Other stuff

Umm, Greg, you can’t talk about CPE fraud. I think that’s an ethics violation.

Leave a Comment / Fraud, Other stuff /

Greg Kyte expands the boundaries of things you aren’t supposed to discuss publicly in his post at Going Concern:  If You Can’t Admit You’ve Committed CPE Fraud, Then You Need to Take Another Ethics Course.

He offers as an example of CPE fraud his ability to complete a one hour ethics course in 9 minutes.

He then mentions the type of CPE cheating I’ve seen at almost every live course I’ve attended: …

Umm, Greg, you can’t talk about CPE fraud. I think that’s an ethics violation.Read More »

Umm, Greg, you can’t talk about CPE fraud. I think that’s an ethics violation. Read More »

Don’t pick a fight with someone who buys pixels by the terabyte – ethics version

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That’s the internet era version of the old line:

Don’t pick a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel.

Here is today’s illustration of the concept:  Francine McKenna was invited to debate the question “Does ethics training change behavior?” She was going to argue the ‘no’ position.

The Ethics and Compliance Officer Association Annual Conference disinvited her after protests by other speakers and some sponsors, according to her post, Canceled: Why I Won’t Be Speaking At Ethics And Compliance Officers Association Annual Conference.

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Don’t pick a fight with someone who buys pixels by the terabyte – ethics versionRead More »

Don’t pick a fight with someone who buys pixels by the terabyte – ethics version Read More »

Workplace rules have changed – You need to take charge of your own career no matter where you work and no matter what your position

Leave a Comment / Other stuff, Pondering, Social media /

The rules for work have radically changed. The work world that existed when you started college, even if you graduated this spring, is gone.

If you are working, you need to take charge of your career and your reputation. This applies to brand new staff, experienced audit seniors, and especially partners.  People at every level of employment need to absorb that lesson.

Jenna Goudreau summarizes 14 Rules of the New Marketplace That Millennials Need to Master at Business Insider. My only disagreement with her is that these rules apply to everyone at every level, not just millennials.

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Workplace rules have changed – You need to take charge of your own career no matter where you work and no matter what your positionRead More »

Workplace rules have changed – You need to take charge of your own career no matter where you work and no matter what your position Read More »

3rd blogiversary

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Last week, August 28th, marked the third blogiversary of my lead blog. (Cross-post from my other blog, Nonprofit Update).

Many thanks to those who have stopped by to read. By now you have sensed that I’m having a blast in this blogging journey.

In celebration, I’d like to provide a few stats for my three main blogs. I realize my sites are infinitesimally small in the overall blogosphere. Yet I hope in some small way stats from a small site might be an encouragement to current bloggers and others thinking of jumping into the fun world of blogging.

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3rd blogiversaryRead More »

3rd blogiversary Read More »

Jump in, the (blogging) water’s fine!

Leave a Comment / Other stuff, Social media /

What keeps knowledge workers from blogging? What will you ever say is one of the concerns that holds people back.

If you keep your eyes open, you’ll be amazed how many ideas come to mind. Also, here’s some ideas on getting started. Think about starting a practice blog.

Consider a change in focus:

I view my life through the lens of a blog post. I am constantly aware of ideas that interest me and consider how the experiences of my day could be turned into a story.

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Jump in, the (blogging) water’s fine!Read More »

Jump in, the (blogging) water’s fine! Read More »

Fingerprints may be needed for your California CPA license renewal starting in 2014

Leave a Comment / Audits, Other stuff /

Your 2014 CPA license renewal in California may require getting your fingerprints taken.  If the board doesn’t already have a set of your prints in their files, you will be making a trip to a Live Scan facility before your next renewal.

Yeah, I know.  More requirements.  Go ahead and complain. I’ll wait.

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Feel better?  Good.

Like it or not, make a mental note you may have another one-time step involved with your next renewal. 

The following article is reprinted with permission of the California Board of Accountancy.

RETROACTIVE FINGERPRINTS: FAQS

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Fingerprints may be needed for your California CPA license renewal starting in 2014Read More »

Fingerprints may be needed for your California CPA license renewal starting in 2014 Read More »

Fine for manipulating energy market equal to 7 days net income or two traffic tickets

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JP Morgan settled charges it manipulated energy prices by paying $410 million. That is a civil penalty of $285M plus $125M of profits from the trades.

I calculate that is about a week’s work of earnings per share or roughly equal to 2 traffic tickets in California for a median income family.

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Fine for manipulating energy market equal to 7 days net income or two traffic ticketsRead More »

Fine for manipulating energy market equal to 7 days net income or two traffic tickets Read More »

12 situations when it might matter to you that the Feds are tracking everything you text or email and making note of everywhere you go.

2 Comments / Other stuff, Pondering /

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

Recent news reports indicate federal intelligence agencies are gathering up a lot more information than we knew. That data is available to undisclosed lists of unknown people and will be retained for a very long time.

So what?

Here’s just a few circumstances in which you might not want access to your data by a long list of unidentified persons from various federal, state, or local agencies who were granted access to various unidentified parts of the various databases: …

12 situations when it might matter to you that the Feds are tracking everything you text or email and making note of everywhere you go.Read More »

12 situations when it might matter to you that the Feds are tracking everything you text or email and making note of everywhere you go. Read More »

Another TBTF bank accused of manipulating electricity prices – time to start paying attention to another fiasco

1 Comment / Other stuff /

Three days ago I mentioned Barclays was accused of manipulating energy prices and the feds, specifically the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, claim a $487.9M fine is due from them.  The case is heading to court – Barclays to Dispute Electricity-Manipulation Charges.

The Wall Street Journal reports J.P. Morgan is now negotiating a settlement for allegedly playing games with electricity prices.

Time to start paying attention to another banking fiasco.

The article Big Bank Staring at Record Fine Over Energy says the bank began negotiations with FERC with a possible billion dollar fine on the table.

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Another TBTF bank accused of manipulating electricity prices – time to start paying attention to another fiascoRead More »

Another TBTF bank accused of manipulating electricity prices – time to start paying attention to another fiasco Read More »

Charges filed against three traders in LIBOR fiasco – A new banking mess in manipulating energy prices

1 Comment / Other stuff /

The U.K.’s Serious Fraud Office charged two brokers yesterday for their role in allegedly rigging Libor rates.

A third trader was charged last month. All three were arrested in England last December. This third trader was charged in the U.S. in December.

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Charges filed against three traders in LIBOR fiasco – A new banking mess in manipulating energy pricesRead More »

Charges filed against three traders in LIBOR fiasco – A new banking mess in manipulating energy prices Read More »

Verify state exempt status – You can look up the status of an organization with the California Franchise Tax Board

Leave a Comment / Audits, Other stuff /

(Cross-post from my other blog, Nonprofit update.)

This is cool. The Franchise Tax Board has an online feature call the Entity Status Letter which allows you to quickly find whether an NPO is exempt with the state of California.

You can go to the Self Serve Entity Status Letter – Entity Search page. If the link breaks, just search “entity status letter” at the FTB website.

This will also work for a for-profit business.

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Verify state exempt status – You can look up the status of an organization with the California Franchise Tax BoardRead More »

Verify state exempt status – You can look up the status of an organization with the California Franchise Tax Board Read More »

Reminder – Google RSS Reader goes away on July 1

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Time to find a new RSS reader if you’ve been using Google. I know a small group of people are reading this blog with that service. Time to find another one.

I looked at several and tried out a few. I’ve jumped to the Old Reader.

Not quite like Google’s, but it is working fine.

It is very easy to export a file containing a list of your subscriptions. Also easy to import that into most readers. But do that before June 30.

Reminder – Google RSS Reader goes away on July 1 Read More »