Got Thoughts on Dodd-Frank?
No, Dodd’s hair and Barney’s thriftiness are not at issue here.
Mary Schapiro needs constructive comments from the peanut gallery because this thing is a week old and since some people at the Commission have the attention of Tom Petters, they can’t afford to lose focus.
Just jump over the Public Comments page and let ‘er rip. Any section you want get down with your wonky financial reform knowledge is welcome.
It has not even been a week since the President signed the regulatory reform legislation into law, but at the SEC we are already working to fully implement the dozens of studies and rulemakings required of our agency,” said Chairman Schapiro. “We recognize that the process of establishing regulations works best when all stakeholders are engaged and contribute their combined talents and experiences. We look forward to preliminary public comments in these areas.
Not only that! The SEC needs more people. This 2,000-some odd page behemoth is putting asses in cubes and more of the kicking ass and taking names will be had. Just two ways you can join the good times going on at the SEC.
SEC Chairman Schapiro Announces Open Process for Regulatory Reform Rulemaking [SEC]
Public Accounting Casting Call – Summer Intern Edition!
Summer interns are en route to an office near you; either already on board or on their way this week, sporting their early summer tans. Just in time for the work load to shrivel up to next to nothing and summer hours to be instituted – gotta love the timing! But nonetheless summer intern season is a wonderful time of year, and I want to make sure GC helps celebrate the summer.
Today’s post is a cry for help on two different levels (has my job really come to the point of groveling?). Here’s the scoop:
Summer Interns
What’s the concept?: The main drive behind this blog is to provide insider information on the public accounting industry to those who work in the trenches every day. What better way to do that than by listening to you, the summer intern? Your senior manager might ignore you all summer, but we won’t.
What we’re looking for: Summer interns at public accounting firms (Big 4, mid-size, anyone is welcome) to contribute short, bi-weekly write-ups about your summer experiences. We’re not looking for firm bashing information or juicy details about co-ed hookups but hey, if you have dirt, we’re always here to listen. Write-ups should touch on your experiences, both firm related on your respective engagement teams.
How to get involved: Email me here and include the following information:
Name:
Firm and Location:
Dates of internship:
Best email to contact you on:
*See my note below about confidentiality
Advice for Summer Interns
What’s the concept?: I’m in the process of putting together a “guide” for summer interns. What do they need to know before starting at your firm? What industries should they avoid or gravitate towards? How should they handle being snagged into a drunken conversation with a partner about his three kids and pending soccer tournament? Most of you here have not only worked with/ hated on interns before, but you were one at one point in your career as well.
What we’re looking for: Share your advice or your stories of interns past. The dirt. Everything. From serious career advice to informal tongue-in-cheek statements, nothing is off limits.
How to get involved: Email me feedback and include your firm’s name and office location. Feel free to leave stories below in the comments.
*Please note: As a member of the public accounting industry myself I understand the importance of confidentiality when it comes to something like this project, and I understand the concern that I might release names either publicly or to the respective firms. Simply put, I will never do such a thing. The success of this website rises and falls with the trust of our readers. No one would ever take action to hurt our relationship with you, the readers. Please have faith in us as I ask for your participation. Any feedback or comments are assumed to be private.
That said, I look forward to your feedback. Cheers and Happy Moanday.
Busy Season Outlook: Open Thread
You may have noticed that the posting schedule here at GC has ran a bit longer the past few days. This is no accident. We were given a friendly reminder on Monday:
Caleb, this is busy season, I expect review comments an hour later for the next few months. That is all.
Well! Since we’re always with you in spirit, we’ll be happy to oblige this request.
We failed to mention it in our outlook on Tuesday since we figured it was understood that the new year marks the beginning of the end of your lives for the next 3ish months.
Then we remembered that it has been prophesied by many of you that this particular busy season will be the worst in recent memory due to layoffs and the ongoing (?) exodus.
So we present you with our busy season open thread. Discuss whatever you like. Will it indeed be the worst ever or will you dominate as usual? For some of you, it’s your first busy season. Are you soiling yourself from all the horror stories or have you found the right drug cocktail to keep you both focused on your work and oblivious to time passing? Go.
The Fed on Glass-Steagall; Me on STFU, Fed Boys, We Got This
Kansas City Federal Reserve President Thomas Hoenig is a voting member of the FOMC this year and apparently he got my note.
He is charging into the year as a cheerleader of long-dead regulation and ending TBTF. This is a song and dance we’ve seen from the Fed about a bazillion times now. Just because regulation is my shit doesn’t mean I’m entertained in the least by this.
WSJ:
A top U.S. Federal Reserve official said Tuesday it’s necessary to consider how banks considered too big to fail can be broken up so they no longer pose a systemic risk to the U.S. economy.
“Beginning to break them, to dismember them, is a fair thing to consider,” Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City President Thomas Hoenig told a panel at the annual meeting of the American Economics Association.
Well if insisting too big to fail is too big to continue isn’t enough, maybe Hoenig’s declaration of “bring back Glass-Steagall!” will make the panties drop?
Nope.
“We’ve got to start somewhere — and size matters,” Hoening said, calling for rules to address the problem that are simple and easy to enforce.
“We’ve got to strike while the iron is hot … but we must also do it right,” Hoenig said, adding there was a “chance” that new rules could be passed this year.
I’m going to go ahead and resist the easy joke here.
So? Should commercial banking and investment banking once again be absolutely distinct from each other?
I think if we’ve learned anything from this crisis it’s that the lines are blurred; accountants should know finance, finance professionals should know accounting and Christ, no one let the quants near the securitization models again. I have seen a noticeable increase in bankers, CFOs, etc pursuing CPA licensure since 2007. I can’t tell you numbers (if I did I’d be making them up) but a lot more of them call and the line is no longer as definitive as it was.
Our rules need to change. It’s not that we should bring back Glass-Steagall, it’s that two new guys need to write one hell of a regulatory bill that redefines our financial system as we know it and slap their names on it.
The financial system we’ve got sucks and if we don’t do that, Fed guys like this will keep yammering on about interest rates they never plan to raise and popping future bubbles.
This Should Catch You Up On 2009
What a great year, amiright? Okaaay, it sucked. Well, let’s just take a moment to get sentimental.
Typically we leave that to the JDA but the least we could do is present you with some of the more popular posts that graced these pages (?) since our launch back in July. This will allow you to get caught up on conversations that you may have missed and add your own dash of wisdom.
• Big 4 Salaries: Open Thread – Surprise, surprise. Our thread about what you’re making from two weeks ago on salaries is the most popular to date.
• IRS Doesn’t Care for Kirk Herbstreit Burning Down His Own House – Back from the launch week, Herbie sued the IRS for disallowing his donation of his home as a charitable deduction. Michigan fans finally have something to cheer.
• Are We Experiencing a Big 4 Exodus? – There was no parting of the Red Sea, just a lot of unhappy people.
• Life After Big 4: Open Thread – It does exist.
• Eating Hours: Are You in Denial? – Well. Are you?
• Is David Beckham PwC’s Answer to Natalie Gulbis? – We came up with the best idea ever to be presented to a Big 4 firm and it remains out there for the taking. On a side note, what qualifies as an athlete seems to be a matter of debate.
• PwC is Thinking About Your Health – For reasons that remain completely unclear, soda — and its side effects — got some people fired up.
• Layoff Watch 2009 – E&Y (November), KPMG (September), KPMG (August), PwC (November).
• The Year of the Freeze (and maybe 2010?) – KPMG; E&Y; PwC but not if Bob Moritz has anything to say about it; Deloitte.
• And the Award for Deloitte Analyst Most Likely to Sleep His Way to the Top Goes To… & Does This Mean We Aren’t Going to Find Out Who’s Sleeping Their Way to Partner? – The awards that could have been…
If we missed something that you enjoyed, feel free to let us know and keep us updated with whatever anything and everything. Thanks for a great 2009 and we’ll see you in 2010.
Job of the Day: Out with John Mack, in with You
You probably don’t have the qualifications — which includes being able to tell Tim Geithner to get f*cked — for the big chair (it’s already spoken for anyway) but MS is looking for plenty fresh blood.
Check out a VP – Equity Derivative Products Financial Resources Controller position at Morgan Stanley in New York, after the jump.
Company: Morgan Stanley
Title: Vice President-Equity Derivative Products Financial Resources Controller
Location: New York City
Experience: 8+ years
Description: Working with manager to determine and execute on Financial Resources agenda for Global Equity Derivative Product Controllers; Managing Liquidity Risk reporting and analyses for Derivatives; Partnering with Derivatives senior management team on managing business’ Financial Resources; Coordinating Derivative Controllers involvement in Firm-wide B/S and Funding Project; Liaise with Business Units on implementation of enhanced B/S and Funding reporting and analytics; Advise on business adoption strategy: new processes/tools to be implemented/rolled out; Contribute to requirements for creation of new strategic reporting for B/S and Funding
Skills: Equity Product Control experience; Experience with B/S and Funding reporting and analysis; Extensive business analysis background; Experience summarizing feedback/results and producing management reporting; Provide support for projects; BS/BA in Finance, Accounting or Business strongly recommended
Jump over the GC Career Center for the entire description and visit the main page for all your job search needs.