How Will Your Team Air Its Grievances This Busy Season?
If you are leading a team this busy season, it's likely that a conflict or two may arise and passive-aggressive behavior may result. When you have a group of people sitting on their asses for hours, day after day, not seeing daylight for months on end, it's inevitable. When passive-aggressive behavior does happen, there are […]
In Case You’re Feeling Frustrated This Monday, We Made You Some Ecards
Usually I'm loathe to share over-shared memes but somehow someecards still manages to be funny at least some of the time. Plus the format is pretty much perfect for socially awkward, passive aggressive people, not like I know any of those *cough*. Instead of sharing the same old same old workplace cards, we made some […]
“Just Go Rob the H&R Block Instead, Their Computers Are Nicer”
Old. But funny. Unlike Colin who is old but not funny.
There Seems to Be Some Confusion About the Official Office Hours at Deloitte Hong Kong
Busy season probably hasn't started in earnest for many of you but many people are getting geared up. Herman Miller is getting more ass, caffeine intake is on the rise, and you're blowing off your loved ones. All signs that things are about to get real. For some people, however, forgetting about the rigor and […]
As Predicted, There’s a Battle Over Who Will Get Credit for the 1099 Repeal
The repeal of the 1099 provision in the healthcare reform law has been dogging Congress since the bill was signed into law last March. Because small businesses will no doubt lead the economic recovery, remove all the snow that has dumped on this great land and may just get the Egypt situation under control, every pol within a stone’s throw of the Potomac is trying to get their name on this thing. Nebraska’s Mike Johanns (R) and West Virginia’s Joe Manchin (D) seemed to have this locked up but as we surmised, other Democrats are trying to get in on some of this small business saving action.
The Hill’s On the Money blog has the latest:
Senate Republicans expressed some confusion and approval Wednesday that their push to repeal the unpopular 1099 provision from the healthcare law has been taken over by Democrats.
Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), who has signed onto a bipartisan bill sponsored by Sens. Mike Johanns (R-Neb.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) that has the support of 61 lawmakers, proposed her own amendment that adds five words to the Johanns-Manchin repeal measure ensuring that no “unobligated funds” are used from the Social Security Administration.
So Senator Stabenow’s little maneuver has her nicely positioned to lay claim as a champion of all the Mom and Pop shops out there and shockingly, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is cool with it:
“It turns out Senator Johanns did such an outstanding job raising awareness about the 1099 requirement that Democrats took the idea and are now claiming it as their own,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said. “Which is fine with us. It’s not a bad precedent actually. We’ve got a lot of other good ideas that we’d be happy to share.”
While Senator McConnell sounds like he’s fine with Stabenow semi-jacking the bill, a staffer was less impressed:
“Dems went from putting it in the bill, to opposing the fix, to sponsoring a different fix, to sponsoring the Republican bill,” one senior Republican aide told The Hill.
Gotta love politics.
Senate Republicans express confusion over 1099 amendment [On the Money/The Hill]
Grant Thornton Loses Its Fire in Letter to the SEC
Despite getting all bent out of shape in their earlier statement:
“The fraud was apparently conducted by a longtime, trusted senior financial executive who was hired and supervised by senior management,” a Grant Thornton spokeswoman said Tuesday. “The company (Koss) did not engage Grant Thornton LLP to conduct an audit or evaluation of internal controls over financial reporting. Establishing and maintaining effective internal control is management’s and the board’s responsibility.”
Grant Thornton is less enthused in their letter to the SEC:
We have read Item 4.01 of Form 8-K of Koss Corporation dated January 4, 2010, and agree with the statements concerning our Firm contained therein. We have no basis to agree or disagree with the statements and conclusions in Item 4.02(a), some of which were not disclosed to Grant Thornton LLP prior to receipt of this filing.
The only thing we read here that might be a dig at Koss is “some of which were not disclosed to Grant Thornton LLP prior to receipt of this filing.” If this is intended to be the firm’s version of the finger — straight up, at you Koss — the passive-aggressiveness is at a level that even impresses us.
At least in the Overstock letter the firm flat out called Pat Byrne and his company liars. This latest opportunity to lay the smackdown on a client in a regulatory filing seems to have been squandered.