All This Question From Life at Deloitte Needs Is a Two-Word Answer
As people continue to leave the largest public accounting firms, including Deloitte, in droves because they feel undervalued and underpaid, the people who run the Life at Deloitte Twitter account must have their heads in the sand by asking this question the other day: What's YOUR favorite way of being thanked at work and at […]
It’ll Be Nothing Short of a Miracle for Meaningful Lease Accounting Reform to Become Reality
Since FASB Statement No. 13 was issued in the mid-70s, businesses have managed to develop a lot of creative ways for classifying some of their future obligations as operating leases, thus keeping those debts off their balance sheets. That's handy for all kinds of reasons, but some people think that it's a very bad thing. Solution? […]
Nice Neighborhood Dad Named New FASB Chairman
Russell Golden will be your new FASB Chairman effective July 1st. He's been at the Board since 2004, after being a partner in Deloitte's National Office Accounting Services department. Since joining the FASB, he's held various technical positions and even chaired the Emerging Issues Task Force for a time. He has all the chops that you'd want […]
Wanted: Someone Who Cares Enough About Government Accounting to Run the GASB
After news broke last week that Leslie Seidman would be closing her spreadsheets at the FASB for good, the Financial Accounting Foundation has announced that its other little bundle of joy, the GASB, is also on the hunt for a new Chair. The chairman of the U.S. board that sets accounting standards for state and local […]
Occupy Wall Street Learning That Accountants Aren’t Too Interested in Working on the Cheap
As we've discussed, Occupy Wall Street has had a bit of trouble with tracking their finances. Donations initially were collected in "a large cooking pot covered in cardboard and duct tape" but as methods became more sophisticated; "donation buckets" and "a yellow messenger bag" were also utilized. Expenses are numerous, including but exclusive to meals, bail, and […]
KPMG Finds Half of That MF Global Client Money; Still Not Making Any Promises
After apologizing for the slow pace, it appears the House of Klynveld has upped their game.
“We have so far collected about a half of the approximate $1 billion outstanding but it is hard to speculate on the final amount given we are dependent on third parties,” said KPMG partner Richard Heis in an interview with Reuters on Tuesday.
Okay, so there’s still half a bil out there somewhere. Anybody seen it? No? No worries, then. KPMG has a backup plan.
The administrator confirmed last week that it had sold MF Global’s stake in the London Metals Exchange to JP Morgan and the broker’s British metals desk had been offloaded to former rival FCStone. Heis said: “There are other parts of the business that could be sold and we are looking to sell them. We’re hopeful of making further announcements shortly.”
Your continued patience is appreciated.
KPMG Is Sorry for Not Sorting Through This Giant Charlie Foxtrot (aka MF Global) a Little Faster
Initially the House of Klynveld wasn’t worried about any MF Global clients getting their money back. Then yesterday we learned that plenty of people were pretty cranky, including one trader who thought the firm’s efforts so far were hilarious. Now, after a number of cranky phone calls and thousands of sternly-worded emails, KPMG is apologi[z]ing for all the “disruption” since they’ve been appointed as the administrator of MF Global:
“We are working with the companies’ staff to transfer client positions wherever possible. Where exchanges and counterparties have defaulted the company under their own rules, we have worked closely with them to try to optimise the outcome,” said Richard Fleming, UK head of restructuring at KPMG. “We understand the frustration among clients and market participants at the disruption that is currently being experienced and are sorry for the inconvenience this is causing. In relation to client assets and monies held by the company we are actively working to reconcile holdings and accounts in order to enable assets to be released as soon as possible.”
So, c’mon guys; I know it’s been over 72 hours but please bear with them.
Ernst & Young Gives Going Concern Warning to Allen Stanford Liquidator
If you’re given the task of running down assets that are left over from a Ponzi scheme, you’d think somone would throw in a little something for the effort. That stolen money is going to find itself after all.
Well! Apparently this is not so, especially as it relates to UK recovery firm Vantis. Vantis has been scouring the Earth for any of the plunder left over from the Allen Stanford hide the $7 billion game.
Six months into it, Vantis can’t get paid for its treasure hunt services and now Ernst & Young has said that the firm’s very life is at stake if they can’t start convincing some people to pay up.
Among the excuses that Vantis is claiming are the fact that most of the assets in the U.S. have been frozen and that the U.S. liquidator Ralph Janvey doesn’t play nice.
But hey! They’re still confident everything will be hunk-dory, “The UK recovery firm said it remained ‘confident’ that it would be able to recover its fees ‘in due course’ but said the timing remained uncertain.”
So more or less you’re day-to-day, right? Welcome to the prestigious Club of Those Ripped off by Allen Stanford.
Vantis faces going concern threat over liquidation of Allen Stanford’s bank [Telegraph]