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Uncover expert accountants and accounting services in UAE - TradersFind
Are you looking for expert accountants and accounting services in UAE? Discover the best financial accounting services through TradersFind and connect with skilled accounting consultants to grow your business. Explore a wide range of accounting solutions customized to meet your business needs. Visit TradersFind and post your business needs.
#Accountants & Auditors#Accountants And Accounting Services#accountants in UAE#accounting firms#financial accounting services#accounting services in UAE#accounting consultants in uae#accounting agency#accounting agents#accounting consultancy
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Explore trusted accounting companies in UAE — TradersFind
Explore trusted accounting companies in UAE with TradersFind and start discovering reliable accounting solutions for your business needs. From bookkeeping to strategic financial planning, find top accounting firms to grow your business and connect with the best in the industry who ensure perfection and excellence. Visit TradersFind and post your request today!
#Accountants & Auditors#accountants in UAE#accounting firms#financial accounting services#Accounting Services#accounting services in UAE#accounting consultants in uae#accounting agents#accounting agency#accounting consultancy#accounting companies#accounting companies in UAE#accounting solutions#certified accountants#top accounting firms#accounting firms in UAE
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Explore the top list of accounting companies in UAE - TradersFind
Explore the top list of accounting companies in UAE through TradersFind and connect with trusted service providers offering reliable accounting solutions for your business needs. From bookkeeping to financial analysis, find expert accounting consultants to grow your business needs. Whether you're a small business or a large corporation, simplify your finances with reliable ,accounting services. Visit TradersFind and contact now!
#accounting services in UAE#accountants in UAE#accounting firms#financial accounting services#Accounting Services#accounting consultants#accounting consultants in uae#accounting agents#accounting agency#accounting consultancy#accounting companies#accounting companies in UAE#accounting solutions#top accounting firms
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The Indian Partnership Act of 1932 is a piece of legislation that controls how partnerships are formed and run in India. It offers a framework for the legal rights, obligations, and liabilities of people running partnership businesses. The purpose of the act was to establish and codify Indian partnership law.
Key features of the Indian Partnership Act of 1932
Definition of Partnership:
According to the legislation, a partnership is a relationship between individuals who have decided to split the earnings of a firm that is run by all of them together or by any one of them acting alone.
Formation of Partnership:
It describes the steps involved in creating a partnership, such as the need for an agreement, the minimum and maximum number of members, and the significance of splitting gains and losses.
Rights and Duties of Partners:
The legislation outlines the responsibilities and rights of partners, including their obligations to act loyally and in good faith as well as their rights to take part in the company's management and split profits and losses.
Registration of Firms:
The act emphasizes the importance of registering a partnership firm. While registration is not mandatory, it provides certain legal benefits, including the ability to sue third parties and fellow partners.
Dissolution of Partnership: The act details the various circumstances under which a partnership may be dissolved, such as by mutual agreement, on the death of a partner, or by court order.
Liabilities of Partners: It talks about how partners in a partnership have unlimited responsibility, meaning that the firm's obligations and liabilities can be settled with the partners' personal assets.
Minor's Position in Partnership: The act deals with the capacity of a minor to become a partner, specifying the limitations on a minor's rights and liabilities in the partnership.
Over time, changes have been made to the Indian Partnership Act of 1932 to ensure that it remains compliant with evolving legal requirements and commercial practices. It is essential to give India's partnerships a legal foundation and give direction to people and organizations working together on economic projects.
Pros and cons of partnership Firm Registration
Pros:
1. Legal Recognition:
Prospective Rights: The partnership gains legal status through registration, enabling it to bring lawsuits against other partners and third parties in the event of a disagreement.
Evidence of Existence: A registered firm has a legal document (the partnership deed) that serves as evidence of its existence and the terms of the partnership.
2. Credibility and Trust:
Business Credibility: Getting registered can help the partnership seem more credible to suppliers, consumers, and financial institutions.
Building Trust: It may instill confidence in clients and partners, as they can verify the legal status and authenticity of the partnership.
3. Access to Legal Remedies: Unregistered partnerships might not be able to access certain legal remedies and benefits that are available to registered partnerships.
4. Tax Benefits: Registered firms may be entitled to specific exemptions or deductions, as well as particular tax benefits. 5. Continuity: Registration can ensure continuity, especially in cases of changes in partners or other structural modifications.
Cons:
1. Cost and Formalities:
There are costs associated with the registration process, including fees and expenses related to drafting and notarizing the partnership deed. The registration process involves formalities and paperwork, which can be time-consuming and may require professional assistance.
2. Public Disclosure:
The relationship details become public information after they are registered, which may not be ideal for people who value their privacy.
3. Limited Liability Concerns:
Partners in an unregistered firm also have unlimited liability, but registration doesn't provide protection against personal liability.
4. Flexibility and Informality: Registration may impose certain obligations and restrictions, limiting the flexibility that unregistered partnerships may enjoy. Unregistered partnerships can be less formal in their operations, which may be an advantage for some businesses.
5. Limited Legal Advantages: Unregistered partnerships still have some legal status and rights, although the benefits of registration may be limited.
The choice to register a partnership firm is ultimately based on several variables, such as the type of business, the partners' preferences, and the financial and legal ramifications of doing so. It is advisable to get advice from financial and legal experts to make an informed decision that takes into account the unique conditions of the partnership.
Key Elements of Partnership Registration In India
1. Partnership Deed:
Creation: The first step is to draft a partnership deed, which is a written agreement outlining the terms and conditions of the partnership.
Contents: Information including the company name, partner names and addresses, the type of business, capital contributions, profit-sharing percentages, and other pertinent clauses are usually included in the partnership deed.
Stamp Duty: The non-judicial stamp paper on which the partnership deed is executed is required, and the stamp duty payable is determined by the capital contribution of the partners.
2. Application for Registration:
Form: Form 1, the application for the registration of the partnership firm, must be completed by partners and submitted.
Information Required: The application contains information on the firm, including its name, address, and any duration, as well as the partners' names and contact information.
Attachment of Documents: Along with the application, a copy of the partnership deed and an affidavit stating that all the information provided is true and genuine must be submitted.
3. Payment of Fees:
Registration Fee: Partners need to pay the prescribed registration fee based on the state in which the firm is registered.
Stamp Duty: There can be additional stamp duty required for the registration procedure on top of the stamp duty on the partnership deed.
4. Submission to the Registrar of Firms:
Regional Registrar: The completed application, along with the necessary documents and fees, is submitted to the Registrar of Firms in the region where the business is located.
Verification: The Registrar may verify the documents and, if satisfied, enter the details in the Register of Firms.
5. Certificate of Registration:
Issuance: The Registrar issues a Certificate of Registration following a successful registration. This certificate is evidence of the partnership's existence.
Validity: In general, the certificate is valid for the time frame specified in the partnership agreement.
6. Public Notice:
Optional Public Notice: Although it is not required, partners may decide to notify the public and prospective stakeholders about the partnership's creation by placing an announcement in the local newspaper.
7. PAN and TAN Application:
PAN and TAN: For taxation purposes, partnerships must get a Permanent Account Number or PAN. The partnership needs to obtain a TAN (Tax Deduction and Collection Account Number) if it is required to deduct taxes at source.
8. Bank Account:
Bank Account Opening: Partners should use the Certificate of Registration and other required paperwork to open a bank account in the partnership's name.
9. Compliance and Renewal:
Annual Filing: As long as the partners keep correct financial records and follow tax requirements, there is no need for an annual file.
Renewal: Generally speaking, the partnership registration is good for the time frame given in the partnership agreement. Partners may need to renew the registration if there are any modifications or if the collaboration lasts longer than expected.
#company registration in kochi#tax consultancy#partnership firm registration#accounting consultancy#financial consultancy#GST registration#auditing company#cost accounting services#ISO registration#UAE Vat Registration in kochi#legal advisory services
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Why Do You Need Professional Business Accounting Services?
Business accounting is way too different and complex than home or employee accounting. That’s why we at AdSpaceVocal always strongly advise you to hire professional Business Accounting Services. However, since accounting is the most time-consuming, tedious, and crucial aspect of your business, it is better to leave it to the experts. Here are four reasons why you need professional business accounting services.
Helps you reduce your workload: In the beginning, it is acceptable to handle accounting yourself. However, as your business grows, you will need to pay more time and attention to managing daily operations instead of working on compliance, taxes, or bookkeeping. That’s where professionals take away a heap load of work from you.
A professional will suggest process enhancements, handling financial and tax duties, and solutions that help you save time and money.
Valuable in difficult tax times: If you are unfamiliar with how the system works, tax forms will be complex, confusing, tiresome, and everything that comes in between. That’s when your private Accounting Consultant will become handy.
The expert will ensure everything is in order, the administration is completed on time, and you won’t fall behind in anything related to taxes.
Guides on financial decisions: A professional will give you these benefits in this reference.
The professional will have valuable insights into the investments you want to make.
The expert can become deeply familiar with your business, advise you on the best financial situation, and aim decisions.
An accountant can give you insightful strategic planning advice if you are a new business owner.
The accounts expert can show you how to develop a business structure to house your brand’s financial stability and commercial success.
Helps you determine the perfect business structure: Most people think accounting is simply counting money and finances. However, it is beyond that. An expert accountant can help you discover your ideal business structure. See examples of common infrastructures below.
Corporations.
Partnerships.
LLCs.
In conclusion
The best Business Accounting Consultant will help you a lot with taxes and other business finances. Outsourcing accounting experts save you time and complexity, and you can focus better on the growth and development of your business. With that, we at AdSpaceVocal conclude our blog.Thank you for reading.
#Accounting Consultant#Accounting Consultant Services#Accounting Consultancy#Business Accounting Services#Business Accounting Consultant
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#Communism#Antisocialism#Anticommunism#Economics#Minimum Wage#Living Wage#Eat the Rich#Republican#Democrat#Libertarian#Conservative#Liberal#Finance#Business#Work Meme#Work Humor#Excel#Hilarious#funny meme#funny memes#funny#capitalism#accounting#socialism#office humor#consulting#dark humor#politics#anticapitalism
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really a lot of the time i am onto something big. my idea for revolutionizing music:
#you have to account for the fact that in the cubic one you cant just multiply by 3 dimensions cuz a lot of them will intersect#like a1red to a5red will appear in multiple axis'#so (5 x 5 x 3 ) for all straight rows + ( 2 x 5 x 3 ) for all diagonal rows + 4 for the corner to corner rows = 109#i consulted 4 different people with the math on this thanks all#i hope noone will argue math with me
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Was playing a hunger games simulator and had a cute moment
Uhhh anyway yeah byeee
#my art#toontown corporate clash#chip revvington#chainsaw consultant#ttcc#ttcc oc#mrs. beatrix#toontown#random hunger games simulator thing#I just thought they looked really sweet in the second pic#anyway I have alot of art on the back burner but its hard to remember what I've posted and what I havent yet#working on my bluesky account as well so its been busy busy busy
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[read along with this]
DAVE: ..................... [��𝒾𝓃𝑔𝓁𝑒 𝒻𝓁𝓊𝓉𝑒 𝓃𝑜𝓉𝑒]
ROSE: On the horizon of this forest path, you see a group of dark cloaked figures slowly trudging toward you. What do you do?
JOHN: my half-orc barbarian braces her greathammer and-- that's a one.
ROSE: Critical fail. Jade, what do you do?
JADE: well!! i believe in anticipation my rogue would try and hide behind a tree-- ok i rolled a one :(
ROSE: That's another... critical fail. Dave, what does your human bard do?
DAVE: [𝓉𝒽𝓇𝑒𝑒 𝒻𝓁𝓊𝓉𝑒 𝓃𝑜𝓉𝑒𝓈] active perception check
ROSE: ...That's a natural twenty.
DAVE: lets fuckin go [𝒮𝐼𝒞𝒦 𝐹𝐿𝒰𝒯𝐸 𝑅𝐼𝐹𝐹]
DAVE: i feel it in my fingers ⁽ˢⁿᵃᵖ⁾ i feel it in my toes ⁽ᶠˡᵘᵗᵉ⁾ these motherfuckers mean to harm us...........and theyve got to go
𝐒𝐎 𝐂𝐌𝐎𝐍 𝐆𝐄𝐓 𝐄𝐌 𝐍𝐎𝐖
you picked the wrong day. to fuck around with my
TIGHT CREW ⁽ᵒʰ ᵒʰ⁾
theres no escaping it (i can perceive you) heres what were gonna do [𝒶𝓃𝑜𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝓈𝒾𝒸𝓀 𝒻𝓁𝓊𝓉𝑒 𝓇𝒾𝒻𝒻]
ME AND MY BOYS ARE GONNA MESS YOU UP
JOHN: i rolled a one.
JADE: i rolled a one :(
DAVE:
FUCK
my boys are otherwise engaged. so im gonna bring it ALL MYSELF
hhey i forgot youre supposed to tell me what i see right
ROSE: Yes, thank you. Let's just slow it all down a bit. So, you notice that one of the hooded figures is a little shorter--
DAVE: 𝐢 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐧𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲 𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐠𝐨
YOURE A SHORT MOTHERFUCKER AND NOBODY LIKES YOU
[𝓈𝒾𝒸𝓀 𝒻𝓁𝓊𝓉𝑒]
SHORT
everybody says "look how fuckin short that guy is" and it stops you from forming 𝓶𝓮𝓪𝓷𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓯𝓾𝓵 𝓻𝓮𝓵𝓪𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷𝓼𝓱𝓲𝓹𝓼
when you were born everybody thought that you were just a head but THEN THE DOCTOR SAID "WAIT. this 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐩𝐢𝐝 𝚖𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎��𝚏𝚞𝚌𝚔𝚒𝚗 tiny ꜱʜᴏʀᴛ ᴀꜱꜱ ʙᴀʙʏ got a tiny little ɪᴛᴛʏ ʙɪᴛᴛʏ ʙᴏᴅʏ and i 𝐇𝐀𝐓𝐄 it"
ROSE: Your attack lands and absolutely SHATTERS the mind of the cloaked figure; perception check, please?
DAVE: nat twenty lets go
ROSE: You perceive the figure was so short because it was a CH--
DAVE: --ild. its always a kid
ROSE: Specifically the child you've been looking for for the last fifteen days game time and five days of our actual lives.
DAVE: ok im sorry i didnt know ill be better. ᵘᵍᵍʰʰfuck his bodys just lying there right
ROSE: ...
DAVE: right
ROSE: ...Yes... ...!! Don't--
DAVE:
LOOT THAT BODY
gotta 𝓛𝓞𝓞𝓣 𝓣𝓗𝓐𝓣 𝓑𝓞𝓓𝓨 𝓝𝓞𝓦
LOOT THAT BODY
gotta loot that motha𝐅𝐔𝐂𝐊ᴬᴬᴬ !!! playin my flute when i 𝙻𝙾𝙾𝚃 ᴛʜᴀᴛ 𝔻𝔼𝔸𝔻 𝕂𝕀𝔻𝕊 𝓑𝓞𝓓𝓐𝓐𝓐𝓨
[𝓕𝓛𝓤𝓣𝓔 𝓜𝓞𝓜𝓔𝓝𝓣]
BITCH
#hi am i allowed to just post on this account#lol what if i became an active mod again would that be sick or what#id have to consult the new mods tho i dunno whats going on#whos on this blog. hi guys whats up#homestuck#incorrect homestuck quotes#quote#long quote#dave strider#rose lalonde#john egbert#jade harley
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quick poll, i'm curious and going insane
what would you estimate you spend each week on takeout + groceries? amounts in USD because i'm USAmerican
#amounts because $200-300 and $300-400 were the amounts people tossed around#and because small budgets seem more nuanced to me than large ones#feel free to comment infinitely nuanced answers tho#i'm not including under $25 because i don't know anyone currently on that budget#and i have no way of accounting for school meal plans/restaurant jobs/work cafeterias/consulting dinners or w/e here#this is about household groceries and personal takeout expenses#polls#reference#my polls#ghost speaks
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write me letters, ink on paper, i'm so mixed up i could cry!
#toontown#ttcc#toontown corporate clash#corporate clash#chip revvington#chainsaw consultant#result of me staring in mirror and thinking “ive Got to get worse about that gay dog”#all the notes are songs on the playlist i made for the two of them n_n#blurt + boggle by mega mango & can you keep up by blue kid for feather#and then too sweet by hozier and ghost of chicago by noah floersch for chip#AND THEN the actual idea came from listening to the song in the caption (write me letters by hot freaks)#why yes my spotify account never sleeps how can you tell#ted draws#featherhopper
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i’m so easily influenced by older women especially if i have no fucking clue what they’re talking about i’ll just agree wholeheartedly and do exactly what they tell me to it’s an issue
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he still has his tonsils. by the way if you even care
#sorry this is fucking UNINTELLIGIBLE but unfortunately i’m still on my bullshit about dr. daddyissues. yeah it’s gonna be all month#i am rotating episode 2.8 ‘the mistake’ in my head at breakneck speed. i am gnawing on it i want to swallow it#oh he’s such a lying liar who lies. charming little bastard. would rather die/lose his license than express one wholly unaffected emotion#‘he thinks not giving a crap makes him like house. like it’s something to aspire to’ quick question HOW serious do the daddy issues have to#be before you start latching on to fucking GREGORY HOUSE as a paternal figure and role model. really#even cameron is not down this bad. even WILSON is not down this bad.#the daddy issues of it all are very understandable though because even setting aside whatever went down back in childhood that shit his#father did to him in seasons 1-2 is SO messed up. jesus#imagine traveling all the way across the world to the hospital your son works in for a consult which confirms what you already knew: you’re#going to die of cancer in like 2 months. making a whole point out of stopping by to visit your son. not telling him what’s going on.#letting him spend a whole episode’s worth of time gradually coming to terms with his complicated feelings towards you (complicated on#account of a whole childhood of objectively awful parenting). the kid finally is able to try reaching back out to you. after YOU initiated#the contact in the first place. how do you react? well obviously by telling him ‘oh sorry i actually have to get in a taxi right now’ and#fucking back off to the other side of the world without giving him a chance to actually talk to you at all and resolve any of the emotions#you just dredged up. oh by the way you still haven’t fucking told him you’re about to die and in fact actively mislead him into thinking#he’s going to have the chance to try meeting with you again next time he visits your home country.#especially fucked up given that the whole reason it DID take your son so long to come around THIS time is that he feels like every time#he’s tried reaching out to you in the past you’ve just disappointed him by refusing to put in the effort to meet him there.#And Now Here We Are Again.#rowan what the FUCK is wrong with you. i want to dig you up and kill you again#house md#robert chase#caseyposting
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The long sleep of capitalism’s watchdogs
There are only five more days left in my Kickstarter for the audiobook of The Bezzle, the sequel to Red Team Blues, narrated by @wilwheaton! You can pre-order the audiobook and ebook, DRM free, as well as the hardcover, signed or unsigned. There's also bundles with Red Team Blues in ebook, audio or paperback.
One of the weirdest aspect of end-stage capitalism is the collapse of auditing, the lynchpin of investing. Auditors – independent professionals who sign off on a company's finances – are the only way that investors can be sure they're not handing their money over to failing businesses run by crooks.
It's just not feasible for investors to talk to supply-chain partners and retailers and verify that a company's orders and costs are real. Investors can't walk into a company's bank and demand to see their account histories. Auditors – who are paid by companies, but work for themselves – are how investors avoid shoveling money into Ponzi-pits.
Attentive readers will have noticed that there is an intrinsic tension in an arrangement where someone is paid by a company to certify its honesty. The company gets to decide who its auditors are, and those auditors are dependent on the company for future business. To manage this conflict of interest, auditors swear fealty to a professional code of ethics, and are themselves overseen by professional boards with the power to issue fines and ban cheaters.
Enter monopolization. Over the past 40 years, the US government conducted a failed experiment in allowing companies to form monopolies on the theory that these would be "efficient." From Boeing to Facebook, Cigna to InBev, Warner to Microsoft, it has been a catastrophe. The American corporate landscape is dominated by vast, crumbling, ghastly companies whose bad products and worse corporate conduct are locked in a race to see who can attain the most depraved enshittification quickest.
The accounting profession is no exception. A decades-long incestuous orgy of mergers and acquisitions yielded up an accounting sector dominated by just four firms: EY, KPMG, PWC and Deloitte (the last holdout from the alphabetsoupification of corporate identity). Virtually every major company relies on one of these companies for auditing, but that's only a small part of corporate America's relationship with these tottering behemoths. The real action comes from "consulting."
Each of the Big Four accounting firms is also a corporate consultancy. Some of those consulting services are the normal work of corporate consultants – cookie cutter advice to fire workers and reduce product quality, as well as supplying dangerously defecting enterprise software. But you can get that from the overpaid enablers at McKinsey or BCG. The advantage of contracting with a Big Four accounting firm for consulting is that they can help you commit finance fraud.
Remember: if you're an executive greenlighting fraud, you mostly just want to be sure it's not discovered until after you've pocketed your bonus and moved on. After all, the pro-monopoly experiment was also an experiment in tolerating corporate crime. Executives who cheat their investors, workers and suppliers typically generate fines for their companies, while escaping any personal liability.
By buying your cheating advice from the same company that is paid to certify that you're not cheating, you greatly improve your chances of avoiding detection until you've blown town.
Which brings me to the idea of the "bezzle." This is John Kenneth Galbraith's term for "the weeks, months, or years that elapse between the commission of the crime and its discovery." This is the period in which both the criminal and the victim feel like they're better off. The crook has the victim's money, and the victim doesn't know it. The Bezzle is that interval when you're still assuming that FTX isn't lying to you about the crazy returns they're generating for your crypto. It's the period between you getting the shrinkwrapped box with a 90% discounted PS5 in it from a guy in an alley, and getting home and discovering that it's full of bricks and styrofoam.
Big Accounting is a factory for producing bezzles at scale. The game is rigged, and they are the riggers. When banks fail and need a public bailout, chances are those banks were recently certified as healthy by one of the Big Four, whose audited bank financials failed 800 re-audits between 2009-17:
https://pluralistic.net/2020/09/28/cyberwar-tactics/#aligned-incentives
The Big Four dispute this, of course. They claim to be models of probity, adhering to the strictest possible ethical standards. This would be a lot easier to believe if KPMG hadn't been caught bribing its regulators to help its staff cheat on ethics exams:
https://www.nysscpa.org/news/publications/the-trusted-professional/article/sec-probe-finds-kpmg-auditors-cheating-on-training-exams-061819
Likewise, it would be easier to believe if their consulting arms didn't keep getting caught advising their clients on how to cheat their auditing arms:
https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/09/dingo-babysitter/#maybe-the-dingos-ate-your-nan
Big Accounting is a very weird phenomenon, even by the standards of End-Stage Capitalism. It's an organized system of millionaire-on-billionaire violence, a rare instance of the very richest people getting scammed the hardest:
https://pluralistic.net/2021/06/04/aaronsw/#crooked-ref
The collapse of accounting is such an ominous and fractally weird phenomenon, it inspired me to write a series of hard-boiled forensic accountancy novels about a two-fisted auditor named Martin Hench, starting with last year's Red Team Blues (out in paperback next week!):
https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865854/redteamblues
The sequel to Red Team Blues is called (what else?) The Bezzle, and part of its ice-cold revenge plot involves a disillusioned EY auditor who can't bear to be part of the scam any longer:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/doctorow/the-bezzle-a-martin-hench-audiobook-amazon-wont-sell
The Hench stories span a 40-year period, and are a chronicle of decades of corporate decay. Accountancy is the perfect lens for understanding our modern fraud economy. After all, it was crooked accountants who gave us the S&L crisis:
https://scholarworks.umt.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=10130&context=etd
Crooked auditors were at the center of the Great Financial Crisis, too:
https://francinemckenna.com/2009/12/07/they-werent-there-auditors-and-the-financial-crisis/
And of course, crooked auditors were behind the Enron fraud, a rare instance in which a fraud triggered a serious attempt to prevent future crimes, including the destruction of accounting giant Arthur Andersen. After Enron, Congress passed Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX), which created a new oversight board called the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB).
The PCAOB is a watchdog for watchdogs, charged with auditing the auditors and punishing the incompetent and corrupt among them. Writing for The American Prospect and the Revolving Door Project, Timi Iwayemi describes the long-running failure of the PCAOB to do its job:
https://prospect.org/power/2024-01-26-corporate-self-oversight/
For example: from 2003-2019, the PCAOB undertook only 18 enforcement cases – even though the PCAOB also detected more than 800 "seriously defective audits" by the Big Four. And those 18 cases were purely ornamental: the PCAOB issued a mere $6.5m in fines for all 18, even though they could have fined the accounting companies $1.6 billion:
https://www.pogo.org/investigations/how-an-agency-youve-never-heard-of-is-leaving-the-economy-at-risk
Few people are better on this subject than the investigative journalist Francine McKenna, who has just co-authored a major paper on the PCAOB:
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4227295
The paper uses a new data set – documents disclosed in a 2019 criminal trial – to identify the structural forces that cause the PCAOB to be such a weak watchdog whose employees didn't merely fail to do their jobs, but actually criminally abetted the misdeeds of the companies they were supposed to be keeping honest.
They put the blame – indirectly – on the SEC. The PCAOB has three missions: protecting investors, keeping markets running smoothly, and ensuring that businesses can raise capital. These missions come into conflict. For example, declaring one of the Big Four auditors ineligible would throw markets into chaos, removing a quarter of the auditing capacity that all public firms rely on. The Big Four are the auditors for 99.7% of the S&P 500, and certify the books for the majority of all listed companies:
https://blog.auditanalytics.com/audit-fee-trends-of-sp-500/
For the first two decades of the PCAOB's existence, the SEC insisted that conflicts be resolved in ways that let the auditing firms commit fraud, because the alternative would be bad for the market.
So: rather than cultivating an adversarial relationship to the Big Four, the PCAOB effectively merged with them. Two of its board seats are reserved for accountants, and those two seats have been occupied by Big Four veterans almost without exception:
https://www.pogo.org/investigations/captured-financial-regulator-at-risk
It was no better on the SEC side. The Office of the Chief Accountant is the SEC's overseer for the PCAOB, and it, too, has operated with a revolving door between the Big Four and their watchdog (indeed, the Chief Accountant is the watchdog for the watchdog for the watchdogs!). Meanwhile, staffers from the Office of the Chief Accountant routinely rotated out of government service and into the Big Four.
This corrupt arrangement reached a crescendo in 2019, with the appointment of William Duhnke – formerly of Senator Richard Shelby's [R-AL] staff – took over as Chief Accountant. Under Duhnke's leadership, the already-toothless watchdog was first neutered, then euthanized. Duhnke fired all four heads of the PCAOB's main division and then left their seats vacant for 18 months. He slashed the agency's budget, "weakened inspection requirements and auditor independence policies, and disregarded obligations to hold Board meetings and publicize its agenda."
All that ended in 2021, when SEC chair Gary Gensler fired Duhnke and replaced him with Erica Williams, at the insistence of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. Within a year, Williams had issued 42 enforcement actions, the largest number since 2017, levying over $11m in sanctions:
https://www.dlapiper.com/en/insights/publications/2023/01/pcaob-sets-aggressive-agenda-for-2023-what-to-expect-as-agency-enforcement-expands
She was just getting warmed up: last year, PCAOB collected $20m in fines, with five cases seeing fines in excess of $2m each, a record:
https://www.dlapiper.com/en/insights/publications/2024/01/pcaobs-enforcement-and-standard-setting-rev-up-what-to-expect-in-2024
Williams isn't shy about condemning the Big Four, publicly sounding the alarm that 40% of the 2022 audits the PCAOB reviewed were deficient, up from 34% in 2021 and 29% in 2020:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/we-audit-the-auditors-and-we-found-trouble-accountability-capital-markets-c5587f05
Under Williams, the PCAOB has enacted new, muscular rules on lead auditors' duties, and they're now consulting on a rule that will make audit inspections much faster, shortening the documentation period from 45 days to 14:
https://tax.thomsonreuters.com/news/pcaob-rulemaking-could-lead-to-more-timely-issuance-of-audit-inspection-reports/
Williams is no fire-breathing leftist. She's an alum of the SEC and a BigLaw firm, creating modest, obvious technical improvements to a key system that capitalism requires for its orderly functioning. Moreover, she is competent, able to craft regulations that are effective and enforceable. This has been a motif within the Biden administration:
https://pluralistic.net/2022/10/18/administrative-competence/#i-know-stuff
But though these improvements are decidedly moderate, they are grounded in a truly radical break from business-as-usual in the age of monopoly auditors. It's a transition from self-regulation to regulation. As @40_Years on Twitter so aptly put it: "Self regulation is to regulation as self-importance is to importance":
https://twitter.com/40_Years/status/1750025605465178260
Berliners: Otherland has added a second date (Jan 28 - THIS SUNDAY!) for my book-talk after the first one sold out - book now!
If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/26/noclar-war/#millionaire-on-billionaire-violence
Back the Kickstarter for the audiobook of The Bezzle here!
Image: Sam Valadi (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/132084522@N05/17086570218/
Disco Dan (modified)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/danhogbenspics/8318883471/
CC BY 2.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
#pluralistic#big accounting#auditing#marty hench#martin hench#big four accountants#management consultants#corruption#millionaire on billionaire violence#long cons#the bezzle#conflicts of interest#revolving door#self-regulation#gaap#sox#sarbanes-oxley#too big to fail#too big to jail#audits#defective audits#Public Company Accounting Oversight Board#pcaob#sec#scholarship#Francine McKenna#William Duhnke#administrative competence#photocopier kickers#NOCLARs
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I rly need to set up an inprint (?) it seems like a lot of people use that site (is it good you guys?)
however none of my art is really print material, I might want to re-work some of it... hm...
#(through gritted teeth) I guess I SHOULD finally consult my mother for advice on my fanart....#<- she's been bugging me to let her see more of it and its like im not showing u that. but. might need her graphic design bg for#this.... problem is she can be really brutal when it comes to what she thinks will sell.... she does not take the Fujoshi Factor into#account w marketability I have to remember that....
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