PwC’s 2021 PCAOB Inspection Report Shows Once Again It Is Less Awful at Auditing Than the Other Big 4 Firms
The 2021 PCAOB inspection report season kicked off right before Christmas with the release of a batch of six big ones: PwC, Deloitte, EY, KPMG, BDO USA, and Grant Thornton. It would be tough for PwC to top its 2020 inspection report as it was nearly blemish-free. Of the 52 audits reviewed by inspectors during […]
When it Comes to Global Revenue, PwC is Still Deloitte’s Bi*ch
2015. That was the last time PwC held the distinction of being the world’s biggest accounting firm by revenue, edging Deloitte by a $35.4 billion to $35.2 billion margin. But since then it’s been all Deloitte, overtaking PwC in 2016 and widening its lead in 2022 to about $9 billion now that PwC has officially […]
KPMG Poaches Someone From PwC and Issues a Press Release, Part XVII
Last month KPMG made a big deal in a press release about how it had added eight partners and managing directors to “advance its Tax Reimagined service offering.” Good for you, KPMG. But what’s somewhat interesting is that the eight new partners and managing directors came from two other Big 4 firms, one of which […]
Compensation Watch ’22: Does the New Equation Add Up to Better Raises For PwC Employees? (UPDATED)
[Updated original post from July 2 with new raise percentages for A2->S1, A3->S1, and S1->S2; added raise percentages for 2015, 2014, and 2013.] Now that raises have been doled out at Deloitte, next up is PwC. This is the first compensation cycle in the era of the New Equation, which is just a fancy way […]
Promotion Watch ’22: PwC Admits 283 New Partners and Principals
PwC will be swimming in new partners and principals on July 1, the day when members of one of the largest classes in recent memory at the firm officially earn their stripes. Of the 283 members of the class of 2022 at PwC, 169 will be principals and 114 will be partners. It’s the biggest […]
The Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For: PwC #63 (2022)
The last of the Big 4 to be ranked in the 2022 Fortune BCTWF and the one that took the biggest drop over the last year is the proudest and trustiest firm of them all, PwC. Fortune doesn’t reveal why a particular company fell so many spots in its ranking from one year to the […]
PwC Finishes First In Vault’s Accounting Firm Prestige Ranking For the Gazillionth Time (2023)
Another year, another first-place finish for PwC in Vault’s ranking of the most prestigious public accounting firms. At this point, you can just pencil in PwC as being the most prestigious firm now until the end of time. If a firm was to eventually unseat PwC in prestige, it would be as big of an […]
PwC Briefcases Look Absolutely Stunning On the Oscars Red Carpet
All polished up and ready to go for their big night. Hopefully the PwC briefcases’ handlers have a better night at the Oscars tonight than Brian Cullinan and Martha Ruiz did five years ago. Related article: Happy Fifth Anniversary of PwC F*cking Up the Oscars
PwC Poaches Someone From KPMG and Issues a Press Release, Parts X and XI
While the Great Resignation in public accounting hasn’t slowed down much recently, there are still people who are jockeying for a better job in the Big 4 and have left one firm for another. In this case, it’s something we used to write about A LOT back in the day: people bolting KPMG for PwC. […]
Here Is What PwC Russia and EY Russia Said About Being Ousted From Their Big 4 Firm’s Global Network
The dust hadn’t even settled before PwC Russia and EY Russia released statements on their respective websites about being told they were no longer part of the global networks of PwC and EY due to Russia’s war with Ukraine. The statements from PwC Russia and EY Russia are pretty much what you’d expect—acknowledging they were […]
PwC Ukraine’s Forensic Leader OK After His Home Was Hit By a Russian Missile
One of my connections on LinkedIn shared this post from Andriy Tretyak last week. Tretyak is the forensic leader at PwC Ukraine, and the photo above is the building where he lived in Kyiv, which was struck by a Russian missile. Fortunately Tretyak was able to escape before the missile slammed into the residential building, […]
Reports: PwC Is Withdrawing From Russia and Belarus (UPDATE)
[UPDATE] PwC Global Chairman Bob Moritz released this statement a little over an hour ago confirming that PwC is pulling out of Russia: We all continue to be shocked and horrified by the senseless war that the Russian government is inflicting on Ukraine and its people. As we galvanized to find ways in which we […]
Happy Fifth Anniversary of PwC F*cking Up the Oscars
What were you doing the evening of Feb. 26, 2017? I was at home and I wasn’t watching the Academy Awards. I was probably watching the Chicago Blackhawks game that night, when the team was actually good. But I remember seeing on my Twitter feed later that night people talking about the huge mistake made […]
Compensation Watch ’21: PwC Employees Are Getting a 5% Bump In Pay (UPDATE)
[UPDATE] Now that PwCers got that sweet, sweet “Timmy Stimmy,” a mid-year raises thread was created on r/accounting, although there hasn’t been much action in it so far. The 5% raise nearly everyone got is reflected in a few posts, while a Senior 3 in Consulting Advisory Services mentioned getting the additional 10% adjustment (see […]
Wanna Know What New PwC Employees Get These Days In Their Welcome Package?
This new PwCer shows you in a video posted to YouTube last month—and drags out his or her swag unpacking for nearly three minutes. Newbie. This person obviously didn’t know all PwCers have to tag everything PwC-related on social media with #PwCProud.
Big 4 Item of the Week on eBay: PwC Stamps
Looking to buy PwC Global Chairman Bob Moritz a gift for the holidays? We have two ideas for you from eBay: An autographed 8-inch by 10-inch photo of Bebe Rexha because BoMo is apparently a big fan. A full sheet of stamps from 2005 commemorating PwC’s 85th year in Uruguay. Here’s what the stamps look […]
It’s True: PwC Had a Nearly Flawless 2020 PCAOB Inspection Report
The PCAOB blessed us this morning with its first batch of 2020 inspection reports, which included BDO USA, Deloitte, EY, Grant Thornton, KPMG, and the highly anticipated one for PwC. Back in August PwC released its 2021 audit quality report, which included a lot of bragging about how much more competent P. Dubs’ auditors have […]
We Now Know the Buyer of PwC’s Global Mobility Services Business
After months of rumors and speculation online about whether or not PwC was selling its global mobility services business and, if so, to whom, we now have answers to both questions: Yes and private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice. Here’s the press release that just hit our inbox: Clayton, Dubilier & Rice and PwC […]
PwC Hits $45 Billion In Global Revenue In ‘New Equation’-less FY 2021
The FY 2021 numbers are in at PwC and global revenue rose 4.9% to $45.1 billion for the year ending June 30. Hey, nice job, everyone. And as you’d expect, Bob Mortiz is #PwCProud: “I’m tremendously proud of all we achieved in a challenging year, and the way we did it, leading with our values […]
PwC Just Announced That You Never Have To Go Back To the Office If You Don’t Want To (Sorta)
Big news today! PwC just announced that effective November 1, its people will need to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in order to access PwC facilities and client sites. Deloitte announced a similar vaccination policy toward the end of August, as did KPMG, just a handful of days before President Biden announced the country’s own […]
PwC Probably Won’t Be Including Ex-Audit Partner’s PCAOB Fine In Trust Solutions Marketing Materials Anytime Soon
July 1, 2014 was a big day for Sarah Martin, as she was one of 180 chosen ones who were admitted to the partnership by PwC. On that day the Richmond, VA-based Martin became a partner in assurance, which along with tax now falls under the Trust Solutions umbrella at P. Dubs. Now fast-forward seven […]
Non-PwCer Totally Confused About What PwC Trust Solutions Really Is
A thread today on Fishbowl: That’s what PwC gets for giving its assurance and tax segments a dumb new name. This is from the same firm that gave the world Strategy&. That was and still is a dumb name. It’s like they do it on purpose. Related articles: PwC Is a Name You Can Trust […]
Compensation Watch ’21: How ’Bout Them Raises At PwC? (NEW UPDATE)
(Updated original post on July 8 with a comparison of average raise percentages per promotion from 2020 and 2016.) PwCers expected really good raises this year. They trust that management would make that happen, given that PwC U.S. had record-setting revenue of $18 billion last year during a global pandemic. Last year PwCers had to […]
In Honor of Labor Day, Here’s a Guy Who Would Take a Bullet for PwC
Y’all think he makes a Facebook post like this on his wedding anniversary? Nah, me neither.
PwC Might Do Something No Other Big 4 Firm Has Ever Done Before
After years and years of PCAOB inspections of the Big 4 in which the percentage of audits of public companies that weren’t up to snuff have been in the 30s, 40s, and even 50s, we finally had a respectable audit report card earlier this year when Deloitte nearly had a single-digit deficiency rate in its […]
Female PwC Employee Claims In Farewell Email She Was Fired Today For Calling Out Discrimination
A tipster sent us a link to a post on r/accounting that is generating quite the discussion this evening. In a goodbye email to her colleagues on Monday, a foreign-born Black woman who worked at PwC alleges she was discriminated against and denied a promotion three times because of her race, gender, and national origin. […]
Judge Sides with PwC In Whistleblower’s Retaliation Lawsuit
The cards are usually stacked against former Big 4 employees who take one of the firms to court, whether it’s over harassment, discrimination, retaliation, or unfair termination, because of the firms’ army of lawyers and their no-holds-barred approach to winning. Ex-PwC auditor Mauro Botta knew he faced an uphill battle trying to convince a judge […]
PwC Poaches Someone From Deloitte and Issues a Press Release, Parts II and III
When PwC released the names of its 94 newest principals earlier this month, Stefan Zorn and Sanjib Mukherjee weren’t on the list. Maybe because they were external hires and not promoted internally? I dunno. But Zorn and Mukherjee both recently bolted Deloitte as managing directors to become principals at the House of Ryan. Zorn recently […]
PwC Is a Name You Can Trust … Or So It Claims
Hey all you Trusty McTrustersons! Here’s an excerpt from a post Trusty Tim Ryan published today on LinkedIn explaining something new at PwC called The New Equation: What we know is that trust will be the defining factor in how businesses are able to achieve both profit and purpose – so in the US, we are aligning […]
Promotion Watch ’21: PwC Admits 210 New Partners and Principals
It’s promotion season at PwC, and the newest batch of chosen ones will officially become partners or principals on July 1 after they kiss Tim Ryan’s ring. Of the 210 individuals promoted, 116 will be partners and 94 will be principals. This year’s class of 210 new partners and principals is the smallest since 2015, […]
Oh Look, a Pissed-Off Stockholder Is Suing Mattel Directors and PwC
While a potential class complaint filed against Mattel and its auditor PwC by a group of Mattel investors currently sits in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, a separate lawsuit against directors of the global toy giant’s board and PwC was filed on May 21 in Delaware Chancery Court by a […]
Deloitte Poaches Someone From PwC and Issues a Press Release, Part II
After spending 15 years working at PwC in the U.K., Switzerland, and the United Arab Emirates, Mohamed Serokh has joined the Big 4 firm with the most valuable brand in professional services: Big D. Because the PR wizards at Deloitte Middle East hadn’t yet sent out a media release announcing Serokh as the firm’s newest […]
KPMG Poaches Someone From PwC and Issues a Press Release, Parts XII and XIII
In today’s edition of “Big 4-on-Big 4 Poaching From Around the World,” we have two more examples of PwCers hoping the grass is more greener at KPMG. First, we go to Scotland where Rob Aitken left PwC to become KPMG’s newest transaction services director in Aberdeen. The website Insider.co.uk got some information about KPMG of […]
Will Class Be In Session For Investors Suing Mattel and PwC Over Accounting Error Cover-Up?
Ah, we have an update on the class-action suit filed against Mattel and its longtime auditor, PwC, by investors who claim Mattel’s finance team and PwC auditors covered up an accounting error that affected the toy giant’s financial results toward the end of 2017. Bloomberg Law reported today: Mattel Inc. investors who accused the company of […]
The Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For: PwC #38 (2021)
Next up in the 2021 F100BCTWF are the darlings of the Big 4, PwC. Somebody on one of the chatter sites said recently that the reason why PwC attracts so many new recruits, capital market servants from other Big 4 firms, and has such a good reputation is because it has a charismatic and very […]
Vault Accounting 50: Get a Load of These New 1- and 2-Star Reviews About Working at PwC (2022)
A lot of bouquets were thrown PwC’s way in the 2022 Vault Accounting 50: best overall accounting firm to work for; most prestigious firm; and the best firm for formal training, hiring process, audit and assurance, forensic accounting, and tax accounting. Not to mention PwC was ranked highest among the Big 4 in diversity, specifically […]
Vault Accounting 50: No Stopping PwC In Latest Prestige Rankings (2022)
In the 16 years that Vault has ranked public accounting firms by prestige, only three firms have taken the title of “most prestigious”: EY (2007), Deloitte (2009), and PwC (2008; 2010-current). With the release of Vault’s 2022 Accounting 50 last week, that’s 13 straight years now that PwC has been viewed by accountants as the […]
Guy Speculates On How PwC Decided to Give $250 Vacation Bonus to Employees
What our esteemed former colleague Caleb Newquist wrote in yesterday’s Gusto “On the Margins” newsletter is probably closer to the truth than not: I can just picture Tim Ryan at the head of a long table with lieutenants sitting around racking their brains for ideas. “How do we show people that we’re serious about them taking […]
Important Audit Professional Takeaways from Botta v. PwC Closing Arguments
Closing arguments were held on April 13 in the bench trial of audit whistleblower Mauro Botta vs. PricewaterhouseCoopers. Botta, a former PwC senior manager, claims that he was wrongfully terminated by PwC in retaliation for making a whistleblower report to the SEC. Botta’s whistleblower report alleges that PwC had compromised its independence by acquiescing to […]
EY Poaches Someone From PwC and Issues a Press Release, Parts IV and V
In today’s edition of “Big 4-on-Big 4 Poaching From Around the World,” we’re focusing on the strategy consulting arms of PwC and EY in Australia, as Miles Tam recently left PwC’s Strategy& as a director to join the partnership at EY Port Jackson Partners. In addition, EY Port Jackson Partners lured Chris Paxton away from […]
Botham Jean’s Killer Is Appealing Her 10-Year Prison Sentence
Amber Guyger, the former Dallas cop who was sentenced to 10 years in prison in October 2019 for murdering PwC accountant Botham Jean in his apartment a year earlier, has an appeals hearing scheduled for later this month. The NBC affiliate in Dallas-Fort Worth reported last month that Guyger’s hearing will begin at 1 p.m. […]
You Can Now Drive By Dallas Police HQ on Botham Jean Boulevard
Back in January we told you guys about the Dallas City Council approving to rename a four-mile stretch of South Lamar Street, including where the Dallas Police Department’s headquarters is located, in memory of Botham Jean, the PwC accountant who was murdered in his apartment by a Dallas police officer in September 2018. Botham Jean […]
PwC Peeper Finally Gets Jail Time For His Upskirt Photo Fetish
Leon Chan just couldn’t stop taking photos up girls’ skirts. This dude, who used to work for PwC, had 1,700 upskirt pics saved on his iPhone when he was arrested in July 2019 at the Topshop clothing store in London after getting caught taking photos of a female shopper bending over. The crazy thing is […]
PwC Tried to Recruit a Former Auditor Who Is Suing Them So Don’t Ever Sweat Burning Bridges Again
When it comes time to think about leaving public accounting, which happens for 99% of public accountants except for those brave and oddly-programmed individuals who are cut out for the partner track, one of the foremost considerations in any exasperated public accountant’s mind is: how can I do this without burning bridges? From the time […]
Talent-Strapped PwC Is That Desperate Ex Texting You With ‘WYD’ After You’ve Moved On
Leaving public accounting is rarely an easy decision, even when the choices are “stay or have a crippling nervous breakdown.” It’s not that the decision itself is hard, rather the consequences of taking an oftentimes necessary leap can lead to difficulties in securing subsequent employment if, as your accounting professors would have you believe, walking […]
Big 4 Lawsuits: Mauro Botta vs. PwC and VBS Mutual Bank Liquidators vs. KPMG
PwC ‘Punished’ Thorough Auditing, Whistleblower Testifies [Law360] A couple Augusts ago, Adrienne wrote about an academic study that revealed the market for audit services penalizes audit firms for disclosing information critical of management in their audit opinions and that audit firms that find internal control material weaknesses experience lower client and fee growth. In other […]
For Now, PwC’s Audit Quality Stinks
In Footnotes last Friday, we highlighted a recent Accounting Today article about PwC finally taking audit quality seriously what measures PwC is taking to improve audit quality. In the article, Wes Bricker, PwC’s U.S. assurance leader and former SEC chief accountant, dropped a bomb—a Bricker bomb, if you will—about the most recent PCAOB inspections cycle: […]
Number of the Day: 5,447
No, that’s not the combined number of sit-ups and push-ups PwC Chairman Tim Ryan does in a week. It’s the number of SEC-registered clients across the mutual fund spectrum that are audited by PwC, according to a recent Audit Analytics analysis. And as Audit Analytics noted, PwC has a stranglehold on mutual fund engagements, with […]
The Olds vs. PwC: Federal Judge Seems Fine with Age Discrimination Lawsuit Settlement (UPDATE)
The $11.6 million settlement reached last March between PwC and two accountants who claimed they weren’t hired for associate positions with the firm because of their older age is a done deal. All that’s left is getting attorney fees figured out. Law360 reported on Jan. 27: A California federal judge said Wednesday he’ll approve PricewaterhouseCoopers […]
Did PwC Actually Pay Off Audit Staff to Do Inventory Counts Out of Desperation?
According to this recent post on Fishbowl, the answer is yes: Hey, if you’re a low man or woman on the totem pole at PwC, didn’t mind traveling to a client site during a pandemic, and if you didn’t mind working during #PwCTakesABreak or whatever the hell PwC calls its two-week time-off period before busy […]
Grant Thornton Poaches Someone From PwC and Issues a Press Release, Part II
With Mark Andrus retiring later this summer, Grant Thornton needed to find someone to succeed him as leader of the firm’s R&D Tax Credit Services practice. GT did, and he has Big 4 chops: Keith Nickels has joined Grant Thornton LLP as a Tax partner and national leader of the firm’s Research and Development (R&D) […]
There Will Soon Be a Botham Jean Boulevard In Dallas Named After Slain PwC Accountant
Kudos to all 15 members of the Dallas City Council for ultimately agreeing to honor murdered PwC accountant Botham Jean in this way. The Dallas Morning News reported on Jan. 13: The Dallas City Council on Wednesday unanimously approved renaming about four miles of South Lamar Street in memory of Botham Jean. He was shot to […]
PwC Traps Employees For Financial Penalties
PwC just fined me 3% of my annual pay for not reporting a few stocks that my spouse bought prior to the time when I joined the firm. Note this is not a conflict of interest issue or insider trading issue because the stocks my spouse owned had no connection with PwC’s client. When I […]
PwCers Got a Holiday Concert, What’d You Get?
It’s about that time to start comparing what branded goods everyone is swapping in the name of Christmas (or Hanukkah or winter solstice or whatever it is you choose to celebrate in this, the last mile of the year), a favorite pastime of accountants everywhere. We’re hearing PwCers were treated to a “concert” (via webcast, […]
Drunken PwCer Who Groped a Woman On a Plane Will Live to Reconcile Another Day
Many years ago, someone who definitely isn’t me had the bright idea to eat half a pot cookie on her way to the airport before a red-eye flight from San Francisco to New York. After all, late-night flights are rarely delayed, right? What’s the worst that could happen? Well, in her case the worst that […]
Compensation Watch ’20: PwC Making Mid-Year Salary Adjustments For Everyone
Christmas came early for those donning the orange, red, and yellow, as PwC employees were told the following today during a firmwide webcast, according to a tipster (bold emphasis added): PwC avoided layoffs by freezing pay, paid (smaller than target but still substantial) bonuses in the fall, now increasing base pay for nearly all staff […]
KPMG Poaches Someone From PwC and Issues a Press Release, Part X
Not only are there two former EY tax wonks who are part of the latest class of tax partners and managing directors at KPMG but there’s also a PwC refugee. From a KPMG announcement posted by Tax Grotto: Jeremy Jester has rejoined KPMG as a managing director in its SALT practice. He has nearly 15 years […]
Life at PwC Is All About Bewo Werk Llwe Ll
Leave it to PwC to deliver its “Be Well, Work Well” message in a weird and confusing way. Their futures are so bright, they gotta wear shades, I guess. Or it’s to hide the enormous bags under their eyes from the lack of sleep they get because of all the hours they work at PwC, […]
Big 4 Lawsuits: Ex-PwC Director vs. PwC, Billionaire vs. Deloitte, Floridians vs. Deloitte
On the docket: age and gender discrimination, tax break gone bad, and the latest on the Deloitte drama in Florida. Axed PwC Director Alleges Age, Gender Bias [Law360] Another week, another age and gender discrimination lawsuit filed against a Big 4 firm. And once again PwC is named as the defendant: A former PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP […]
KPMG Poaches Someone From PwC and Issues a Press Release, Part IX
Back in August it was announced that KPMG’s head of diversity and inclusion, Michele Meyer-Shipp, would be leaving the firm to join the big leagues. No, not Deloitte, the actual big leagues—Major League Baseball—as its new chief people and culture officer. It took a while but today KPMG announced Meyer-Shipp’s successor, Elena Richards, who left […]
KPMG Poaches Someone From PwC and Issues a Press Release, Part VIII
The KPMG/PwC poaching rivalry is still going strong, but weirdly, it seems like more troops are deserting PwC for a job at KPMG than the other way around. It’s like we’re living in Bizarro World. In our latest edition of “Big 4-on-Big 4 Poaching From Around the World,” one of the newest partners at KPMG […]
Big 4 Lawsuits: Ex-Deloitte Manager vs. Deloitte, Ex-Deloitte Switzerland Partner vs. Deloitte, Ex-PwC Employees vs. PwC
On the docket: accusations of pregnancy discrimination and unfair termination, as well as an update on PwC ERISA class-action lawsuit. Deloitte Looks To KO Class Claims In Maternity Leave Suit [Law360] Back in early September, Saxon Knight, a former solutions manager at Deloitte, filed a proposed class-action lawsuit in Manhattan federal court alleging the firm […]
This Collection of Big 4 Jack-o’-Lanterns Will Probably Be the Lamest Thing You’ll See on Halloween
We hope all of you spreadsheet zombies have a great Halloween. PwC Photo courtesy of The Bean Counter. Deloitte Photo courtesy of Fishbowl. KPMG EY Photo courtesy of Sandra Thompson-Drew (@SandraWThompson). And here are a couple of RSM jack-o’-lanterns just for the hell of it: Happy Halloween!
Sigur Rós Isn’t a Huge Fan of PwC or Paying Taxes
“We are musicians, we hired the people who we thought were the best in the world. And he failed us.” — Georg Holm, bassist for the legendary Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós, said about the band’s accountant Gunnar Ásgeirsson, who worked at PwC. I’ve got a few Sigur Rós albums on CDs that I burned […]
Big 4 Lawsuits: Karen Ward vs. EY, Choppies vs. PwC, Floridians vs. Deloitte Consulting
EY, Female Ex-Principal End Lawsuit Over Bias Arbitration Costs [Bloomberg Law] Have we mentioned before how much Big 4 firms love it when claims against them by former employees go to arbitration? EY and a female former principal allegedly subjected to sexual harassment, retaliation, and other sex discrimination throughout her time with the firm agreed […]
Big 4 Lawsuits: Ex-PwC Partner vs. PwC, Deloitte Partner vs. Deloitte Australia, EnviroNet vs. EY
Plus, two Deloitte partners implicated in U.K. insolvency lawsuit, and KPMG gets out of $1.1 billion suit in Oceanografia scandal. A former PwC partner who sued the firm for $15 million just had a major setback in his case, pushing the pay spat behind closed doors [Business Insider] Big 4 firms salivate when a lawsuit […]
The PwC Pillow Has More of a Life Than You Do
Tim Ryan must be taking his favorite pillow camping this Labor Day weekend: View this post on Instagram A post shared by @vp_pillow You forgot a hashtag, Pillow. #PwCProud Related article: Move Over @MickelsonHat, a PwC Pillow Is Taking the Social Media World By Storm
Thanks to the Rona, PwC’s Global Revenue Only Went Up a Measly 1.4% in FY 2020
Big 4 revenue gloating season kicked off today with PwC being first out of the gate. In a normal year, EY is typically first bragging about its third-place global revenue, then Deloitte, P. Dubs, and KPMG. But 2020 has been anything but normal, and that is reflected in PwC’s results for the most recent financial […]
Learn How to Make Financial Forecasting as Easy as Finding Your Favorite Pair of Socks
Hey guys, do me a quick favor. Clear off all those empty Dunkin cups, doughnut crumbs, crumpled up Post-It Notes, old pens that ran out of ink, and that Xbox controller off your coffee-stained desk calendar, find the block for Thursday, Aug. 27, and write in “Webinar, 11 a.m. ET/8 a.m. PT.” Because who couldn’t […]
Big 4 Lawsuits: Ex-PwC Partner vs. PwC, Deloitte Partner vs. Deloitte Australia, Watchstone vs. PwC U.K.
On the docket: wrongful termination, age discrimination, and conspiracy! Former PwC partner sues company, claims he’s owed $15 million [Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal] This lawsuit filed by a former Minneapolis-based PwC partner who claims he was wrongly terminated and is owed millions of dollars should keep the firm’s lawyers busy for a while. John Cahill […]
Big 4 Lawsuits: SCANA Investors vs. Deloitte, Miller Energy Investors vs. KPMG, Gridsum Investors vs. PwC
Plus, Illinois resident drops lawsuit against Deloitte Consulting, and PwC wants the city of Los Angeles to pay a price. Deloitte Wants Investor’s Nuclear Energy Project Suit Tossed [Law360] Deloitte doesn’t think it should have to face a lawsuit accusing the firm of issuing audit reports that misled investors on the progress SCANA Corp. was […]
Ex-PwC Senior Manager Got Busted for Trying to Pull a Fast One on PCAOB Inspectors
If you try to do something to outsmart PCAOB inspectors, more often than not you’ll end up looking like the big dummy. Case in point, former PwC senior manager Ryan Collins, who was barred by the U.S. audit cops on July 21 for altering workpapers. Collins, who worked at P. Dubs from September 2010 until […]
Layoff Watch ’20: PwCer Claims Performance Ratings Are Purposely Being Bumped Down to Make Separation Decisions Easier During the Pandemic (UPDATE)
[Updated on July 17 with additional comments.] Two people who currently work at PwC in management roles have chimed in on this topic: one who is siding with the firm and the other who is siding with those folks who have recently lost their jobs. The first is a partner who emphatically says what these […]
Mazars USA Poaches Someone From PwC and Issues a Press Release, Part I
Our favorite public accounting bandits Mazars USA is at it again, this time raiding PwC for someone to lead its first office in Texas—a new 4,000-square-foot cube farm in Dallas. Brad Leffler will lead the office and has 23 years of experience serving companies in a wide range of industries including retail and consumer products, […]
Promotion Watch ’20: PwC Admits 232 New Partners and Principals
Today is Promotion Day at PwC, a day to celebrate all those PwCers who earned their new stripes and stepped up in rank, including the firm’s newest class of 128 partners and 104 principals. This year’s class of 232 partners and principals isn’t as robust as the previous two years, but it’s the third largest […]
Bonus Watch ’20: PwC Is Kinda, Sorta Going Forth with Bonuses, Raises (UPDATE)
[Updated on June 12 with additional information.] So we were told today by a couple of people that PwC had a webcast for new hires on Thursday, led by Chairman Tim Ryan, U.S. Recruitment Leader Rod Adams, and a couple of other people. Once the spiel about what PwC is doing to address the COVID-19 […]
KPMG Poaches Someone From PwC and Issues a Press Release, Part V
Everyone’s favorite golf company just hired away a turnaround specialist from one of its biggest rivals in the U.K. Let’s take a trip to London for our latest edition of “Big 4-on-Big 4 Poaching From Around the World,” where we learn a little more about PwCer-turned-KPMGer Massimiliano Messina: Professional services firm KPMG has announced the […]
PwC’s Latest PCAOB Inspection Report Is Fairly Unspectacular, Part II
Let’s keep plowing through this pile of 2018 PCAOB inspection reports and take a look at how PwC auditors did during the 2017 inspection season. PwC auditors haven’t had a lot of great press lately: we had the Mattel accounting cover-up; Brandon Sprankle spectacularly violating independence rules, resulting in PwC being fined $7.9 million by […]
PwC Poaches Someone From Deloitte and Issues a Press Release, Part I
Last week we told you guys about Deloitte Ireland helping a longtime PwC tax director achieve his dream of becoming a Big 4 partner. In today’s edition of “Big 4-on-Big 4 Poaching From Around the World,” we head to Switzerland, where a PwCer-turned-Deloitter is coming back home to Papa Whiskey Charlie. Richard Geldart rejoined PwC […]
TIL: Bob Moritz Was Reappointed PwC Global Chairman … In February
Seriously, I had no idea until tonight when I saw the news release, dated Feb. 24, 2020, posted on PwC’s global website. This never hit our inbox and I can’t find anything else written about this online. Nothing. Poor Bob. They couldn’t even squeeze out a brief mention on PwC US’s website? You know, the […]
Deloitte Poaches Someone From PwC and Issues a Press Release, Part I
Today’s edition of “Big 4-on-Big 4 Poaching From Around the World” takes us to lovely Dublin IRL, where a longtime tax director at PwC Ireland has gone to the Green Side. Deloitte is pleased to announce that Ronan Ferry has been appointed a partner in its tax practice. Ronan will lead the Tax Management Consulting (TMC) team […]
Which Big 4 Firm Was the Biggest Loser In the First Auditor Shuffle of 2020?
Nearly 60 companies that are audited by one of the 12 major global or national accounting firms played auditor musical chairs during the first quarter of 2020, and EY ended up being the biggest beneficiary after the last song ended. According to the latest SEC audit client winners and losers analysis by Audit Analytics, which […]
Big 4 Lawsuits: FDIC vs. EY, Investors vs. Mattel and PwC, Carillion vs. KPMG
Federal regulator sues auditor Ernst & Young for negligence over First NBC collapse [New Orleans Advocate] The FDIC is suing Ernst & Young in the $1 billion failure of First NBC Bank in 2017, alleging that EY missed clear red flags related to several soured loans and failed to raise the alarm to the bank’s […]
Cybersecurity Experts PwC Get One of Their Subdomains Hijacked By Porn Spam
It feels like it’s been months since I’ve been able to write about something that has nothing to do with coronavirus. Kind of a nice feeling, actually, I’ve forgotten what that’s like. Anyhoo, when my esteemed colleague Bramwell spotted this story the other day, he made sure to send it my way because apparently it’s […]
BDO Poaches Someone From PwC and Issues a Press Release, Parts II and III
With all this bad stuff like layoffs and pay cuts and furloughs going on in public accounting, it warms the cockles of my heart that there’s still a little competitive poaching going on. We have to go to Australia to find some, but like I tell my kids: You get what you get and you […]
Vault Accounting 50: PwC Is Still the Most Prestigious Firm In the Land (2021)
There wasn’t much that changed in Vault’s 2021 ranking of the most prestigious accounting firms, at least in the top 25. PwC was named the most prestigiousiest firm for the 12th straight year, the Big 4 took the top four spots once again, and the same firms that filled up the top 25 in 2020’s […]
Let’s Enjoy a New Batch of Disgruntled 1-Star Reviews From Employees of Firms on the Vault Accounting 50 (2021)
On Vault Accounting 50 Day, Caleb used to delight in going through all the one-star employee reviews on Vault and highlighting some of the most cringeworthy, sad, and negative written about accounting firms. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you can click here and here. In my article on the 2020 Vault Accounting […]
Let’s Count How Many Different Sports You Can Play at PwC Chairman Tim Ryan’s House
We know PwC Chairman Tim Ryan is a workout fiend who loves playing and watching hockey. But judging by a photo he posted on Twitter a couple weeks ago, he and his kids love A LOT of other sports too. Shortly after PwC announced that it was closing its offices and going into work-from-home mode […]
KPMG Poaches Someone From PwC and Issues a Press Release, Parts II and III
Back about seven or eight years ago, there was no bigger rivalry among the Big 4 than PwC vs. KPMG. The House of Klynveld was constantly trying to steal P. Dubs’ audit clients and KPMG pretty much became PwC’s personal farm system for partners and directors. Between 2011 and 2013, there were at least nine […]
EY, PwC Jumping On the Mandatory Work-From-Home Bandwagon Due to COVID-19
Thanks to a tipster, here’s the email EY U.S. Chair Kelly Grier sent to all EYers Sunday evening regarding where they’ll be working for the foreseeable future: I’m reaching out this evening to express my recognition and concern for the evolving situation involving COVID-19 and the complexity and uncertainty it’s causing across our daily lives. […]
Apparently, PwC NYC Staffer Is a COVID-19 Victim
According to a post on r/accounting, PwC closed its two offices in New York City this weekend after a NYC employee tested positive for the coronavirus. Covid19 case at pwc NYC office from Accounting Also, posts on Reddit and Fishbowl have indicated other cases of COVID-19 in Big 4 U.S. offices, which we haven’t confirmed […]
CohnReznick Poaches Someone From PwC and Issues a Press Release, Part I
Another week, another non-Big 4 firm letting the media know that it just hired someone from the Big 4. This time, CohnReznick was the poacher, and once again, PwC was the poachee: CohnReznick LLP, one of the leading advisory, assurance, and tax firms in the United States, today [March 3] announced that Michael Staub has joined […]
This PwC Napping Pod Is the Dumbest Thing We’ve Seen Since Gary Spivey’s Hair
Anyone see the resemblance? https://www.instagram.com/p/B9U5w5sgEaz/
The Olds vs. PwC: $11.625 Million Settlement Reached In Age Discrimination Case
A lawsuit filed almost four years ago by two accountants who claimed that the hiring policies at PwC discriminate against applicants over the age of 40 from landing entry-level positions at the firm is finally coming to an end. And the Olds got PwC to settle. Law.com reported today: PricewaterhouseCoopers has agreed to pay $11.625 […]
Honkamp Krueger Poaches Someone From PwC and Issues a Press Release, Part I
Being raked through the coals for the last 48-plus hours on Reddit after an ex-PwC auditor in New York posted that their ass was grabbed at a 2017 holiday party by a colleague who was later promoted, even after an internal firm investigation into the alleged victim’s sexual harassment claim found the ass grabber was […]
The Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For: PwC #36 (2020)
Welcome back to our recap of the six public accounting firms that made the 2020 Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For list. Last week we featured Plante Moran (#21), EY (#25), and KPMG (#32). We’ve got three more to give you this week, starting with a firm best known recently for its red pillows, […]
Rumor of the Day: PwC No Longer Pays Out a $20K Elijah Watt Sells Award Bonus
I mean, it’s on Reddit so it must be true. Let’s take a look. Seen talk of this within the last half year and thought I should make a thread to let people know. You can still get a CPA pass bonus of 6k (or 5k, apparently it depends on line of service), but they […]
Whistleblowers Would Like the House Financial Services Committee to Have Speaks About the PCAOB
While all this talk has been going on about the uncertain future of the PCAOB, a letter was sent on Feb. 10 to the chairs and ranking members of the House Financial Services Committee and the House Subcommittee on Investor Protection, Entrepreneurship, and Capital Markets, asking that a hearing be called for lawmakers to discuss […]
Hiring Watch ’20: Accounting Firms Rolling Out the Welcome Mat In Charlotte
Just wanted to give those of you in the Charlotte, NC area a quick heads up that a bunch of accounting firms in and around the Queen City are hiring this year, according to the Charlotte Business Journal. CBJ lists 13 firms that say they’ll be adding staff in 2020. Among those firms are: Aprio […]
Life at PwC Involves Again Not Giving ‘La La Land’ the Oscar For Best Picture
I know I’m a day late and a dollar short, but I just wanted to congratulate PwC for not screwing up an Academy Awards show for the third straight year. People seem to have lost interest in the PwC accountants at the Oscars since the debacle on Feb. 26, 2017, the night Tim Ryan was […]