When we got a tip Friday mid-morning that Lynne Doughtie had told KPMG U.S. staff in a video message that she wouldn’t seek another term as chairman and CEO, I wasn’t all that surprised. I figured she’d be one and done.

Doughtie seems like a nice, hardworking, intelligent woman. I don’t think KPMG would have promoted some dolt to lead the firm for the next five years when she was given the master keys to the House of Klynveld in July 2015. After all, KPMG’s advisory business had become the U.S. firm’s fastest-growing practice—not tax, not audit—under her leadership, generating $2.65 billion of the firm’s $6.87 billion in total U.S. revenue in FY 2014.

Doughtie made national headlines in 2015 when she was elected as the first woman to lead KPMG’s U.S. firm, thus becoming the second woman CEO of a Big 4 firm in the States. Just by looking at her resume and her accomplishments, you knew she had the chops for the job, just like Cathy Engelbert had the chops to lead Deloitte.

During her tenure, the firm brought out the giant scissors on several occasions to open Ignition Centers across the U.S.; broke ground on its new $450 million, 800,000-square-foot Kamp KPMG (officially called the Lakehouse) which will open in the Orlando area next year; saw U.S. revenues increase year-over year—from $8.63 billion in FY 2016 to $9.46 billion in FY 2018; and has often been recognized for going all in on diversity and inclusion.

But there’s nothing like a good scandal to completely obliterate the reputation of a firm in the Big 4, and KPMG was involved in a doozy, the likes of which the accounting profession had never seen before.

Doughtie often preached how important ethics and integrity were not only to KPMG but to her as a leader. So, having to fire six of the firm’s top executives, five of whom were indicted, because they hatched and executed a plan to steal confidential audit inspection information from insiders at the PCAOB was not a good look.

There have been other cheating allegations within the audit practice at KPMG, the firm has been hemorrhaging public company audit clients the past few years, morale is low (from what we’re hearing), the firm is still the butt of jokes (“Big 3 and KPMG”), and, to top it all off, Phil still hasn’t won the U.S. Open.

And let’s not forget that KPMG might be replaced after more than 100 years as external auditor for General Electric, which was just accused of perpetuating a $38 billion accounting fraud.

When news broke last year that Engelbert wouldn’t be renominated for a second, four-year term as Deloitte CEO, I think that shocked a lot of Green Dots (even though there hasn’t been a two-term Deloitte U.S. CEO in forever). But I don’t think there were many Klynveldians who were shocked to hear what Doughtie said in that video message on Friday morning.

So, what drove her to make that decision? Got a few obvious possibilities:

1. She is being forced out.

It’s extremely plausible that all the negative publicity KPMG U.S. has received in the national (and international) press the past couple of years did Doughtie in. She might have already been told “don’t even bother trying for a second term” as chairman and CEO. And because she’s in the fifth and final year of her term, now’s a good time to let all KPMGers know that she’s going to step aside in June 2020 so the search for a new CEO can officially begin.

The $50 million settlement KPMG reached with the SEC in June because of the PCAOB information stealing scandal, as well as for the profound cheating on internal training exams that apparently was also going on within the firm’s audit practice, may have been the final straw for The Powers That Be. And as a result of the PCAOB scandal, KPMG appointed two independent directors last year to its U.S. board—retired Air Force General Janet Wolfenbarger and Linda Addison, immediate past U.S. managing partner of global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright.

Of the five former KPMG executives who were indicted in that scandal, three pleaded guilty (Brian Sweet, Cynthia Holder, and Thomas Whittle) to wire fraud and conspiracy charges, one (David Middendorf) was convicted in March of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud, and one (David Britt) is scheduled to go on trial this fall. Holder is the only one who has been sentenced thus far; she will be serving eight months in a federal prison beginning in October.

While the plan to cheat the regulatory inspection process was put into motion three months or so before Doughtie moved into the corner office in July 2015, Holder obtained confidential audit inspection selections for KPMG from PCAOB inspections leader Jeffrey Wada in March 2016 and in January 2017—well into Doughtie’s term as CEO. And after getting that secret data from the PCAOB, KPMG partners were found to have revised audit workpapers to reduce the likelihood of deficiencies being found by the regulator’s inspectors.

Wada was also convicted of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud in March.

If that wasn’t bad enough, we found out from the SEC in June that KPMG auditors—at all levels of seniority—were sharing and/or receiving answers to internally administered exams on training courses so they and their colleagues could pass these tests. This exam cheating was also going on during Doughtie’s tenure as CEO.

As a result, morale is really low, according to a source who recently left KPMG:

“The last two years have produced a lot of controversy in the media and public eye. It’s very possible she’s going out to try new things, but there is a culture crisis internally at the moment and I think there is a desire for her to get away from it, or the firm to take action and ask her not to continue leading.

“Morale is quite low, with a feeling from many that it has turned into a toxic work environment over the last 18 months.”

And if you missed Adrienne’s article a couple months ago, nearly 30% of current KPMG employees said the PCAOB and internal test cheating scandals confirmed their perceptions of the firm, while about 29% of Klynveldians said the scandals have changed their perceptions of the firm, according to a survey by the professional community app Fishbowl.

And I mentioned earlier that KPMG was bleeding SEC audit clients. I reviewed the auditor changes roundup posts on Audit Analytics for FY 2016, FY 2017, and FY 2018, and found that in those three years, KPMG lost 109 public company audit clients while gaining 43, for a total of -66. That is tied with PwC (-105/+39) for the worst overall gain/loss score among the Big 4 during those three years.

So, it’s definitely possible she’s being forced to call it a career at KPMG.

2. She did not want to serve an abbreviated second term.

When her five-year term expires in June 2020, Doughtie will be 57 years old. Mandatory retirement age at KPMG is 60. Even non-mathletes like me and Adrienne can figure out that she wouldn’t be able to serve another full five-year term.

I guess it’s possible she could serve an abbreviated second term, but I would imagine both Doughtie and KPMG’s board would think that is a dumb idea.

3. She is leaving because she wants to.

Being the leader of one of the largest professional service firms in the U.S. has to eventually take its toll. When she leaves KPMG in June 2020, Doughtie will have spent 35 years working at the firm—that’s 61% of her life.

We haven’t seen or heard the message she sent on Friday morning, but according to those who have, Doughtie sounded “upbeat” and it seemed she is leaving KPMG on her own terms. Maybe knowing that she is ending her career at a firm that has been compared to a dumpster fire is a huge weight that has been lifted off of her shoulders.

Dumpster fire at KPMG as it emerges cheating scandal went right to the top. via @doctorow @BoingBoing https://t.co/pYWutbZUJh

— Ian Fraser (@Ian_Fraser) June 20, 2019

So, what’s next for LD? She told the Richmond Times-Dispatch a couple of years ago that when she does retire, she will “stay active, whether teaching or serving on corporate and nonprofit boards.”

According to Doughtie’s bio, she already serves on several nonprofit boards, including the Partnership for New York City (along with PwC Chairman Tim Ryan and Deloitte CEO Joe Ucuzoglu), the LUNGevity Foundation (her mother and grandmother died from lung cancer), Catalyst (along with Engelbert) and NAF. She also is a board member of Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose, a trustee of the U.S. Council for International Business, and a member of The Business Roundtable and The Business Higher Education Forum.

Joining a corporate board seems like the “in” thing to do if you’re a former Big 4 CEO. Ex-EY global chairman and CEO Mark Weinberger just did. Doughtie’s predecessor at KPMG U.S., John Veihmeyer, serves on the board of Ford Motor Co., and Johnny V.’s predecessor, Tim Flynn, is on the board of JPMorgan Chase, Alcoa, Walmart, and United Healthcare.

Or she could go teach at her alma mater, Virginia Tech, where she is a board member of the Pamplin Advisory Council, as well as a member of its Accounting and Information Systems Advisory Board.

Who knows!

One thing we do know is that Scott Ozanus, chairman of KPMG’s Americas region and deputy chairman and chief operating officer of KPMG U.S., won’t be the firm’s next chairman and CEO. We’ve been told he is retiring in 2020.

So, who are the leading candidates to take over as KPMG U.S. chairman and CEO? We don’t know. We hope KPMGers might have an idea and can tell us. Let’s throw out some names just for fun. How about Carl Carande, who succeeded Doughtie as head of the firm’s advisory practice? Maybe Jackie Daylor, KPMG’s national managing partner of audit quality and professional practice? Or maybe Harry Argires, national managing partner of audit operations?

KPMGers, if you’re hearing some chatter about potential CEO candidates, shoot us an email. And feel free to speculate in the comment section.

The post Let’s Speculate About Why Lynne Doughtie Is Leaving KPMG appeared first on Going Concern.

Plus, tax accountant pleads guilty to scamming clients and a movie production accountant is accused of stealing money from his employer.

Police: Lindenwold man’s ‘demeanor’ changed after co-worker’s murder [Cherry Hill Courier-Post]
Kenneth Saal, a staff accountant at Engine Group in Princeton, NJ, since July 2016, was taken into custody on a murder charge at his home in Lindenwold, NJ, on Aug. 21 for allegedly killing a co-worker during an extended lunch break from his job on June 10.

Saal, 30, allegedly lied about his whereabouts at the time of Carolyn Byington’s death and asked a co-worker “unprompted” if he could be arrested “based on circumstantial evidence alone,” authorities said.

According to a probable cause statement for his arrest, after DNA samples were taken from “numerous individuals,” investigators learned Saal “could not be excluded as a match” for DNA material found “in the area of the victim’s fingernails.”

He is accused of killing Byington, 26, who was “stabbed numerous times and subject to blunt force trauma,” in her home in Plainsboro, NJ.

Nonprofit embezzler sentenced to 10 years, ordered to pay back nearly $1.5 million [Port Huron Times Herald]
Here’s an update to a story we mentioned in Accountants Behaving Badly on May 13:

The former accountant of a Port Huron nonprofit was ordered Thursday [Aug. 22] to pay back nearly $1.5 million to the agency that assists those with disabilities live independently, though the judge said he was skeptical it would ever happen.

Richard Hartwick, 71, of Okemos, was also sentenced to 10 to 30 years in prison for his embezzlement from Blue Water Center for Independent Living.

Judge Michael West said the sentence exceeded the recommendation of six years in prison in part because of the low chance restitution will ever be paid.

The embezzled funds are believed to be tied up in assets, such as trailers and bank accounts, which other individuals may have a stake in, particularly Hartwick’s children, according to court officials.

Hartwick previously pleaded guilty to one count of embezzlement involving $100,000 or more, one count of fraudulent access of a computer, one count of using a computer to do a crime, one count of financial transaction forgery, one count of forgery or alteration of a financial transaction device, one count of conducting a criminal enterprise and one count of criminal enterprise involving racketeering proceeds.

Wakefield accountant pleads no contest to stealing $109K from church [Sioux City Journal]
Michael Pommer, an accountant in Wakefield, NE, pleaded no contest to one count of theft by unlawful taking on Aug. 26. As part of a plea agreement, 14 counts of theft by unlawful taking will be dismissed.

Pommer was accused of making 15 transfers totaling $109,727 from two accounts at Salem Lutheran Church to his personal bank account and American Express account. The transfers, ranging from $1,750 to $15,000, were made during a two-year period from June 24, 2016, through Sept. 5, 2018.

Tax accountant pleads guilty to scamming clients in fraud and money laundering scheme [Justice Department]
Salvatore Arena pleaded guilty on Aug. 23 to misappropriating more than $780,000 of client money for his own use.

Arena, 47, of Queens, NY, defrauded numerous clients during the period from January 2014 through March 2019.

He reportedly offered tax services, including the preparation and payment of taxes, to clients of an accounting firm in Manhattan. Instead of making payments on behalf of those clients, Arena diverted client funds for his own use. He executed this fraudulent scheme in two primary ways: first, by diverting prepayments of taxes to his own tax account and later claiming illegitimate refunds, and second, by misappropriating tax payments clients had wired into a bank account controlled by Arena.

Arena pleaded guilty to one count each of mail fraud, money laundering, and wire fraud, each of which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. As part of his guilty plea, he agreed to forfeit $789,195.35 and to pay restitution as ordered by the court.

Arena is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 13.

Accountant accused of stealing from Cats production company [economia]
Scott Hiskey, a U.K. accountant who worked for Monumental Pictures, a production company that has worked alongside Universal on the upcoming Cats film, has been accused of stealing £230,000 from his employer.

He faces charges of fraud by abuse of position.

Between April 2016 and October 2018, Hiskey allegedly stole £230,116 from Monumental Pictures while working at its offices in Islington. He is accused of transferring or siphoning off money to his own personal account.

The post Accountants Behaving Badly: Deadly Lunch Breaks, Embezzler Gets 10 Years, Church Swindler appeared first on Going Concern.

This year’s list from IPA features only one change among the top 10 accounting firms in the U.S.: CliftonLarsonAllen (or CLA, as the cool kids call them) leapfrogged over Crowe into the eighth spot. But there was quite a bit of jockeying in spots 11 through 16, with Baker Tilly now knocking on the door of the top 10.

Here’s the top 25 for 2019. Previous year’s ranking is in parenthesis:

1. Deloitte (1)
2. PwC (2)
3. EY (3)
4. KPMG (4)
5. RSM US (5)
6. Grant Thornton (6)
7. BDO USA (7)
8. CLA (9)
9. Crowe (8)
10. CBIZ & MHM (10)
11. Baker Tilly (13)
12. Moss Adams (14)
13. BKD (12)
14. CohnReznick (11)
15. Marcum (16)
16. Plante Moran (15)
17. Dixon Hughes Goodman (17)
18. EisnerAmper (18)
19. Wipfli (19)
20. Eide Bailly (20)
21. Carr Riggs & Ingram (21)
22. Andersen Tax (22)
23. Citrin Cooperman (23)
24. Armanino (24)
25. WithumSmith+Brown (25)

You can check out the rest of the top 100 here.

The Powers That Be won’t buy us IPA’s 2019 National Benchmarking Report, which comes out in September, but IPA provided some highlights of its analysis free of charge:

• Organic growth (excluding mergers) grew this year to 6.7%, up from 6.3% in 2018.
• More than 110 acquisitions (both traditional CPA firms as well as other non-CPA firms) were reported, pushing the overall growth rate to 9.9%, also up slightly from the 2018 all-growth rate of 9.4%.
• Organic growth in net income grew to 9.9% this year, an increase from 6.4% in 2018. Factoring in acquisitions, net income growth is up to 12.2%.
• Average equity partner billing rates now top $450 per hour for the IPA 100.
• Professional staff turnover (CPAs and other client-serving staff) averaged 16.2% for the IPA 100; with one in five IPA 100 firms averaging more than 20% professional staff turnover.
• Eight female managing partners are now at the helm of the IPA 100 firms for the first time since IPA began tracking this data.
• Average annual equity partner compensation at the IPA 100 is now $660,000.
• One out of 11 equity partners/owners in a CPA firm are not licensed CPAs.

Just so you know, IPA excludes metrics of the Big 4 in its analysis due to their size. Collectively, the Big 4 makes up nearly 75% of the total U.S. revenue of this year’s IPA 100. The remaining 96 firms represent $22.2 billion in total revenues and employ more than 100,000 staff. Excluding the Big 4, 45 firms had annual revenues exceeding $100 million.

Carry on.

The post Accounting Firm List Mania: INSIDE Public Accounting’s Top 100 for 2019 appeared first on Going Concern.

You’d think a firm like RSM US would know this by now, but guess not.

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged public accounting firm RSM US LLP with violations of the agency’s auditor independence rules in connection with more than 100 audit reports involving at least 15 audit clients.

Yes, auditor independence is a joke. So is deciding a tied FIFA World Cup championship match with penalty kicks. But neither of those rules are going away anytime soon.

So until auditor independence rules are changed, audit firms aren’t allowed at any point during the engagement to have an employment relationship with an audit client, and it can’t provide certain non-audit services to an audit client, like payroll processing, financial information system design or implementation, and broker-dealer, investment adviser or investment banking services.

Because RSM US got into some sticky situations with audit clients, Adams & Co. settled with the SEC today for $950,000 without having to admit or deny the allegations.

The SEC alleges that RSM US repeatedly represented that it was “independent” in audit reports issued on the clients’ financial statements, when according to securities regulations, the firm really wasn’t.

[T]he SEC found that from 2014 to 2015, RSM US or its associated entities, including other member firms of the RSM International network, provided non-audit services to, and had an employment relationship with, affiliates of RSM US audit clients, which violated the SEC’s auditor independence rules. The prohibited non-audit services included corporate secretarial services, payment facilitation, payroll outsourcing, loaned staff, financial information system design or implementation, bookkeeping, internal audit outsourcing, and investment adviser services.

The audit clients included funds of eight registered investment advisers seeking to comply with the SEC’s Custody Rule, the employee benefit plans of three public companies that filed reports with the SEC on Form 11-K, two broker-dealers, and two public companies.

RSM US has this thing called Client Central, a database the firm has used since 2011 to keep information on all things client, like all work billed to clients, both audit and non-audit, across all RSM US offices. RSM US engagement teams are required to search Client Central as part of client acceptance and continuance procedures, according to the SEC.

And prior to 2017, all RSM US audit engagement teams were required to complete a computer-based questionnaire called the McGladrey Risk Assessment Model (MRAM) to assess potential engagement risks related to auditor independence. BUT! Prior to 2014, the MRAM didn’t prompt audit engagement teams to perform searches in Client Central to identify affiliate relationships.

OK, now that we’ve got all that out of the way, let’s see what kinds of trouble RSM US (then known as McGladrey) got itself into, despite having these independence controls in place:

For example, for fiscal years 2012 through 2014, RSM US was engaged to audit the financial statements of two private funds of Registered Investment Adviser A to satisfy the requirements of the Custody Rule. In late 2012, RSM US consulting personnel were engaged to provide prohibited financial software consulting services to one portfolio company of the funds; in 2013, to an additional portfolio company; and, in 2014, to a third portfolio company. These services were provided during 2013 and 2014. … [P]rior to the requirement to complete the MRAM, the consulting teams were not required to search for audit services provided to affiliates of their clients. In 2014, the prohibited services were unrecognized because consulting personnel improperly entered their clients’ names into Client Central and did not tag their clients as related to Registered Investment Adviser A. Additionally, two of the consulting teams failed to complete MRAMs, and the consulting team that did complete the MRAM inaccurately responded that its client was not majority owned by Registered Investment Adviser A. By failing to identify the prohibited non-audit services, RSM US issued audit reports for fiscal year end 2013 while not independent. RSM US identified the issue in early 2015 and did not issue audit reports for fiscal year end 2014.

In addition, the SEC said a tax partner from an RSM International member firm in Australia served on a voluntary basis as a non-discretionary member on the board of an affiliate of a RSM US issuer audit client, thus breaking auditor independence rules regarding employment relationships.

These independence violations remained undetected until 2016, the SEC stated.

As part of the settlement, RSM US was ordered to cease and desist from future violations, and the firm agreed to engage an independent consultant to evaluate its current quality controls for complying with auditor independence requirements for non-audit services.

The post RSM US’s $950,000 Fine Is a Reminder That Performing Non-Audit Services for Audit Clients Can Get You Into Trouble appeared first on Going Concern.

Exposure Drafts appears every month. Send your accounting cartoon ideas to editor@goingconcern.com. You can follow Greg Kyte on Twitter.

The post Exposure Drafts: Hell Is Eternal But They Still Use Dual Monitors to Boost Efficiency appeared first on Going Concern.

Since Adrienne designated me as the “accounting school/program rankings guy” earlier this year, I thought I’d bring to your attention a new ranking of the best online master’s in accounting degree programs.

This list was put together by the website College Consensus, which researched more than 600 schools in the U.S. and weighed three factors in … ugh … reaching a consensus on its ranking:

• Affordability
• Convenience
• Reputation

If you’re expecting a ranking full of big-name schools, well, you’ll be disappointed. It does include the likes of Penn State, Rutgers, Arizona, and Maryland, but most of these schools you’ll never see on “College GameDay” or on your March Madness bracket.

So, here are the best online master’s in accounting degree programs, according to College Consensus:

1. Penn State (Penn State World Campus School of Business Administration)
2. Rutgers University (Rutgers Business School)
3. Marshall University (Lewis College of Business)
4. Pittsburg State University (Kelce College of Business)
5. Southeastern Oklahoma State University (John Massey School of Business)
6. Clarion University (College of Business Administration and Information Sciences)
7. University of the Cumberlands (Hutton School of Business)
8. Fitchburg State University (Business Administration Department)
9. American Public University (School of Business)
10. West Liberty University (Gary E. West College of Business)
11. University of West Alabama (School of Graduate Studies)
12. Wilmington University (College of Business)
13. Lindenwood University (Plaster School of Business & Entrepreneurship)
14. Indiana Tech (College of Business)
15. Tennessee Wesleyan University (Goodfriend School of Business)
16. Western Governors University (College of Business)
17. University of Arizona (Eller College of Management)
18. Plymouth State University (School of Business)
19. Saint Joseph’s College (Business Department)
20. University of South Carolina-Aiken (School of Business Administration)
21. University of Maryland (University College Business & Management Department)
22. Gardner-Webb University (Graduate School of Business)
23. Columbia (Mo.) College (School of Business Administration)
24. (tie) Colorado State University (CSU Global Campus)
24. (tie) Touro University Worldwide (School of Business)

If your alma mater made this list, congrats. If it didn’t, your school must suck or something.

Related articles:

Here Are the Best Graduate Accounting Programs as Ranked By U.S. News & World Report
Here Is Another Top 50 Accounting Schools In 2019 List for You Guys to Debate
Where Did Your Alma Mater Rank In This List of the Top 50 Accounting Schools In 2019?

The post Here Are the Top 25 Online Graduate Accounting Degree Programs In 2019, According to Some Site appeared first on Going Concern.

The big news out of the Queen’s Big 4 yesterday wasn’t that Deloitte U.K.’s 2019 revenue (which also includes income from Switzerland) increased 10.9% from £3.58 billion in 2018 to £3.97 billion.

Nope. The big news (or good news if you’re an equity partner at Deloitte) was:

Hundreds of partners at the UK arm of accountancy firm Deloitte are in line for their biggest payday in a decade … .

The average payout for the 699 equity partners at the firm this year is £882,000. The cash sum covers the year to 31 May and is £50,000 more than they were paid the previous year. Some of the partners will be paid less than the average, but many will be handed more than £1m.

Deloitte has 19,000 staff and 1,070 are partners. However, some 300 of the partners are “salaried” and do not take part in the profit distribution. One in five of the partners are female.

Unless PwC partners in the U.K. hit the jackpot this year, Deloitte will once again have the most partners with the fullest pockets.

Here were the top five U.K. firms in terms of average distributable profit per partner for the 2017-18 financial year:

1. Deloitte: £832,000
2. PwC: £712,000
3. EY: £693,000
4. KPMG: £601,000
5. BDO: £531,000

And then there was Grant Thornton, where average profit per partner fell 8% from £403,000 to £373,000 last year. But hey, its current CEO hasn’t had to face a partner revolt this year, so at least that’s something.

Deloitte UK partners in line for biggest payday in 10 years [The Guardian]

The post It’s Good Being a Deloitte U.K. Equity Partner These Days appeared first on Going Concern.

Have no fear, a recession in the U.S. is not near, EY Global Chairman and CEO Carmine Di Sibio said on CNBC this morning.

Carmine Di Sibio, who runs consulting powerhouse EY Global, told CNBC on Thursday he does not see a recession as an imminent threat in the United States.

“We had a lot of conversations with our clients’ CFOs. Really, the United States economy is doing very well,” argued Di Sibio, who took over as EY chairman and CEO last month. He joined EY in 1985.

In a “Squawk Box” interview, Di Sibio said he would typically see a pause in innovation about six months before a recession. “Sometimes when a recession is coming, you start hearing that projects are put on hold. We’re not hearing that. There’s a lot of transformation going on.”

CEO of EY Global, with a who’s who list of blue-chip clients, sees no US recession coming [CNBC]

The post EY Global CEO: Recession? What Recession? appeared first on Going Concern.

KPMG is in the news again this week, and again it’s for something they probably wish would go away. Now, I combed our extensive archive going back 10 years (read: spent five minutes Googling) and wasn’t able to find any coverage of this case save for an ANR link here and there, which means either there is too much other tomfoolery going on at KPMG for us to report on all of it all the time or we’re bad and hate Canada. Maybe a little from Column A and a little from Column B. Anyhoo, let’s get caught up.

In the late 1990s, KPMG’s Vancouver office came up with the bright idea to help a handful of rich clients “save money” on taxes otherwise due to the Canadian Revenue Agency, as well as potential future jilted soon-to-be-former spouses, through a tax shelter. In documents revealed to Parliament in 2016, KPMG had its people really pushing that jilted spouse thing.

From CBC:

In what was called the “initial client meeting script,” KPMG sales agents were advised to discuss the “primary benefits” of the scheme with wealthy Canadians.

The list of benefits included a section promoting “asset protection” which, according to KPMG, meant there would be “nothing” that an “ex­-spouse” could claim.

Steven Benmor, a Toronto­-based family law specialist, says those talking points are “potentially damaging” to KPMG, as the firm appears to be endorsing the idea of getting around Canadian divorce laws.

The question of course becomes, who is gonna get more ticked by some rich dude hiding money, the tax man or the ex-wife?

In October 2012, authorities — since hip to the tax dodge — ordered KPMG to preserve all documents related to their probe of the tax shelter. The following month, four Isle of Man shell companies set up by KPMG passed a resolution that “books, documents and all papers” be “destroyed,” according to records in the Isle of Man obtained by CBC/Radio-Canada.

Seven years on, the government is still trying to scrape up whatever documents they can related to the scheme and the filthy rich folks who bought into KPMG’s promotion of it. Two such rich bastards are Caleb and Tom Chan, billionaire brothers from Hong Kong whose $40 million donation to the Vancouver Art Gallery is considered the largest private donation to the arts the province has ever seen. No one is doubting their generosity, however, tax authorities are questioning their participation in the “Isle of Man” tax shelter sold to them by KPMG.

CBC reports:

Numerous internal emails filed in court this summer reveal the Chans’ involvement in a KPMG offshore scheme so secret that neither tax collectors nor even their spouses were ever supposed to find out.

The Chan brothers may be the most prominent of several wealthy families whose identities have been revealed over the past few years as being part of the scheme.

The records show the Chan brothers were part of a group of more than 20 wealthy Canadians whose families had at least $5 million to invest in a sophisticated KPMG tax dodge first developed out of the accounting firm’s Vancouver office in the late 1990s.

In one email from 2002, a KPMG accountant explained the Chan brothers did not want their spouses to learn about their offshore dealings.

“The concern is that the wifes [sic] are not to know about the assets of the husbands,” said the accountant’s email.

In the Isle of Man, where the shell companies were set up, the response was to “rest assured” that the Chans’ partners would not find out.

The documents show tax authorities were also not supposed to find out. The court records show the Chans did not disclose their offshore companies in the Isle of Man during a 2005 audit, even after being required to list all their global assets.

The Chans are currently cockblocking CRA from accessing more than 1,000 documents in KPMG’s possession, citing solicitor-client privilege. Additionally, authorities have requested general ledgers from the Chans’ offshore companies; however, in 2017 Caleb Chan told auditors he had no such thing.

No one knows exactly how much money escaped tax authorities through the “Isle of Man tax dodge,” but it could number in the tens of millions.

The post Meanwhile, In Canada: Rich Guys Are Still Fighting the Tax Man Over Their KPMG Offshore Tax Shelter appeared first on Going Concern.

We’ve written plenty of times about the AICPA freaking out over low CPA exam candidate numbers, but for the first time in two years thanks to the AICPA’s Trends in the Supply of Accounting Graduates and the Demand for Public Accounting Recruits report [PDF], we have actual numbers. You ready? It’s bad.

Yikes. To be fair, the 2010 and 2016 numbers make things look worse than they are, and both can be credited in part to significant CPA exam changes the year following. Meaning: candidates who may have been putting off the exam or otherwise wouldn’t have rushed put aside their procrastination to get the exam done before it changed. Additionally, and this is partly anecdotal as I was working in CPA review at the time, candidate numbers were likely higher than would have been usual from about 2007 to 2009-ish, as the economy circled the drain and accounting was one of the only professions in which one could find a job fairly easily. Y’all younguns might not remember that dark time, be grateful.

If you recall, we already knew candidate numbers were down thanks to NASBA’s info released around this time last year. In case you need a refresher, here’s the data we had on unique candidates at that time (with cats!):

Although new candidate numbers may be low, people are still finishing up the exam and in much higher numbers than they were a decade ago. So there’s that.

In the Trends report, the AICPA highlights a virtual cornucopia of initiatives it has deployed to attract talent to the profession, the list of which we won’t waste your time with since we all know they’re hard at work trying to seduce future CPAs harder than the pot dealer we all saw in After School Specials peddling free drugs on the elementary school blacktop and don’t need a reminder. They’re on it, you guys, OK?

All of this is extra interesting on the heels of the potentially controversial plan on the part of the AICPA and NASBA to reconsider barriers to entry to the profession as well as news that firms have increased hiring of non-accounting grads over bona-fide accountants, but hey, it’s Friday, let’s not get into all that.

Time to panic? Maybe not. As the report notes: “CPA Exam data often show increases in candidates prior to changes to the Exam followed by significant decreases in the first few years after the CPA Examination changes.”

How many is a “few” again?

The post Time to Panic? New CPA Exam Candidate Numbers Are Lower Than They’ve Been in Over a Decade appeared first on Going Concern.

PwC accused of sharing confidential information [economia] Watchstone has accused PwC of “inducing breach of contract” and “unlawful means conspiracy” against the Big Four firm. The company claims that secret meetings with PwC, allegedly called for by Slater & Gordon, were arranged to share confidential information. Watchstone alleges that this was for the law firm to gain an “unfair advantage” in the acquisition talks.

What to do when the cloud goes down [Journal of Accountancy] Hit Redtube on the can?

Denver auditor wants holders of the title to be CPAs as well [Colorado Politics] The current Denver city auditor thinks future auditors should have the same qualifications he brought to the job — namely, being a licensed certified public accountant. Auditor Tim O’Brien wants the professional standard written clearly into law. He has created a committee to look into the issue. His office said O’Brien is only the second Denver city auditor to hold a CPA’s license. “I want a legacy of professionalism in leadership to outlast me,” O’Brien said in a statement Thursday. “I want the next person who holds this office — and the next, and the next — to all be equally as qualified. I want the Auditor’s independence and professionalism enshrined in law.”

State CPA Societies Partner to Launch New Online Conference: CPA Convene [CPA Practice Advisor] The Maryland Association of Certified Public Accountants and the Montana Society of CPAs have partnered with the leadership from a number of other contributing state societies and organizations to host an online, international, grassroots conversation about the future of the CPA profession on Oct. 3, 2019.

Charitable Donation Deductions Plummet After Tax Reform [Forbes] According to the most recent data available from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), just 12,177,779 taxpayers claimed the charitable donation deduction for the 2018 tax year, totaling $102.7 billion. That compares to 33,629,985 taxpayers who claimed the charitable donation deduction for the 2017 tax year, totaling $160 billion. That’s a difference of 21,452,206 taxpayers claiming nearly $37 billion less in donations.

Deloitte audit boss hits back at ‘unfair’ salary complaints [Australian Financial Review] Deloitte head of audit Jamie Gatt sought to reassure the firm’s staff on Monday following revelations in The Australian Financial Review that the business was facing a rebellion from its junior auditors over ‘‘unfair’’ pay. The ‘‘rebellion’’ was triggered by news that next year’s graduates would be coming in on more money than junior auditors who had been at the firm for up to 2½ years.

Honeywell Won’t Face SEC Charges Related to Asbestos Accounting [WSJ] Honeywell International Inc. said securities regulators have decided not to pursue any actions related to an investigation into how it accounted for asbestos-related liabilities.

Former NFL players were defrauded by financial firm, SEC says [CNBC] Former principals of Cambridge Capital Group Advisors, Philip Timothy Howard and Don Warner Reinhard, allegedly took more than $4 million from around 20 retired NFL players to invest in private hedge funds managed by the Tallahassee, Florida-based firm from October 2015 to March 2017. More than 20% of the players’ funds were allegedly misused by the partners, the SEC said Thursday. Howard allegedly used some of the funds to cover the cost of his personal residential mortgages.

The post Friday Footnotes: CPA or Nothing; PwC Snitched?; When the Cloud Goes Down | 8.30.19 appeared first on Going Concern.

You are probably having a better Labor Day than these six accountants.

Former CPA indicted for failing to report foreign bank accounts and filing false documents with the IRS [Justice Department]
Ex-CPA Brian Booker was charged by a federal grand jury on Aug. 27 with failing to file Reports of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBARs) and filing false documents with the IRS.

Booker owned a cocoa trading company that was organized under the laws of Panama and was operated from Venezuela, Panama, and his former residence in Fort Lauderdale, FLA. For calendar years 2011 through 2013, Booker allegedly failed to disclose his interest in financial accounts located in Switzerland, Singapore, and Panama on annual FBARs as required by law. Booker also allegedly filed false individual income tax returns for tax years 2010 through 2012 that failed to report to the IRS all of Booker’s foreign bank accounts.

Booker is also charged with filing a false “streamlined submission” in conjunction with the Streamlined Domestic Offshore Procedures.

If convicted, Booker faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison for each count relating to his failure to file an FBAR. He also faces a maximum sentence of three years in prison for each of the counts related to filing false tax documents.

Las Vegas businessman indicted with 28 counts for aiding and assisting in the preparation of false tax returns [Justice Department]
A federal grand jury returned a 28-count indictment on Aug. 27 against Lance Bradford, CPA, a majority owner of tax and audit firm, L.L. Bradford CPAs in Las Vegas, for aiding in the preparation of false tax returns.

Bradford, 52, is accused of preparing false and fraudulent individual income tax returns for tax years 2012, 2013, and 2014. Those fake returns are alleged to have claimed false deductions for millions of dollars in cost of goods sold, consulting fees, and omitted gross receipts. The returns were filed on behalf of seven individual taxpayers and their associated corporate and partnership entities.

Bradford is scheduled to be arraigned on Sept. 3. The maximum penalty is three years in prison and a $100,000 fine per count.

Bookkeeper charged with embezzling $47K from Stamford company [Connecticut Post]
Carol Werner turned herself over to police on Aug. 22 and was charged with first-degree larceny and second-degree forgery for allegedly stealing almost $50,000 from a Stamford landscaping business over a 16-month period.

The arrest stemmed from a complaint filed by a Stamford landscaping company in December 2018, when the owner reported that Werner, who was the company’s payroll manager and accountant, may have taken as much as $70,000 from the company before she was fired.

Werner, 62, admitted to depositing a total of 27 phony payroll checks into her account totaling $47,725 between July 2017 and November 2018.

Man allegedly steals over $400,000 from employer [St. George News]
Richard McDonald, a former accountant for a pool supply business in St. George, UT, was charged on Aug. 21 with six second-degree felony charges, including one count of unlawful dealing with property by a fiduciary and five counts of theft, as well as one third-degree felony count of unlawful acquisition of a finance card without consent.

On Sept. 20, 2018, the owner of the business reported to police that McDonald, who was the company’s accountant for more than four years and was responsible for making all payroll and business expense payments, had embezzled more than $400,000.

An investigation discovered that McDonald allegedly paid himself more than what was authorized by the company and had transferred funds from the business accounts to personal bank accounts on a number of occasions.

Willingboro Township employee loses job over disputed diploma [Cherry Hill Courier-Post]
Monica Paylor, who was an accountant for Willingboro Township in New Jersey, lost her job after being accused of misrepresenting her educational accomplishments.

According to a recent court ruling, Paylor falsely claimed to be a college graduate and presented a diploma and transcripts that were “not authentic.”

She had been a municipal employee since 2007 and the town’s accountant since 2016.

A bachelor’s degree was among the required qualifications for Paylor’s position as municipal accountant. The job paid almost $65,000 a year at the time of her dismissal.

College of New Rochelle controller sentenced to three years, ordered to pay restitution [Rockland/Westchester Journal News]
Keith Borge, the former controller at the College of New Rochelle, was sentenced to three years in federal prison on Aug. 28 for doctoring the school’s financial records and hiding its debts, which eventually led to the college shutting its doors.

He was ordered to pay $25,000 in fines and will also have to pay restitution on charges of securities fraud and failure to pay payroll taxes.

Borge, 63, pleaded guilty in March to the charges, shortly after the college announced it would close this summer, done in by the debts after years of enrollment declines and financial instability.

His sentence will start on Oct. 11 and includes three years supervised release. The amount of restitution is currently at $13.2 million, but it’ll likely be significantly lowered or totally cleared after the college sells its assets.

The post Accountants Behaving Badly: FUBARed Over FBARs, Fake Returns, Landscaping Larceny appeared first on Going Concern.

While Major League Baseball teams expanded their rosters on Sept. 1, Marcum expanded its partner roster on Sunday, calling up 16 men and women to the big leagues.

This year’s new partner class is by far the firm’s largest since 2010. The only one that comes close is 2017’s 13 promotions.

Let’s take a look at Marcum’s class of new partners by the numbers:

• 15: The number of new partners who are CPAs.
• 9: The number of new partners in Assurance, the most of any service line, followed by Tax & Business with four.
• 6: The number of new partners who have a first name that begins with the letter J.
• 4: The number of new partners who are women, or 25% of the class.
• 3: The number of new partners in both Boston and Melville, NY, the most of any location, followed by two each in Philadelphia and Washington, DC.

Here are the members of Marcum’s newest class of partners:

• Nick Antonian, Assurance Services, Los Angeles
• Moises Ariza, Assurance Services, Miami
• Anthony Basile, Assurance Services, Melville, NY
• Michael Buchheit, Assurance Services, Philadelphia
• Andrew Clark, Tax & Business Services, Boston
• Joseph DeCusati, Advisory Services, New Haven, CT
• Ashlie Forum, Tax & Business Services, Fort Lauderdale, FL
• John Heilmann, Tax & Business Services, Philadelphia
• Ali Jahangir Hirji, Tax & Business Services, Melville, NY
• Matthew Huffner, Assurance Services, Washington, DC
• Janet Levy, Assurance Services, New York City
• John E. McCarthy, Assurance Services, Boston
• Jason Moi, Assurance Services, Boston
• Patrick O’Brien, Assurance Services, Nashville
• Jill Scher, Accounting Services, Melville, NY
• Karen Schuler, Managed Services, Washington, DC

Back in June, Marcum admitted five of its best and brightest to the partnership. They were:

• Andre Benayoun, Tax & Business Services, Fort Lauderdale, FL
• Dean Drummond, Advisory Services, Boston
• Amie Gartenberg, Tax & Business Services, New York City
• Martin Martinez, Tax & Business Services, Houston
• Patrick O’Reilly, Advisory Services, Portland, ME

Congrats to all the new Marcum partners!

The post Promotion Watch ’19: Marcum Adds 16 New Partners appeared first on Going Concern.

Remember Maggie Brereton and Ina Kjaer, the two KPMG U.K. partners who quit earlier this year because the firm protected a male partner who was accused of being a bully? Well, the two women have launched their own consulting firm that they say will be everything the Big 4 is not.

The name of their new firm is Eos Deal Advisory, named after the Greek goddess of the dawn.

From the Financial Times:

Ms. Brereton said they were hoping to reshape the deal advisory market by running a diverse business that does not “waste talent” by relying on an intense after-hours working culture that tends to exclude women and minorities.

Eos Deal Advisory will not pull “all nighters” to meet client deadlines or adopt “macho” working practices, and will move away from “a very old school way of selling deals”, she said. “We don’t want to be a new KPMG, a mini-me.”

Ms Kjaer added: “The business will allow minorities and women who walked out of the [deal advisory] market to feel like they want to work in it. Many feel like they cannot participate in this market. We will bring proper diversity into this market.”

Brereton and Kjaer also said their goal is to have a zero percent gender pay gap, which is about as non-Big 4 as you can get. The two women know all about the pay gap at KPMG, which actually got larger during the past 12 months.

They supposedly are in talks with several large potential clients, including an investment bank. The two women reportedly had excellent reputations at KPMG, so it’s likely they’ll seal the deal.

Brereton, former head of U.K. transaction services at KPMG and a nonexecutive U.K. board member, and Kjaer, former head of U.K. integration in the deal advisory team at KPMG, resigned in February because they felt KPMG mishandled its investigation into the behavior of Sanjay Thakkar, head of the deal advisory unit.

Even though several formal and informal complaints were made regarding Thakkar being a bully, KPMG gave him a free pass because he led one of KPMG’s most profitable divisions. He stepped down from his position in June and took a leave of absence.

Eos Deal Advisory is expected to hire 15 people in the U.K. by early October, when the firm will be fully functional, according to the Financial Times.

And based on their experience working at KPMG, Brereton and Kjaer know why you shouldn’t treat your employees like pieces of shit.

I’m sure they were made to work all-nighters a time or two at KPMG. They know that working all-nighters is dumb. Nothing good comes out of working without sleep, even if a client is breathing down your neck.

If your firm is making you work all-nighters, it’s probably time to find a new job or to get the hell out of public accounting completely.

The post Ex-KPMG U.K. Partners Start Consulting Firm Devoid of Any Big 4 Bullsh*t appeared first on Going Concern.

By now you guys and gals in public accounting have most likely had compensation discussions with your respective firms. If you haven’t yet, it’s coming. Of those who have, we imagine that some of you were pleased. But it’s probably more realistic to say that a majority of you were extremely disappointed.

While Robert Half’s 2020 Accounting and Finance Salary Guide might not have the most up-to-date salary data for capital market servants as, say, Going Concern’s old compensation discussion threads (R.I.P.), it does provide semi-useful, starting point salary information for those of you who haven’t had your sit-down meeting yet and had your bubble burst.

Plus, Bob’s latest guide is the only information we’ve received lately.

As per usual, Robert Half breaks down its starting pay ranges by percentile, and there are four:

• 25th: New to the role and still developing their skills.
• 50th: Average experience and has a majority of the relevant skills.
• 75th: More experience than is typical and has most or all relevant skills.
• 95th: High level of relevant experience and expertise.

Salary figures represent the national averages. Bonuses, benefits, and other forms of compensation aren’t factored into the starting salary ranges, according to the guide.

Salary ranges are based on the thousands of placements RH has made, as well as the actual salaries firms are paying, the guide states.

The good news: Salaries for all public accounting positions highlighted in the 2020 guide are up from 2019’s.

The bad news: Salaries for those public accounting positions look like they’ve only increased between 1% and 3% compared to the previous year.

We’ve placed a red box around the public accounting portion of Robert Half’s latest salary guide. Here’s how Bob is projecting salaries for 2020:

Usually Accounting Principals releases its salary guide for accounting and finance professionals right around the same time as Robert Half, but AP hasn’t yet. We’ll find out when it will and update this article accordingly.

Until then, let the kvetching begin.

Related article: 

How Are Public Accounting Salaries Stacking Up for 2019?

The post How Are Public Accounting Salaries Stacking Up for 2020? appeared first on Going Concern.

A better title might be, “Rhode Island Tells Feds to Send All Fines Related to State’s Shitty Benefits Computer System to Deloitte.”

From the Associated Press:

The federal government is fining Rhode Island about $2 million for problems with the state’s benefits system.

WPRI-TV reports the problems stem from the botched rollout of a computer system for benefits programs. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service found the state’s payment error rate was nearly 14% during fiscal year 2018.

In a letter late last month, the agency said most errors involved overpayments and ordered the state to pay $2 million.

The state plans to appeal. The state Department of Human Services says Deloitte, the company that designed the system, is responsible for paying the fine.

Yes, the Unified Health Infrastructure Project (UHIP) that Deloitte Consulting designed for Rhode Island has come back to bite the fourth-best consulting firm in the U.S. in the ass again.

UHIP, which was rolled out in September 2016, was supposed to streamline benefits, such as Medicaid, food stamps, and child-care assistance, for hundreds of thousands of Rhode Islanders. But it was launched without a backup—despite warnings that it wasn’t ready and without Deloitte piloting the system first.

You can probably guess what happened next.

UHIP was a complete disaster: residents reported missing benefits, hours-long call wait times to the state’s Department of Human Services, and long lines at DHS field offices, among other problems.

Nearly three years after it launched, UHIP still isn’t working the way Deloitte had intended. And because Deloitte gave them a piece of crap computer system, Rhode Island has not paid the firm since the failed rollout.

But in April, to the disbelief of many (including Deloitte, probably), Gov. Gina Raimondo extended the state’s contract with Deloitte for two years and agreed not to sue the firm because she didn’t want the state to be “tied up in expensive litigation for years.”

As part of that agreement, Deloitte agreed to pay $50 million to Rhode Island, assuming the two federal agencies that oversee and finance the state’s public-assistance programs give their approval. As of today, they have not.

And Deloitte won’t be allowed to include the potential $2 million fine in its $50 million payment to the state, Rhode Island DHS spokesperson David Levesque told the Providence Journal.

Levesque said Deloitte’s responsibility for paying any and all fines related to UHIP “is in addition to the $50 million payment negotiated as part of the recent contract.”

Haha, #SoDeloitteful.

The post Rhode Island Is Still Holding a Grudge Against Deloitte appeared first on Going Concern.

So says the RSM US 2019 annual report:

That’s a 14% increase over the firm’s FY 2018 revenue of $2.14 billion. RSM’s fiscal year ends on April 30.

There’s not a whole lot more to add because RSM doesn’t usually send out glitzy, congratulatory press releases on its year-end revenues like EY did today. But here are a couple other things I found in the annual report:

• Once again audit services accounted for the most revenue of RSM’s three core service lines at 36%, followed by tax services at 35% and consulting services at 27%.
• The firm added 1,134 warm bodies nationwide in FY 2019.

RSM is currently the fifth-largest accounting firm in the U.S., behind the Big 4 and ahead of Grant Thornton. GT should release its FY 2019 U.S. revenue numbers within the next month.

The post RSM US Revenue Rose to $2.4 Billion In FY 2019 appeared first on Going Concern.

Big 4 revenue bragging season has begun in earnest, or should I say in Ernst, as EY put out a congratulatory press release this morning stating that its global revenue for fiscal year 2019 reached $36.4 billion, the ninth-straight year the firm has posted record numbers.

In actuality, that represents a 4.7% increase over FY 2018’s revenue of $34.8 billion, but EY likes to inflate its growth using “local currency” terms, so an 8% increase in local currency, as highlighted in the press release, looks a whole lot better than a 4.7% increase.

EY Global Chairman and CEO Carmine Di Sibio, who wasn’t global chairman and CEO for any of FY 2019, which ended on June 30, the day before he officially took over for Mark Weinberger, congratulated EY for all the hard work and building a better working world and stuff:

“While the past year has seen a number of strains in the global economy – from trade tensions, protectionism and recession fears – we have achieved strong growth from our continued focus on long-term value creation using technology to transform traditional EY services and to launch new, innovative solutions. As a result, more EY clients are turning to us for both traditional and a newer range of services. EY clients see us as a strategic part of their wider ecosystem enabling their success in today’s marketplace.

“As I begin my first year as the new EY global chairman and CEO, we will be launching the next phase of our strategy to make even greater use of our biggest strengths: EY people, client-centric approach, use of technology and global footprint. I am looking forward to working with the immensely talented and diverse EY people to deliver this strategy.”

Speaking of Weinberger, the newest member of the MetLife board of directors, he sent out a “hey, don’t forget I was CEO then” tweet this morning:

Very proud of our strong growth of 8% over the past year, with record combined global revenues of US$36.4 billion. https://t.co/7q3x114XXB #BetterWorkingWorld pic.twitter.com/UL52OIcASA

— Mark Weinberger (@Mark_Weinberger) September 5, 2019

EY Americas’ revenue increased from $15.6 billion in 2018 to $16.7 billion in 2019, while its Europe, Middle East, India and Africa (EMEIA) area saw revenue of $14.1 billion, up from $13.9 billion in 2018.

Among its four core service lines, transaction advisory services had the most growth in 2019 at 15.5%, followed by advisory services (9.2%), tax services (8.6%), and assurance services (4.4%). But again, this growth was determined in local currency terms. In reality, TAS grew by 11.9%, advisory by 6.4%, tax by 5.2%, and assurance by only 0.9%.

That 6.4% growth in advisory services was the smallest increase in nine years, according to the Wall Street Journal.

And if you joined the Black and Yellow in 2019, you got your own special tweet this morning:

Raise your hand if you started at EY in FY19! You were one of 22,500 exceptional and diverse people who did. Our headcount increased 8.6% last year to more than 284,000 people globally helping us to achieve our purpose of building a #BetterWorkingWorld.https://t.co/nOEgfWG3BR pic.twitter.com/JUsAU1GV59

— EY (@EYnews) September 5, 2019

In addition, 1,163 people were promoted to partner or admitted into EY member firms in 2019: assurance represented 33% of the partner class, emerging markets accounted for 33%, and women represented nearly 30%, EY noted. And women now make up more than 31% of the EY global executive team.

The $36.4 billion in revenue in 2019 pretty much solidifies EY as the third-largest Big 4 firm. Deloitte and PwC will release their FY 2019 global revenue results sometime within the next month, and both surpassed $40 billion in global revenue in FY 2018. But EY should have some breathing room from KPMG, which came in fourth in revenue in 2018 with $29 billion. KPMG won’t release its 2019 results until December.

The post EY Congratulates EY for Achieving Record Global Revenue of $36.4 Billion In FY 2019 appeared first on Going Concern.

I don’t think in the 10 years we’ve been running this rag we’ve ever mentioned Los Angeles accounting firm Gursey Schneider but that ends now and boy did they hit the ground running for their Going Concern debut. Huge thanks to a tipster who provided us with everything we needed to know about GS’s new Dress For Your Day policy and what promises to be its subsequent fallout as fashion-challenged staff struggle to determine appropriate workplace attire.

First, here’s the email that went out to staff announcing this exciting new policy.

All-

GS is pleased to announce our new “Dress For Your Day” policy. Please review the attached manual thoroughly to make sure you understand appropriate and inappropriate attire. If you are unsure it is always better to overdress than underdress. Historically, at times certain staff have pushed the envelope of appropriate attire based on our current dress code. However, please note our new policy will be enforced (including staff reporting through our anonymous Attire Alert link (https://www.gursey.com/attire-alert) or from the GS Intranet (https://gursey.sharepoint.com/sites/HR/Lists/Links/AllItems.aspx ) to make sure there is compliance.

Exciting! Jeans every day unless clients are roaming around! Maybe even a nice clean tee underneath a blazer if you’re feeling sassy. Sounds fun! But wait, what’s this?

We have learned through the success of the timesheet compliance program having a financial penalty does encourage compliance. Through 11/30/19, you will receive a courtesy notice (with no financial penalty) if you have non-compliant (inappropriate) dress attire. Depending on the severity of the inappropriate dress you could be sent home to change.

Remember just a paragraph before when they mentioned the snitching system? Yep, they’re counting on staff to rat each other out for their poor fashion choices. Snitch at the office! Snitch on the darkweb! Snitch on your phone in your downtime from watching porn in the office bathroom!

Moving on…

Effective 12/01/2019, we are implementing a financial penalty (proceeds will go to charity) identical to our late staff time sheet penalty for inappropriate dress attire to enforce compliance:

There will be a penalty of $100 for your first offense for an inappropriate dress attire notice and it will be progressive and cumulative on an annual basis (i.e. $100 for 1st offense, $200 for second offense, $300 for 3rd offense etc). Our hope is that this inappropriate dress attire penalty for charity will be impactful to encourage compliance.

The penalty will be assessed as a dollar for dollar reduction of what would be your discretionary year-end bonus. Please note there would not be situation where you would owe GS money back.

These penalties are not designed to save the firm money. It is designed to enforce compliance of appropriate workplace attire. As such, all penalties will be accumulated and donated by the firm to a worthy charity at year end.

Any questions please contact Anna C.

Thanks

Steve

God damn, Steve, you have absolutely no chill. $300 for ripped jeans? Good Lord, y’all must have some serious slobs working over there if you have this little faith in them to understand what “dress for your day” means. But just in case, they also put together a helpful PDF on the do’s and don’ts. Which…well… I don’t even know what to say here, you just kind of have to see it for yourself.

Dress for Your Day – Gursey by Adrienne Gonzalez on Scribd

I dunno, man, I’m not sure jeans are even worth all this.

The post Gursey Schneider Has Relaxed Their Dress Code in the Most Uptight Way Possible appeared first on Going Concern.

A year ago this evening, PwC Dallas accountant Botham Jean was chillin on a couch in his apartment watching a college football game when the front door to his unit opened, and there stood Dallas Police officer Amber Guyger, still wearing her uniform.

Guyger had just come home to the South Side Flats apartment complex in Dallas, where she and Jean both had apartments, after finishing a shift. The police officer lived in apartment No. 1378; Jean resided exactly one floor above her in apartment No. 1478. But according to authorities, Guyger parked on the fourth floor of the complex’s parking garage instead of the third floor.

Guyger approached the front door of what she thought was her apartment, she told authorities. She tried to use her door key, which had an electronic chip, to open it, but it was already unlocked and slightly ajar. She opened the door and allegedly saw a “large silhouette” in the darkness and thought the person was an intruder.

The cop confronted the person in the apartment, shouted commands that she said the person ignored, and fired her police-issued gun, striking the unarmed Jean once fatally in the chest.

After she shot Jean, Guyger called 911 just before 10 p.m. In the audio recording, you can hear her tell Jean, “Get up, man” before the dispatcher answers the call. In a panicked voice, Guyger told the dispatcher that she was an off-duty officer and she needed EMS and the police sent to apartment No. 1478 at 1210 South Lamar. Guyger then said she “shot a guy, thinking it was my apartment.”

Guyger was originally charged with manslaughter after being arrested on Sept. 9. But a Dallas County grand jury upgraded her charge from manslaughter to murder on Nov. 30. She was fired by the Dallas Police Department in late September.

Now, today, the one-year anniversary of Jean’s death, the process of picking a jury for her murder trial is underway.

The local FOX affiliate in Dallas-Fort Worth reported yesterday that 4,000 residents of Dallas County were summoned to appear at the Frank Crowley Courthouse this morning. The local CBS affiliate in Dallas-Fort Worth reported today that “hundreds and hundreds of potential jurors” turned out this morning and “the jury call to response in this summons was so overwhelming, there are men and women wrapped around the courtroom.”

District Judge Tammy Kemp and lawyers for both sides will go through answers to a questionnaire potential jurors will be asked to fill out at the courthouse and whittle down the number being considered to serve on the jury, according to reports.

Of the 200 or so potential jurors who are chosen, they’ll be asked to return on Sept. 13 to answer questions from the attorneys in what’s called “voir dire,” or “to seek the truth,” jury consultant Kacy Miller told FOX Dallas-Fort Worth.

Twelve men and women, along with four alternates, will eventually be chosen for the jury.

Now, Guyger’s attorneys say they don’t think she can get a fair trial in Dallas County because of all the “inflammatory” media coverage regarding her case, but we can surmise that the real reason is because Dallas is too black and too liberal; she’s white and Jean was black. Instead, they want her trial moved to one of six collar counties that are predominately white and conservative.

Dallas County prosecutors think Guyger’s attorneys are full of shit and that she can get a fair trial in Dallas County.

Kemp said last month that the change of venue ruling shouldn’t come until after voir dire is finished or it is apparent during the voir dire process “that a fair and impartial jury cannot be selected in Dallas County due the pervasive publicity in this case.”

If Guyger’s trial remains in Dallas County, it is scheduled to begin on Sept. 23.

The post One Year After PwC Accountant Botham Jean Was Murdered, Jury Selection Has Begun In Trial of Cop Who Killed Him appeared first on Going Concern.