Jim Ulvog

What is your price?

(Cross-post from my other blog, Attestation Update.)

We know the price Mr. Scott London, former partner of KPMG,  is accused of setting for his integrity, honor, and reputation. The entrance price tag was several thousand dollars and added up to under $100,000.

Cumulative amount is allegedly $50,000 cash plus a watch with claimed value of $12,000 plus some concert tickets for his family, with asserted total around $70,000 or $90,000.

That total allegation isn’t the real measure of his price. The starting point was a few thousand dollars in the first deal. If the story outlined in the criminal indictment is correct, that is the point his integrity was sold.

An old joke about your price

There is an old joke with many variations that goes something like this:

Man to woman in a social setting: “would you sleep with me for a million dollars?”

She indicated she would be willing to do so.

Him: “How about for $20?”

With great indignation, she said “Of course not! What kind of woman do you think I am?”

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Jim Ulvog

Insider trading fiasco in audit world

In a major embarrassment for one particular CPA firm and all CPAs in general, last week a partner from one of the Big 4 firms was indicted for conspiracy to commit insider trading.

Mr. Scott London, formerly a partner with KPMG, was indicted by the US government and charged with insider trading by the SEC in the context of allegedly passing information about his clients to a buddy who allegedly traded on the info.  He obtained that information as a part of his role as a senior level audit partner.

Several posts at my other blog, Attestation Update, talk about the story as it developed during the week. Here’s the posts in chronological order: (more…)

Jim Ulvog

2 businesses opting of health insurance as illustration for impact on NPOs

Previous post discussed the specifics of two businesses that are thinking about dropping their health insurance in 2014 and paying the penalties under ACA.

Now to get a feel for the impact on NPOs, I’ll revise that analysis by adjusting the data we see there to an NPO.

First scenario – currently providing health insurance to some staff

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Jim Ulvog

2 live examples of opting out of ACA

Two businesses talked to the Wall Street Journal about the possibility they may drop health coverage for their employees next year. Let’s look at their numbers.

I’ve been wanting to write about the implications of dropping out of the mandatory health care coverage. Obviously, I can’t use as an illustration any of the organizations I’m familiar with.

So when the WSJ had a discussion today, I found some public numbers we can work with. The article is Some Small Businesses Opt for the Health-Care Penalty.

The data

I’ll quote just enough of the article to get the basic data on the table: (more…)

Jim Ulvog

Internal control, 1860s edition

Two posts at my other blog illustrate how Wells Fargo stagecoaches used internal controls in the 1860s.

You will see the concepts discussed by your auditor today have been around for over 150 years.

Posts have some fun photos from the Wells Fargo Museum in San Diego. Well, okay, they are fun if you are an accountant or banker or like history of the Old West.

Jim Ulvog

This is what religious freedom looks like

(cross-posted from my other blog, Freedom is Moral.)

Yesterday one-third of the people on the planet celebrated the most holy day of their faith – Easter.

Yesterday was just another Sunday for two-thirds of the people on the planet.

As I understand it, tomorrow marks the last day of Passover, a high point of the Jewish faith.  Passover celebrates the exodus from slavery as Moses led the people of Israel toward the promised land. For those reading this blog who are Jews, I sincerely hope you have a wonderful and blessed time of celebration.

For everyone else, I sincerely hope you had a relaxing weekend, maybe got to sleep in late. I’m quite serious. I hope you had a nice, fun, refreshing weekend.

Here’s what religious freedom looks like:

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Jim Ulvog

Tragedy of fraud – another case study

Fraud devastates an organization. The damage to the fraudster and loved ones is also severe.

A series of posts on my other blog, Attestation Update, explores the ripple effects of one specific fraud.

Mrs. Amy Wilson embezzled from her employer. After completing her prison term, she started rebuilding her shattered life. She is sharing her story.

Here are my posts in this series: (more…)

Jim Ulvog

Accounting issues illustrated in 990 of a cancer charity – 1

“Little Money of Children’s Cancer Charity Goes to Main Programs” is a major article in Chronicle of Philanthropy by Caroline Preston discussing the accounting at Children’s Cancer Recovery Foundation.

Overview

I mentioned this article here. There is much in the article that can be discussed from an accounting perspective. I will touch on some of the ideas.

The Chronicle article is behind a paywall, so you need to use your online subscription to read it or grab the February 28, 2013 print edition.

This series of posts is going to be an inside-baseball discussion. More technical than usual with lots of accounting shorthand. Probably won’t be much fun unless you are already familiar with issues in the NPO world. Likely to be wordier than usual (as if I wasn’t wordy enough already!)

You can find the organization’s 990 for 2011 on their website here.

Why this discussion and why this organization?

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Jim Ulvog

Gaining a new perspective hurts

Two new perspectives that hurt my brain and heart….

In the last two years I’ve learned of the occasional harm caused by some of the things we do while trying to help others. See my posts on unintended consequences.

I know this new way of seeing outcomes is sinking deep into my brain by looking at my immediate sadness upon reading two articles at Africa is a Country a few weeks ago. After letting the articles sit for a while, it is time to discuss them. First, swimsuits…

Swimsuits

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Jim Ulvog