Ernst & Young have signed up to become the first Tier Two sponsors of the 2016 Olympics and Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro as the official provider of consulting services to the Games, it has been announced.

The deal between Rio and the London-based firm, which employs more than 140,000 people in 140 countries, was announced at a special ceremony at the Copacabana Palace hotel hat was attended by a group that included James Turley, the chairman and chief executive of Ernst & Young, and Leo Gryner, the chief executive of Rio 2016.

Other guests attending include Jorge Menegassi, the chief executive of Ernst & Young Terco, along with José Carlos Pinto, the firm’s consulting partner, and Maggie Sanchez, the chief commercial and marketing officer of Rio 2016.

Ernst & Young had also been involved in the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio, an event that laid the foundations for the city’s successful bid for the Olympics and Paralympics.
“I am pleased to have the support of a leading firm such as Ernst & Young across a range of professional services in the build-up to organising excellent Games,” said Carlos Nuzman, the President of Rio 2016.
“The complexity of the Olympic Games cannot be underestimated and will only be managed with the assistance of first-class partners.”
In Brazil, Ernst & Young Terco is the most comprehensive auditing and consulting firm with more tha 4,100 professionals and offering support services to over 3,400 clients.
“We are very proud to announce and share this great news with all our people in Brazil and the Brazilian market today,” said Turley.

“The values for which Ernst & Young Terco is renowned are an excellent match with the Rio 2016 Organising Committee for the Olympic Games.

“We are delighted and honoured to contribute to Rio 2016.

“Rio 2016 recognised our leading market position, our work over the last two decades sponsoring entrepreneurship and our unique people culture.”

Among other major events that Ernst & Young is currently involved in include the 2014 Winter Olympics and Parlaympics in Sochi, where they are the also the consulting partners, while at London 2012 they were among the firms responsible for the establishment of the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA).·

They have also previously worked on the 1988 Olympics in Seoul and the 1996 Games in Atlanta.

Ernst & Young join a roster of sponsors that already includes Bradesco, Bradesco Seguros, Claro and Embratel, who have all signed Tier One deals.

The rainbow and unicorn PR machine is in full force and CNN is happy to scoop them up spit them out.

We might believe that Audit firms never used PR techniques/marketing techniques and we might believe that CNN is always right (when they report) but here’s another side of story (my side of story)

CNN managed to dig up this corpse of a story: “Bean counters wanted: Why the Big 4 are in a hiring frenzy.”  This refers to the hiring bonanza that Deloitte announced last September that was followed by various announcements by the rest of the Big 4:

[T]here’s one unlikely place where the help wanted sign is up, big time: Accounting firms.

Deloitte plans to hire 17,000 professionals in the U.S. and India in 2011, according to Cathleen Benko, its chief talent officer. It’s seeking accountants, auditors, consultants, and IT staff. Hiring is split evenly between experienced and entry-level applicants.

Ernst & Young has stepped up recruiting. It’s looking to hire 7,000 employees from college campuses — 4,500 full-time and 2,500 interns — and 6,000 experienced staff, totaling 13,000 people in 2011, says Dan Black, its director of Americas Campus Recruiting. Experienced staffing is up 80% from last year and campus recruits are up 20%.

Both firms compete for talent against PricewaterhouseCoopers, KPMG, and large consulting firms such as McKinsey and Bain. The hiring confirms a 2011 Bureau of Labor Statistics report that predicted employment in accounting and auditing would spike 22%.

Akbar Jessani is a senior consultant working in Ernst and Young Ford Rhodes Sidat Hyder. He is also a member of ACCA and a associate member of Certified Fraud Examination having over 5 years of experience in audit and advisory services (including review of systems and internal controls) within various financial and industrial sectors. He Has also been awarded Presidential Educational Award from President Bush“

Financial Times Award - M&A

Ernst & Young wins “Accountancy Firm of the Year” for mergers and acquisitions,

Recently Ernst & Young was awarded with the ‘Accountancy Firm of the Year’ at the prestigious Financial Times/mergermarket European M&A Awards.

Ernst & Young, who is currently facing investigations, was ranked number one by volume of deals in Merger-market’s league tables for M&A Accounting advice, judges were impressed by the 224 completed deals with a European target or bidder.

With integrated Transaction Advisory services and very impressive credentials which includes, such as ‘synergy assessment’ on the Kraft/Cadbury deal advice reinforced Ernst & Young as transaction leaders.

The award for the previous two years was won by KPMG but this time Ernst & young were short-listed alongside the other Big Four organizations and have won this award.

The awards ceremony was held on 9 December 2010 at the Sheraton Park Lane hotel in London.

Prosecutors in New York are set to file civil fraud charges against accounting firm Ernst & Young LLC over the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc, the Wall Street Journal said on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Lehman Brothers Canary Wharf

The case follows on from a March report which heavily criticised E&Y’s audit of repurchase transactions or “repos” – a type of short term loan used to quickly raise capital.

According to Accountancy Age, the transactions were funneled through Lehman’s UK arm, which is now in administration. The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) also launched an earlier investigation to “ascertain the facts” on how repo-transaction were audited. The UK’s accounting watchdog, The Accountancy & Actuarial Discipline Board, is also investigating the issue.

Lehman filed the largest U.S. bankruptcy in history in September 2008. At the time, a court examiner said that Lehman’s bankruptcy estate could have “colorable claims,” or grounds to sue, Ernst & Young for negligence and professional malpractice.

]]> http://www.pakistanacca.com/2010/12/20/ny-prosecutors-set-to-sue-ernst-young/feed/ 0 http://www.pakistanacca.com/2010/12/02/jessani-symposium-experience/ http://www.pakistanacca.com/2010/12/02/jessani-symposium-experience/#comments Thu, 02 Dec 2010 08:54:39 +0000 admin http://www.pakistanacca.com/?p=2049 By Akbar Jessani

Akbar Jessani is a senior consultant working in Ernst and Young Ford Rhodes Sidat Hyder. He is also a member of ACCA and a associate member of Certified Fraud Examination having over 5 years of experience in audit and advisory services (including review of systems and internal controls) within various financial and industrial sectors. He Has also been awarded Presidential Educational Award from President Bush“

“Destiny is not a matter of chance; it is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for; it is a thing to be achieved.” William Jennings Bryan

The success of the conference has been achieved as it attracted a good number of senior level delegates to show their presence and support the symposium. With the theme ‘Accountancy Futures Symposium-critical issues for tomorrow’s profession’, a packed two-day conference programme offered discussions on the four critical issues, which are being faced by the organizations and accountants in Pakistan. The symposium was planned in a way to give delegates ample time and opportunity to network with delegates from other organizations.

The main theme of the symposium was to discuss how the role of the accountants and auditing profession will look like in the years to come and how will the industry be able to cater this transition. The symposium was attended by representatives from various sectors and by professionals from different occupational backgrounds.

The conference commenced with a welcome address by Mr.  Arif Masud Mirza, Head of ACCA Pakistan.  It continued with a critical issue discussion on “The value of Audit in the modern world” which really emphasized on the modern perspective of what audit should include. The panelist shared their views regarding how the modern value of audit will be considered by the audit firms and what are the views of the industry regarding the modern value of audit. The representatives from both professional firms and of industry were part of the panel discussions.

The panelist came to the conclusion that audit should not be just focused on financials but should also highlight the business model and strategic aspects of the organization.  Also the regulators will have to think out of the box to enhance the value of modern audit in future.

The conference continued with the discussion regarding “The Generation Y: Realising the Potential” in which all the panelist were from generation X and they debated on the potentials of the generation Y to be recognized by the generation X. Participants raised various question on which considerable ideas were shared by the panelist.

However, the discussion focused on the communication gap between the two generations and how it can be bridged. The discussion concluded with the understanding of what are the expectations of generation Y from generation X.  Generation Y should be given a clear path for their future by providing them opportunities to be better team member of the organization.

Further, the issue discussed was focusing on the “Demonstrating Responsibility: Reporting Futures”. The main aspect of the discussion on future reporting was the volume of narrative reporting shall be increased within the annual report and also about the usefulness of an integrated annual report for an organization. The panelists discussed the impact of narrative reporting on business decision and the response of stakeholders of enhanced narrative reporting for transparency within the organization.

The discussion came to a conclusion on annual reporting that it shall not only include the financial statements but should also incorporate narrative reporting (integrated reporting). The panelists also raised the question about the constituents of narrative reporting. Due to the vast number of preferences available about the constituents of narrative reporting, it turns out to be an open ended question. Upon which the panelists suggested that a survey of the preparers of annual reports should be conducted and their views on what shall be included in the narrative reporting constituents.

One of the aspects of Narrative (Integrated) Reporting should be sustainability reporting. The panelists suggested that companies should have commitment to sustainability reporting at the top board level and should be included in a company’s business model.

In addition, the panelists suggested that the regulatory requirements of narrative reporting needs to be expanded, as organizations have started realizing that it is a very useful channel through which wider stakeholders can be addressed.

The conference concluded with a comprehensive discussion on the “Accountants: SMEs Best Friend”. The focus of this topic was the role of accountants in the SME sector, as the panelists discussed, what major role the accountants can play to develop and enhance the SME sector. SME is playing a greater role in economic growth and development of Pakistan, this sector with the help of accountants (whether in-house or as external consultant) can better equip itself in playing a major role in the economic development of Pakistan.

Further, the panelist discussed practical ways through which accountants can improve their performance within the SME sector. The session was concluded with a concern that SMEs can take support from the accountants not only in the financials arena but should also consider taking advice from professional accountants in the areas of strategic business improvements. The panelists also suggested that there are various opportunities in the SME sector for young professionals to grow and become the future economy of Pakistan.

During the presentations and panel discussions, a number of questions were asked, which were meticulously answered by the panelists. All the sessions were appealing and very informative. ACCA arranged the symposium quite extensively with covering all the aspect a professional conference should include from discussions on current issues to networking opportunity.

The conference was closed with a vote of thanks to all the panelists and the delegates for attending and making this symposium a success.

This discussion involves around digital version of ACCA student accountant magazine. The discussion was started by Mr. Christopher Argent.

Christopher Argent is founder of Ambitious People, a coaching and mentoring company specializing in finance professional performance. His expert team of coaches and mentors are both accredited coaches and qualified accountants, with a wide range of industry and practice experience, giving a unique insight in to their clients, especially finance students. To see his facebook page: click here

It’s been 18 months since student accountant magazine is permanently on digital version. What I have found is I do not use it as a magazine anymore, not a general read or digest anymore. It is more like an online resource that I dip in to for specifics.

It is a good resource, but the digital medium seem to hinder readership, and if SA is meant to be the No 1 magazine for students, and most widely read, it may need to consider a paper alternative again.

We asked with many different ACCA students and affiliates for their feedback and what they think of this new look.

“I hated it passionately at the beginning. If you can’t flick through it on the bus it’s not a magazine! But my attitude is softening”, said Margaret Dempsey, a part qualified student from Ireland.

“The web links are a feature I like. Screen reading is unpleasant and irritating though, so now I skim rather than digest”, she added.

Zahid Jamal, engagement auditor at Ernst and Young in Saudi Arabia and formerly associated with FM 105 in Pakistan shows his disappointment over new look of student accountant. “Honestly and simply speaking: The paper version of SA was easier to sort and read in any position without the use of high technology.

Although during discussion we met with few individuals with some interesting ideas for digital version of student accountant. Like Mr. Valentin Martynov, a senior associate at PwC in Houston. According to him, offering the digital version of magazine in iPhone is a great idea and people could read it while they are travelling. This will align both objectives: maintaining readership while managing to save paper.

When student accountant digital version and an idea of its smart phone application were presented to Ravi Patel, a brokerage controller at London Borough of Ealing, he had a long answer for this.

“I think that SA has become infinitely less useful since the switch to digital. I used to read it diligently but the new format is very inconvenient, and I say this as someone who is very much a tech enthusiast. The flash interface (or whatever they’ve used) is awful. It should just be a simple PDF format” he said.

“The main reason I read SA was the technical articles. These are crucial for students and should be front and centre. I also find that SA is just full of advertising these days”.

“While an iPhone article sounds like a good idea I think you have to consider how few people actually have iPhones. This will only benefit a small proportion of people. I say this as someone who would have access to this version”, Ravi added further.

One of the reasons of converting the SA to digital version was to maintain green environment and save paper. But Ravi has some other views.

“I know it won’t happen but I’d like to see a return to the paper version. Perhaps with an opt out if you don’t require one. I know that there are ecological reasons for the move away but as we are accountants I can’t help but feel that switch was made more for reasons of economy”.

Personally, one aspect that interests me is the advertising revenue since going digital. If that has dropped, I would deduce the magazine is not working – no bums on seats, no revenue!
As an advertiser, I think the online version is problematic, as you can avoid the advertisement all together. And not to mention the decline in readership.

What are your views on digital version of student accountant magazine? Let us Know?

Clean Energy has been an an issue of debate for past 10 years. Its increasing potential and market is just like the Islamic Banking of Energy market – Attracting large audience because of its market potential.

Although many at Ernst and Young never like my last article where I raise questions on the credibility of their report but the senior management is undaunted that the Green Energy Solutions are going to dominate the future – No Doubt it will – the only Question is time!

According to Independent, Ernst & Young has launched a clean energy and technology practice as it seeks to hike its revenues to more than £100m within three to five years.

The professional services firm, which is one of the “big four” accountancy giants, has appointed partner Steven Lang to be the firm’s UK & Ireland “cleantech leader”.

Mr Lang is charged with setting up, recruiting and coordinating a team of more than 100 people across four operating divisions – advisory services, assurance, tax and transaction advisory services. There will also be “cleantech leaders” located in more than 40 offices worldwide.

Mr Lang said: “Clean technology has been attracting substantial capital over the past few years. This is set to further accelerate as governments seek to ensure that cleantech growth industries are rooted in their economies. To support this we will be recruiting professionals at all levels, from graduates to partners, with specific cleantech experience.”

So if you are planning to work for them, get to know about Clean Energy before the interview – It might attract seniors!

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has urged Islamic financial institutions to distinguish themselves from conventional banks by offering products other than fixed return services.

If you remember then Yasir Maqbool, a senior auditor at Ernst and Young, raised the same concerns in his featured article, Romance Over – legitimacy of Islamic Banking. The most important question he raised were: When both systems are operating on a same fundamental then on what basis can we put the tag “ISLAMIC” on one of them?

So now even State Bank raised the concerns which were previously raised by him. According to Tribune, “The Islamic banking paradigm is based on mimicking conventional banking products,” highlighted the Acting Governor of SBP, Yaseen Anwar, while addressing a seminar titled ‘Expanding the Realms of Islamic Finance’ here on Thursday.

He stressed that Islamic banks and financial institutions need to develop products based on risk and reward-sharing principles rather than the existing products which offer fixed rates of return.

Anwar explained that at present only 14 per cent of Pakistan’s population is banked and Islamic institutions have an enormous potential to grow since many people in the country are opposed to the concept of interest.

Current Scenario

Well, it should be well noted that expansion in the banking sector has also slowed down over the past two years, the acting governor was hopeful that growth of Islamic banks would pick up. He estimated that Islamic financial institutions could easily capture 10 to 12 per cent of the total banking industry in Pakistan.

The State Bank has launched an awareness campaign for Islamic financial services and is working to strengthen Shariah compliance frameworks. The central bank is also planning to liaise with the country’s academia to improve the human resource base available to these institutions.

After the collapse of Lehman Brothers, everyone is pointing finger as who were responsible but the bigger question in my opinion is-what exactly is the role of auditors?

The accounting behind the Lehman Brothers and the report was quite uncomfortable for everyone especially Audit Fraternity. According to an article in Accountancy Age, the claim from Anton Valukas, the bankruptcy examiner, is that the position of Lehman was misrepresented and that auditor Ernst & Young was negligent in not spotting the problem.

According to the article, the examiner believes that there was evidence to bring charges against both the company and the audit firm. Things like these are giving a bad name to audit industry. Auditors are always in a special position, despite being outsiders, they know lot more than others. And if a billion dollar corporation start ending this way, then who will they audit in the end?

An auditor is just like a financial doctor and not fulfilling their duties of “True and Fair” reports is just like a doctor who sells the organs of his/her patients.  As far as the results of the report is concerned, everyone is still waiting but we hope that it make sure that these incidents won’t happen again in future.

Please give us your comments as how we can avoid such incidents?

copyright www.paksitanacca.com, 2010

You must heard about the case of Lehman Brothers.  They sacked their ex-vice president for raising concerns in front of auditors, Ernst and Young.

According to the Telegraph,

Matthew Lee, a former senior vice-president of the firm’s finance division, which was in charge of the global balance sheet, was let go in late June 2008 amid steep losses at the firm.

Lehman said at the time it had made Mr Lee redundant as part of a broader downsizing at the firm.

Mr Lee said in report by a bankruptcy court examiner on the bank’s collapse that he had raised concerns about Lehman’s accountancy practices with Ernst & Young, the bank’s auditor.

On June 12, 2008, he informed E&Y about Lehman’s use of $50bn of accounting procedures known as Repo 105 transactions in the second quarter of 2008, according to the examiner’s report.

Lehman filed for bankruptcy on September 15, 2008, listing more than $600bn of assets, a portion of which were sold off to Barclays.

Last week the bankruptcy court examiner said in his report that Lehman used accounting gimmicks and had been insolvent for weeks before it filed for bankruptcy in September 2008.

So the question of concern is when will be stop fooling accounting? These cases a giving a bad name to the profession! www.pakistanacca.com as part of their social responsibility now decided to play a role in assisting these honest people. If you are working in any company or accountancy college and you think that their practices are unfair then please report this to us and we will take every measure to convince the organization to halt their unfair activities and also to save the ‘whistle blower’

copyright www.pakistanacca.com, 2010