
Legal Liabilities and Pensions Are Holding Up the EY Split
Although EY has already decided who will lead the divided factions of audit and consulting, the necessary vote through which roughly 13,000 partners will decide whether or not to split has a few more hurdles standing in the way before it can happen. When the news of the split first broke in May of last […]

One KPMGer ‘Annoyed’ By New Enhancements to 401(k) Match and Pension Programs
I wanted to make a comment about KPMG’s new 401(k) rules. As a recent US hire, the changes annoyed me in some ways. Here’s why: What the article (“Changes to KPMG’s 401(k) Contribution Policy Seem to Be Getting Positive Reviews”) didn’t mention or what your source material may have left out is that in addition […]

Changes to KPMG’s 401(k) Contribution Policy Seem to Be Getting Positive Reviews
In mid-July 2020, when public accounting CEOs were still looking at ways to slash costs because of the Rona’s impact on their firms, we started receiving tips from KPMGers about their retirement and pension plans taking a hit: KPMG announced this week they are cutting pension and 401k contributions in half for 2020. According to a 2018 […]

A Big 4 Firm Being Untruthful? You Don’t Say!
From the Financial Times yesterday: A senior KPMG partner advanced an “untruthful” defence at a disciplinary hearing into the accounting firm’s misconduct in the sale of bedmaker Silentnight to a private equity fund, a tribunal has found. The tribunal also found that KPMG and David Costley-Wood, the partner who led the Silentnight work, had failed […]

KPMG Just Missed Getting a Record-Setting Fine In the U.K. By *This* Much
When an independent disciplinary tribunal concluded in June that KPMG U.K. and one of the firm’s partners failed to comply with the fundamental principles of objectivity and integrity in their work on the sale of bed manufacturer Silentnight to U.S. private equity firm HIG Capital in 2011, the panel recommended KPMG be fined a record-setting […]

This Is Not Good, KPMG. Not Good At All.
Here’s some less-than-stellar news about the Queen’s KPMG from today’s Financial Times: KPMG faces a record fine of more than £15m after advising bed manufacturer Silentnight on the sale of its business despite the accountant’s “conflict of interest” with the buyout fund that bought it. An independent tribunal found that KPMG and one of its […]

KPMG U.K. Restructuring Partner Channels Angry Donald Trump During Disciplinary Hearing
“The fact that I am [sitting] here being accused of dishonesty, and have never been dishonest in my business life … is frankly outrageous. This whole case here is just a witch hunt and if [the FRC] can’t win the case, which they shouldn’t based on the facts, then it is simply a process of […]

Accountants Behaving Badly: Sexually Assaulting Children, Guilty Plea In Visa Fraud Case, A Roudy Theft
Plus, U.K. accountant charged with misleading pensions regulator, and an Isle of Man chartered accountant is banned. Accountant, 57, and his boyfriend, 56, are jailed for total of 30 years after sexually assaulting children as young as 11 while they filmed their sick acts [Daily Mail] Asswipes. Richard Townsend, 57, abused children as young as […]
EY Offering Pension Buyouts to Its Former Employees (Limited Time Only!)
Here’s an interesting bit of news that dropped in our inbox earlier: EY is offering lump-sum pension buyouts to former employees. There are conditions, of course. To be eligible, an individual must have left the firm prior to January 1, 2016 and won’t be receiving benefits as of June 1, 2016 when the opt-in period begins.