld even better than it is already.

Please Complete the 2010 Employee Work Environment Survey

A Message from John Veihmeyer and Henry Keizer
October 11, 2010

Today is the start of the 2010 Employee Work Environment Survey, which gives you the opportunity to provide us with your frank and direct feedback about the KPMG work experience. Please take the time to participate in this important survey. We are interested in both our strengths and our weaknesses, and we are especially interested in your ideas about how we can become a better place to work and a higher performing organization.

2010 has been a pivotal year. We have aimed to take advantage of market opportunities that have emerged in the wake of the economic crisis while renewing our commitment to our Employer of Choice initiatives. We see great opportunities in the marketplace in the year ahead and our partners are focused on growth—and that combination causes us to be very optimistic about the future. But we also understand that the business climate continues to be challenging and we’re all working extremely hard to meet our goals. Thus, your feedback is especially important as we assess our progress and ensure we are focused on the most important issues.

We are proud that KPMG continues to be recognized externally as a great place to work. We have earned designations on prestigious rankings such as FORTUNE’s 100 Best Companies to Work For, DiversityInc’s Top 50 Companies, and Training magazine’s Top 125. While this external recognition is significant, most important to us are the views of our people.

Please use the log-in information below to access the survey between now and Monday, October 25. Your responses will go directly to our external survey vendor for tabulation and will remain anonymous and confidential. Key results will be shared with all employees later this year.

Note: At the end of the survey you will have an opportunity to enter a drawing in which five randomly selected respondents will receive a $200 American Express gift card. See the survey site for instructions

We humbly suggest you crtl+c, crtl+v your responses from the survey in the comments below to best ensure that they get read by the KPMG Internet reputation team. Keep it honest.

On Top of Everything Else, the IRS Isn’t Green Enough

The IRS’ nagging mother-in-law, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (“TIGTA”) has once again managed to come down on the Service for something else it doesn’t do well – conserve energy.

According to TIGTA’s report, the IRS is implementing environmental management systems at 11 facilities, which will increase operating efficiency, improve environmental performance and reduce environmental impacts.

TIGTA also identified several steps the IRS should take to improve energy efficiency in its data centers, including eliminating gaps between computer room floor tiles that allow hot and cold air to mix, spacing servers in rows to maximize the efficiency of air conditioning, and using occupancy sensors to control lights in computer rooms.

The IRS does not have policies and procedures for improving energy efficiency in its data centers or for implementing data-center energy-efficiency best practices, TIGTA found. This affects the IRS’s ability to minimize energy consumption and costs, resulting in the inefficient use of resources and taxpayer funds.

“It is imperative that the IRS become more energy efficient to save taxpayer dollars and reduce the nation’s consumption of oil, coal, and other natural resources,” said J. Russell George, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.

The details of the improvements that are quite impressive – gaps in the floor tiles; spacing of servers, etc. Impressive in the sense that if your performance coach/manager was giving you those kinds of suggestions for performance improvement, you’d give them an eyeroll that would cause you to fall backwards in your chair.

Despite the endless stream of criticism, Chief Nag, J. Russell George managed to stop short of asking the IRS to help BP get all that oil out of the Gulf of Mexico.

TIGTA: IRS Can Improve Energy Efficiency at Data Centers [TIGTA PR]
Full Report [TIGTA]

Koss: Financial Results Will Be Better Now That the Whole Fraud Thing Is Over

Hopefully! Headphone master Michael Koss officially announced that things are back to business as usual at casa de Koss now that Sue Sachdeva’s sticky fingers aren’t around.

“The company has continued to operate in the normal course of business despite the disruption resulting from the discovery of the unauthorized transactions,” Chief Executive Officer Michael J. Koss said in a statement. “We believe that the elimination of these unauthorized transactions will enhance our future operating results.”


What a relief! No mention of how the pending lawsuits against Koss will affect operating results, however. We understand that it could be a sensitive issue at the moment.

The Company filed its 10-Q yesterday and an 8-K today that explains that those restated, not-so-good results that you’re expecting will be done pronto. Don’t expect to see anything before April but not past June, swear.

After that, watch out everybody, Koss will be on fire, blowing those analyst estimates out of the water. In the meantime things are moving along and those internal controls, yeah, they’re working on them but they reminded everyone in the 10-Q that even if they designed the best internal control systems on Earth, it still wouldn’t guarantee that bad stuff won’t happen:

A control system, no matter how well conceived and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the objectives of the control system are met. It is possible for even the best control system to be circumvented by those with the intent, knowledge and opportunity to do so.

Not to put to fine a point on it but a half-assed control system would have detected this fraud, never mind the “well conceived and operated” part.

With fraud claims exposed, Koss expects better financial results [Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel]