Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
September 29, 2023

Yele Haiti Names RSM McGladrey as New Accountants

Thumbnail image for alg_singer_wyclef-jean.jpgAre you paying attention Fortune? After last week’s controversy around the finances of Yele Haiti, RSM McGladrey has been appointed to administer the donations pledged to Wyclef Jean’s foundation.

Yele Haiti has also retained Grant Thornton, who filed the three years of tax returns for the foundation just last August.


All the hubbub was over the foundation less than timely filing of its tax returns and paying expenses on the behalf WJ’s production company.
Not filing tax returns is one thing but there is some debate over whether the payment of expenses is actually anything to worked up over:

John Colombo, a University of Illinois law professor specializing in tax-exempt organizations, said tax laws permit such fees.
“If you told me the organization raised $1 million and it all went to him, then I would have some issues,” Colombo said. “Paying him an arm’s length salary for services he actually performed just isn’t a problem.”
But Alvin Brown, a tax lawyer who runs the site IRSTaxAttorney.com, said such transactions were “scary” and “could be viewed as fraud.”

“Viewed as fraud” isn’t the same as “is a fraud” but we after the last week, Yele Haiti has heard worse.
Wyclef’s Haiti Charity Gets New Accountants [AP]
Earlier:
We Knew Accounting Firms Were Helping Haiti

Thumbnail image for alg_singer_wyclef-jean.jpgAre you paying attention Fortune? After last week’s controversy around the finances of Yele Haiti, RSM McGladrey has been appointed to administer the donations pledged to Wyclef Jean’s foundation.

Yele Haiti has also retained Grant Thornton, who filed the three years of tax returns for the foundation just last August.


All the hubbub was over the foundation less than timely filing of its tax returns and paying expenses on the behalf WJ’s production company.
Not filing tax returns is one thing but there is some debate over whether the payment of expenses is actually anything to worked up over:

John Colombo, a University of Illinois law professor specializing in tax-exempt organizations, said tax laws permit such fees.
“If you told me the organization raised $1 million and it all went to him, then I would have some issues,” Colombo said. “Paying him an arm’s length salary for services he actually performed just isn’t a problem.”
But Alvin Brown, a tax lawyer who runs the site IRSTaxAttorney.com, said such transactions were “scary” and “could be viewed as fraud.”

“Viewed as fraud” isn’t the same as “is a fraud” but we after the last week, Yele Haiti has heard worse.
Wyclef’s Haiti Charity Gets New Accountants [AP]
Earlier:
We Knew Accounting Firms Were Helping Haiti

Latest Accounting Jobs--Apply Now:

Have something to add to this story? Give us a shout by email, Twitter, or text/call the tipline at 202-505-8885. As always, all tips are anonymous.

Related articles

Woman wearing a dunce cap writing I WILL NOT on a concrete wall

Look What PwC Made the Australian Government Have to Do

The Australian government released exposure draft legislation yesterday in response to “the PwC matter” and the funniest part is the special email they made to receive comments: [email protected]. Not ConsultingReponse or Sept23TaxReform, specifically PwCResponse. In four separate exposure drafts that amend the Taxation Administration Act 1953 (TAA) and/or the Tax Agent Services Act 2009 (TASA), […]

Tom and Jerry computer meme

We’re Told the Switch to Workday Isn’t Going So Great at RSM

According to a tip we received yesterday from a very frustrated auditor at RSM, the firm’s recent switch to Workday isn’t working. The tip: Effective 8/1/23, RSM’s scheduling, time management, billing and CRM system all merged to one system called Workday. Before the implementation all those modules were handled by a different software. We were […]