Fargo’s Largest Audit Firm Calls off Merger

Eide Bailly, North Dakota’s largest audit firm (#24), and Wisconsin based Wipfli (#30)  have called off merger plans.  A press release, issued jointly on Friday, February 24, 2012, reads: Executives of Wipfli and Eide Bailly, two prominent accounting and consulting firms that rank among the largest in the country, today announced the firms would not [...]

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Credit Card Control Problem?

Inject a bit of information technology into everyday life, and you can increase productivity.  Inject it indiscriminately and there is a control problem. A year ago, I wrote about the security problem associated with high tech photocopiers in, “A Control Problem.”  Today I’m writing about the RFID chip embedded in new credit cards and bank [...]

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Professor Want a New Job?

Wonder why my blogging has faded during recent weeks and months? Throughout this school year, I’ve been an accounting professor by day and a job seeker by night.  Why?  Don’t I have it great at Concordia? Well, yes.  Concordia College in Moorhead, MN, is an exceedingly fine school.  It recently upgraded its business school to [...]

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An Accountant’s Valentine – 2012

Friend Bob Jensen has described this valentine as pretty bad.  My special someone won’t even thank me for it.  If you can come up with a better accountant’s valentine, please post it as a comment.  – profalbrecht. Last year, I wrote, “An Accountant’s Valentine.”  Was it written for how I feel about accounting, or a [...]

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Former CEO (TIAA-CREF) Backs Auditor Rotation

John Biggs, CEO of TIAA-CREF from 1993 to 2002, recently submitted to the PCAOB a comment letter about its auditor rotation proposal.  In it, Biggs voiced his support for mandatory auditor rotation. In his capacity as CEO of TIAA-CREF, Biggs was more of an investor than a reporting corporate CEO.  TIAA-CREF accepts contributions from teachers [...]

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Valentines for Bloggers

Mark Schaefer writes the {Grow} blog.  Today he suggests that Valentine’s Day (February 14) should be the day when you hug your blogger. I agree.  If you have a favorite blogger, why not send words of appreciation, about making a difference. Debit and credit – – David Albrecht    

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CAQ Releases Second Cartoon

The Center for Audit Quality (CAQ), a special interest group that lobbies for and promotes the audit industry, has issued a second video, “The Financial Statement Audit.” These videos are appropriate for high school and college students taking introduction to financial accounting, who desire to learn a few simple basics about what auditors do. As [...]

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Off Topic: Safety in Groups

There is so much for me to do today that I must think about whether to interrupt work and take a restroom break.  And a few things have not gone my way. I feel stress, pressure and angst.  It’s time for relief. Good friend Woodie today sent an e-mail with links to three clever, funny [...]

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Nomadic Accountants

The EU and the United States are considering mandatory auditor rotation.  Some have opined that this will lead to nomadic accountants, auditors who move every five years in search of green fields of audit clients to graze upon. Bob Jensen (Trinity University retired professor) is a prolific web surfer who posts his finds on AECM, [...]

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Infographic on Social Media Usage in Higher Education

There are a lot of misconceptions about social media usage in higher education.  In a similar fashion, there are lots of misconceptions about controlling costs in higher education, or in controlling healthcare costs in America. When President Obama talked about controlling costs of higher education in his recent State of the Union Address, he really [...]

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Groundhog Accounting Day

February 2 is Groundhog Day observed in North America.  As lived in folk culture, if a groundhog checks outside conditions this morning and sees its shadow, then six more weeks of winter are sure to follow.  If the sky is overcast and the groundhog can’t see its shadow, then spring is about to arrive.  A [...]

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