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Are Your Holidays Going to be Ruined Because of Inventory Counts?

Posted on by Caleb Newquist

inventory.jpgPersonally, it would make for a better yarn if we were hearing about Jameson-fueled discussions about healthcare reform that eventually lead to grabbing all the gifts (and the remaining Jameson) and storming out of in-law’s house. Sadly, we’ll have to wait until after the holidays for those.
What we have heard is that PTO still isn’t being granted in the name of inventory counts. One reader notified us that her office still hasn’t released the inventory schedule so A1s and A2s are still going to have to wait to see how much PTO they’ll be able to take for the holidays:

[I] emailed you about a month ago that we (first and second year associates) couldn’t schedule any PTO for Christmas yet- and STILL we can’t schedule PTO. I think it’s ridiculous that it’s almost a month away and we can’t get any time. I talked to a partner…and he said that we’ll get the inventory schedule the first week of December, and then we’ll know when we can schedule vacation. [He said] ‘well you’ll have two days to spend w/ your family, right’

For some people two days with your family is about all you can handle but we understand that may just be people we know.
And regardless of whether you celebrate the birth of JC, lots of people travel in the twelfth month and it’s definitely frustrating if you’re still getting stonewalled on the PTO. We’re not sure if this is an isolated incident so discuss your office’s ability work with you on the inventory schedule or if they’re putting coal in your stocking.
Earlier: Are Inventory Counts the Bane of Your Existence?

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Survey: No Confidence in Mark-to-Market

thumbs down col.gifThis may come as shock to some of you but mark-to-market accounting is unpopular. And when we say unpopular, we don’t mean your nerdy brother-unpopular, we’re talking George W. Bush-unpopular. Now before you go apeshit about “reality” and “economic cycles” will share some results with you from a survey provided by Valuation Research Corporation and then you can engage in your the steel-cage death dork match.
• According to the survey, 58% of respondents believe that market turmoil negates Fair Value Accounting’s validity
• Those who believed FVA was flawed and potentially not valid during market turmoil, almost 34% suggested a temporary return to historical cost accounting as an alternative
• Regarding Level 3 Assets: A full 44% believed the bank values were within an accuracy of 10% and another 40% thought those values were as much as 30% off.
• Regarding Level 3 Assets: Thirty-six percent believed hedge fund and private equity values were only within an accuracy of 10% and a full 49% thought those values were as much as 30% off.
• Respondents were split when asked if mark-to-market should be suspended for the purposes of bank regulatory capital with 50% believing it should be and 50% believing it should not be.
So the take away seems to be that MTM doesn’t work and is pretty much not legit when the shit hits the fan, everyone trying to value Level 3 assets is using a dartboard, and nobody knows how to fix the problem.
Definitely interesting results but if anyone says, “Barney Frank knew what he was talking about”, projectile vomiting is going ensue.
Survey – No Confidence in Fair Value.pdf

National Training Lore

cheers!.jpgA few weeks back we dabbled into the sex lives of those of you that call yourselves accountants. Several comments eluded alluded that national trainings are about as a good opportunity as some of you are going to get.
National trainings are not only a great time to make awkward sexual advances, they’re also a great opportunity to get together with hundreds of your peers and drunkenly complain about your superiors and subordinates. It’s also an opportunity to make a complete ass out of yourself in front of those same peers.
National trainings have also been known for chicanery such as but not exclusive to:
Check out the idiocy, after the jump


• All night excursions to the strip club where one person passes out in the bathroom and somehow the whole night ends up on your manager’s expense report.
• A night of bottle service that results in dragging several lifeless bodies back to the hotel but thanks to some friendly hotel staff, everyone ends up safely back in their rooms.
• Training Instructors showing up to class over an hour late, wearing clothes from the previous day and smelling like Mel Gibson.
• A week where, instead of spending your time learning accounting/tax/audit updates, you spend the entire week in your hotel room working a normal 12 to 14 hour day because your manager’s whip somehow has the range.
So because summer is winding down and national trainings are coming to end for another year, we’d like some stories to order to get an idea of how good/bad/ugly your trainings this year.
We’ve heard that some firms have shortened some of the trainings to just a few days rather than a full week and also that the firms are seriously clamping down on the expenses so maybe your city’s blowout party got axed or you got charged back for the round of shots you bought for everyone. Regardless share your experiences in the comments and send us other gossip that you want us to put up at tips@goingconcern.com.