Mark Twain opined, “Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason.” I’m guessing that Rihanna wishes he had advised her that accountants also must be changed frequently. PCAOB please take note.
Rihanna is a popular singer whose recordings and tours have produced millions in revenues. According to her lawsuit against Berdon, LLP and accountants Michael Mitnick and Peter Gounis. She hired the firm in 2005 when she was young (16), famous, and newly arrived in the USA. No kid aged 16 truly understands finances, budgeting and accounting. I might add that few college kids taking accounting courses understand those, either.
Now facing an IRS audit and the prospect of paying back taxes and fines (I wonder if jail is in the picture), she is suing the accounting firm and the two accountants for mismanaging her finances. Note, she fired the accounting firm in 2010.
Who, on the outside, knows who is at fault here–Rihanna or her accountants? I certainly don’t.
Rihanna, I’m sorry much of your fortune has dissipated. In the future, I advise you to change accountants fairly frequently, and then hire someone (such as a forensic accountant) to check up on the accountant.
For more on this, please read:
- “Rihanna Sues Former Accountants,” by Dan Strumpf of the Wall Street J0urnal.
- “Rihanna Sues Accountants for ‘Tens of Millions’ in Losses,” by Andrew Lu in an article published at Reuters.
Debit and credit – – David Albrecht
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While we don’t really know who is to blame here, I can tell you that if my books ever looked out of the ordinary my contractor accountants would tell me to sort things out right away and I’m only a sole trader. Now imagine if your client was a multi-million brand in their own right? You certainly wouldn’t slack on offering them financial advice. I think there’s more to this than we’ll ever know.