Former Deloitte CEO Will Squeeze in Pfizer Board Meetings in Addition to All That Public Service
Former Deloitte CEO Joe Echevarria will join Pfizer's board of directors effective immediately, according to a company press release. That's a decent gig! The release also mentions that Joe E is on the board of Bank of New York Mellon. He landed that back in February and serves on the audit committee. Presumably, he'll serve […]
Unfounded Crackpot Theory of the Day: Did Joe Echevarria Want to Stick It To Deloitte?
We've clearly got an Above Top Secret member hanging around the tip box this afternoon: The real unanswered question regarding Echevarria at Deloitte – I can understand that he wanted to announce that he did not want to stand for re-election (possibly he heard from insiders that he wouldn't get re-elected) the real question that […]
Who Will Be the Next CEO of Deloitte?
Last Friday we learned that Deloitte CEO Joe Echevarria had decided to call it a career after 34 years at the Green Dot. The news came as a bit of surprise, especially since Joe is only 57 and would be able to serve another four years in the big chair without reaching Deloitte's mandatory retirement […]
Deloitte CEO Prefers Traditional Photo Op Over Selfie
As we've established, Deloitte CEO Joe Echevarria was setting trends in the realm of cool long ago. It's probably not surprising then that when a photo opportunity is presented to him, he prefers someone else hold the camera: A standing ovation! And here we are with Joe E. In our midst. #EllenGabriel Fellows pic.twitter.com/bCmCoqIQs0 — […]
Joe Echevarria Was a Hipster Before It Was Cool
Before he was CEO of Deloitte, talking about creating thousands of jobs, talking to both current and ex-Presidents, and having 1%er problems, Joe Echevarria admits that he had some "rough edges." He group grew up in the Bronx, attended the University of Miami (aka Suntan U.) and didn't have the personal hygiene and fashion sense […]
Deloitte CEO Joe Echevarria Doesn’t Want to Hear About the Troubles You’ve Had Selling *Your* House
As you may recall, after Joe Echevarria became CEO of Deloitte in 2011, we learned that his house in Westchester was up for grabs with an asking price of $2.8 million. The 6,000 square-foot spread had hit the market in March of that year listed at $3 mil, so you can safely assume that Joe and his wife Ana were anxious to move the thing.
God, Deloitte Is Still Humblebragging About Its Hiring Numbers
We've grown accustomed to Big 4 people dropping huge hiring numbers in order to get oooohs and ahhhhhs out of media people and Joe Echevarria was on Bloomberg TV today doing more of the same: Sara Eisen: Are you picking up jobs from Wall Street as Wall Street sheds and shrinks? Joe E.: Absolutely. We're […]
To Whom It May Going Concern: “So Why I Ask Were the GC Bloggers Enjoying a Long Weekend with the Bankers, Teachers, and Government Employees?”
To Whom It May Going Concern is a roundup of our favorite emails, tweets, and other messages. Gotta beef? Are your knickers in a twist? Feel the need to come at us, bro? Email us at [email protected], drop us a line in the tip box, or tweet @ us on Twitter. As a reminder, all messages […]
Joe Echevarria: Washington Needs to Get Its Act Together
Deloitte CEO Joe Echevarria is confident in his firm's ability to create jobs. He told CNBC that the Green Dot will hire another 17,000 new employees next year (netting "about half of that"). The reason that other, lesser, CEOs aren't kicking ass and taking names is that they can't deal with all the uncertainty out […]
Let’s Speculate About: Joe Echevarria’s Rumored Meeting with the SEC
Earlier today we were informed that Deloitte CEO Joe Echevarria was a commencement speaker at the University of Miami, his alma mater, this morning. A quick search confirmed Joe E's gig, however, our tipster had this to add: Said he had just come from a meeting with SEC, didn't mention what it was about, lol. This could […]
Technological Advances Inside Deloitte Have Some People All Excited
We here at GC received the following email in our inboxes this Moanday morning:
Finally!!! See below 🙂
Direct Pay makes managing your expenses easier
Published: 05-Dec-11With the implementation of Direct Pay, managing your business expenses just got simpler. Direct Pay is the process where Deloitte pays American Express directly, on your behalf, for your business expenses that have been imported into DTE.
There is no change to billing dates, the point rewards program, or the way you enter your expenses.
Direct Pay will begin for U.S. professionals with expense reports dated December 17 (U.S. India professionals are not part of Direct Pay at this time.)
The process is simple:
• Use your American Express corporate card for business expenses
• Import your expenses into DTE
• Deloitte pays American Express for the imported expensesProfessionals will still be responsible for paying American Express directly for any minor non-business corporate card charges, or any American Express business charges that are manually entered into DTE. To help you with this process, there is a new tool in DTE that reconciles your monthly American Express charges to what you have imported.
Sweet Baby Jesus, it doesn’t take much to excite the Green Dots these days, does it? It’s impossible for us to tell whether or not our contributor is a traveling worker bee or the executive assistant of some traveling Big Wig (Joey E!), but it doesn’t really matter because they are SUPER PSYCHED. Is this what it’s come to for us? Forget about holiday bonuses or even some free schwag; filing expense reports just got only slightly marginally sorta kinda maybe better. No word yet on a charge code for the strip joint, errrr “Big Ben’s Steakhouse.” Continue to pay those charges with your excess per diem.
So this got us thinking. What other kinds of techy improvements would improve your lives at work? Some off-the-cuffers:
1. Partner calls sent straight to voicemail.
2. Starbucks, delivered.*
3. The ability to work from home and have a work/life bal…oh wait. Nevermind.
Who is else in a dizzy tizzy about Big D’s technological advancement? Spill your joys below.
*Interns do not count.
We Read This Awful Interview with Deloitte’s Joe Echevarria So You Don’t Have To
You don’t have to be Bob Woodward to recognize the formulaic nature of the CEO interview. Reporter goes to CEO’s office, asks loaded questions about the issues of the day, describes the view from the office, elaborates on the person’s exercise regimen, humble (or not so humble) beginnings, people they admire, yada yada yada. Cripes, reading these things makes you want to shave with broken glass but hey! editors get in ruts just li we’re stuck with the puff. By extension, interviews with Big 4 CEOs are worse because they typically occur with General Counsel sitting in the next room zapping their genitals every time a question is asked that necessitates “I can’t comment on that.”
Today’s example comes courtesy of Reuters who interviewed Deloitte’s Joe Echevarria. What prompted this little chat was the PCAOB’s release of Part II of the firm’s 2008 inspection report. It wasn’t exactly a flattering portrayal of a firm who, when asked to brush up on their audit skills, basically told the PCAOB to drop dead.
Accordingly, the firm is running damage control and that involves getting Joe E. in front of some friendly reporters (read: not Jon Weil or Francine McKenna).
Recently faulted by the main U.S. auditor watchdog, Deloitte has told its professionals that skepticism should be the No. 1 focus during the upcoming auditing season for annual financial reports, CEO Joe Echevarria said.
“I know there’s a heightened awareness about professional skepticism in the firm,” he said. “It’s going to take a while for heightened awareness to manifest itself in actions and documentation because humans are involved here.”
The natural follow-up question here would be, “But Mr. Echevarria, the PCAOB asked you to fix things in 2008-2009, are you saying that you’re now just ‘manifesting itself in actions’?” but that brings out the zapper. That’s okay, we’re all used to it. You know what else we’re used to? Talking about the “expectations gap”:
There is an “expectations gap” between what auditors do and what the public expects, but auditors do have an obligation to detect and report material fraud, Echevarria said.
Echevarria is also asked about auditor rotation, IFRS and (for some odd reason) its settlement over the Adelphia fraud in 2005. Why not ask about the swinging insider trading scandal? What about Taylor, Bean & Whitaker? What about associates sneaking bloggers into the downtown W? WHAT ABOUT THIS FAUX TARA REID MARRIAGE? People want these all-important questions on the record and yet it never happens. Sigh.
By the way since it’s obvious that some of you care about these details, Joe is from the Bronx and his office is in Midtown.
Deloitte pressing for more skeptical audits (God, the headline is even awful) [Reuters]
Caption Contest Thursday: Deloitte’s Shade of Blue Looks Very Familiar
Deloitte CEO Joe Echevarria and former President Bill Clinton at the Middle Market Perspectives Event in New York.
Deloitte CEO Joe Echevarria Has Been Listening to a Lot of Bellyaching
The Wall St. Journal published a little Q&A with Deloitte CEO Joe Echevarria today to get an idea of what’s been going on since he took the reins as the head of the U.S. firm. It’s been nearly 100 days since JoeE got the nod and the flaks at Deloitte probably felt as though it was as good of a time as ever to roll out their new man.
Oddly enough, it’s been about 30 days since we told you that JE’s Westchester home was up for sale and since none of you cheapskates have bothered to help him out, this gives us the opportunity to remind you that it’s still up for grabs.
Anyway, this Q&A. It’s about what you might expect – but we’ll try to jazz it up for you.
For starters, did you know Joe worked at gas station in the Bronx? Yes, he’s already tougher than you’ll ever be. But while he was washing windows and filling up the locals, he noticed that the accountant didn’t seem to do diddly squat and made WAY more money than he did:
What stood out to me was I worked all day and I was making whatever minimum wage was at the time. The accountant came into the gas station once a month, did something, and walked out with a lot more money than I made in a week.
Back when Joe started at the firm, things were a lot different. For example: email. What is this fancy crap?:
I started at Haskins & Sells, the predecessor to Deloitte. I started in the audit practice. All the tasks were hierarchical in those days, so you had to work your way up. We weren’t in an environment where everything is electronic. We had to get mail. It didn’t just come over some laptop.
In his first 100 days, what’s been Joe’s biggest accomplishment? Making important leadership appointments? Overseeing the consolidation of regions? Nope. Listening to partner complaints:
One of the goals we’re beginning to accomplish is having a conversation. We opened up a communication vehicle with our partners and our directors that I call Social CEO. It gets the partners to engage, open dialogue, ask survey questions and ask questions of me or others. I get every comment.
How about this economy? We might be looking at a double-dip which could have some Green Dotties a little worried. But have no fear, Joe & Co. are all over it:
Once upon a time there was a view that there would be a rebound. I would say now the probabilities of a rebound are diminishing and the probability of a double dip is increasing. We have a set of plans that we would undertake for any of those scenarios. This isn’t new for us.
And if those plans don’t go as they should, there won’t be too many sad faces:
The first thing is we look at the costs that we incur and how much ahead we’re hiring. Maybe 18,000 [new hires] becomes 17,000.
See? No cause for concern.
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
Deloitte Announces Joe Echevarria as New CEO, Punit Renjen Chairman
Deloitte has announced today that Joe Echevarria will become the new CEO and Punit Renjen (who is oddly well-coifed for a leader at Deloitte) the new Chairman Board of the firm effective June 1. None of this is really news to anyone that frequents this site since we reported who the candidates were back in February. Joe takes over for Barry Salzberg who will assume the global CEO position and Punit will assume the Chairman role from Sharon Allen who is retiring.
This officially marks the end of the Deloitte election process that we brought to light after a partner reached out to us over concerns that the process is seriously flawed (or in that partner’s words, “broken”). Whether or not the rumored poor turnout had any effect on the timing is not known but the results remain the same, much to the chagrin of many partners at the firm who share the frustration of a unrepresentative election process.
[caption id="attachment_29175" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Renjen"]
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Both guys seem genuinely pleased with the result, “I am deeply honored to be elected by my partners and principals to be CEO of this great firm. As the largest professional services organization in the U.S., we have an obligation to lead,” said Echevarria. “Excellence in all of the professional services we provide constitutes the foundation of our success. As markets were shaken and major players disappeared overnight, we’ve made a clear choice to focus on superior performance, innovation and growth across all our practice areas. Great firms are growth firms.”
And Renjen, “This is a great privilege, and I deeply appreciate the partnership’s confidence in me,” he said. “I share Sharon Allen’s vision for Deloitte – to be the ‘Standard of Excellence.’ Setting this standard demands effective governance, transparency, accountability and uncompromised quality. I am committed to leading the board in providing valuable oversight and strategic guidance to management, and also to representing our exceptional organization and culture with external stakeholders.”
Congratulate your new leaders, green dots; these are the men you’ll be receiving a monstrous number of emails from for the next four years.
[via Deloitte]