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Friday, September 6, 2013

No comments : Posted by BYU BAP at 10:15 PM Labels: Meet the Firms
Meet the Firms - Tuesday, September 10, 2013 

Schedule:

   7:00 PM - Beta Alpha Psi Initiates 
   7:15 PM - Senior/MAcc Students
 8:30 PM - Junior Core Students 

Firms in Attendance:

Becker CPA Review; Bradshaw; Smith & Co. LLP; Cargill; CBIZ MHM LLC; Clearwater Analytics; ConAgra; Deloitte; Duff & Phelps; EY; Goldman Sachs; Grant Thornton LLP; Hawkins Cloward & Simister; Eide Bailly, LLP (Formerly known as Hansen; Barnett & Maxwell); J.D Clark & Company; John Deere; King, King, Alleman & Jensen, A.C.; KPMG; Larson; Malone Bailey; Moss Adams LLP; New Day USA; Protiviti; PwC; Qualtrics Labs, Inc; Roger CPA Review; Squire & Co.; Stewart Archibald & Barney, LLP; Strata Fund Services LLC; Tanner LLC; The Walt Disney Company; The Utah State Auditor Office; Union Pacific Railroad; Wisan Smith Racker & Prescott (WSRP); WTAS LLC
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Tuesday, April 16, 2013

No comments : Posted by BYU BAP at 12:08 AM

The Leadership Experience 

Many of you have spiffed up resumes, belabored through behavior-based questions, and paid attention to program presentations, all in an effort to obtain a coveted spot in one of the firms’ summer leadership programs.  But now that you’ve got the spot, do you know what you’re getting into?

Here’s a guide of what to expect when you embark on your summer leadership adventures.

What to Expect
I participated in three local summer leadership programs, and one national leadership program and they ran anywhere from one to five days.  But more or less, they are made up of the same ingredients:

The Dinner. Most leadership programs start off with a dinner, but even if they don’t, they will generally have a formal meal at some point throughout the event.  At the dinner you
are introduced to other leadership participants and a buddy/guide of some sort.  This buddy is usually a new hire or a first- or second-year staff.  He or she is your liaison. Be polite, get to know him or her, and don’t be afraid—Not too long ago they were right in your position—so feel free to ask any questions that are on your mind. As you get to know your buddy better, you will be able to ask more specific questions.

After dinner you will be left to explore the city, your hotel, or just crash in bed.  Whatever you do, make sure you get to bed on time because you’ll have an early start in the morning.

The Office. At some point you will go to the office and be given a tour with some staff from the office. You will also most likely enjoy a presentation about the firm and the local market, or how to be a better leader. Some firms will give you a lot of useful information about the different careers at their firm (Forensic, Transaction Services, Advisory, etc.).  Pay attention because in the fall you will select one of these areas and interview for a position—you want to make sure you get the right one for you.

Team Building. Now it’s time to put in practice your leadership skills.  Whether it’s building a tower, making a video, solving a puzzle, you will be put in a team to practice working together.  The prizes for winning these games are actually pretty cool; I won a camera, a blanket, and even a couple gift cards. The trick to winning is enthusiasm, effort, and more enthusiasm. It doesn’t hurt to spend some time on the firms Wikipedia page for firm trivia either.

Even if you don’t win anything, you will get to know the other participants and staff on your team really well.  Some of my team-members ended up being my good friends during my internship.

The Activity. Often, leadership programs will include some kind of closing activity, though not always.  It could be bowling, going to a ball game, or even going to the zoo. Instead of an activity, you might do a service project instead. Whatever you do, have fun and buy-in to the activity, because it’s important to have fun while networking with future co-workers. 

The National Experience. A national leadership experience is very close to a local leadership, and has the same things mentioned above.  The difference is that national leadership programs are usually a full workweek and have a lot more activities: More meals, more games, more activities, more networking, and more presentations. 

Additionally, national leadership programs don’t take place at the office, but rather at a conference center, hotel, or training facility. They are fun and exciting.  Time goes by fast so keep up your enthusiasm and get to know as many people as you can.

What to pack
They will tell you generally what you need to pack, but I will tell you what I saw at the leadership programs. Most activities are business casual.  For men you will find most people wear slacks and a nice dress shirt.  A blazer or sports coat isn’t a bad idea if you want to spruce things up even more.  Women often wear a skirt and blouse, but many also wear dress slacks.

If you are interviewing at the leadership program, bring a suit.

National leadership programs usually require nice-casual dress.  The most difficult thing to figure out is what kind of shoes to pack, because generally sandals are not acceptable.  I found that many people wore boat shoes (like Sperry’s) or loafers.

Other things you might want to bring: Sunscreen, firm gear (the right firm’s gear), sunglasses, swimsuit (for the hotel pool), gym-clothes (for the hotel gym).

Whatever you do, pack light.  For shorter, local leadership programs, you should be able to fit everything in a carry-on and comfortable personal bag. Here’s why: you may have to walk a couple blocks with your luggage, or store it in an office closet, or check it at the hotel desk (what I recommend).

Tips and Tricks
To finish off, I’ll give you some tips and tricks that I learned during my leadership programs or that I heard from others.

Make friends—you will continue to see the same participants at the different leadership programs.  Anyone you meet could be a future mentor or co-worker.

Be polite, say thank you—the Bible shows that only about one in ten will go back and say thank you, make sure that person is you. The firm just spent a ton of money to recruit you and make sure you had a good time, so thank everyone. 

Enthusiasm—a cheerful and invested attitude will go a long way.

Check your bags at the hotel—walking even a couple blocks with luggage in a crowded city is a pain.  Checking your bags is worth the couple dollar tip to the bellman.

Be Early—it’s easy to get turned around, or to run into a long check out line.  Plan ahead and be early. 

Follow-up Email—THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT! Sending an email after to say thank you or further connect with professionals you meet is always a good way to network with the professionals.


Whatever you do, represent BYU and BAP well; you are a part of the Marriott School Brand!




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Monday, April 15, 2013

Berkeley Research Group

No comments : Posted by BYU BAP at 11:31 PM
     We had the amazing opportunity to hear from forensic accountants working for the Berkeley Research Group, a leading consulting and globe expert services firm that provides independent expert testimony.  Jeff Shaw and Matt Babcock came to us and gave us the best presentation yet for forensic accounting.  The walked us through the “Life as a Forensic Accountant.”  They started off by quickly going over the definition of forensic accounting, evidence gathered suitable for use in the court of law.  They gave us interesting statistics showing the market share of the forensic accounting field.  The Big four have their own forensic accounting branches that have about 35 percent of the market share, but the majority is held by small firms.  This is truly a unique kind of accounting, where you could be getting just as much action in a small firm as in the big four, it all just depends on the kind of connections that your firm has to lawyers and other clients.
     Some of the cases that Jeff and Matt had worked on were unique.  They worked on valuation cases for businesses.  One example is the half of the business that Anna Nicole Smith inherited when her husband died.  Other cases dealt with Profit Lost calculations for a construction company, Medical joint venture issues, fraud investigations at local banks, and Asset Tracing.  On the Asset tracing case they were hired by a royal family to go and categorize all of the assets that the prince had.  The kept tabs on and tracked everything from huge 747 planes to the last diamond studded tooth brush.
     If you are interested in becoming a forensic accountant, there are a few skills that you should develop now.  There was a study done where attorneys, academics, and other forensic accountants were asked what skills they thought were most important for a forensic accountant to have.  A few of these skills are analytical thinking, detail oriented, ethical, responsive, insightful, professionally skeptical, inquisitive, persistent, and effective oral/written communication.
     The work is never very constant; it just depends on how many cases your firm has to deal with.  Sometimes you could be working less than 20 hours a week and others you could be working as much as 70 or more.  Jeff told us that on average he has probably worked about 45 hours a week.  There are exciting times where you are out in the field tracking assets and other times when you are shifting through a bunch of e-mails to find out what you need to know to make a solid case.  It mostly depends on the cases and clients you have.  One thing that is different from working for the FBI is that your clients and the people you are finding evidence on most likely do not have ties with organized crime, so you will not be getting shot at.  Matt did tell us of one case a friend of his worked on where the mafia did come into the picture, but that was only one case.

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Saturday, April 13, 2013

Utah State Auditor's Office

1 comment : Posted by BYU BAP at 10:08 AM

Hollie Andrus and Deborah Davis from the Utah State Auditor’s Office came and showed us how state
auditors work. The Utah state auditor’s office is the official office that audits the state of Utah. The
Utah state auditor’s office is like the Deloitte and KPMG employees for the state. They go and audit
entities that are owned by the state, which are required by the state constitution to be audited by the
state auditor’s office. They audit state universities, public safety offices, state courts, health services,
the tax commission, etc.

They are considered independent from the state because the Utah State Auditor is an elected position.
If you were able to vote in Utah last November then you had the opportunity to vote for who should be
in this position. The Utah State Auditor does not need to be a CPA to be elected into the position. The
new State Auditor has an engineering degree, and is bringing a new perspective to the auditing office.

Deborah explained to us that the Utah State Auditor’s Office still follows the same audit standards as
other auditors, which requires them to follow SAS 99. This stand-alone risk assessment standard, one
part of which compels the auditor to ask three questions, was the FASB’s response to the need of a
revision to the clarity standard, the FASB latter came out with more statements about clarity. The three
questions of SAS 99 are “Are you aware of fraud? Have suspicions of fraud? Or have heard allegations of
fraud?” These questions can lead to extremely interesting stories.

Deborah and Hollie told us about how when people answer yes to these questions the first thought that
runs through their head is “oh great I am going to blow my budget.” Deborah told us of a University
Professor that got federal grant money to teach a certain program at the university. He did not
accurately keep track of his time on the federal program and charged different expenses and even
family trips to Alaska to the account. They found out about the fraud from other professors that noticed
that the thief seemed to have more money than his salary could provide. It took a lot of time, but they
eventually unraveled the complex net.

From this experience, they told us that it is ok to go over budget when you have found something that
could lead to the discovery of a material misstatement or fraud.
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Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Eric Lee, Forensic Accountant for Grant Thornton

No comments : Posted by BYU BAP at 12:59 AM
This last Thursday Eric Lee from Grant Thornton came and gave us a deeper look at forensic accounting and fraud. In case you were not able to come to both meetings about this subject, forensic accounting is the identification, gathering, and interpretation of financial information suitable for use in a court of law. Eric had spent time with the FBI and then made the change to a firm. He enjoyed his old job, kicking in doors, arresting people, infiltrating drug gangs and performing interrogations with the FBI. He told us that it was hard to pretend to be a dirt bag to get into a drug gang, and raise a family. He also enjoys that people are not trying to kill him daily, he also enjoys the opportunity he has to build up networking relations with law firms, go golfing with lawyers and other events, and giving back to the community with his career at Grant Thornton.

 

Eric explained to us that as a forensic accountant there are two main areas that you are involved in. Investigations are the first area. Subjects like fraud, embezzlement, financial statement fraud, foreign corrupt practices act, shadow investigations, and anti-corruption consulting fall under this category. Under the foreign corrupt practices act Eric has gone out to other countries to see if any companies that do business in the United States bribe officials in other governments to get preferential treatment. Eric has been all over the world looking at other companies where one of their employees had blown the whistle on the company. Shadow investigations are where auditors shadow investigators to make sure that the auditors have all the information they need to make a decision on whether the auditors want to issue an opinion or drop the client.

The second area is Dispute Services. This has a lot to do with coming up with numbers to present in a court case or for lawyers to know how much to sue for. Damage valuation, expert testimony, litigation consulting, neutral arbitration, and post-acquisition disputes are covered by dispute services. Attorneys frequently hire forensic accountants to find out what happened to the money, and then the accountants usually give testimony in court.

There are many ways that you can get into a forensic accounting career. Eric suggested that since we are already in the accounting field, that we can try to get on as many shadow investigations as possible when we are in a firm. We have exceptional resources available to us right now as well. We have Professor Albrecht and Zimblemann that would be happy to talk about fraud any time they are free, as well as a Fraud club that can also help you find out more.


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Goldman-Sachs, Securitization

No comments : Posted by BYU BAP at 12:55 AM

Mortgaged backed securitizations. The very name of these financial instruments most likely brings up bad memories for the average citizen in the United States. This last week we were visited by Peter Christensen, a VP in Goldman's BHC Regulatory Capital Group, and we learned more about what structured finance is all about.

A structured finance is a bond that is backed by cash flows made by a specific asset. You can securitize anything with a cash flow, residential and commercial mortgages, credit card receivables, and auto loans. You can choose how risky or reserved the structured finance bonds are by what you decide to securitize to make the structured bonds. A more advances form of a structured finance is called a collateralized debt obligation (CDO). This is where you take a lot of securitization bonds and securitize them into one bond.

The reason why it is possible to make a structured finance bond is a principle called “bankruptcy remote.” To achieve this, banks created special purpose vehicles to buy the loans from the banks to keep the assets safe from the chance that the banks go bankrupt before the bond is matured. This also allows the investors to focus on the bond risk alone, and not the risk that is tied to the bank.

Securitization is a way for the banks to raise capital for banks without issuing new debt or equity. This allowed the banks to be able to make more loans with cash that was on hand. In 2006 banks had been securitizing tons of home mortgages into these bonds. Most of these bonds held mortgages in California, Arizona, and Florida, where the economy of the state relied heavily on the health of the housing industry. When the bubble burst in 2007 the bonds started to go bad. No one was able to pay their mortgages, so the bonds did not receive the cash flow that was required.

The reason why the securitization bonds were so popular is because to the banks they seemed like a good investment to reinvest their money in. They felt like they understood the risks associated with the mortgage backed securities. Due to the traunching of securities, where there is a rating level to the risk you are taking, banks were able to make huge returns by reinvesting in the riskiest unrated class. Traunching is a rating system, the highest grade is the AAA ranking, followed by AA, A, BBB, BB, B, Unrated Class, where the AAA rating gets paid a lower interest rate for the money invested. The unrated class gets the highest interest rate, but when the cash flow starts to fail, their investment is the first to go. When people do not pay their mortgage or auto loan, then the unrated class, does not get paid, then B, BB, BBB, and so on until no one gets a return on their investment. In 2007 so many loans were defaulting that AAA investments were starting to drop off, it did not help that most investors had an AAA rating. Businesses that had investments in these securities were required by law to sell the investment. With the saturation of securities, and the declining price, a perfect storm was created in the economy.

There were a few companies that saw the storm on the horizon. A man at Deutsche bank was able to get on the other side of the transactions and made millions of dollars for his company. Also at Goldman – Sachs, who fair values all of their assets, they were able to see trouble and make money through the bursting bubble.

Securitizations today are more diverse and hopefully will not run into the same problems that were seen five years ago. Peter Christensen feels that to keep bank interest rates low, it is important that banks start using securitized bonds again. “The Fed cannot keep their interest rates at a minimum forever.”

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Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Angela Mennit, Forensic Accountant for the FBI

No comments : Posted by BYU BAP at 1:30 AM

This Thursday professional meeting was awesome! We learned about Forensic Accounting from
Angela S. Mennitt, a FBI agent from Minnesota. She graduated in Economics and through her career
choices got into the accounting field and auditing. She is now part of the Utah branch of the FBI, and
she gave us some insights on what the FBI accountants do.

As an FBI agent, accountants are mostly involved in “White Collar” crime, which entails fraud,
deceit, manipulation, etc. Sometimes they get called in to the spy side of the agency, to fight against
corrupt corporations or mob organizations with money laundering operations. With most cases it is the
job of the forensic accountants to follow the money and prove the purpose of intent.

She described the different crimes that she has seen and dealt with. One group of crimes is
called Affinity Fraud, a case of fraud where the victims have some sort of commonality between them
and the perpetrator. The perpetrator uses this connection to get victims to buy into the scam. An
example of this is Bernie Madoff, whose victims were mostly Jewish. A case that she had data on was
one that involved the “Tiger Woods of foreign exchange” right here in Utah valley. The perpetrator got
his family and neighbors to let him invest money for them in foreign exchanges. It is no crime to lose
money or gain money in exchanges, the crime was when he lied to his relatives about the gains he was
receiving to get more money to cover the losses on old investments.



Another class of cases we looked at was health care fraud. Health care fraud costs the
government around 80 billion dollars a year! She talked about how this will not be fixed in the current
Medicaid system that we have because the FBI is always chasing the money. We need preventative
actions to solve the problem. The FBI is able to recover about 200 million each year, there is a big
difference; the other money just disappears.

The reason that it is such a problem in the United States is that there is such a low barrier of
entry into starting a medical equipment store. After one is set up, the owners go out to doctors and
perspective patients to get more orders for their goods. Then the bill gets put in the taxpayers lap when
the Medicaid program pays for the equipment. Angela showed us a case from Florida that involved a
family that set up three different supply stores. She showed us data on how the money of the
businesses was distributed. There were costs for purchasing the equipment, other business costs, and
then cash disbursements to the family and conspiring marketing company, which was also owned by the
family. It seemed blatantly obvious that these stores were a scam even though in criminal accounting
you have to be conservative with what is labeled other business expense. Most of the time these kinds
of frauds are pointed out to the FBI by other supply stores in the area, patient recruiting, and
advertisements that offer medical equipment for free.

Angela really enjoys her work. It can be tedious at times; scanning information into a computer,
cleaning data, and going through bank statements, but being an agent can take you exotic places. She
has been all over the world with her work. She has gone to Istanbul, to Beijing, and many other places
in Europe, and South America.
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