Ex-KPMG CEO Lynne Doughtie Adds Another Board Seat Notch to Her Belt
Lynne Doughtie has been busy padding the “Corporate Board Experience” portion of her résumé. A little more than a month after joining the Board of Advisors of NovaSignal Corp., the former KPMG CEO joined her first corporate board of directors on Jan. 15 where she’ll have to learn all things jumbo jet. And she’ll be […]
Ex-KPMG CEO Lynne Doughtie Is Following the Post-Big 4 Playbook
This post is ONLY for those of you at KPMG who have been losing sleep thinking about which company board Lynne Doughtie would be joining now that her Big 4 career is over. Here’s the answer: NovaSignal Corp., a medical technology and data company specializing in assessing cerebral blood flow, announced today that Lynne Doughtie […]
Ex-EY CEO Mark Weinberger Joined His Gazillionth Board of Directors
OK, I might have gotten a little carried away with the title of this post, but it seems like former EY Global Chairman and CEO Mark Weinberger is being appointed to some kind of corporate board or advisory position every month. The latest addition to his resume is a seat on the board of Saudi […]
Ex-EY CEO Mark Weinberger Is Keeping His Plate Full
While perusing the interwebs last night, I saw that our favorite Kenny Powers lookalike, former EY Global Chairman and CEO Mark Weinberger, has a new gig. MW was appointed as a senior advisor for Los Angeles-based Stone Canyon Industries Holdings LLC, which owns several rail transportation companies as well as packaged ice maker Reddy Ice. […]
Former PwC Global Chairman Dennis Nally Has Got Himself a New Gig
It seems to be a right of passage for former Big 4 chairmen and CEOs to eventually end up on a public company’s board of directors. We saw two such instances last year: After Mark Weinberger retired from EY, he joined the board of MetLife. And former Deloitte CEO and current WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert […]
Ex-EY CEO Mark Weinberger Joined a Board
Since his last day as global chairman and CEO of EY on June 30, Mark Weinberger has probably spent a lot of time at home working on his tan and sitting in his favorite recliner, wearing just BVDs and a stained white undershirt, slamming Yuenglings. Maybe his wife finally got sick and tired of seeing […]
At PulteGroup, Internal Audit Opens Many Doors
A typical job that an eager-to-leave Big 4 auditor might come across is that of an internal auditor. These jobs are plentiful within public companies large and small, but there tends to be a stigma that internal auditors are merely corporate hall monitors with limited upward mobility. After speaking to Megan Scheiderich, director of internal […]
Exposure Drafts: The Key to Accountants Achieving Success
Exposure Drafts appears every other Wednesday. Send comments and suggestions to [email protected].
Report: Former Deloitte UK CEO Planning a New Big 4 Firm
Ever since Andersen went down for the dirt nap (and probably before that), observers of the accounting profession have worried about the shrinking number of large accounting firms. And sure, it's a concern, but the majority people can't be bothered with it until the Big 4 becomes the Big 3. The other side of this […]
Former EY Employee Who Liked Secretly Filming People in the Bathroom Given Four Years to Think About His Choices
A judge in London sentenced a former EY employee to four years in prison for filming more than 3,500 people "in bedrooms and bathrooms in his own home, shower rooms and lavatories at his work place and bathrooms in a large number of coffee shops in central London." George Thomas started his little hobby in […]
Post-Big 4 Board Seat Watch: Former Deloitte & Touche CEOs
Greg Weaver, D&T's very own version of Grover Cleveland, snagged a seat on Verizon's Board of Directors. Hopefully he didn't make too many commitments to public service that might stretch him thin like some people we know. [VZ]
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 […]
Ex-KPMG Partner Convicted of Insider of Trading Will Hit the Streets This Summer
Courtesy of James Ulvog, we learn that Scott London, convicted passer of material non-public information to a golf (former) buddy, is laying his head somewhere new: The Bureau of Prisons inmate locator shows that Scott London is currently under supervision of the Long Beach Residential Reentry Management office. His scheduled release date still shows at […]
Former Deloitte Employee Running in Florida’s Senate Race
Patrick Murphy represents Florida's 18th congressional district in the House of Representatives. Before defeating certified lunatic Allen West by 0.8% in the most expensive House race in history, he worked for his father's construction business and prior to that, he spent a year at Deloitte. A couple of days ago, Murph (I feel like that's […]
Jim Turley Bestows Another Rose
After Citigroup announced that Jim Turley would be joining its Board of Directors in order to give it a slightly more credible appearance, St. Louis-based Emerson Electric Co. has managed the good fortune to have JT on their BOD. Turley will serve on the audit, and corporate governance and nominating committee. For those curious, Emerson's […]
Let’s Ponder Scott London’s Potential Future in the Service Industry
Late yesterday, Scott London appeared in court to be arraigned on charges of securities fraud and afterwards he gave an interview to CNBC. In that interview ScoLo reiterated his statement that he had never passed material non-public information to a golfing buddy — or anyone else for that matter — prior to this incident. "I […]
Ex-KPMG Chairman Tim Flynn Still Has Some Game Left
According to Institutional Shareholder Services, TFly is only member of JPMorgan's risk policy committee who is meeting expectations: An influential shareholder advisory firm has recommended that investors withhold their support for three JPMorgan Chase directors, citing “material failures of stewardship and risk oversight” in the wake of a big trading loss last year. The firm, Institutional Shareholder Services, […]
Life After Big 4: What You May Miss and Won’t Miss At All
I Want to be a CA is a Canadian site, obviously, but Big 4 misery is a universal thing that transcends race, sex and geography. In the spirit of busy season, I'm happy to share the following with those of you slaving away dreaming of running off to the circus. "The Accountant" left Big 4 […]
Recruiting Season Regrets: The Guy Who Passed Up a Career with Deloitte to Sell Copious Amounts of Pot
Right now, many accounting students are giving serious thought to their futures. Right this very minute, in fact, a few are gnawing their already bloody fingernails waiting for a Going Concern blogger to tell them what to do with their lives. They can't trust their parents and friends so it's only natural that they ask […]
A Famous Psephologist Hated Working at KPMG, Just Like Us!
In this election cycle, Nate Silver may be the most talked about person that isn't running for political office. He runs FiveThirtyEight, a blog that uses data to determine the probability of a particular outcome in an election, most notably the presidential election. In 2008 he predicted 49 out of 50 states correct, so he […]
Today’s Groupon: A Chief Accounting Officer Courtesy of KPMG
Chronically accounting challenged coupon* carrier, Groupon, has found a new Chief Accounting Officer and they've followed the methodology most notably employed by PwC – poaching a KPMG partner: Groupon Inc said on Monday it appointed Brian Stevens chief accounting officer as the online daily deal company grapples with a string of accounting controversies. Stevens will step […]
Bank of America Gets It Some Sharon Allen
Bank of America announced today that perpetually hydrated former Deloitte Chairwoman Sharon Allen will be joining their board of directors effectively immediately. This appointment by a prominent company naming a former Big 4 bigwig to their BoD follows announcements by J.P. Morgan and Walmart that ex-KPMG Chairman Tim Flynn would be joining their boards. This is probably a good […]
Ex-PwC Employee Pleads Guilty to Terror Charges
Sabirhan Hasanoff will have a few years (or maybe a decade or so!) to think about his choices: Sabirhan Hasanoff had been arrested in 2010 in Dubai and brought to the United States to face charges of providing material support to the terror network. He faces up to 15 years in prison at his July […]
Ex-Deloitte Manager Shares New Venture with 182,000 (Give or Take) of His Closest Colleagues
Yesterday we shared a travesty of a farewell email that defies all professional etiquette and common decency. Later today we'll give you some pointers for crafting a farewell email that doesn't annoy everyone, but for now we have Exhibit B for self-serving, over-sharing accountants who seek greener pastures: Hello Everyone, After five and a […]
Tim Flynn: Back in the Game
Almost. The ex-KPMG Chairman has been nominated to join JP Morgan's board of directors. He still has to be elected by shareholders (a formality more or less) which will occur on May 15th. But Jamie Dimon seems pretty excited about the possibility, saying that JPM is "honored" that TFly has agreed to be a nominee. […]
Is There Any Question That Ben Keesey’s Accounting Degree and Five Months at Deloitte Set the Groundwork for Invisible Children?
Who knows?!? Four years studying the debit and credit arts at UCLA along with five months at Deloitte is more than enough time to accelerate a drinking problem or weight gain, but lay the groundwork for a viral exposure of human rights atrocities? That remains debatable. It's certainly a better result than some people who […]
Ex-KPMG Partner Is the King of Everyone in New Orleans Getting Totally Hammered Today
It's Fat Tuesday which means a whole lot of people in New Orleans have been drunk for the past 7-8 hours and the sober ones…well, no one is sober in New Orleans today. ANYWAY, for you rubes that don't know squat about Mardi Gras (this includes myself), the King of Carnival is the "ebullient Rex," and […]
How Do Big 4 Exiles Get Their CPE?
File this one under first world problems.
Hello,
I’m starting to think about post-Big 4 opportunities and I am wondering how people maintain their CPE credits after leaving the Big 4. Since we need to take 80 hours of CPE credits every 2 years to maintain a CPA, do most employers offer trainings that give CPE credits? If not, will they give you time off and pay for the classes? I’d be very interested in hearing from you, and from the Going Concern community.
Well considering so many of the country’s employable CPAs somehow manage to meet their board of accountancy’s CPE requirements year after year, there’s got to be a trick to stay current that doesn’t involve firms forking out the cash for “experts” to school their staff on all things billable to the CPE time code. Are you telling me you have somehow escaped the wrath of NASBA and don’t get emailed weekly with new CPE offers? Congratulations.
I spoke to one of my favorite HR people at a reasonably-sized but definitely not Big 4 firm to find out what their CPE policy is and found out that most firms above 50 people pay for CPE in one way or another. According to a national survey conducted by the AICPA and the Texas Society of CPAs, 42 percent of the smallest firms paid for CPE in 2010. So unless you end up working out of some ancient CPA’s basement, you will probably not be expected to pay your own way.
Obviously, smaller firms will not be able to provide in-house CPE but you can likely get your online CPE comped, or get reimbursed for any travel associated with in-person CPE you attend. But seriously?! In-person CPE? Get with the times, man.
If you do end up needing to pay your own way (again, totally unlikely as long as you stay gainfully employed by a real accounting firm, even a tiny one), your state society of CPAs can probably provide information on their CPE offerings, or there is always NASBA (as anyone on their email list will tell you) or the AICPA.
Remember too that if you are attending conferences like AICPA Council, you get CPE for doing so, so maybe those dumb meetings aren’t so pointless after all.