Accounting News Roundup: Job Search Survival, Pot Tax Policy, and Jail Time | 08.10.17

Job search survival

I enjoyed this interview with Harvard Business School Assistant Professor Ethan Rouen about job search survival, not only because he’s nauseatingly enthusiastic about accounting, but because he seems to appreciate his weaknesses:

I have no self-control around sweets. Without some kind of forced regimen, I’d eat cake for every meal. That being said, I feel very fortunate to have had an exercise and diet regime going into the interview process.

One of the most stressful aspects of the job market is the lack of control. We spend five or six years getting to this one critical moment and have little say about what interviews we get, what job offers we get, or even when we get news about our applications. Staying physically healthy while I was having a minor emotional meltdown helped feed that need for control. Going for a run or a yoga class also forced me to take a break from staring at my cell phone, waiting for recruiters to call.

For Prof. Rouen, this is all within the context of interviewing for academic jobs, so it’s quite a bit more rigorous than, say, college students preparing for interviews this fall. Still, I’m sure the recruits eating cake for every meal while staring at their phones will be at a disadvantage to those who squeeze in some vegetables.

Marijuana taxes

SALT people who also fancy themselves as budding marijuana tax policy wonks will enjoy this Bloomberg BNA comparison of Nevada’s and Massachusetts’s approaches to newly legalized pot. Nevada passed temporary regulations to open the recreational market six months early, while Mass. pushed its back six months and raised its excise taxes to 20 percent.

Accountants behaving badly

Last year, we told you about Gary Tiffany II, a former accountant at Gottex Fund Management who allegedly stole over $3.5 million from his employer by wiring money to himself and forging checks. Tiffany pleaded guilty last October, and yesterday he got sentenced:

Gary Tiffany II, 33, of Boston, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Senior Judge Mark L. Wolf to 51 months in prison, three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay restitution of $3,450,304.

Lately, I’ve noticed that a few stars of accountants behaving badly have had their entire justice cycle transpire in this section of ANR. I don’t know if that has more to do with how long I’ve been chronicling the misadventures of accountants or how quickly the wheels of justice turn for those who know the jig is up.

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Previously, on Going Concern…

Greg Kyte’s Exposure Drafts cartoon touched on accountants who are new to the marijuana industry.

In other news:

• Toshiba Avoids Delisting For Now as Its Auditor Signs Off on Earnings
• The University of Mississippi is joining KPMG’s Master of Accounting with Data and Analytics Program.
• Ernst & Young revamps tax technology teams
• Walmart apologizes for sign marketing guns as back-to-school items
• Bill Murray repeats himself, goes to see Groundhog Day for a second day in a row