New recruiting video from Deloitte: "Always Moving"

Finance & Accounting staff is among 10 Most Recession-Proof Jobs

There is some good news from Forbes.com, which recently published the results of a ranking by the career Web site Jobfox.com.
According to the rankings there are plenty of in-demand professions, even in a slow economy. Sales, nursing and accounting are just a few of these recession-proof professions. To compile its list, Jobfox examined its database of about 4,000 job postings from November 2007 through July 2008 to see which professions have the most openings monthly. The most recession-proof are those with the highest median monthly rankings over this time period.

1. Sales Representative
Median salary: $65,000 to $75,000
In tough economic times, a talented sales force is needed to get new customers and grow business opportunities.

2. Software Design and Development
Median salary: $85,000 to $95,000
Software designers write the programs to meet business needs. Computer software engineers are expected to be among the fastest-growing occupations through 2016, according to the Department of Labor.

3. Nursing
Median salary: $35,000 to $45,000
The aging baby boomer population has increased demand for nurses. Add to that the shrinking number of people who go into the profession, and there's a real shortage.

4. Accounting Executive
Median salary: $65,000 to $75,000
These managers are in high demand; accounting continues no matter what the economy looks like. These executives manage the growing number of accounting staffers.

5. Accounting Staff
Median salary: $45,000 to $55,000
Tougher accounting and auditing regulations are largely responsible for the growth of the profession. Also, in a downturn many companies turn to their accountants to figure out how they can operate more leanly.

6. Networking and Systems Administration
Median salary: $65,000 to $75,000

7. Administrative Assistant
Median salary: $35,000 to $45,000

8. Business Analysis, Software Implementation
Median salary: $85,000 to $95,000

9. Business Analysis, Research
Median salary: $65,000 to $75,000

10. Finance Staff
Median salary: $65,000 to $75,000
This encompasses anyone who can make the business run more efficiently.
Those who have an expertise in Sarbanes-Oxley are even more valuable.

Layoffs at Big 4!

Few days ago, I was watching some layoffs of junior auditors at my office. The official reason was announced as "due to continuous fails at academic studies (ACCA) and bad (NI) appraisals. For that moment I thought: "Well, theses layoffs are not because of bad times in my lovely Big 4 company or money shortage, but because of auditors' poor performance." - despite the fact that I have never seen so many layoffs due to such reasons.

Today, I have got another bad news - several partners from a competitor Big4 company were fired... Having heard that, some of my colleagues were pretty happy watching their competitor in troubles... By the way, they were so happy laughing at competitors and not knowing that they were the first in the list to be kicked out of the company. ((

I was not happy. Big 4 companies are not competitors - we're all sinking in one boat, particularly Big 4 employees... this statement didn't let me wait too long for its proof of correctness. This evening I had a call with my friend from other Big 4 company. He told me about their management's announcement in regards of possible salary decreases. BINGO!!! Big 4 doesn't have enough cash to pay salaries. Big 4 is in CRISIS... at least in my country.

and now I have nothing, but to wait my managing partner saying:

"Folks, you saw problems of our competitors, and we are not exceptional. We decided to announce a decrease in salaries and 20% layoff program across the company."

Poll for The Best auditor of Kyiv is opened for voting!

The best English speaking newspaper of Ukraine - Kyiv Post announced voting for our annual “Best of Kyiv” special edition.

Big 4 companies are competing for the prestigious name of The Best Auditor.

This is your opportunity to recognize the Company of your choice for their professionalism and quality!

Please take the time to complete the poll.
The voting is open at kyivpost.com.

Deloitte US partner fined $25,000

A Deloitte & Touche partner who signed off on an erroneous Navistar Financial Corp. financial report will be suspended from auditing public companies for one year and fined $25,000, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board announced Friday.

Christopher Anderson, 46 years old, of Lake Forest, Ill., agreed to the disciplinary action, the board's first to fine an individual since Congress created it in 2002 to inspect and discipline public company accountants. Along with the fine and one-year suspension, Anderson faces an additional one-year restriction that limits him to assisting others in audits of public companies.

Anderson failed to bring "due care and professional skepticism" to Navistar's 2003 results and didn't have enough evidence to issue a clean opinion of them, the oversight board said. It said Navistar and its parent company, truck maker Navistar International Corp. (NAV), discovered nearly $20 million of errors late in 2003 that inflated the finance unit's earnings, and made last-minute, offsetting adjustments to avoid surprising Wall Street analysts. Anderson agreed the errors weren't large enough to be material using a higher-than-usual threshold; under the original threshold, the errors would have been material, according to the oversight board. The bulk of the errors involved holdings by Navistar's financial unit in previously securitized loans and leases.

Navistar, a longtime Deloitte client, restated earnings in 2005 for 2002, 2003 and most of 2004 and announced the SEC was conducting an investigation of the matter. SEC spokesman John Nester declined to comment on the matter.

Anderson's attorney couldn't be reached immediately for comment. Deloitte & Touche issued a statement saying "we are pleased that the PCAOB and Mr. Anderson were able to resolve the matter."

Source: Dow Jones Newswires

IASB Publishes Guidance on Fair Value

London (Nov. 4, 2008)
The International Accounting Standards Board has issued educational guidance from an expert advisory panel on the controversial issue of fair value measurement when markets become inactive.

In conjunction with the 84-page report, the IASB also published an eight-page staff summary outlining the highlights of the major issues in the report and the context. The report and summary take into account recent documents issued by the U.S. Financial Accounting Standards Board and the Securities and Exchange Commission's Office of the Chief Accountant.

The report is the result of seven meetings of an expert advisory panel including auditors, preparers, regulators and users of financial statements. The panel identified practices that experts can use to measure the fair value of financial instruments when markets become inactive and practices for fair value disclosures in such situations. The report includes guidance about processes and the use of judgment.

The IASB plans to hold additional roundtable discussions in Asia, Europe and the United States, in conjunction with FASB, to gather further suggestions on enhancements to the guidance. The IASB and FASB are also setting up a high-level advisory group to provide advice to both boards on the reporting lessons from the credit crisis

Source: CPA

Accountants are 'sexy, not stuffy'

The typical stereotype of accountants just doesn't add up, according to a new study which says the profession gets a bad press.

Research commissioned by tax and accountancy provider CCH found that while only a quarter of the public think of accountancy as a dynamic, tech-savvy profession, over half of accountants held the same opinion of their jobs.

Furthermore, it was found that 74 per cent of accountants like using iPods and 58 per cent are comfortable using social networking sites with Leeds accountants being the most popular Facebook users, with 78 per cent having more than 50 friends compared to a national average of 44 per cent.

The most positive views came from the 60 per cent accountants under the age of 25 who described their profession as "energetic and full of enthusiasm".

Martin Casimir, executive director at CCH, said:

"Even in these hyper-PC times, it seems that accountants are still unfairly viewed as being behind the times.

"Despite embracing new ways of thinking and technologies in their professional and personal lives, they are still unable to ditch their stuffy label."

Meanwhile, head of student recruitment at PricewaterhouseCoopers Sonja Stockton told the Times this week the firm was "optimistic" about graduate recruitment and would be taking on 1,000 graduates this year.

Source:GAAPweb

CRISIS: The Job

Despite this "funny" short film was made more than six months ago and was targeted mainly on the immigration debate in US, this piece of art remains urgent and topical in the heat of the World Financial & Economic Crisis nowadays. Do doubt!
The film was written and directed by Jonathan Browning, produced by Screaming Frog Production. The Job stars some of the best comedic talent in LA with the help of an amazing crew. The Job short film has got more than twenty awards all over the world and still to come!!!
For details:
http://www.screamingfrog.com
http://www.thejobtheshort.com