Auditor search
Even though we witnessed a couple of PwC accountants get way more attention than they could’ve ever wanted last week, most stay below the radar. Audit partners, especially, hope that will be true as the PCAOB’s Auditor Search went live this year. The Wall Street Journal reports that the names of partners who audit many of the world’s most notable companies are available, but it’s still early:
As of Friday, just 1,091 records were in the database, a fraction of the thousands of public companies and other entities audited each year. (So far, PwC has filed the most disclosures, with 350.)
Here’s hoping you all have long and anonymous careers.
Sorry, IRS
Despite Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin’s insistence that the IRS needs a larger budget in order to effectively do its job, the Trump administration has proposed a 14.1% cut to the agency’s budget.
Elsewhere: Chances for a tax audit have rarely been this low
Accountants behaving badly
Now that we’re a week removed from PwC’s Oscar snafu, run-of-the-mill bad accountants come back to the forefront again.
The Chicago Sun-Times reports that an area CPA is a hate crime suspect. Stuart Wright, who reportedly has a swastika tattoo on his right shoulder, is accused of “smashing the window of a downtown synagogue and putting swastika stickers on its doors.” He also visited a church known for assisting refugees and “asked churchgoers about their immigration status.” Yeesh.
Elsewhere, a Cleveland-area Jackson Hewitt employee allegedly took a couple of customers for over $10k. And an accountant in Orange County New York allegedly took $40k in stock sale proceeds from his client and “illegally opened credit cards using his client’s Social Security number.”
Then there’s this report from the Peoria Journal Star:
A Pekin man who was angry about his mother being fired from a Pekin accounting firm was indicted by a Tazewell County grand jury after he allegedly smashed phones at the business and put the business’ co-owner in a headlock.
Although the man in question isn’t an accountant, I feel like anyone who puts a wrestling move on an accountant to defend the honor of another accountant cannot be excluded from ABB.
Previously, on Going Concern…
I mentioned #envelopegate’s possible effect on PwC’s trial against MF Global. Over the weekend, Greg Kyte featured the Oscars snafu in an Exposure Drafts cartoon. In Open Items, someone with a low accounting GPA wonders if they have a shot with a Big 4 firm.
In other news:
- Google’s featured snippets are worse than fake news
- Mexico-based homebuilder Homex settles U.S. accounting probe
- SEC Posts Notice of Availability of IFRS Taxonomy
- The CFOs Who Wouldn’t Be King
- Happy Meal not showing its age.
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