What's this, now? Two CPA exam questions in one week? Must be our lucky day! If you have a question, or just need to vent, or want to compliment me on my hair, get in touch and we'll do our best not to screw your life up.

Hey Adrienne,

Is it true the NY is considering mandating a Master’s Degree to sit or be eligible for the CPA?

I graduated in December of 2010. I worked for a Big 4 for close to 3 years and have escaped to a 9-5 working in Internal Audit. I meet the 150 credit requirement.  Today, I had lunch with my colleague who mentioned that he heard that NY is considering requiring a Master’s Degree soon to be eligible to qualify for the cpa? I have pushed off taking the exam for several years now and finally am motivated to study and pass the exam. I still haven’t submitted any forms to New York State for Licensure or submitted an Application to Nasba. I was going to wait until I felt I was at least halfway ready to take one of the exams… Please let me know if you heard of anything and perhaps could advise if I should apply now so that I could at least be grand fathered in.

Thanks

Considering New York City is my home away from home (OK, that's a lie, I just rescue cats there), you'd think I would know someone over at the state board. In lieu of a source on the inside, I asked my AWeb counterpart Richard -- who used to work for the NYSSCPA -- if he'd heard anything. He hadn't.

So I tweeted the society; surely they would know if there were anything to know. 

@going_concern No talk that we've heard of. Nothing on state board's agenda.

— NYSSCPA (@nysscpa) May 12, 2014

Okay, so it's safe to say that New York won't be requiring a Master's to become a CPA any time soon but Francine McKenna caught wind of us pestering the society and gave us her $0.02 on mandatory Master's degrees:

@going_concern@nysscpa I think pressure from firms for MAcc programs and that might take a Masters to sit for CPA is elitist. #OTSuitScare

— Francine McKenna (@retheauditors) May 13, 2014

That's interesting. As we know, the words "elite" and "accountant" parted ways some time ago but could it be that the Big 4 are laying the groundwork to change all that. 

Do we need to talk about this? 

I wish they would have published this stupid article at the peak of busy season. Since some of you spend your lives in perpetual busy season, you should get a laugh at this. And by "a laugh" I mean a cry.

Yahoo (yeah, I know) published a list of "low-key, high wage" jobs and you'll be happy to know yours tops the list. I know, I'm as shocked as you are. Let's see what they had to say:

If crunching numbers on your own sounds more fun to you than clocking face time with people, you may enjoy a career as an accountant or auditor.

HOLD IT RIGHT THERE. This right here is why people who have absolutely no idea what accountants do shouldn't write articles about what accountants do. Accounting and auditing (auditing, especially) are people-oriented careers. You don't plug spreadsheets in a vacuum. Whether dealing with clients or office politics, trust and believe there will be some actual number-crunching and lots of dealing with fellow human beings (I use that term loosely). Anyone who has ever been stuck in the audit room with someone they can't stand knows the above statement is a complete joke. But let's keep reading:

As an accountant and auditor, you would examine financial records and other documents to ensure compliance with laws and regulations, notes the U.S. Department of Labor. You also might recommend ways to reduce costs and increase revenue.

And where, exactly, does an auditor get those financial records? From a robot? NO, FROM THE CLIENT. The client that hates your face and wishes you would die in a fire because you keep asking them for shit. Keep reading:

Low-Key, High-Pay Factors:"Even though accountants do interact with people, much of their time is spent with numbers," says Cheryl Palmer, a career expert based in Washington, D.C. and the founder of career coaching firm Call to Career. "This type of work calls for a certain amount of alone time where they can think carefully about their work," adds Palmer. 

On what planet do accountants sit around in a bubble stroking their precious numbers? An auditor might get alone time with numbers on a New Year's Eve inventory count, which leaves plenty of opportunity for a reasonable person to think of 5,426 other jobs they'd rather be doing.

The only part of this whole fluff piece that is true is the following bit:

So why is this job so well-paid? It comes down to demand, says Donna Sweidan, a career and executive coach and the founder of Careerfolk in New York City, NY. "Corporate accountability and more stringent business regulations [have increased] the demand for those with accounting skills," Sweidan says.

How to Prepare: Accountants and auditors need a bachelor's degree in accounting or a related field, although some employers also prefer a master's degree, reports the Department of Labor.

Thank you, Yahoo, for letting us know that accountants and auditors need to hold a degree in accounting. There is no possible way any aspiring accountant would have known that. Even failed CPA A/P clerks know that.

If you can, please try to pull yourselves away from those numbers you're crunching and speak to us about this.

This was incredibly refreshing to see on the AICPA's CPA Insider blog. It begins:

“I feel like I’m stuck,” began the 34-year-old tax manager at a regional public accounting firm.

What's this, now? No Kool-Aid? No rosy, number-loving outlook? No, just honesty.

“I work hard, 60 to 70 hours a week in the busy season, 50 hours the rest of the year. I’m good at what I do. The firm compensates me well. My wife and I have two young children, and I’m very involved in bringing them up. Last year I coached my son’s Little League team. It was great. I really enjoyed it.

“The problem is,” he continued, “I can’t get ahead at the firm. Most of my time is billable. I know that’s expected, and necessary. But to make it to partner I need to bring in business. And to do that—the networking, mining the files, all that stuff—would mean spending more time away from the family, which I’m just not prepared to do. That’s why I say I’m stuck.”

As a career adviser to CPAs, I am hearing more and more stories like this one from men in their 30s and 40s. “What can I do?” they ask me. “Are there any firms out there that are different, or are they all basically the same?”

The short answer, as we addressed recently, is not that easy. Dudes aren't allowed to take the time chicks can, because dudes, right? Either you want to make partner or you want to be at Little League, but you can't have both.

The full post at CPA Insider is recommended reading. Seriously. No snark, just read it. And then let's discuss.

Event Date: June 4, 2014, 2 pm ET

Presenter:
Larry L. Perry, CPA
CPA Firm Support Services, LLC
www.cpafirmsupport.com

Larry has practiced as a CPA for over 40 years, has authored accounting and auditing manuals and is currently an author and presenter of live and on-demand webcast and self-study CPE programs.  He is managing member of CPA Firm Support Services, LLC (www.cpafirmsupport.com), an organization that provides accounting and auditing continuing education designed for smaller CPA firms and other organizations.  Larry writes a weekly article/blog on Accounting Web.com titled Today’s World of Audits that focuses on practical ways to perform effective and efficient accounting and auditing engagements.  Currently, Larry is presenting a series of articles on Auditing Special Purpose Frameworks, including the AICPA’s Financial Reporting Framework for Small- and Medium-Sized Entities.

Sift Media is registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as a sponsor of continuing education on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors. State boards of accountancy have final authority on the acceptance of individual courses for CPE credit.  Complaints regarding registered sponsors may be submitted to the National Registry of CPE Sponsors through its website: www.learningmarket.org.

* To obtain CPE credit, the live session must be attended.  THE RECORDING DOES NOT QUALIFY FOR CPE CREDIT.

Housing regulator signals shift in policy on Fannie, Freddie [WaPo]

What's up with net neutrality? Glad you asked! [Reuters]

Pentagon Backtracks on Goals for First Audit, GAO SaysThe Pentagon has backtracked from a pledge to have all budgetary accounts ready by Sept. 30 for the initial step toward its first-ever full financial audit. Then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta pledged an “all-hands effort” in 2011 to prepare for evaluation a “Statement of Budgetary Resources” -- covering funds received, unspent, obligated or put under contract over several years -- by the end of this fiscal year so that an audit could begin in 2015. [Bloomberg]

A Deal to Dodge the Tax Man in America [DealBook]

EU Audit Rules May Trip Up U.S. Banks, InsurersA move aimed at improving audits of European companies could complicate life for some of the biggest U.S. banks and insurers as well. In April, European Union lawmakers voted to require EU companies to change their outside auditors every 10 years, and to limit the nonaudit services auditors can provide their EU audit clients. But those changes also will apply to many European subsidiaries of U.S. multinationals, auditing experts say—especially financial-services companies, a sector where EU authorities are particularly concerned about audits in the wake of the financial crisis. [WSJ]

Protip: don't film your own drunken arrest or you may face wiretapping charges [Daily Mail]

Carson Block Followers Bet on 46% Collapse in NQ Mobile [Bloomberg]
Muddy Waters founder Carson Block says NQ Mobile is making up revenue. NQ Mobile says the investigation performed by Shearman & Sterling and Deloitte FAS hasn't turned up anything. Oh, did we mention that their annual report is 15 days late? "The delay makes clear that if NQ manages to receive an unqualified audit opinion, it will have been by the skin of its teeth,” Block said in an email to Bloomberg. “If that turns out to be the case, going forward, China management will be under a lot of pressure as it tries to up its fraud game. As we’ve seen with Sino-Forest, Enron and other companies that commit fraud, so-called independent board investigations are rarely worth the paper they’re printed on."

The US will cut taxes on race horses and NASCAR tracks with borrowed money [Quartz]
In addition to the R&D credit, bonus depreciation and the like, the Senate bill also benefits racehorse owners and motorsports entertainment complexes. There's something for everyone, really. Well, except regular people.

With Flextime, Bosses Prefer Early Birds to Night Owls [HBR]
I thought this seemed like an interesting article until this sentence stopped me cold: "At the 'Big Four' auditing firm KPMG, some 70 percent of employees work flexible hours."

Tower Group (TWGP) Dismisses PwC; Warns of Going Concern [StreetInsider]
BDO will take it from here.

The World's Heaviest-Drinking Nations, Ranked [Gizmodo]
Belarus wins it going away.

We're sure you have been anxiously awaiting news on Campbell v PricewaterhouseCoopers and boy are we thrilled to give you some. No, the parties haven't settled. No, the original judge did not resign due to a scandal involving a PwC intern mistress (he retired, actually). And no, Jason Campbell hasn't been wacked mafia-style to make this whole thing go away.

Everyone was back in court on May 6 to compare schedules, which changed the tentative trial date of February 2, 2015 to March 30, 2015. Considering how long this thing has dragged on, what's another two months?

Your schedule of events -- should this trial be as entertaining to you as NASCAR is to middle America -- is as follows:

• Disclosure of Rebuttal Expert Witnesses 7/8/14
• Completion of Expert Witness Discovery 8/15/14
• Daubert Motions 9/15/14
• Daubert Oppositions 9/26/14
• Daubert Replies 10/10/14
• Daubert Hearing 10/17/14
• Plaintiffs' Pretrial Statement 11/25/14
• PwC's Pretrial Statement 12/16/14
• Motions in Limine 1/8/15
• MIL Oppositions 1/15/15
• MIL Replies 1/23/15
• MIL Hearing 1/29/15
• Final Pretrial Conference 1/29/15
• Trial Briefs 3/9/15
• Trial 3/30/15

Plan accordingly.

If you are sitting there rolling your eyes asking yourself why you should care about this lawsuit, I point you to some of our previous coverage for review. We've known for years that Campbell was let go by PwC in 2006 for what PwC called poor performance when he failed to catch a client's $500,000 error. Funny enough, this actually upset the client even though it was their error but hey, you know how clients are.

While you're hanging out in the Way Back Machine, you'll want to cruise this 2012 piece on the PCAOB breathing down PwC's neck, supervision (or lack thereof) and the contradictory opinion of PwC. It's relevant, I swear.

When you think insider trading, you think throwaway pre-paid phones, scribbles on napkins, and clandestine meetings under the dark of night.

For three Qualcomm sales managers accused yesterday by the SEC, all that was way too much work. From the SEC's press release:

The SEC alleges that Derek Cohen, Robert Herman, and Michael Fleischli learned through work e-mails that Qualcomm was planning a big announcement.  A sales meeting later revealed that Qualcomm was negotiating an acquisition of Atheros Communications. Armed with the nonpublic information, all three sales managers purchased Atheros securities while exchanging a series of suspiciously-timed phone calls.  As news leaked about the impending acquisition and the two companies subsequently announced it in a joint news release, Atheros’ stock price jumped 20 percent.  Cohen, Herman, and Fleischli sold their securities to realize quick profits.

Here's what sucks, at least for these guys. The acquisition news ended up in the media later that same afternoon these three went and bought themselves some Atheros. Qualcomm issued its own press release making the official announcement the following day. Presumably, they could have still netted a profit getting in on that early enough but not so early that they clearly did so based on insider information.

Atheros jumped from $37.02 on January 3 (the day before the men purchased the securities) to $44.64 per share on January 5 (the day Qualcomm made the announcement).

Qualcomm's insider trading policy pretty clearly states that even trading on the news isn't kosher:

“Information is considered to be available to the public only when it has been released to the public through appropriate channels, e.g., by means of a press release, or a statement from one of the company’s senior officers, and enough time has elapsed to permit the investment market to absorb and evaluate the information.”

We aren't talking millions of dollars here, and in fact, Fleischli walked away with a mere $3,007 profit. Was it worth it, bro?

Qualcomm conducted an internal review and when questioned, the men said they read the news on DealBook, even though they were aware of the acquisition before its publication and purchased Atheros hours before the story appeared.

Keep it classy, insider traders.

Greg Kyte has talked to regular folks about ObamaCare and professional skepticism but maybe you've been thinking, "What I'm really curious about is the lack of knowledge people have around tax planning strategies that largely benefit the wealthy." 

Well, it's your lucky day, then. 

From the first moment the Rothstein Kass KPMG rumors started circling the bowl, it was pretty clear that RK's golden child is its hedge fund practice. Surely KPMG wasn't interested in the deal just so they could acquire Rothstein Kass' novelty cell phone stand named Trusty.

Well, Audit Analytics put things in handy chart form so we can really see why KPMG might want to acquire RK:

According to Audit Analytics, RK holds 12% of the total hedge fund market, and the top five have about 75% of the total market share between them. Assuming the acquisition is happening, and assuming KPMG retains all or even most of Rothstein Kass' hedge fund clients, KPMG would certainly catapult itself out of that #5 spot.

This is a bit of a strange story. Let's start with the basics.

Lynn Jenkins is a U.S. House Rep for the fine state of Kansas. She is also a CPA. Or rather, she used to be.

This from the Topeka Capital-Journal:

U.S. Rep. Lynn Jenkins’ state permit to work as a certified public accountant expired nearly two years ago, but the Kansas Republican continues tagging congressional and campaign materials with a CPA label after securing permission from Kansas regulators.

The previously undisclosed arrangement was approved by the Kansas Board of Accountancy in 2011 before Jenkins’ permit to practice as a CPA expired in 2012.

It appears the Board of Accountancy authorized Jenkins' use of CPA as long as she didn't actually do any CPA stuff. You know, like for clients. It also appears they did this because Kansas is a two-tier state, meaning you can hold a CPA certificate that allows you to call yourself a CPA but does not allow you to do CPA stuff, as long as your "real job" doesn't involve, well, CPA stuff. Make sense? No? Let's check out this explainer from the Board:

Once you have passed the CPA exam, you are required to pass the AICPA"s Professional Ethics course.Once a candidate has successfully completed the ethics course, and has been issued a Kansas CPA certificate, a person may use the CPA as a credential only. (In other words, CPA may appear after a person"s name if they are working in an industry that is not related to the practice of public accountancy.) CAUTION: Financial Planning, litigation support, broker/dealer services, investment advisory, consulting, management advisory and business valuation services, ALL fall under the definition of non-attest practice, and in order to use the CPA designation in connection with these services, requires a person to hold a valid Kansas permit to practice. The CPA Certificate allows a person to use the designation as a credential, not hold out or sign reports for the public as a CPA.If a person wants to reflect this information on a resume, then we strongly suggest that the CPA designation is explained by saying, "not licensed to practice in Kansas".

Jenkins first got her certificate in 1992.

Back to the Topeka Capital-Journal:

In Jenkins’ case, the Kansas board rejected her plea to apply hours she spent in U.S. House committee hearings on tax issues toward completion of 40 hours of annual continuing education required for renewal of a state permit. The state board ruled acceptance of the proposal would be without precedent.

Hilarious. I've sat through plenty of boring House hearings myself, does that mean I can call myself a banker?

Jenkins claims she just didn't have time to take the necessary CPE "because of the workload in Congress." Gee, if there's anyone who needs to take a few hours of ethics, it would be Congress.

Interestingly, the Kansas Society of CPAs had something to say about this, but later backpedaled and praised Jenkins for her service:

Mary Rapp MacBain, president and chief executive officer of the Kansas Society of CPAs, said in an interview the association served as a watchdog, advocate and champion of CPAs in Kansas. Approximately 4,000 people have active CPA permits in the state, she said.

“We want to protect the brand,” MacBain said. “It’s a brand that is important.”

She said a person holding out to the public as a CPA must have a permit to practice in the profession.

“If you say: ‘Here I am. I’m a CPA.’ You have to have a permit,” she said.

Subsequently, MacBain requested her comments not be published.

Jenkins' office followed with a written statement from MacBain praising the congresswoman's 20-year membership in the society, her leadership in Washington and persistent display of CPA after her name.

“As a member of the KSCPA,” MacBain's statement said, “Congresswoman Jenkins is required to and has held herself to the high ethical standards required of individuals in our profession.”

Let's be real here: certificates are stupid. The general public has no way of knowing someone who puts CPA after their name isn't actually a CPA who can do CPA things. Clearly indicating that she is inactive would not invalidate her past experience as a licensed CPA, but it would be far more honest than slapping CPA on everything just because.

College grads in deeper debt than nongrads Breaking: student loans will bring you down [CNNMoney]

Officials in Spain are raiding tax delinquents' safe deposit boxes and finding some odd things [AT]

The Problem of Corporate Inversions: The Right and Wrong Approaches for Congress Citizens for Tax Justice totes has this one, guys [CTJ]

Tim Geithner's Profit-and-Loss StatementTim Geithner offended almost everybody during the 2008 financial crisis and its aftermath. The former U.S. Treasury secretary enraged liberals when he rescued the banks, then failed to stop them from paying bonuses. He angered conservatives when he backed new restrictions on bank activities in the Dodd-Frank Act. He disappointed other regulators by letting creditors of failing institutions off the hook, fearing that imposing losses would start global bank runs. [BV]

They're still working on extending tax breaks on the Hill [Don't Mess With Taxes]

“You Can Do Anything With a Law Degree”Last year, 11.2 percent of law school graduates were still unemployed nine months after graduation. If you really could do anything with a law degree, then those unemployed graduates would probably be doing something. Meanwhile, the national unemployment rate for recent college graduates was 10.9 percent. So, compared with other recent students, law school grads appear to have a leg down on the competition. [Salon]

The Supreme Court just made it so your vindictive ex can call 911 and claim you're drunk driving [The Atlantic]

Citigroup Says It Has Fired 12 in Mexico Over Fraud [DealBook]

Prank clowns exist and they are as horrifying as you'd expect them to be [Daily Mail]

Why Hedge Funds Don’t Worry About Carried Interest Tax Rules [DealBook]
Vic Fleischer writes that hedge fund managers have plenty of tax tricks up their sleeves: "[M]any top hedge fund managers have entered the business of reinsurance, using Bermuda-based reinsurance companies as a capital base for investment in their hedge funds. Insurance companies must hold capital in reserve, and there is nothing to stop an insurance company from holding a huge reserve and investing that capital in a hedge fund. By stapling a small reinsurance business onto billions of dollars of hedge fund capital, any profits can be indefinitely deferred from tax offshore." 

Accounting for Earnings Manipulation [MB/WSJ]
Paying executives with stock-based comp was supposed to discourage them from earnings managment. "[A] forthcoming paper in Contemporary Accounting Research by Yongtae Kim, Haidan Li and Siqi Li of Santa Clara University suggests accounting firms think the risk is real. Examining a large sample of firms, the three found that the more sensitive CEOs’ wealth was to volatility in their companies’ stock, the more accounting firms tended to charge for audits." 

Doubling Down on C.E.O. Pay [DealBook]
The Chipotle co-CEOs didn't make as much as Larry Ellison, but they do alright for themselves: "Chipotle paid its founder and co-chief executive, Steve Ells, $25.1 million in cash and stock last year. It paid Montgomery F. Moran, the company’s other co-chief executive, $24.4 million. Those figures put the men, college buddies who are now running the country’s hottest fast-food chain, near the top of the charts for executive paydays."

You will recall an article Colin linked to in ANR yesterday that boasts of KPMG's generous flextime policy. I will quote the original article linked on that link for your review:

"We have a firm-wide flextime policy as part of our approach to flexibility," says Barbara Wankoff, KPMG's national director of workplace solutions.

Wankoff estimates that 70 percent of KPMG employees work flexible hours. Other components of KPMG's "culture of flexibility" include compressed work weeks and "jump-start" Fridays during the summer (when employees are encouraged to leave at 3 p.m.).

"Feedback has been very positive," Wankoff says. A recent employee survey revealed that employees "strongly agree they have the flexibility they need," and that even with the scheduling freedom, "people continue to uphold their professional responsibilities."

Yes, the person who talks to the media about this unicorn called flextime is named Wankoff, glad you noticed that too.

In that same article, PwC claims to have a similar program in place, though doesn't dare pretend like nearly three quarters of its staff are actually taking advantage of it:

Jennifer Duris, a manager in PwC's office of diversity, where she is responsible for Worklife and Flexible Work Arrangements, says that flexible work arrangements are "available to all staff."

While just over 6 percent of PwC employees have a formal flextime arrangement, Duris estimates that more than 40 percent work flexible hours on an informal basis. The options available include: flextime hours, compressed work weeks and telecommuting (every employee is given a laptop).

The firms love to talk a good game about flextime. You'll recall Moss Adams once bragging about their flexibility by posting a picture of a young man "getting some necessary work done on the weekend" poolside with not one but two monitors beside him. That photo was later removed from Facebook.

Or how about this 2011 piece in the New York Times about how Ernst & Young puts personal commitments ahead of busy season commitments?

As the peak season for the nation’s accounting firms begins, David Leeds’s team at Ernst & Young is once again bracing for two months of 60-hour weeks auditing the books of a major bank in Atlanta.

In years past, those grueling weeks often fueled nasty marital spats about missed dinners and children’s tantrums over forgotten basketball games.

Not any more. At Ernst & Young, as at the nation’s other major accounting firms, workplace flexibility has been built into the culture — even during crunch time.

Every Monday morning, the 15 people on Mr. Leeds’s team meet and lay out the personal commitments that might interfere with work — basketball games, teacher conferences, Pilates classes, weddings. They arrange to cover for each other, helping make the busy season tolerable for everyone. Despite the auditing team’s six-day weeks, one Auburn University graduate, for example, is taking next Monday and Tuesday off to see the school’s football team play in the national championship bowl in Arizona. And Mr. Leeds plans to escape to New Orleans for three days to see his daughter run a marathon.

From that same piece, you get to this. Accounting leads the nation in flexibility?

At times, the big four accounting firms — Ernst & Young, Deloitte, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers — sound like preening basketball stars as they all boast that they are No. 1 in providing flexibility. One reason the industry leads the nation on flexibility is that the big firms are constantly trying to keep up with each other, if not outdo each other.

This article, which jumps off the NYT piece, seems to have a theory:

Ellen Galinsky, president of the Families and Work Institute, notes that “The nation’s accounting firms excel at this for a boring, accounting reason – they’ve looked at the numbers, and they see it helps.”

The idea being: offering flextime leads to happier staff, who are compelled to stick it out with the firm. I know, I know, real rocket science stuff here.

We're curious to hear how you are using your firm's advertised flexibility to your advantage. Taken any good pilates classes in the middle of the day lately? Let us know in the comments.

The IRS decided against continuing a court battle on whether it has the legal authority to mandate testing and continuing education for paid tax return preparers.

The agency had until May 12 to file a petition with the US Supreme Court to appeal two lower courts' rulings that it could not regulate the 600,000 to 700,000 paid tax preparers in the United States. According to the Institute for Justice, the IRS let the deadline expire. [AccountingWEB]

The SEC announced today that Chief Accountant Paul Beswick is out, with his sights set on the private sector. He'll hang around for a bit (a "transitional period" for you corporate drones) to make sure his exit doesn't screw up all his hard work over the last 2 years.

Beswick first joined the SEC in 2007 as senior advisor to the chief accountant. Before the SEC, Beswick did time with EY in their Professional Practice and Risk Management Group and also served as a practice fellow at FASB.

The SEC highlighted Beswick's accomplishments over six years at the Commission:

• Served as staff director for the SEC Staff’s Work Plan for the Consideration of Incorporating International Financial Reporting Standards into the Financial Reporting System for U.S. Issuers, which concluded with the publication of the SEC Staff Final Report
• Advised on the accounting and professional practice implications of numerous Commission rulemakings and initiatives, including those required by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act
• Helped lead the preparation of the congressionally mandated Study on Mark-to-Market Accounting.
• Worked closely with the SEC’s Advisory Committee on Improvements to Financial Reporting (CIFiR)

SEC Chair Mary Jo White said: "Paul’s leadership, critical analysis and sound judgment earned him the respect and admiration of his colleagues and staff.  He has been an invaluable asset to our accounting and auditing program.  I will miss his wise counsel and insight." 

“I have truly been fortunate to serve as chief accountant under two chairs and alongside the talented and highly dedicated staff in the Office of the Chief Accountant,” said Mr. Beswick. “Throughout my service at the Commission, the staff of the Office of the Chief Accountant has faced many challenges and opportunities.  I have been continually impressed with how they rise to the occasion in the interest of investors and the U.S. capital markets.  I will miss the many relationships I have developed throughout the Commission during my service.”

Personal branding, not the kind cows get with a hot poker on their round steak.

Here are the details:

How will YOU stand out? Branding yourself is a great way to discover things that make you who you are, develop key messages about your strengths and abilities, create a consistent look and voice, and market to employers the unique and wonderful brand called…YOU!

Join us this evening from 4:00PM – 5:00PM EST for a live Facebook chat focusing on BrandingU. We'll have three Campus Recruiters, Ayanna from the Philadelphia office, Megan from Chicago, and Kati from Columbus on hand to answer all of your questions. Looking forward to hearing from you soon!

Yes, BrandingU is a thing. You have to give KPMG credit for giving aspiring new hires a cheat sheet for getting in at the firm. After reading through their interview tips -- which go so far as to tell candidates to look through their website to find out more about the firm and even link to the specific area they should look -- there's really no way someone could screw that up. Oh, and don't forget to wear an interview-appropriate outfit!

I especially enjoyed this attire tip:

Always think about what message you want to send. If you have to stop and wonder, “Can I get away with this?” it’s probably not a good idea.

Well, I'm out. Who's down for this chat tonight?

The PwC crew got together for a US town hall in LA, and this happened:

We didn't want to leave anyone out... here's the #PwC team squeezing in for our #pwcselfie. pic.twitter.com/dRdj8UAMUC

— PwC LLP (@PwC_LLP) May 15, 2014

I know what you're thinking. Adrienne, this isn't a selfie, it's someone taking a picture of people taking a selfie. You're right! Here's the product:

Hmm. Looks like you left a few folks out, guys.

Do you guys remember the sordid tale of one Christopher M. Green, formerly employed by Crowe Horwath in Columbus, OH? No? Allow me to refresh your memory (I can totally understand why you may have blocked it out):

Green is accused of exposing and touching himself in front of a 17-year-old girl Monday morning.

According to police documents, Green offered the girl several dollars to "touch him" or watch him perform a sex act on himself.

The teen said Green then exposed and touched himself in front of her.

The teen told WBNS-10TV this is not the first time the man had committed this act.

"This happens every day," the teen said. "He's out here. He'll be like, 'Come on, touch it for a buck. Come on $2, $5,' and I'll be like, 'No.'"

We've written plenty about creepy accountants and CPAs over the years, so much so that it's not always easy to keep tabs on the outcome of their criminal cases. But in sitting around today thinking to myself "man, I wish MSNBC still ran marathons of To Catch a Predator on Sunday nights," I thought we should look this guy up. What happened to his case?

Glad you asked!

Minutes from the Ohio Board of Accountancy meeting, held February 21, 2014 show he is no longer licensed as a CPA in the state of Ohio.

FORMAL HEARING: CHRISTOPHER M. GREEN

Mr. Fay opened a disciplinary hearing at 11:52 a.m. pursuant to Chapter 119 of the Revised Code. The Board charged Mr. Green with 4701.16(A)(5), of the Revised Code, concerning conviction of a felony under the laws of any state or of the United States. Representing Mr. Green, was counsel, Rasheeda Z. Kahn.

Ms. Damasar introduced State’s Exhibit(s) A, 1 through 10 and B, 1 through 6. Ms. Kahn addressed Mr. Green, as well as the Board and was asked questions by the Board.

The Board admitted into evidence all exhibits. Mr. Fay concluded the hearing.

DISCIPLINARY HEARING: CHRISTOPHER M. GREEN

Upon motion by Mr. Carroll, seconded by Mr. Gero, the Board voted to revoke the CPA certificate of Christopher M. Green, and Mr. Green may not apply for reinstatement until completion of all terms and conditions imposed by the Franklin County Criminal Division, Community Control.

Motion carried 9-0 on a roll call vote

Per court records, he is subject to 2 years supervision by the Community Control program as a sex offender. He is not allowed contact with the victim, nor can he re-offend during that time. A third class felony charge of Compelling Prostitution (for a "buck"?) was dropped and Green pleaded guilty to a fifth class felony charge of Disseminating Matter Harmful to Juveniles.

According to letters written to the court, Green is in recovery from a sex addiction with the support of his wife and parents. There is mention of him finding work in an accounting firm after his arrest but we don't know which firm, nor do we know if the Board's decision to revoke his CPA license had any impact on that position.

Consider yourself caught up.

SEC Charges Unregistered Securities Salesman for Selling Millions of Dollars in Oil-and-Gas Investments [SEC]

I'm honored Grover Norquist put me on his ATR mailing list for some reason. Today, he sent me this on the appropriately named Death Tax [ATR]

Meanwhile, on Twitter [Twitter]

A large number of Google shareholders seem to have a problem with Sergey Brin http://t.co/7vOyltesce

— footnoted (@footnoted) May 15, 2014

  Also on Twitter, I feel like we need to talk about this as my experience tells me 90% of the people at events are partners, more than that if there's an open bar   [Twitter]

When staff says "prtner X doesn't show up to networking events anymore...because he made partner" the firm is on a decline! #leadership#cpa

— Adam Blitz, CPA (@Getblitzed) May 15, 2014

Did This Biglaw Partner Act Like A Big Tool? Let’s Discuss. [Above the Law]

A thieving accountant in Sioux Falls (nice town, that) accused of stealing from an employer pled guilty [Argus Leader]

Major U.S. hedge funds sold 'momentum' Internet names in first-quarter [Reuters]

There's a bar owner in NYC facing charges for tax evasion and grand larceny, good times [DNAinfo]