The Evening Standard can reveal that KPMG is taking the knife to its internal training team – which it calls Learning Deployment Operations – who run staff training for thousands of UK employees from its office in Watford. KPMG said more than 50 roles are set to be affected although sources said this number could be higher.
Carrie Dunn, head of UK HR at KPMG, has written to staff warning the work will now be done by 30 staff in Leeds, with the rest outsourced to India.
She said a final decision was still subject to consultation, but a source at the Big Four accountancy firm said “around 75” staff could go. The insider added: “The team is being disbanded. This is just the start – many more roles will go across back office, HR and some other areas too.”
The lay-offs come after KPMG set out plans to axe a tenth of its UK partners – 65 of its most-senior roles – by Christmas as well as making a third of its 630 administrative assistants redundant.
Now that the SEC is a little more than a month into its new fiscal year, the commission wanted to remind everyone that its enforcement division staff didn’t spend FY 2019 watching porn at work all day long.
Yep, the SEC Division of Enforcement 2019 Annual Report is hot off the press, and in it you can find all sorts of different ways the SEC punished financial ne’er-do-wells, scoundrels, and miscreants this year.
Among the accounting and auditing highlights brought up are:
Three ex-BDO USA accountants suspended for their improper professional conduct during an audit of an exchange-listed insurance company, including improperly “pre-dating” audit workpapers.
RSM US fined for violating auditor independence rules in connection with more than 100 audit reports involving at least 15 audit clients.
Deloitte Japan fined for violating auditor independence rules for issuing audit reports for an audit client at a time when dozens of its employees maintained bank accounts with the client’s subsidiary.
In all, the SEC had 862 enforcement actions, including 526 standalone actions, and $4.3 billion in disgorgement and penalties in 2019. The 862 enforcement actions is the most since the 868 handed out in FY 2016.
The majority of the SEC’s 526 standalone cases involved investment advisory and investment company issues (36%), securities offerings (21%), and accounting and auditing matters (17%).
The 92 accounting and auditing standalone enforcement actions this year is up from FY 2018’s 79.
Amid all the drama and turmoil going on at the PCAOB right now, one thing hasn’t changed: PCAOB inspectors really love busting auditors for improperly altering workpapers. Eight auditors—two at Deloitte Korea and six at BDO Mexico—found this out the hard way recently.
Because these auditors ignored the memo that altering audit workpapers is never OK, Deloitte Korea (Deloitte Anjin) was fined $350,000 and BDO Mexico (Castillo Miranda y Compañía, S.C.) was fined $500,000 by the PCAOB on Oct. 31. The eight auditors also got various degrees of sanctions.
However, both Deloitte Korea and BDO Mexico were given gold stars because of their “extraordinary cooperation” with the PCAOB, which included conducting internal investigations and sharing the factual results of those internal investigations with PCAOB staff. And Deloitte, always the overachiever, “also self-reported misconduct and undertook personnel- and policy-related remediation,” the PCAOB said. Therefore, both firms’ fines could’ve been a lot worse had they not kissed the PCAOB’s ring.
In Deloitte Korea’s case, two former partners—Seul Hyang Wee and Hyun Seung Lee—were sanctioned because they allowed the engagement team they oversaw to backdate electronic workpapers and alter hardcopy workpapers after finding out that the firm’s largest issuer audit would be selected for PCAOB inspection in 2014.
For example:
Wee, Lee, and other Firm personnel backdated the preparation and review dates on several electronic work papers. They applied preparation and review dates that were earlier than the actual dates to conceal the post-issuance performance of procedures and, in those cases where procedures had been performed prior to issuance, to conceal the post-issuance preparation or review of the work papers themselves.
Some of the Firm’s personnel used Firm audit software that allowed them to select a date to apply to the electronic work papers other than the date of the actual sign-off, while others rolled back the clock on their computers to a date and time of their own choosing.
This backdating was widespread among the Firm personnel assigned to the 2013 Audit. The backdated electronic work papers failed to comply with PCAOB audit documentation requirements.
After learning on June 9, 2014, that the PCAOB had selected the 2013 audit for review and after the June 14 deadline Deloitte was given to get together the final and complete set of audit documentation, staff really exercised some poor professional judgment by improperly altering hardcopy workpapers, including adding handwritten descriptions of audit procedures relating to the internal controls of the issuer’s largest subsidiary.
Because this documentation was added after the documentation completion date and did not indicate the date it was added, the name of the person who prepared it, or the reason for adding it, the altered hard-copy work papers failed to comply with PCAOB audit documentation requirements.
Wee and Lee were aware of the efforts by personnel assigned to the Subsidiary Work to improperly alter the hard-copy work papers after the documentation completion date. Yet, despite that knowledge, Wee and Lee took no action to stop those efforts or report them to PCAOB inspection staff or the Firm’s senior management.
The PCAOB fined Wee and Lee $10,000 each and barred them from being an associate of a public accounting firm for two years.
In the case of BDO Mexico, the firm and six partners—Ignacio García Pareras, Juan Martín Gudiño Casillas, Luis Raúl Michel Domínguez, Juan Francisco Olvera Díaz, Carlos Rivas Ramos, and Bernardo Soto Peñafiel—were sanctioned for participating in, directing, or contributing to the improper alteration of audit documentation.
There were a whole lot of things Bravo Delta Oscar and those partners tried to get away with:
Beginning in 2015, BDO-Mexico and its personnel routinely violated PCAOB standards, including by failing to timely archive issuer audit documentation; improperly altering numerous work papers in multiple audits after those work papers should have been locked down and archived; changing the dates on their computer clocks, which concealed when they actually performed and documented work; failing to cooperate with a PCAOB inspection; and failing to maintain a system of quality control that would provide reasonable assurance that personnel would act with integrity and in compliance with PCAOB rules and standards. These violations were committed and/or directed by partners at the highest level of the Firm’s issuer audit practice and reflect a systematic failure, during those years, to adhere to professional standards.
The disciplinary order gives a play-by-play of the incompetence of the six BDO Mexico partners, including Gudiño, Michel, Olvera, and Soto providing misleading information to PCAOB inspectors during their 2017 inspection of the firm.
Here are the penalties the PCAOB doled out:
Luis Raúl Michel Domínguez, audit and assurance managing partner: $10,000 fine, barred from being an associate of a public accounting firm for three years, and must take 40 hours of additional continuing professional education in subjects directly related to the audits of issuer financial statements under PCAOB standards.
Bernardo Soto Peñafiel, engagement partner with overall responsibility for the firm’s audits of Issuer A’s 2014 and 2015 financial statements, and signed the audit opinions: $10,000 fine, barred from being an associate of a public accounting firm for two years, and must complete 40 hours of additional CPE.
Juan Martín Gudiño Casillas, engagement partner on the firm’s audit of Issuer B’s 2015 financial statements and signed the audit opinion: $5,000 fine, barred from being an associate of a public accounting firm for one year, and must complete 40 hours of additional CPE.
Juan Francisco Olvera Díaz, served as the lead partner on the firm’s 2014 and 2015 audit work for two components of Issuer A: $5,000 fine, barred from being an associate of a public accounting firm for two years, and must complete 40 hours of additional CPE.
Ignacio García Pareras, performed a review of the workpapers for the firm’s 2015 audits of Issuer A and Issuer B in advance of the PCAOB’s 2017 inspection of the firm; served as the firm’s primary contact with the PCAOB during that inspection: Suspended from being an associate of a public accounting firm for one year, and must complete 40 hours of additional CPE.
Carlos Rivas Ramos, engagement partner on the firm’s audit of Issuer B’s 2014 financial statements and signed the audit opinion; lead partner on the firm’s 2015 audit work for four Issuer A components: Suspended from being an associate of a public accounting firm for one year, and must complete 40 hours of additional CPE.
BDO Mexico was also ordered to undertake certain remedial actions, including revising or establishing policies, procedures, and controls that will prevent auditors from altering workpapers in the future; providing auditors with four hours of additional training concerning compliance with AS 1215, Audit Documentation, and PCAOB Rule 4006, Duty to Cooperate with Inspectors; and adopting enhanced reporting procedures for the reporting and investigation of suspected wrongdoing by firm personnel.
OK look, I’m old and spent my entire 30s in the same relationship so I don’t know a thing about Tinder other than what I’ve heard from friends and seen posted in meme form. There’s swiping involved, I know that. Man, you kids don’t know how good you have it. Back in my day, we had to walk uphill in the fog both ways just to hook up with some grungy guy of dubious sexuality with too many roommates we met at some San Francisco bar reeking of peanut shells and regurgitated Fernet.
Whew, bad memories. Back to modern day. So, it’s already been established that although jobs in accounting are as plentiful as greasy bisexual guys at an SF bar, the competition is heating up. I never thought I’d see the day when firms would start requiring more than a heartbeat and a degree, but here we are. While we could argue all day long how realistic it is for firms to want accounting grads who are fluent in no less than three programming languages and also double as a motivational speaker, that’s not what we’re here to discuss. We’re here to talk about this genius.
This enterprising senior at Cal State Dominguez Hills is totally prepared to take you to dinner tonight, provided of course you bring an accounting firm partner with you. Can anyone help him out?
By now you guys have probably read the Wall Street Journal article yesterday that explains what Mattel and PwC did to bury accounting issues related to the value of the Thomas & Friends show for kids.
If for some reason you’ve been too busy to surf the web or dick around on Reddit in the last day or so, here’s what happened in a nutshell:
The accounting error had to do with Mattel’s ownership of “Thomas & Friends,” an animated children’s show. The error was tied to a $562 million valuation allowance that Mattel created against its deferred tax assets in September 2017. Ultimately, the allowance was reduced by $109 million, which came from deferred tax liabilities related to Mattel’s acquisition of HIT Entertainment in 2011. Reducing this allowance lowered Mattel’s loss during the quarter.
The finance team, according to the Journal, had discussed fixing the error and then restating its earnings, but Mattel would need to admit that there were shortcomings in its accounting and reporting procedures.
Brett Whitaker, who was Mattel’s director of tax reporting at that time, told the Journal that the finance execs and PwC decided to change the accounting treatment of the Thomas asset and not tell Mattel’s then-chief executive or its board.
This whole Mattel/PwC saga just confirms the accuracy of research presented in August at the American Accounting Association’s annual meeting in San Francisco, which, as Adrienne reported, reiterated that audit firms are greatly discouraged from making important disclosures that would make their client look bad.
An auditor’s issuance of an ICMW [internal control material weakness] indicates that the auditor conducted the audit sufficiently well to identify a weakness and then communicated that valuable information to the public. Thus, to the extent that clients value providing useful information to users of financial statements, the issuance of an ICMW should neither impair the issuing auditor’s reputation for quality, nor deter clients from selecting auditors with a history of issuing ICMWs. However, ICMWs signal poor internal financial reporting quality that research has found damages client reputations. Thus, the implications of an ICMW diverge for the auditor and client (negative for the client and neutral or positive for the auditor).
Even Thomas knows it wasn’t an honest mistake, PwC.
Of course PwC was going to do whatever it took to help conceal that accounting error because Mattel had been a client of PwC’s for 45 years. PwC didn’t want to disclose the material weakness and have Mattel’s reputation be damaged.
This doesn’t seem to be an “honest mistake,” as a PwC spokesperson told the WSJ. Nah, this was PwC taking a “we need to do something so we don’t lose a longtime client” approach.
As Whitaker told the WSJ:
“It was known within Mattel that if we took this approach, at worst we might get a slap on the wrist from the Securities and Exchange Commission,” Whitaker told the Journal. He stepped down from his post in March 2018. “But if the company disclosed a material weakness, a senior executive said to me it would be ‘the kiss of death.’”
So when Whitaker told the WSJ that he remembered seeing one PwC employee “walking down the hall, high-fiving people, after this decision was made” to not disclose the mistake, I believe him. I bet there was a lot of celebrating behind closed doors too. PwC denied that any emotion was shown by any of its employees after it helped Mattel cover up the error.
And it looks like the fall guy is Los Angeles-based PwC partner Joshua Abrahams, who led the Mattel audit team. He’s been placed on administrative leave and isn’t expected to work for PwC much longer. He won’t be out of work long. He’s got “future KPMG audit partner” written all over him.
Many years ago, I used to get TPTB to fork over the $200 for NASBA’s Candidate Performance book and share all kinds of stats on the exam like which schools were far superior to others and which schools should just give up on teaching accounting altogether. Y’all seemed to like this dick measuring contest and of course it led to what remains one of my favorite pieces we’ve ever published in our 10 years: Confirmed: It Sucks To Be The One Wake Forest Grad Who Failed BEC. I wonder how that guy is doing these days. Hey guy, if you read this give me a shout.
Anyhoo, eventually NASBA got pissed that I was putting all their data out there and politely asked me to knock it off so I did. While it’s been several years since you guys have gotten extensive data out of us, NASBA does still release a teaser to accompany the release of the Candidate Performance book (which you can buy here should you be really really into exam stats or have some weird CPA exam fetish).
Here’s what we know. Utah continues to dominate as the state with the overall highest pass rate — an impressive 66% — with my people in Wisconsin (Go Badgers!) coming in a respectable second at 61.1%. The rest of the Top 10 works out thusly:
Oregon 58.5%
Colorado 58.2%
Iowa 57.7%
North Carolina 57.6%
Nebraska 57.4%
Massachusetts and South Dakota (tie) 56.3%
Minnesota 56.1%
I imagine you mathletes are looking at that list going “Adrienne, your drunk ass forgot one of the Top Ten, that’s only nine.” NO ACTUALLY, I WAS GETTING TO THAT. Four states tied for last place, with Alabama, Florida, Kansas and Michigan all coming in with a pass rate of 55.7%.
What else? Oh, here’s a fun fact: New Mexico gets bragging rights as the jurisdiction with the oldest average candidate age of 32 years, whereas Iowa boasts the youngest at 25.5. Can we extrapolate anything from that information? Not really. Maybe a deep dive into state-specific statistics might shed some insight there but, well, you know, I’m still in the punishment corner with NASBA on that.
Lastly, I wanted to share the Top Ten first-time pass rate schools with you because, well, I found it surprising. Who tops the list? Wake Forest? BYU? Nah, bro. Detroit Mercy.
That’s right, a school with just 11 CPA exam candidates came in first with a 95% pass rate and an average score of 87.5. You go, University of Detroit Mercy. Here’s the rest of your Top Ten and their respective pass rates.
Rice University 90.8%
Emory University 89.9%
Brigham Young University 89.2%
University of Virginia 89.0%
University of Wisconsin-Madison 87.2%
University of North Carolina at Asheville 87.0%
Beth Medrash Govoha 85.7%
Georgetown University 85.2%
University of Florida 84.8%
Of the Top Ten, Brigham Young sent the most candidates at 263, while University of Detroit Mercy and University of North Carolina at Asheville tied for the least at 11.
Maryland Association of CPAs CEO and Going Concern favorite Tom Hood has been chosen as one of Maryland’s most admired CEOs [Daily Record] Go Tom!
Deloitte Private to be cut amid low profit, low growth [Financial Review] Big four consulting firm Deloitte is set to dissolve one of its six business units, Deloitte Private, an advisory arm aimed at small and medium enterprises and high net-worth individuals, and move its partners, staff and clients to other divisions. move, which staff are scheduled to be told about on Friday, has been in the works for the past year and is driven by the low profit per partner unit and low revenue growth at Deloitte Private.
How audit committees can improve disclosure [Journal of Accountancy] The percentage of audit committees providing public disclosure on many key metrics has increased in recent years, but opportunities for greater transparency remain, according to a yearly report published Wednesday by Audit Analytics and the Center for Audit Quality (CAQ), which is affiliated with the AICPA.
KPMG looks to close private members’ club [Financial Times] KPMG has instructed property agents JLL to seek a new tenant for its private members’ club in Mayfair after the accounting firm’s UK chairman personally pushed to offload the property. The lavish club known as Number Twenty was opened in 2015 in one of London’s most exclusive areas and offers free membership to partners, executives and clients.
Post-#MeToo, Ernst & Young Grapples With Diverging Views Of Its Culture [NPR] Your Boomer uncle will finally understand those waffle memes you’ve been posting on Facebook.
IRS Announces Higher Estate And Gift Tax Limits For 2020 [Forbes] You probably already know this.
Complaint data: Millennials more likely victims of fraud, especially online [KOMO] Based on complaints, the Federal Trade Commission says digital natives (as the tech industry calls them) are actually twice more likely than people over 40 to report losing money while shopping online.
Square is dropping an accounting metric after the SEC said it’s not allowed [MarketWatch] Square Inc. is making a change to its accounting after receiving a comment letter from the Securities and Exchange Commission in a move that has implications for other U.S. companies. The payment company is abandoning its practice of offering an adjusted revenue number, a metric that does not conform with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, or GAAP, the U.S. standard, and that the Securities and Exchange Commission does not allow.
Thomas the Tank Engine was allegedly the engine for an accounting cover-up [Quartz] Headline of the Week goes to…
Plus, a bunch of tax preparers are going to be spending some quality time in jail.
Kentucky man charged with sex trafficking, drug conspiracy [Associated Press]
Mark Milslagle, a former Kentucky accountant accused of paying for sex with young women who were addicted to drugs, faces federal conspiracy charges.
Mark Milslagle
Milslagle, 49, was charged on Nov. 4 in federal court with conspiring to distribute drugs and conspiring to engage in sex trafficking.
Authorities claim that Logan Ray Towery, 72, provided drugs to young women who were then passed on to Milslagle for sex. Towery has been indicted on similar conspiracy charges and a gun charge.
According to his LinkedIn page, Milslagle was the owner of MJM Tax & Accounting Services in Lexington, KY.
Washington state bookkeeper charged in embezzlement case [Associated Press]
Sara Ann Greenleaf, president of Greenleaf Bookkeeping and Accounting Services in Bellingham, WA, was charged on Nov. 5 with eight counts of first-degree theft and 27 counts of second-degree theft for fraudulently obtaining about $200,000 from a client’s accounts, authorities allege.
Sara Ann Greenleaf
Greenleaf, 45, turned herself in to Bellingham police on Nov. 4 and was later released on personal recognizance.
Dozens of transfers totaling $197,100 were made into Greenleaf’s account between June 5 and Aug. 3 when she had access to the client’s accounts, authorities said. Another eight transactions were made for more than $5,000.
She is scheduled to be arraigned on Nov. 15.
L.A. federal grand jury indicts lawyer and accountant in visa fraud case [MyNewsLA.com]
Young Shin Kim, a naturalized U.S. citizen who previously operated an accounting firm in Diamond Bar, CA, and is now a farmer in Hesperia, was one of two men indicted by a Los Angeles federal grand jury on Nov. 4 for their roles in a scheme to obtain lawful permanent resident status for South Korean nationals by submitting fraudulent visa applications that falsely claimed American businesses wanted to hire skilled foreign workers.
The indictment alleges that Kim and licensed California attorney Weon Keuk Lee exploited the EB-2(a) visa program by submitting bogus Alien Worker Petitions on behalf of companies—some legitimate, some created specifically for the scheme—that purportedly wanted to hire foreign nationals after exhausting attempts to find suitable workers in the U.S.
According to court documents, those South Korean visa applicants paid between $30,000 and $70,000 to Kim and Lee in the hopes of obtaining a visa.
Collier County (FL) tax preparer convicted in multimillion dollar tax fraud scheme [Justice Department]
A federal jury on Nov. 5 found Augustin Dalusma guilty of 12 counts of filing false claims against the IRS and three counts of making or subscribing to false tax returns.
He faces a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison for each count of filing a false claim and up to three years’ imprisonment for each count of making a false tax return. His sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 27, 2020.
Between 2012 and 2015, Dalusma, a tax preparer, falsified information in tax returns for 630 of his clients, fraudulently qualifying them for thousands of dollars in tax refunds that they weren’t lawfully entitled to collect. In total, the false claims filed on behalf of his clients exceeded $4 million over the four-year period.
Dalusma also falsified his own tax returns from 2012 through 2014, significantly underreporting his own income to evade more than $30,000 in taxes for each of those years.
Vegas tax preparer gets 14-month sentence in fraud case [Associated Press]
Trixa Belloso Rivas, a Las Vegas tax preparer who pleaded guilty in May to conspiracy to present false claims, was sentenced to 14 months in federal prison on Oct. 29 and ordered to pay $2 million in restitution to the IRS.
Authorities said Rivas, 55, helped file at least 500 false tax returns that caused the IRS to issue approximately $2 million in fraudulent refunds.
Tax preparer pleads guilty to filing false tax returns [Justice Department]
William Pamintuan Craig, who operated a tax preparation business in Las Vegas, pleaded guilty on Oct. 28 to making and subscribing a false tax return.
When preparing his own tax returns, Craig, 59, underreported his taxable income for tax years 2012 to 2017 by approximately $439,000 in total, causing $143,237 in tax loss.
Furthermore, when preparing his clients’ tax returns, Craig purposely and fraudulently claimed sham “deductions” to which his clients were not entitled. Between 2012 and 2017, Craig caused at least $128,000 in tax loss by filing false returns on behalf of his clients.
Tax preparer charged with fraud in 36-count indictment [Justice Department]
Shawree Hagins, a tax preparer from Millen, GA, was charged with 36 counts of fraud and false statements on Oct. 10 for preparing fraudulent federal income tax returns that resulted in illegally excessive refunds for multiple clients.
In addition to fines and asset forfeiture, the charges carry a possible sentence of up to three years in prison, followed by a period of supervised release.
Hagins is charged with preparing 36 tax returns on behalf of 12 clients, fraudulently claiming deductions in excess of the amount to which the taxpayers were entitled. The fraudulent claims resulted in excessive refunds of $162,890.
Fifth + Broadway developer Brookfield Properties on Tuesday announced professional services firm BDO USA will take space in the multi-building development’s office tower currently under construction.
The move will allow BDO to double its more than 70 professionals in Nashville, according to a release. Terms of the lease were not disclosed.
BDO will take about 14,100 square feet on the 14th floor of what will be called 501 Commerce, Fifth + Broadway’s Class A office tower. BDO will join at the tower global investment firm AllianceBernstein, which is relocating its headquarters from New York.
Currently, BDO operates from space at Philips Plaza at 414 Union St. within the central business district.
We’re about T-minus 30 days until KPMG releases its global revenue for fiscal year 2019. In the meantime, we got word on who the newest rainmakers in the Americas region will be for FY 2020.
Now, as you guys probably know, the PCAOB has been without a director of enforcement since May 2018 when Claudius Modesti walked out the door (or maybe he was pushed out the door by William Duhnke?) after spending 14 years in that role. Modesti is now a partner in Akin Gump’s white-collar defense and government investigations practice in Washington, DC.
So once the WSJ broke the story about how PwC and Mattel allegedly covered up the accounting issues, I imagine there being confusion at the PCAOB about what to do, if anything. I imagine there being conversations like:
“Should we investigate this?”
“I dunno. Let’s call Claudius.”
So in my mind, someone at the PCAOB called Modesti at work to ask him what they should do. The call probably went down like this:
PCAOB: Hi, Claudius, it’s the PCAOB.
Claudius Modesti: Um, hi.
PCAOB: Did you read that Wall Street Journal article today about that former Mattel tax reporting director who said Mattel and PwC covered up some accounting error it chose not to disclose or something?
Modesti: Yes.
PCAOB: So … you think we should look into this?
Modesti: Yes.
PCAOB: OK, thanks.
Modesti: Don’t call this number again.
So the PCAOB has apparently started an investigation, according to Bloomberg:
Accounting giant PwC’s work for Mattel Inc. is being reviewed by the top U.S. audit watchdog after the toymaker said it would restate some previous financial results because of a bookkeeping error, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board’s scrutiny comes after Mattel said last week that some financial statements from 2017 “should no longer be relied upon due to material misstatements.” The El Segundo, California-based company, which makes Barbie dolls and Matchbox cars, also said on Oct. 29 that it found “material weaknesses” in its internal controls for financial reporting.
And the PCAOB is probably looking into findings of an internal Mattel investigation that revealed Joshua Abrahams, the PwC partner who led the Mattel audit team, had violated independence rules by recommending candidates for Mattel’s senior finance positions, according to the WSJ. He has been placed on administrative leave and isn’t expected to work for PwC much longer.
David B. Weir, Jr. has joined Grant Thornton LLP’s Public Sector Healthcare practice as a managing director. In this role, he is responsible for supporting Grant Thornton clients at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and across the public sector healthcare space.
Weir has more than 25 years of consulting experience serving commercial, public sector and nonprofit clients. He brings a depth of capability and experience in strategy, transformation, automation and innovation services with a focus on enabling client missions and enhancing employee experience.
“David’s notable experience and accomplishments in growing business lines, building client relationships and negotiating and managing federal contracts is a strong addition to our public-sector healthcare capabilities,” said Sharif Ambrose, managing principal, Public Sector Healthcare for Grant Thornton. “His innovative mindset and leadership has helped federal agencies and other organizations improve efficiency, execute strategic change management and bolster human capital management, and we’re excited he’ll be part of our future growth at Grant Thornton.”
Most recently, he was a managing director at Deloitte Consulting LLP, where he held multiple leadership roles across various sectors, including federal healthcare and defense. He also served as a managing director at BearingPoint, Inc. and held consulting roles with KPMG LLP and The Hackett Group earlier in his career.
David Weir Jr.
His LinkedIn bio offers us some other interesting information about DW, including that he has an active Top Secret security clearance; he has provided consulting services to such clients as Goodyear, Kodak, Sprint, JP Morgan, U.S. Army, and the U.S. Missile Defense Agency; and he founded the Deloitte Behavior Change Center of Excellence (CoE) in 2012.
And among the 57 people and organizations he follows on Twitter is Rickie Fowler because Grant Thornton.
Let’s hope it doesn’t take another four years to complete the “Grant Thornton poaching Deloitte” trilogy.
Well, we knew this day would come. I mean, it was inevitable what with the oldest millennials (myself included, depending on who you ask) turning 40 soon. There was only so long The Olds could continue speaking about millennials as if they are some baffling force fueled by Cap’n Crunch and cellphone radiation, but now that we’ve succeeded in ruining literally everything and are settling nicely into the cynicism that comes with old age, it’s time for old folks to find some new hand-wringing targets. Tag, Zoomers, you’re it.
We haven’t talked much, if at all, about Gen Z around these parts because at least for me it makes me feel old as hell to realize they’re starting to graduate from college and — gasp — enter the workforce. As with previous generations, the cutoff is not universally agreed-upon, but broadly speaking we’re talking about folks born mid-to-late ’90s so try to keep up, old people.
Alright so today I opened up my Inclusion Solutions (*cringe*) newsletter from the AICPA and saw this article linked at the bottom. Ah cool, I thought, finally Gen Z gets some attention. I really don’t understand how I have even a shred of optimism left after all these years of doing this, I should have known long before I clicked that it was going to let me down.
Let’s start with the headline: “To Hire the Best of Gen Z Make Your Job Like a Gig.” Oh yeah, I totally see where this is going. I bet they’re going to say Gen Z prefers a “gig-like” workplace and support for their side hustle which they are definitely working not because our dumpster of an economy requires it but because those crazy kids just love a hustle! Right?
Strategy 1: Support side jobs
The gig economy has transformed the workplace and the workers who encompass it. It’s not that everyone wants to work a gig job, but side hustles have become a norm.
According to the study from The Workforce Institute at Kronos and Future Workplace, 46% of Gen Z currently participate in the gig economy in some way. The study also found 1 in 5 Gen Z employees (18%) have two jobs – a side gig in addition to their main job. That’s a number employers should not ignore.
Rather than discourage employees from taking on a side hustle, forward-thinking organizations should show they embrace and encourage these gigs and passion projects. Doing so presents a golden opportunity to increase engagement, strengthen employee loyalty, increase productivity, and be known as an employer of choice among all entrepreneurial job-seekers. As much as Gen Z is attracted to the gig lifestyle, only 10% are working at it full-time.
Strategy 2: Be flexible
What is it about gig jobs that most attracts Gen Z? It starts with flex appeal. 55% of survey respondents said that the most appealing benefit about working in the gig economy is schedule flexibility. On the flip side, they fear the lack of stability (47%) and unpredictable pay (46%) the most.
These results provide a useful glimpse into what Gen Zers are looking for in their working environment. Are your workplace policies rigid, or do you embrace schedule flexibility? Seeking flexibility in schedules is not unique to only Gen Z workers. This is something every employee – regardless of generation – desires.
Yeah no shit. Breaking news: human beings like to be able to make doctor appointments during work hours without having to beg the boss, losing pay, and sacrificing no less than one virgin to an angry volcano. What a revelation. OK this is starting to piss me off, let’s just get through this.
Strategy 3: Communicate about career, mission and money
According to our survey, Gen Z is enticed to work by quick advancement, independence, and the ability to earn more money. Perhaps more than any other generation, it’s paramount Gen Zers see their career path, how they are contributing to the mission, and what their next career milestone is with their employer.
Title and advancement in the workplace matter to Gen Z employees. In fact, they measure success not just by their title, but how quickly they advance. Gen Z workers are looking for their employer to provide a clear and defined path for how and when they will get promoted.
While not exclusive to Gen Z employees, money also matters. Despite all the anecdotal evidence that’s been published about Gen Z caring most about the mission, among 16-18 year old Gen Zers surveyed, 39% say they are most likely to measure their success by how much money they make.
OK you know what, I’m done. Once again, this applies to everyone. Literally no one takes a job and says “you know what, pay me whatever you want, I don’t care about money!” I mean sure, lots of people won’t say out loud that money matters but come on.
Lipschultz, who has been a guest on CNBC a time or two to talk about taxes, investor confidence, and a bunch of other wealth advisory stuff, has re-emerged at EA as a partner in its Personal Wealth Advisors Group. He’ll be based in NYC.
He had worked as a partner in that same group for nearly 10 years before jumping ship to P. Dubs in 2015. As you can see from the clip, Lipschultz worked at Eisner before the Amper.
EisnerAmper touted Lipschultz’s more than 25 years of experience serving high-net-worth individuals, including celebrities and professional athletes, as well as family offices, board members of Fortune 100 companies, global investors, and privately held business owners.
EisnerAmper was certainly crowing about poaching Lipschultz away from PwC:
“We’re excited to have Brent back in the fold at EisnerAmper,” said Timothy Speiss, Co-Leader of the firm’s Personal Wealth Advisors Group. “He’s an intuitive leader with expertise across a broad spectrum of personal wealth clients, and he’s extremely engaged in the wealth advisory ecosystem. He’s (once again) a great addition to the firm.”
Lipschultz, who cut his teeth in public accounting at KPMG, is a member of the American Bar Association, the AICPA, the Society of Trust & Estate Practitioners, and holds the Personal Financial Specialist designation.
So yesterday the BBC posted an article about the shitty bathroom etiquette of some employees at the Financial Conduct Authority, the regulator of the financial services industry in the U.K. And I’m not trying to be funny when I use the word “shitty.” People were “defecating on the floor in toilet cubicles,” according to FCA Chief Operating Officer Georgina Philippou.
Articles on bad bathroom behavior at work are fun to read. We’ve had some fun with it over the years too. But halfway through the BBC article, this gem appeared and caught my attention:
Bosses at audit giant KPMG were also forced to warn staff about their conduct at work in 2018.
An email to workers at its Reading office seen by the BBC warned: “We have had some incidents recently where the first floor accessible toilet sink is being used as a toilet, not for urinating.
“This is not the behaviour we expect from KPMG staff.”
OK, hold up. After reading the email, I assumed that guys were just urinating in the sink, that the person who wrote this should have said about the sink “it is not for urinating.” But you could also read it as the sink was used as a toilet, and it was not for urinating, which would leave you to believe that people were dropping their pants and dropping a deuce in the sink.
The other thing is, the BBC left out this part of the email in its article: “[We] ask you to remind your teams to be respectful of others when using the facilities in the office; the cleaning team are having to clean this and are being put at risk in doing so.” (emphasis added)
Wouldn’t it be riskier for a person to clean someone’s crap out of a sink than clean urine? I’m thinking people were peeing and taking dumps in the sink.
Back to the BBC article:
A KPMG spokesperson told the BBC: “This was an isolated incident which occurred in one of our offices well over a year ago and was clearly totally unacceptable.
“Where there is behaviour that falls short of the standards we expect we are quick to call it out, as we have done here.”
I pee in the shower all the time, but it’s my shower and I don’t share it with anyone else in my house. But even at my drunkiest, I don’t think I’ve ever peed or crapped in a sink, let alone a public bathroom or work bathroom sink. But you be you, KPMG Reading.
“We spend about half a billion dollars a year on upskilling our employees. A big part of our [leadership team] debate three years ago [was] well, if we make our employees more relevant then they’ll get stolen. What we’ve seen is the contrary. We’re investing in our employees—we’re leading with our heart, we’re leading with we care for our employees—giving them great skills, and we’re finding that leads to even more loyalty.”
— Tim Ryan, PwC US chairman, when asked on the Fox Business show Mornings with Maria if there’s a lot of poaching going on at PwC.
Setting aside the snark for a moment to let you younguns know about an opportunity specifically for minority accounting students interested in attending the AICPA Accounting Scholars Leadership Workshop, which is going down May 13-15, 2020 in fabulous New Orleans. The AICPA Foundation is covering the entire experience including the cost of student attendees’ transportation to/from the workshop location, hotel accommodations, training experience, and meals for 100 qualified applicants.
According to the AICPA, “attendees will participate in learning sessions and panel discussions covering a wide array of topics such as developing leadership skills and passing the CPA exam. Students will have the opportunity to interact with accomplished CPA professionals who will share priceless knowledge regarding career opportunities in accounting and the value of networking.” So yeah. Rub some elbows, get some tips, and enjoy some free grub. Nice deal, yeah?
Interested in applying? Just follow this link. You’ll need to provide unofficial transcripts, two letters of recommendation (at least one must be from either a faculty member or a licensed CPA), a video essay (up to two minutes), and a motivational quote. If anyone needs help with quotes, give us a holla.
For its second annual list, Working Mother went back to the applications for the 100 best companies, looked over questions pertaining to dads, such as paternity leave, adoption leave, surrogacy and fertility benefits, phase-back-to-work programs, childcare options, and employee-resource groups for men, and then determined its top 50 dad-friendly employers.
And seven of the eight firms included among the 100 best companies for 2019 cracked Working Mother’s top 50 companies for dads. (Sorry, BDO.)
Those firms are (in alphabetical order):
Deloitte
Ernst & Young
Grant Thornton
KPMG
Moss Adams
PwC
RSM US
Here’s what the firms’ PR hype machines had to say about being recognized:
Deloitte
“Through our paid time off (PTO) program, the average professional gets 30 days each year that can be used for personal leave, sick days, vacation, and other needs. We also have 13 paid holidays. Our approach gives our people the flexibility to take time off in ways that are most important to them so they may be whole in mind, body, and purpose.” — Stephani Long, Deloitte chief talent officer
Deloitte offers a minimum of 16 weeks of fully paid gender-neutral leave.
Ernst & Young
“Working parents in the U.S. have access to our Career & Family Transitions Coaching Program, which provides an internal coach to help them before, during, and after the birth or adoption of a child. Since the program’s inception, nearly 1,500 EY parents have participated.” — Carolyn Slaski, EY Americas vice chair of talent
EY offers a minimum of 16 weeks of fully paid gender-neutral leave.
Grant Thornton
“Parents with careers want employers who support them at home and at work—that’s why we offer paid parental leave, telecommuting, flexible work arrangements, and discounts for childcare. We’re honored to be recognized by Working Mother for the benefits and employment arrangements and opportunities we provide to working moms and dads alike. It’s how we all succeed.” — Brenda Wagner, Grant Thornton chief people and culture officer.
KPMG
“What I think employees enjoy the most is flexible work arrangements that help them accomplish what they need to, both at work and at home. One of the most popular is our summer weekend jump-start program, which enables people to leave work two hours early on Fridays. Other alternative arrangements include compressed workweeks that condense standard hours into fewer days; flextime, which lets employees collaborate with their teams to set starting and ending times; telecommuting and remote work; and job sharing.” — Darren Burton, KPMG vice chair of HR
KPMG offers a minimum of six weeks of fully paid gender-neutral leave.
Moss Adams
No PR hype from the Mosses.
Moss Adams offers a minimum of two weeks of fully paid gender-neutral leave.
PwC
New family benefits include four weeks’ paid family-care leave to tend to family members with serious health conditions; phased return-to-work transition, allowing parents to work 60% of their hours at full-time pay for four additional weeks after paid parental leave; $25,000 reimbursement per child for adoption, up from $5,000; and a new $25,000 reimbursement benefit per child for surrogacy expenses, up from $5,000.
PwC offers a minimum of eight weeks of fully paid gender-neutral leave.
RSM US
RSM celebrates the value that each of the firm’s unique 11,000 people bring to the workplace and to its clients. For example, earlier this summer, the firm’s Family First employee network group (one of the firm’s 11 employee-led ENGs) recognized a Working Father and Mother of the Year, Patrick McConnell and Michele DeVito, for successfully managing their personal and professional priorities, providing excellent experiences for their colleagues and the firm’s clients, and serving as mentors and role models.
“At RSM, we understand that our people have both professional and personal aspirations, goals and priorities, and we strive to create an environment that enables our people to thrive—both at work and at home. Recognitions such as this one are indicators that we’re offering the flexibility and providing benefits that are valued by our people. We’re thrilled to make this list for the second consecutive year.” — Katie Lamkin, RSM US chief talent officer
Calibre CPA Group, Notice of Data Privacy Event [PR Newswire] Clients of Bethesda-based Calibre CPA Group, consider yourselves warned that the haxz0rs may have your personal information.
In Hong Kong, an accountant by day becomes street fighter by night [Washington Post] “We have started to realize we need to arm ourselves. We are in a war — there is no other choice,” said Kelvin, a 33-year-old accountant, who like the others in the group provided one name for fear of official retribution. “We can’t just be sitting ducks anymore.”
Under Armour defends accounting practices amid federal probes and media reports [Baltimore Sun] Under Armour again Friday defended its accounting practices that have come under scrutiny amid federal probes and media reports that the brand manipulated sales numbers to mask weakening demand for its athletic apparel. The Baltimore-based athletic apparel company confirmed earlier this month that its accounting methods are being investigated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Department.
Accountant, 26, is horrified to discover a handwritten note embedded INSIDE the batter of his KFC chicken order [Daily Mail] And you thought team pizza was bad.
10 M&A questions to ask in a buyer’s market for accounting firms [Accounting Today] The volume and pace of CPA firm M&A over the past 10 years, along with the current age demographics of firm owners, has created what appears to be a buyer’s market — that is, one in which there are more potential sellers than buyers. And those sellers are increasingly concerned about who will buy their firms.
Subprime Lender’s Warning Reflects Aim of New Accounting Rule [Bloomberg Tax] Investors who believe in the company’s earnings potential—like Randy Heck, partner at Goodnow Investment Group—will focus on these adjusted metrics. The new, official accounting does not reflect the true economics of the company, Heck said. Heck has owned stock in the company for 21 years, he said. “I don’t care,” he said of the accounting change. “Because the company, as it’s done in the past 10 years or so, has reported level yield accounting or adjusted earnings. And that’s what the management team reports and what we focus on, regardless of the knucklehead sell-side analysts out there.”
FASB proposes clarifying hedge accounting standard [Journal of Accountancy] The proposed Accounting Standards Update (ASU) issued Tuesday primarily addresses the change in hedged risk in a cash flow hedge. The standard issued in 2017 allowed the risk causing variability in cash flows of the forecasted transaction to change (for example, from one variable interest rate to another, or from one commodity index to a different index for the same commodity) if certain criteria are met. Under the proposal, FASB would clarify whether that change can happen both prospectively (before the forecasted transaction occurs) and retrospectively (after the transaction occurs). The proposal also addresses how hedge accounting guidance should be applied if the change can happen both prospectively and retrospectively.
FASB officially delays 4 major standards [Journal of Accountancy] And more FASB news hot off the presses from the JofA…
Plus, healthcare accountant sentenced to two years in jail for embezzlement, and tax preparer gets three years for filing fraudulent tax returns.
Auditor detained after saying devil told him to kill his sister [Metro U.K.]
Khalid Ashraf, who had worked as an auditor for KPMG for eight years until October 2018, pleaded guilty to manslaughter on Nov. 14 for killing his sister and was detained in a mental health facility.
Khalid Ashraf
Ashraf, 32, who has paranoid schizophrenia, was arrested by police on Jan. 5, 2019, after he strangled his older sister, Sarah Ashraf, 35, in his flat in East Ferry Road, Docklands, East London after a fierce struggle.
Ashraf, originally from Pakistan, was arrested on suspicion of murder and later told police: “Satan asked me to murder her.”
A psychiatric report said Ashraf was “suffering from an abnormality of mental functioning” at the time of his sister’s death, and found the killing was “entirely attributable to the defendant’s mental illness.”
They hired him to pay their taxes. He stole $300,000, Largo police say [Tampa Bay Times]
Dennis Maxey, who police say has a “history of fraud,” was arrested on Nov. 14 on charges that he stole more than $300,000 from clients who hired him to pay their taxes.
Dennis Maxey
Maxey, 72, is accused of stealing the money over the course of several years from a handful of people. Arrest affidavits say the victims gave Maxey money to pay their taxes, “but it was recently discovered that he never actually paid the IRS for them and when confronted he gave them varying excuses but could not provide proof that the IRS was actually paid and it was later confirmed by the IRS that no taxes had been paid on the victims’ behalf.”
Maxey faces charges of scheme to defraud and grand theft, both first-degree felonies.
Florida Keys accountant accused of ripping off his boss [Miami Herald]
Adam Ibrahim Moore, who worked as an accountant for a Key Largo plumbing company, was arrested on a grand theft warrant on Nov. 14 after an investigation showed he stole $21,200 from his employer.
Adam Ibrahim Moore
Moore, 32, allegedly began stealing the money in May 2018, after his employer, Seaway Plumbing, discontinued his monthly vehicle maintenance bonus because the company provided him a take-home car.
However, Moore, who was in charge of payroll, continued to pay himself the extra money, authorities said.
Pearl accountant charged with embezzlement [WJTV]
Brandy Hales, the owner of Hales CPA Firm PLLC in Pearl, MS, was arrested and charged with felony embezzlement on Nov. 14 for allegedly taking $47,120.33 from her clients for her personal use.
Brandy Hales
Hales, 48, is scheduled to appear in court on Nov. 21.
KC woman sentenced for embezzling $547,000 from health care foundation [Justice Department]
Kathleen Frederico, who was employed as the accounting and special projects manager at Saint Luke’s Foundation in Kansas City, MO, was sentenced on Nov. 12 to two years and three months in federal prison without parole for embezzling almost $547,000 from the healthcare foundation.
Frederico, 52, who pleaded guilty to wire fraud on June 4, admitted that she conducted two related fraudulent embezzlement schemes over a 14-year time period while employed at Saint Luke’s Foundation.
She began embezzling from the foundation in June 2003 and continued to embezzle until March 29, 2017. The investigation has revealed Frederico’s spending of the embezzled funds included:
More than $150,000 on shopping and retail.
More than $67,000 in cash.
More than $30,000 in travel.
More than $21,000 in internet purchases to support her illegal drug habit.
Mortgage payments, utility bills, and other living expenses.
In the primary fraud scheme, Frederico created unauthorized checks made payable to herself. To conceal the embezzlement, she entered a different payee into the general ledger and created or falsified corresponding invoices. Through this method, Frederico embezzled at least $441,268.
Frederico also created unauthorized checks in which the foundation paid her personal credit card bill, and on two occasions, a relative. Through Frederico’s second fraud scheme, she embezzled at least $105,333.
Owner of Winter Park tax business sentenced to 36 months in federal prison for filing fraudulent tax returns [Justice Department]
Leslie Muniz, owner of Royalty Tax Services in Winter Park, FL, was sentenced to 36 months in federal prison on Nov. 14 for aiding and abetting the filing of false federal income tax returns.
Between 2012 and 2016, Muniz prepared, or caused her employees to prepare, hundreds of fraudulent tax returns for clients claiming false itemized deductions and fake Schedule C businesses and business losses in order to inflate her clients’ refunds. Muniz then used tax preparation numbers assigned to her employees to file the fraudulent tax returns with the IRS to avoid having the returns traced to her. When employees at Royalty Tax Services questioned Muniz about her tax practices or her use of their tax preparation numbers, she fired them.
The total loss to the U.S. as a result of Muniz’s fraud was more than $1.6 million.
Lipschultz, who has been a guest on CNBC a time or two to talk about taxes, investor confidence, and a bunch of other wealth advisory stuff, has re-emerged at EA as a partner in its Personal Wealth Advisors Group. He’ll be based in NYC.
