Yo. It’s Monday, some stuff happened over the weekend, let’s get right to it.
An ‘everygirl’ tells the tale of being pressured to choose a major, landing on accounting, and regretting the decision in ‘I Was Dedicated to My 5-Year Plan—and Then It Blew Up in My Face‘:
It was the fall semester of my sophomore year of college. I had a mandatory meeting with my academic advisor to discuss my next semester’s courses. I didn’t know it then, but a decision I made that day would set my five-year plan in motion.
My rationale for choosing the accounting route ultimately came down to the degree being more specialized. I could utilize my accounting knowledge to work in business, but if I had a business degree, it would be harder to land a job in accounting.
And so she trudged forward at the urging of her school’s accounting program…
While rigorous and challenging, I loved the absoluteness of this plan. If I did all of these things and checked all of these boxes, I would be happy and successful. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. I knew what I had to do, I set off on the path, and I never looked back. Graduate undergrad. Check. Land an internship at a prestigious accounting firm. Check. Start graduate school with a full-time job offer in hand. Check. Everything was going according to plan—until it wasn’t.
Fast forward to her sitting for the CPA exam 10 times and failing 9 while still in grad school…
I had a glaring red flag in front of me that I was in the wrong profession, and yet, I clung to my career in accounting because it was a part of the plan. I clung to it even when I began to dislike the work. I clung to it even when I cried in the bathroom at the office. I clung to it even when I had to pop a melatonin on my drive home at midnight during the busy season to ensure I’d fall asleep in time to wake up and do it all again. I held onto my accounting career until I was white in the knuckles because I had invested too much energy, time, and money into the profession. I was so unhappy, but it was unfathomable for me to do anything else.
A church in Texas is accused of fraud. Bring in the CPAs!
Responding to a lawsuit accusing Dallas-based Gateway Church of financial fraud, Gateway Elder Tra Willbanks assured congregants over the weekend that the church has “independently audited financial statements since 2005.”
He added, “These audits have demonstrated that our finances are managed consistent with best practices, and we have never had any wrongdoing revealed through these audits.”
The firm conducting the audits is Capin Crouse, a nationally recognized auditing firm for nonprofit organizations, Willbanks said.
However, a “seasoned CPA,” mentioned as a whistleblower in the lawsuit filed Friday against Gateway, told The Roys Report (TRR) that Gateway did not conduct any audits during his time on staff, from 2011-2014. Instead, Gateway conducted financial reviews, which “are not designed to detect errors or fraud.”
Local news is on it.
And in other fraud news, a CFO behaving badly:
The ex-chief financial officer at convicted former attorney Tom Girardi’s law firm pleaded guilty Friday to helping the once-prominent litigator embezzle millions in settlement funds from clients.
Christopher Kamon, 51, entered his plea to two counts of wire fraud in Los Angeles federal court.
Sentencing was scheduled for Jan. 31, at which time Kamon faces up to 40 years behind bars.
Kamon, the former head accountant at the now-defunct Girardi Keese firm, admitted his role in the scheme and acknowledged embezzling millions of dollars from the firm’s accounts for his own use. He agreed to forfeit $3.1 million as part of the deal.
Apparently, and this is something I didn’t know until now because I like to believe I’m above watching trashy Bravo shows even though I am so obviously not, Tom Girardi is one of the Real Housewives husbands. This is from NBC News in August:
Former “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star Tom Girardi, the disbarred attorney, was found guilty Tuesday in the embezzlement of millions of dollars from his former clients.
A federal jury in Los Angeles convicted Girardi, the 85-year-old estranged husband of “Real Housewives” star Erika Jayne, on four wire fraud charges. The charges alleged he stole money from his clients over a decade, including $3 million from relatives of the victims of the 2018 Lion Air crash in the Java Sea, which killed 189 people.
He pleaded not guilty last year. His sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 6.
Tyler Hatcher, special agent in charge of the IRS criminal investigation unit in Los Angeles, said Girardi “exploited his clients’ misfortunes on a grand scale.”
PwC Netherlands should be getting a call from the PCAOB any day now, they’ve uncovered — clutch those pearls, it’s bad — EXAM FRAUD. NL Times reports:
Exam fraud has been committed at PwC in the Netherlands, the accounting and consultancy firm reported this in its annual report for 2023 and 2024. Earlier, fraud with tests was discovered at industry peers Deloitte and KPMG, among others.
The exam fraud consisted of accountants sharing answers to mandatory tests, which is not allowed. “We know that this behavior is contrary to the integrity and trust that must form the basis of our business, and we are determined to tackle this problem thoroughly,” PwC wrote in the annual report.
According to PwC, the extent of the fraud cannot yet be determined, as the investigation is still ongoing. The Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM) asked all major accounting firms to conduct such an investigation. The study at PwC, which covers July 2017 to October 2023, is expected to be completed in the next financial year. That financial year runs until the end of June 2025.
KPMG Netherlands received the biggest PCAOB fine to date back in April for their own exam cheating. Forvis Mazars caught its people cheating too. And Deloitte. Those darn Dutch and their answer sharing (that everyone else around the world does too)!
Speaking of Forvis…Forvis Mazars launched a hackathon in Nigeria. This publication called them “Farvis Marvars” and I can’t stop laughing.
Farvis Marvars, an audit, tax, and consulting firm, has launched its first hackathon to enhance cybersecurity solutions.
The maiden edition tagged: ‘’Innovate with Forvis Mazars Hackathon’’ brings together innovative young minds aged 18-35 from diverse backgrounds to collaborate and develop cutting-edge solutions for pressing cybersecurity challenges.
According to the firm, participants will work on innovative ideas across AI in audit, data analytics, data sciences, data privacy, and compliance over a six-week duration.
The firm noted that the hackathon is a significant step towards empowering the next generation of cybersecurity professionals and driving impactful change in the industry.
NJBIZ seeks to answer the question “How can CPA firms reverse decade-long slide in new membership?“
They asked the wrong people.
A Big Four professional said investing in employees is one way to replenish the pipeline.
“KPMG is able to attract and develop talent to grow with quality top-of-mind,” said KPMG US Short Hills Office Managing Partner Jennifer Shimek. “We attract and retain accounting professionals through collaborations with universities, offering the Master of Accounting with Data and Analytics Program and Audit Intern Bootcamp. We invest in learning and development through on-demand learning on our smart audit platform and collaboration at KPMG Lakehouse. We also help people achieve the CPA through our CPA Kickstart program, which provides people from all backgrounds the opportunity to get paid while studying for the exam with enhanced resources.”
She noted that KPMG is also leveraging artificial intelligence as a complement to flesh-and-blood activity. “We don’t view AI as a substitute for auditors,” Shimek explained. “Audits will always require human judgment. However, AI helps address the CPA shortage by attracting more people to the profession. AI reduces manual work, creating more time for higher-value work that people enjoy. It is also creating new demand from companies, helping us to expand into new areas like cybersecurity and AI governance. This shift not only attracts new talent, but also reinvigorates the sense of purpose in auditing, ultimately strengthening our workforce.”
Anyone else creeped out by the phrase “a complement to flesh-and-blood activity”? Maybe I’ve just been playing too much Silent Hill 2 this past week. You see it too? For me, it’s always like this.
RSM picks up Deloitte’s sloppy seconds, a failing British telecom:
TalkTalk’s auditor has quit as the debt-laden broadband firm faces a fresh squeeze on its finances.
Deloitte, which has served as TalkTalk’s auditor since August 2002, has resigned from its role, according to company filings.
A spokesman for TalkTalk said the resignation was a result of a planned rotation following a break-up of the group last year. RSM has been appointed as Deloitte’s replacement.
It comes after billionaire founder Sir Charles Dunstone and other shareholders were recently forced to pump another £235m into the struggling broadband firm to stave off collapse.
And PwC pays for some environmental mess:
PwC is thought to have paid £132 million to British American Tobacco for its role in a “deeply flawed” audit of one of the tobacco giant’s subsidiaries, which was accused of dumping toxic chemicals into two rivers in the US.
The UK maker of Lucky Strike and Dunhill cigarettes had been seeking more than £600 million in damages from the Big Four giant for a “negligent” audit of a historic division of BAT, Windward Prospects, a paper maker. The tobacco giant claimed that the flawed audit caused Windward to breach its commitment to cover environmental clean-up costs.
Windward, which is now in administration, was accused of dumping chemicals used in making carbonless paper for duplicating receipts and invoices, into rivers in Wisconsin and Michigan.
The Times got this information from PwC UK’s annual report which showed the firm set aside £181 million for legal claims and regulatory fines, £162 million of which was paid out in cash. That’s much higher than last year’s fine pool of £33 million and “significantly higher” than similar funds at the other three Big 4 firms.
OK, we’re done here. Shoot me an email or text if you happen to see an article you think we should discuss, have a tip to share, or just want to talk about James Sunderland’s descent into madness (alternatively, why Pyramid Head is a sympathetic figure at his core).
Have a great week, everyone!