The Truth About How Much Workaholics Actually Work [FC]
That is, less than they think: "People who get paid by the hour know how many hours they work. People who inhabit the world of exempt jobs have a much more tenuous grasp on this concept but, as a general rule, the higher the number of work hours reported, the more likely the person is to be overestimating."

Whether or not to get an MBA depends on the kind of person you are [Quartz]
The author suggests answering these questions to get started: "Do you want to make a good salary, or are you willing to live on ramen noodles and stock options? Like the feel of a crisp laundered shirt, or only take your suit out for weddings and funerals? Do you value a benefits package more than the ability to work from Bali for a week?"

Grant Thornton makes Bangalore tax hub, to hire 3k [TOI]
Stephen Chipman explains the potential: " 'My individual tax return is done by Indians in Bangalore who are experts in US tax,' said Stephen M Chipman, CEO, Grant Thornton, an indication of how the country's IT capital could potentially emerge as global tax processing hub."

Annie's: PwC to resign as accounting firm [AP, 8-K]
Sounds like Annie's could use a few good accounting men and women (and a new auditor, obv): "PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP found 'an insufficient complement of finance and accounting resources,' the company said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission."

Working in Management: The Other Accounting Profession [AWEB]
Jeffrey Thomson, CEO of the IMA, explains: "For a job in a company doing accounting and finance work, the difference versus working for a CPA firm is basically the difference between financial and managerial accounting. Financial accounting consists of audit, compliance and financial reporting—essentially a look-back at what we call value preservation. You look back, record what's occurred and analyze that. Managerial is a complementary part of accounting—value creation, forward-looking, analytics and judgment, financial planning analysis, merger and acquisition activity, data and financial analysis, forecasts, and risk management." 

Pairing Up With a Younger Mentor [WSJ]
Reverse mentoring is all the rage: "There is a growing digital divide in workplaces—between twentysomethings with social-media savvy and tech-impaired older managers. To address it, more companies are trying reverse mentoring, pairing young employees with older colleagues to work on tech skills. The practice 'is up quite a bit in the last three or four years,' says Didier Bonnet, a global practice leader in London for Capgemini Consulting. 'The main aim is to raise the digital IQ of business leaders in the firms.'"

50 Cent accepting bitcoin for new record [The Hill]
FYI.

When the time comes to leave your firm for industry or -- gasp! -- another firm, you could write some lame farewell email or you could have your bros write a touching farewell on Medium. Apparently, this is the new cool thing.

Fans across the greater Washington, D.C. area reacted with disappointment and some harsh words for local star, certified public accountant Mark Ellison, Monday after the news leaked: the Deloitte phenom had agreed in principle to a contract, and was headed to New York to work for bitter rival KPMG.

“I’ve been following Deloitte D.C. since I was a little kid and my dad put me in a Deloitte t-shirt,” says local athlete and TV personality Robert Griffin III. “I really thought [Ellison] was a ‘Deloitter’ for life. It hurts, man, I’m not gonna lie.”

You can see where this is going. A couple bros are broken up by their fellow bro's departure. Like really broken up.

Another Deloitte fan, Bryce Harper, has skipped sadness and gone straight to anger. “[Expletive] that, man. I’ve followed his career since he was a summer intern. Remember when he screwed up the PowerPoint slides in the big client meeting in ‘09 and half the city wanted him gone? I stuck by him the whole time, and now he just jumps the instant someone offers a big contract. And KPMG, no less. It’s all about the money, man. There’s no pride left in public accounting anymore.” Asked if he will boo Ellison when the Deloitte delegation returns for a planned CPA conference in July, Harper responded: “Absolutely. Absolutely.”

We can only hope Ellison can rise above the boos, much like LeBron's triumphant return to Cleveland to pound the Cavs 118 - 90 with the Heat. Although, considering KPMG is involved here, we aren't sure how triumphant that return will be.

One bro is quoted as saying “Ellison is a true old-school accountant, like straight out of the pleated-slacks days. You could tell from his rookie year out of college he was a natural. The way he worked a spreadsheet was a thing of beauty."

Another said of the impact this will have on the Deloitte team in Washington, “They’ve got some good young talent in the system, but they’re going to miss that veteran leadership in the break room.”

We will keep you updated with any developments.

There is an interesting article in BloombergBusinessweek today about some of Phil Mickelson's sponsors turning their backs on him due to Phil's insider trading probe.

As we already know, KPMG has expressed their utmost faith and support for Phil, saying "We have had a very strong relationship with Phil for a number of years, and we fully expect it to continue. We have great respect for him.”

For Phil Mickelson, it may not be that easy:

“Insider trading is about cheating, and golf is about not cheating,” said Atlanta-based sports attorney David Cornwell, who has defended athletes including baseball players Alex Rodriguez and Ryan Braun, and quarterback Ben Roethlisberger of the Pittsburgh Steelers, in separate scandals.

Another big sponsor, Callaway, echoes KPMG's statement:

“We have had a long-standing partnership with Phil and value our relationship with him,” Carlsbad, California-based Callaway said in a statement. “He has always acted with the utmost professionalism and integrity in our dealings with him.”

Because the issue involves investing and not golf, Callaway doesn’t stand to suffer much damage, Casey Alexander, a New York-based analyst at Gilford Securities Inc., said in a telephone interview.

“Callaway would stick behind him until they slammed the jail cell door shut,” Alexander said. “There’s such a degree of public goodwill towards Phil, people will say he’s innocent until proven guilty.”

Last I checked, Casey Alexander, New York-based analyst at Gilford Securities, Phil is innocent until proven guilty regardless of his so-called "public goodwill," but thanks for that insight.

Anyhoo, sports attorney David Cornwell is a tad skeptical Phil's big sponsors are as supportive behind the scenes as their public statements make it appear:

“Despite what Barclays and KPMG may say, you’ve got to know that they are watching this thing closely,” Cornwell said. “For the financial services companies, that’s just a blemish they can’t afford to have.”

Phil earns more than $30 million a year in sponsorships, so this naturally begs the question why a squeaky clean, trustworthy dude like Lefty would profit from information he knew was non-public and material to the company in question.

As for his reputation, I don't think he's all that worried. Even in the age of villifying banksters and crooked politicians, and even without any proof Phil did anything wrong, some have even gone so far as to call him a hero. A hero! Lord knows KPMG could use more of those.

Oh, IMPACT Day. A 15 year tradition that puts Green Dotters in matching t-shirts and unleashes them upon their communities to "give back." From serving meals to the hungry to providing murals to art-starved walls in need, IMPACT Day is Deloitte's way of showing the community just how much they care for one day out of the year. And it's going down in two short days!

According to this guy, 26,000+ people will be missing from Deloitte offices on Friday, spreading their generosity, goodwill and blue shirts across more than 800 volunteer projects.

Did we mention there are shirts involved? OH SO MANY shirts.

We will save the cynicism previously expressed in 2010, 2011, and 2012 to simply say good for you guys! We hope everyone has a wonderful and heart-warming IMPACT Day. Remember, we're here to share your courageous acts of selflessness in corporate-branded t-shirts so feel free to check in on Friday to tell us all about those kids/hungry people/walls you're helping.

For those of you not in the spirit who will take this opportunity to catch up on work at the office without being annoyed by your ambitious but assy colleagues, good on you.

And should any non-Deloitte folks out there run into any charity-spreading Green Dots in blue shirts running wild in the streets, remember do not make eye contact. As we all know, public accountants are easily frightened when approached in unfamiliar situations such as outdoors on a Friday.

When it comes to accounting firm marketing, even the biggest of the big firms can flop (we need not speak of EY's rebranding in the context of a Safe Search off Google Image search but we will, again, because hahahaha I can't believe they did that). In the case of little guys SS&G, we aren't sure what to think.

SS&G's "words" campaign seems harmless enough:

Most people regard accounting services with the same gusto as a trip to the dentist’s office. At SS&G, we understand that it can seem like a painful, complicated process. That’s why we always offer expert, trusted advice without the aches and pains.

Got it. Clients hate the fact that they are required to utilize your services to stay compliant with regulatory agencies and tax collectors. Clients hate that it takes you so many billable hours to get that done and that they have to write a check to you when it's all said and done. That's where the words come in.

Utilizing clean, eye-catching designs, a conversational voice, and playful wit, this campaign demystifies the tax, assurance, accounting, and consulting processes by turning negative notions on their heads, ultimately inviting clients and friends to experience the difference of our warm, welcoming, user-friendly service.

This is where it gets strange.

No, no, this is where it gets strange. Let's check out "code," which maybe talks about charge codes or something light and silly? Sure:

To be honest, the whole thing has just a little... uh... what's the word?

Billy Walters: No wrongdoing with Phil Mickelson, Icahn"I can tell you one thing, there ain't going to be anything to come out of this other than someone spending a lot of time and a lot of money," Walters told USA TODAY Sports. "Because I certainly haven't violated any insider trading laws. [USA Today]

U.S. Organizations Falling Behind in Fight Against Cyber Crime, Study Says PwC is thrilled their report is making the rounds [TIME]

The city of Chattanooga is hoping fifth time will be a charm on its streetlight audit [CTFP]

Some tips on being more assertive in order to be a better communicator Hint: assertive and asshole are not interchangeable [Lifehacker]

For the report wonks out there, Thomsen Reuters just dropped"An Overview of the Revised Accounting Model for Revenue Recognition"[TR]

Taxpayers in Dallas must really, really like fried chicken [Dallas Morning News]

Taking a Chance on a Health Insurance Strategy the I.R.S. May Not Approve [NYT]

NQ Mobile Jumps as Company Investigation Finds No Fraud [Bloomberg]

PCAOB to Consider Adopting an Auditing Standard on Related Parties, Amendments Regarding Significant Unusual Transactions, and Other Amendments [PCAOB]

This right here is why you shouldn't run around the zoo in a gorilla suit [Gawker]

European Central Bank Takes a Radical Step [NYT]
Negative interest rates? Hey, what not? "The European Central Bank cut its benchmark interest rate to a record low on Thursday and, in an unprecedented attempt to stimulate the euro zone economy, said it would begin charging interest on deposits held by the bank. The so-called negative deposit rate has never been tried on such a large scale and is a bid to push down the value of the euro and encourage banks to invest excess cash rather than hoard it in central bank vaults."

Expired Corporate Tax Breaks May Have to Wait Out November Elections [CFOJ]
Priorities, you know.

Overruled, Judge Still Left a Mark on S.E.C. Agenda [DealBook]
Jed Rakoff made his point: "A federal appeals court on Wednesday overturned Judge Rakoff’s decision in 2011 to reject an S.E.C. settlement deal with Citigroup, undercutting the judge’s concerns that the bank got off with little more than a slap on the wrist. In a long-awaited opinion, a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit concluded that Judge Rakoff “abused” his discretion “by applying an incorrect legal standard” to the case. The court sent the case back to Judge Rakoff, who is expected to eventually approve the deal."

Speaking of the SEC -- They's old.

SEC turns 80 tomorrow. that old bastard :)

— Broc Romanek (@brocromanek) June 5, 2014

  Deloitte names new managing partner in Kansas City  [KCBJ]
Craig Kuckelman succeeds Jeff Provost.

Woman is scammed by someone claiming to be from the Internal Revenue Service  [BN]
Protip: The IRS won't send you to Home Depot to make good on back taxes: "According to the Niagara County Sheriff Department on Tuesday an unknown male suspect coaxed the 39-year-old woman into purchasing 11 different reload cards from Home Depot. The woman said she felt something wasn’t right, but was too afraid of going to jail that she followed the man’s directions. The victim said the man told her she owned [sic] back taxes and if she did not immediately pay her taxes she would go to jail."

Five Minutes with Calvetti Ferguson Managing Partner Jason Ferguson [SABJ]
If you're looking for growing CPA firm in San Antonio, you could do worse: "Calvetti Ferguson, one of Houston's fastest-growing energy accounting firms, this week opened a San Antonio office to keep pace with booming activity around South Texas' Eagle Ford Shale. While the office currently operates with a skeleton staff, it's expected to grow to 25 employees within the next three years, and the company is now scouting for a permanent space in the Alamo City."

Guy Buys $1 Stanley Cup Tickets; StubHub Takes Them Away [Deadspin]
But they did offer to make it up to him with a $300 voucher. Too bad the cheapest ticket for Game 6 listed on Stubhub is $1,686.

When we first started hearing rumors of a Rothstein Kass KPMG merger in February, one of the items we were sent along with tips that an acquisition would be forthcoming was a letter from RK CEO Steve Kass that went out to staff in July of 2013. A highlight:

As many of you know, there are always rumors that float around the accounting profession about firms merging, selling, or buying other firms.

I’ve always felt strongly that it is neither professional nor productive to comment on unsubstantiated gossip. But today I am making an exception to that rule because I believe it’s in the best interest of our firm to put to rest a completely baseless rumor that has seemed to gain traction both inside and outside the walls of Rothstein Kass in recent months.

So there are no misunderstandings, Rothstein Kass is NOT FOR SALE. We are not engaging in merger or selling talks with anyone. We continue to explore inviting other firms to become members of Rothstein Kass International Limited to support our international capabilities.

Steve even went so far as to suggest the rumors were "started or perpetuated by competitors who don’t want to compete with us on a level playing field and recruiters who use the rumors to create opportunity." Listen, Steve, no one likes recruiters but that's just silly to think they're sitting around plotting against your stupid firm.

While the firm was all but unreachable after the rumors started flying and even immediately after the merger was formally announced, Steve Kass has broken the silence and talked to Accounting Today. Not surprisingly, he's sticking to his story:

“The interesting thing is that the while those rumors were persisting through 2013, there was no truth to them,” Kass told Accounting Today. He said the baseless rumors caused a disturbance throughout the organization, and he needed to shut down the chatter in the letter he wrote to his staff. “I think everybody has seen that letter. It was the truth, and I wouldn’t have sent anything like that if it wasn’t the truth.”

You can believe this because Rothstein Kass is powered by trust! At least it used to be; now under the KPMG umbrella, it's powered by Phil Mickelson's hat.

Interesting info from economia -- which is sort of like the Journal of Accountancy for our friends across the pond -- that says accounting tops professions for women in the UK:

Our research found that the accountancy profession is rated particularly highly by women and working mothers. In a survey of over a thousand women, we looked at their experiences of prejudice and discrimination, the levels of support provided by employers, career progression and opportunities for working women and attitudes to flexible working. Accountancy was one of very few sectors to score consistently well.

It received the highest scores for more positive indicators than any other profession for working women. For example, 94% of female accountants say their employer is supportive of women– more than any other sector – and they are also more positive about their employer’s ability to retain female talent. A third of women in accountancy described their employer as excellent, compared to an average of one in five.

Accountancy also compared well to similar sectors such as financial services, which is plagued by a high level of gender-based discrimination and prejudice. Over half of women working in the financial services (53%) said they had experienced this compared to a much lower 36% overall.

Note the above applies only to women and not working mothers which [SPOILER ALERT] are not the same thing.

According to the survey from Talking Talent, working mothers are also positive toward accounting, with 32% agreeing that being a working mother has enhanced their career progress.

Unfortunately, the survey results seem to be unavailable for those not in the UK.

Not to be outdone by PwC's addition of 180 partners the other day, EY has internally announced the admission of 295 new partners, 170 new executive directors and 31 new directors. Dang, son, slow it down over there.

The email that went out to EYers was standard congratulations, we are so excited, exclamation point exclamation point blah blah:

Congratulations to our new PPEDDs!

 

Today is a big day on the EY calendar. It's the day of annual promotions to partner and principal, executive director and director (PPEDD) in the Americas.

 

Americas Managing Partner Steve Howe announced the promotions on behalf of the Americas Operating Executive. In all, there are 295 new partners and principals, 170 new executive directors and 31 new directors.

 

Here's a link to our publication Celebrating career success, which tells you more and contains the names of those being promoted.

 

Our heartiest congratulations to all the new PPEDDs! Please make sure you share your best wishes as well—an EY celebration is truly in order!

EY Americas 2014 Partner Promotions

Event Date: June 24, 2014, 2 pm ET

Presenter:
Amber Setter
Professional Coach and Leadership Consultant
Intention Setter
 

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.

Let's see which Big 4 CEO we have here...

Clearly we are referring to the man on the right and not the woman on the left because LOL a woman CEO of a Big 4 accounting firm yeah right!

So, who could this be?

Click on over to page 2 to find out.The strapping young mustacheless man in the cap and gown is none other than Deloitte Global CEO Barry Salzberg at his 1974 graduation from Brooklyn College.

Oddly, the LinkedIn post from which it comes -- entitled How I Learned to Dream Big. And Why We Must Help Young People Do the Same -- has been deleted. Perhaps the Deloitte legal team realized after it was posted that encouraging people to dream big might open them up to too many liability lawsuits, who knows. You can find the cache here (thank you, Internet!).

Investigative journalists that we are, we dug up a photo of young Dr Phil to compare. Take a look:

It is clear these two gentleman looked nothing alike in their younger days, leading us to suspect the transition to twinsies happened some time around 1984.

Today, we have an interesting ACFE report that not looking for fraud is more than twice as effective as external audits at detecting internal fraud. From CFO.com:

In the recent past, the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners has described where companies should concentrate their monitoring for employee fraud. In finance departments, for example, a majority of instances of misappropriation of funds or assets occur in the procurement, payment and expense areas. By analyzing transactions in these functional areas, the ACFE has said, businesses can “test for a wide range of employee fraud schemes, as well as bribery and conflicts of interest.”

However, in the 2014 Report to the Nations on Occupational Fraud & Abuse, released Tuesday, the ACFE admits that catching corporate criminals through analyzing transactions or performing some kind of audit is not very effective. For example, the report says, as reported on PropertyCasualty360.com, many companies use external audits, but audits were the primary detection method in only 3 percent of the 1,438 global fraud cases reported by certified fraud examiners. More fraud (7 percent) was detected by accident than by external audits.

Allow that fact to marinate in your brain for a moment. NOT AUDITING is twice as good as AUDITING.

According to the report, snitches are the best at fraud-busting, though, with a whopping 40% of reported fraud cases included in the study discovered due to employee fraud hotlines. Organizations with hotlines in place also experienced frauds that were 41% less costly, and they detected frauds 50% more quickly.

This effectiveness may be credited to the inability of fraudsters to not act shady. More than 90% of fraud perpetrators displayed common behavioral indicators, such as living beyond one’s means (43.8%), having financial difficulties (33%), maintaining an unusually close association with a vendor or customer (21.8%), and exhibiting control issues with an unwillingness to share duties (21.1%), said PropertyCasualty360.com.

Get your paws on the full study here if you're into this sort of stuff.

This Biglaw Summer Associate just told his firm to take this job and shove(l) it Cry baby says: "Sure it’s selfish and naïve to think I should not be judged, but I simply cannot be perfect for everyone for two minutes — let alone two months. I would rather be farming — so farewell." [ATL]

The AICPA Economic Outlook Survey was released today and the news is mostly good [AICPA]

Pope Francis wants better financial watchdogs at the Vatican [FT]

Camden accountant convicted of stealing $500K [AP]

A dancing hamster is in a bit of trouble for workers' comp fraud [KTLA]

It's not the PCAOB but pork farmers are proud to have introduced a new bacon audit standard[National Hog Farmer]

Officials raid KPMG broker in Amsterdam Meanwhile, in Europe: "The fiscal investigation service FIOD has raided the Amsterdam real estate company Van Gool Elburg. The well-known real estate company has been brought into connection with the sale of the controversial KPMG headquarters in Amstelveen, De Telegraaf reports. KPMG itself is suspected of involvement with tax fraud during the development of the headquarters building. Searches have been initiated at several places, KPMG itself among them." [NLT]

PwC is building one bad ass building in New Zealand [Scoop]

The Luigi Death Stare is the best thing you will see all day [Kotaku]

BofA in Talks to Pay At Least $12 Billion to Settle Probes [WSJ]
The DOJ would to double the Federal Housing Financing Authority's fine from last year: "Bank of America Corp. is in talks to pay at least $12 billion to settle civil probes by the Justice Department and a number of states into the bank's alleged handling of shoddy mortgages, an amount that could raise the government tab for the bank's precrisis conduct to more than $18 billion, according to people familiar with the negotiations."

BNP Executive Firings Sought by Top New York Bank Regulator Amid Probe [Bloomberg]
In addition to the $10 billion fine: "New York’s top banking regulator, Benjamin Lawsky, is pressing BNP Paribas SA (BNP) to dismiss one of its top executives as part of settlement negotiations with the U.S. over alleged sanctions violations, according to a person familiar with the matter. Lawsky wants the bank to remove Chief Operating Officer Georges Chodron de Courcel, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private. Lawsky is also seeking the departure of another senior executive and about 12 other bank employees, the person added. Chodron de Courcel and the others haven’t been accused of wrongdoing."

Heirs To The Samsung Family Fortune Owe $6 Billion In Taxes [Reuters]
Lee Kun-hee's heirs are going to bite the bullet to keep control over their father's company: "By some calculations, Lee's 45-year-old son Jay Y. Lee, the group's presumed heir apparent, and his two sisters could be on the hook for about $6 billion in tax under South Korea's top level inheritance tax rate of 50 percent. To put that in perspective, the United States expects to collect just $16 billion this year in estate and gift taxes - a levy that has long been a political bone of contention and which many rich Americans go to great lengths to minimize. However, attempts by the Lee family to ease its tax burden could weaken its control over an empire it now runs through a complex structure of interlocking ownership - and risk stirring up public condemnation."

Conflict-Metals Disclosures Reveal North Korean Surprise [CFOJ (Sub)]
There's gold in them thar communist hills: "Dozens of firms found an unwelcome surprise in their supply chains beyond a connection to mines controlled by armed groups in the Congo region, which the “conflict minerals” disclosures were designed to ferret out. A number of companies, including International Business Machines Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co., learned that many of their products contain North Korean gold."

Mark Weinberger skips the selfie at the WEOY celebration:

His Excellency, the Minister of State of Monaco, welcomes EY and #WEOY winners at his residence. pic.twitter.com/3MC7YSSLnv

— Mark Weinberger (@Mark_Weinberger) June 6, 2014

 Animal abuse: 

Duncan is ready for @DeloitteUS Impact Day @lifeatdeloitte#IMPACTDay#Volunteerpic.twitter.com/Zl0WDG2FNW

— Ron King (@KingofTally) June 6, 2014

 Ernst & Young names new managing partner for Milwaukee  [MJS]
David Gay succeeds Keith Burns.

Senate Finance restarts tax reform debate [The Hill]
Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT) are really serious about it this time, you guys.

Hertz to restate results over accounting issues [MW]
FTW, internal auditors. "Hertz, citing the results of an internal audit, said its results for 2011, most recently included in its annual 10-K filing for 2013, 'should no longer be relied upon,' and that the company must restate them. To further reflect those errors, the company must correct its 2012 and 2013 financial statements, Hertz said in a regulatory filing. The results for those years may also be restated if further adjustments are determined to be material. The company also said it is reviewing if the issues have had any impact on 2014's results."

LEGO Figures Make Perfect Cable Holders [Lifehacker]
Their little hands! They make for good business cards, too (but only if you work there).

As anyone who considers break room snacks a food group knows, it's incredibly easy to put on a few pounds from sitting at your desk for most of your working life. EY has a solution -- toys to encourage its staff to get off their asses.

New fitness challenge @ the office! 'On the Move' - teams wear these trackers to count their steps #fun#health -Lys pic.twitter.com/pnC9Ie32q2

— Life at EY (@EYstaff) June 6, 2014

Does this count as a wearable?

Link even though no one is reading, link even though you've never been linked to, link even though no one clicks, link even though the Internet is filled with mindless crap.

Open ItemsDoes This Count As Work Experience for CPA in NY

AccountingWEB Creating Excel's Equivalent of MAXIF

AWEB Forums #VALUE! Error Due to Blank Space

The Queen's AccountingWEB Trainee troubles: Fear of the phones Speaking to clients for the first time can be particularly daunting. But having to talk to stranges on the phone appears to be a doubly stressful event for some accountants - trainee or experienced alike.

BusinessZone Two out of 60: Why so few women in the World Entrepreneur of the Year Awards?

HRZone Can we please stop blaming women for diversity problems?

MyCustomer Governance flowcharts: How to review and respond to social media comments

TrainingZone How to engage with difficult people

Hello and Happy Friday, GC faithful. We are interrupting your regularly scheduled programming with an important message.

Maybe it's because we monkeyed with the tip box graphic awhile back or maybe it's because you all genuinely have nothing to tip us about but we've noticed a steady decline in tips and, frankly, it concerns us.

As outsiders, we rely on you all as our mint shirts on the ground to let us know what's happening at your office, in your inbox, at your firm's national HQ.

The Going Concern tip box brought us the intern with a highly condensed schedule of errands, the greatest farewell email of all time, and of course it was a team of tipsters who made sure we all knew KPMG would acquire Rothstein Kass before even KPMG knew. The tip box works, folks, even when it's being used to tell us EY is serving pork butt at 5 Times Square (LOL they said butt).

So you see, we would appreciate if you could take a little time out from your highly condensed schedule of errands to let us know what's going on out there. What's the worst that could happen? Well, the worst that happens is Colin and I make fun of you over Gchat. But if it's a good tip, you're making an impact on your fellow capital markets servants through your selflessness and generosity. Think of your fellow CPA! They are counting on you.

As has always been the case, you can reach us by email, Twitter, Facebook, and carrier pigeon. Or just yell really loud.

*ranked from the Accounting Today Top 100

#10: BDO

Wayne Berson has done wonderful things for BDO but I definitely wouldn't do wonderful thingsto him. Nope. Sorry Wayne but... just no. The good news is you're one makeover away from being Eric Cantor, in which case, email me.

#9: CliftonLarsonAllen

It's a known fact that I'm into old guys but even I draw the line at really old guys like Gordy Viere. Sorry, Gordy, nothing personal, I'm sure you were quite the stud in your younger days.

#8: Deloitte

Joe Echevarria looks like the kind of guy who would scare you if you encountered him in a dark alley late at night. Maybe with the right oil-absorbing moisturizer it would work, but as is, Joe's bangability places Deloitte at a solid 8 on our list.

#7: Grant Thornton

I'm not really into purple guys.

#6: KPMG

On looks alone, Johnny V would rank lower on this list but I bet he's the kind of guy who will get you drunk and make sure you get home safely without taking advantage of you. Even though he looks a little like an extra on Law & Order.

#5: CohnReznick

CohnReznick has this whole co-CEO thing going on and to be honest, neither of them are very hot on their own. But when morphed together into one mutant CEO, he's kind of cute. You know, in an old white guy CEO sort of way.

#4: Crowe Horwath

Charles Allen is kind of a hottie, you know, in the way you thought your best friend's dad who bought your friend's love with toys because he was always working all the time was hot.

#3: EY

Steve Howe isn't exactly hot, but he isn't that bad either. Something about that boyish sideways smirk is charming in an "I'm going to bill the shit out you for this audit and you're gonna like it" sort of way.

#2: McGladrey

This might be the only time McGladrey ranks #2 for anything, and it's due to Joe Adams' loveable Midwestern joviality. As far as old white guys go, Joe is a solid 6 or 7; he has most of his hair, probably all of his own teeth, and he doesn't need to wear a tie. Plus he has that adorable accent that just makes you want to make him say "bagel" and "vague" over and over.

#1: PwC

It's no surprise BoMo tops this list as hottest accounting firm CEO. Just look at him. From his luxurious head of hair to those icy blue eyes, Bob Moritz is just the dreamiest. Also: assless chaps. *swoon*