Footnotes: So Far White House, Congress Meet Expectations; Worst. Deal....
Boehner: Fiscal Talks at Stalemate [WSJ]Accounting Update November 2012 Greg Kyte catches everyone up on the fiscal cliff in his stand-up routine. [YouTube]Skeptical Investor Puts Trust In Ratings...
View ArticleAccounting News Roundup: Creeping Towards the Cliff; Deloitte Still Wins;...
No 'fiscal cliff' deal without higher rates, Geithner says [CNN]The Obama administration will entertain any Republican plans to avoid a so-called "fiscal cliff" at year's end, but Treasury Secretary...
View ArticleIs There Really a Shortage of Entry Level Accountants?
There is if you believe this post by Buffalo Business First (subscription, sorry):Freed Maxick CPAs P.C. is the region’s largest accounting firm. It has continued to hire new graduates every year since...
View ArticleCanadian Officials Not Impressed with Ernst & Young's Audits of Sino-Forest
Up until this point, Ernst & Young has seemed perfectly content to see how this Sino-Forest situation (some have called it a "Ponzi scheme") would play out, standing quietly by their audit opinions...
View ArticleSEC Finally Gets Around to Losing Patience with the Big 4's Chinese Firms
China has been a thorny issue with the SEC and the PCAOB over the last couple of years. You see, there's been some concern that some Chinese companies have accessed U.S. markets through dubious means...
View ArticleAuditors Will Be Happy to Know That Term Limits Are Still on the Table
In a keynote speech at the AICPA's National Conference on SEC and PCAOB developments, Chairman Jim Doty passed on the opportunity to mention extremely recent developments and instead focused on things...
View ArticleFootnotes: Oracle's Quickie; Mitt Romney: Back in the Game; Small Business...
White House rejects GOP fiscal cliff counteroffer [AP]Larry Ellison, Oracle Investors Latest To Skirt Higher Taxes With Quicker Dividend [Forbes]Mitt Romney is back on Marriott's board of directors....
View ArticleANR: Ernst & Young Settles Over Sino-Forest; BDO/PKF Merger Update; Mortgage...
Ernst & Young to Pay $117.6 Million to Settle Sino-Forest [Bloomberg]The largest settlement with an auditor in Canadian history.Treasury Needs a Tax Expert, Not a Wall St. Banker [Fiscal...
View ArticleKPMG Chicago Still Suffering with Kramped Konditions
The new space at the AON Center had cause some previously rumored krankiness and unfortunately that has yet to subside:The new office space layout at Chicago KPMG (AON Center) is leaving many without a...
View ArticleICYMI: Here Are Some Accounting Execs Talking About How Useless XBRL Is
The mandatory use of eXtensible Business Reporting Language by large public companies began in 2009 and was extended to smaller filers in 2011. And while it has made searching for SEC filings a breeze,...
View ArticleKPMG's New York Office Is Getting a Little Festive Today
While things in Chicago are still being sorted out, a source at the HoKNYC has been filling us in about tonight's soirée and the news that Klyveldians would be allowed to bring non-Klynveldians was...
View ArticleWake Forest Less Eager About Patting Itself on the Back for Amazing CPA Exam...
They do so with a press release, naturally:Students in the Master of Science in Accountancy (MSA) program at Wake Forest University Schools of Business achieved the top pass rate in the nation on the...
View ArticleFootnotes: Ex-Chief Accountant Kroeker Returning to Deloitte; Seidman,...
James L. Kroeker, Former SEC Chief Accountant, Joins Deloitte Kroeker will serve in a leadership role reporting directly to the CEO of Deloitte, promoting high audit quality and serving as a senior...
View ArticleANR: Big Accounting Trouble in Big China; Audit Work Papers = State Secrets;...
SEC Probe Puts China Listings in Doubt [WSJ] The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's high-profile attack on the Chinese affiliates of five major accounting firms calls into question the future of...
View ArticleLayoffs Watch '12: KPMG Has Good News and Bad News
With regard to the aforementioned cuts, the good news is that some of you got to keep your jobs. The bad news is many still did not:KPMG lost 275 staff following a restructuring exercise to streamline...
View ArticleSEC, China Will Probably Compromise Over Big 4 Chinese Affiliates Someday,...
The SEC's move against the Big 4's Chinese affiliates on Monday has people all worked up. On the one hand, yes, if the SEC were to delist a lot of Chinese companies that would make a lot of people sad....
View ArticlePCAOB Member Jay Hanson Can't Imagine a World with Auditor Rotation
On Monday, PCAOB Chairman James Doty gave a speech where he mentioned, among other things, that "auditor term limits" was something the Board would consider in order to "protect the auditor's...
View ArticleTimesheet Wars: Non-Billable Codes Are Orwellian Busywork
Timesheets, billing rates, and chargeable goals still piss me off. I haven't tracked my time for three years, but thinking about it is like thinking about that time I ate some bad salami. I'm probably...
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Science Says You Should Have Multiple Large Monitors
Back in October, we learned that PwC auditors had finally whined loud enough to earn a second monitor. Up until that point, it was only by the grace of God that anyone was able to accomplish anything...
View ArticleFootnotes: Oh, That Muddy Waters; Geithner Ready to Take a Tumble; Happy...
Ospraie Says Block's Olam Accounting Claims 'Exaggerated' [BBW]Deloitte Consulting CEO: Make Yourself Replaceable [WSJ]Geithner: Ready to Go Over 'Cliff' If Taxes Don't Rise [CNBC]Moral Abdication...
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