pnwguy
Associate Professor
Posts: 1,447
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Post by pnwguy on Feb 14, 2022 23:47:17 GMT
I'm not sure what to make of this. So those statements are not to be relied upon because now the accounting firm has reason to believe they are based on faulty information? Isn't that true of any financial statement of any client? The statement is only as good as its foundation. Are they trying to state the obvious or trying to signal that there is specific information that the company knows is incorrect? Sounds like the firm believes they were given fraudulent info from the company they were auditing. What a surprise! |
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AnBr
Associate Professor
Posts: 1,819
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Post by AnBr on Feb 15, 2022 0:23:57 GMT
Worried about their own asses? If tRump goes down on accounting shenanigans...
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andydp
Tenured Full Professor
Posts: 3,012
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Post by andydp on Feb 15, 2022 0:37:45 GMT
Worried about their own asses? If tRump goes down on accounting shenanigans... I forget which of the big accounting firms was destroyed by the Enron collapse. I doubt these people want to have the same fate. I’m willing to bet they going to talk a lot. Plus… there are state and city issues here. |
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Post by goldenvalley on Feb 15, 2022 0:52:09 GMT
Worried about their own asses? If tRump goes down on accounting shenanigans... I forget which of the big accounting firms was destroyed by the Enron collapse. I doubt these people want to have the same fate. I’m willing to bet they going to talk a lot. Plus… there are state and city issues here. Arthur Anderson |
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Post by Bact PhD on Feb 15, 2022 1:45:05 GMT
I'm not sure what to make of this. Are they trying to state the obvious or trying to signal that there is specific information that the company knows is incorrect? |
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jackd
Assistant Professor
Posts: 813
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Post by jackd on Feb 15, 2022 1:55:10 GMT
And their problem may be when they knew the information was incorrect and what, if anything, they did about it at the time.
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Post by LFC on Feb 15, 2022 16:45:14 GMT
So those statements are not to be relied upon because now the accounting firm has reason to believe they are based on faulty information? Isn't that true of any financial statement of any client? The statement is only as good as its foundation. Are they trying to state the obvious or trying to signal that there is specific information that the company knows is incorrect? In general I expect they assume some level of good faith from companies. They're accountants, not auditors, so they really have to accept anything coming to them that looks normal. Since the evidence already presented shows conflicting representations of asset value and income from the Trump Organization they backing out. I suspect there are several reasons including company reputation, worry about being dragged into the prosecution, and worries about the amount of time/money they'll have to spend if they try to defend Trump's nonsense. And then there's Trump's track record of stiffing people he doesn't think he needs or he feels are disloyal. If they refuse to lie for him they'll end up with a big, fat stack of unpaid bills. Better to cut and run before the losses mount up. |
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Post by goldenvalley on Feb 15, 2022 17:25:20 GMT
So those statements are not to be relied upon because now the accounting firm has reason to believe they are based on faulty information? Isn't that true of any financial statement of any client? The statement is only as good as its foundation. Are they trying to state the obvious or trying to signal that there is specific information that the company knows is incorrect? In general I expect they assume some level of good faith from companies. They're accountants, not auditors, so they really have to accept anything coming to them that looks normal. Since the evidence already presented shows conflicting representations of asset value and income from the Trump Organization they backing out. I suspect there are several reasons including company reputation, worry about being dragged into the prosecution, and worries about the amount of time/money they'll have to spend if they try to defend Trump's nonsense. And then there's Trump's track record of stiffing people he doesn't think he needs or he feels are disloyal. If they refuse to lie for him they'll end up with a big, fat stack of unpaid bills. Better to cut and run before the losses mount up. The Mazar people will still have to testify if subpoenaed. The public statement won't get them out of that possibility. They don't have to defend his numbers, but they do have to explain the process they used to prepare the statements. |
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jackd
Assistant Professor
Posts: 813
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Post by jackd on Feb 15, 2022 18:47:25 GMT
Auditors can be held civilly liable under some circumstances if it can be shown that accepting the client's information was so "gullible" as to amount to negligence.
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Post by LFC on Feb 15, 2022 21:09:03 GMT
The Mazar people will still have to testify if subpoenaed. The public statement won't get them out of that possibility. They don't have to defend his numbers, but they do have to explain the process they used to prepare the statements. They won't cost too dearly but if they have to drag up all their correspondence, and present/defend their processes in court that could add up. Auditors can be held civilly liable under some circumstances if it can be shown that accepting the client's information was so "gullible" as to amount to negligence. Would this company be considered Trump's accountants or auditors? Or some of each? I was thinking that they basically took what they were handed, prepared government submissions, probably did their taxes, and that was that. Did they have an audit role? |
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jackd
Assistant Professor
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Post by jackd on Feb 15, 2022 21:33:10 GMT
The standards are similar for both functions where the accountants know their report will be used to influence the actions of others, like banks or investors.
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pnwguy
Associate Professor
Posts: 1,447
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Post by pnwguy on Feb 15, 2022 21:59:53 GMT
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pnwguy
Associate Professor
Posts: 1,447
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Post by pnwguy on Feb 16, 2022 15:55:32 GMT
The Only-I-Can-Fix-It president boned up international trade, like everything else. www.thebulwark.com/verdict-is-in-trump-wasnt-right-about-china/The fact that Bernie was gaslighting on TPP, forcing Hilary to cave on it too, doesn't help. Of course, the average voter doesn't seem to want to understand complex economic issues and is prone to demagoguery. That of course, is Dumpster's superpower. American voters don't seem capable of understanding anything that won't fit on a bumper sticker or Facebook meme. |
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andydp
Tenured Full Professor
Posts: 3,012
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Post by andydp on Feb 16, 2022 17:33:56 GMT
Once again, our schadenfreude cup runneth over: George Conway: Accounting Firm's Move Is Worse For Trump Than Being Impeached TwiceHaving your statements pulled by your accountants "is just about the most calamitous thing that could happen" to your business, the conservative attorney said.
Mr Conway also provided us a handy translation.  In the bottom right of Maggie Haberman's Tweet, you see a number in the right hand corner labelled Mazar-NYAG 00525838. This means Mazars has provided at least 525838 pages of documentation to the NY AG www.huffpost.com/entry/george-conway-trump-accountants_n_620b12ebe4b0328e002b0521Fun Fact: For those that forgot, this is Kellyanne (Alternate Facts Universe) Conway's husband |
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andydp
Tenured Full Professor
Posts: 3,012
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Post by andydp on Feb 16, 2022 20:34:33 GMT
Now for the weeping, gnashing of teeth and rending of the garments. Note the quote from one of his "advisors" who have probably been saying all along to ignore everything. Reality just happened. Trump’s Inner Circle Freaks That His Tax Firm ‘Screwed’ Him
Predictably, Donald Trump wants you to think his longtime accounting firm’s decision to ditch the Trump Organization last week is no big deal. In fact, he would like you to not think about it at all. But that hasn’t stopped members of his inner sanctum from wondering if the highly publicized investigations in New York could actually be what ultimately torches the ex-president’s sprawling family business. Which is why after accounting firm Mazars USA dropped the Trump Organization, three people close to former President Trump told The Daily Beast they have each urged Trump—or others in his family and brain trust—to take this possibly ruinous development seriously. “I’ll be honest with you: I have said for years that this whole thing is one big fishing expedition,” one of the sources said. “I’ve expected it to just fizzle at some point, or to turn up ticky tacky shit that can score prosecutors big headlines. The Mazars news was the first time I started thinking, ‘Hey, this might be serious.’ Could Donald Trump [and his business] be screwed? I don’t know, but I’m not as confident as I once was in saying, ‘No.’”Full article www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-s-inner-circle-freaks-that-his-tax-firm-screwed-him/ar-AATUWdn?ocid=msedgntpThis is what happens when you have a circle of sycophants to keep assuring you you're the bestest ever !! If the president alone was vested with the power of appointing all officers, and was left to select a council for himself, he would be liable to be deceived by flatterers and pretenders to patriotism.
Roger Sherman |
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Post by goldenvalley on Feb 16, 2022 20:59:05 GMT
Now for the weeping, gnashing of teeth and rending of the garments. Note the quote from one of his "advisors" who have probably been saying all along to ignore everything. Reality just happened. Trump’s Inner Circle Freaks That His Tax Firm ‘Screwed’ Him
It's probably true that absent Trump becoming president a lot of his business practices would have been ignored by the feds and the NY AG office. I imagine there are lots of real estate developers that do the same sorts shenanigans with their financial statements and taxes. This is not to say that Trump shouldn't be pursued. What Trump and his defenders fail to recognize is that when you elevate your public profile, all parts of your profile become public, not just the ones that you want people to see. |
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andydp
Tenured Full Professor
Posts: 3,012
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Post by andydp on Feb 16, 2022 21:16:28 GMT
Now for the weeping, gnashing of teeth and rending of the garments. Note the quote from one of his "advisors" who have probably been saying all along to ignore everything. Reality just happened. Trump’s Inner Circle Freaks That His Tax Firm ‘Screwed’ Him
It's probably true that absent Trump becoming president a lot of his business practices would have been ignored by the feds and the NY AG office. I imagine there are lots of real estate developers that do the same sorts shenanigans with their financial statements and taxes. This is not to say that Trump shouldn't be pursued. What Trump and his defenders fail to recognize is that when you elevate your public profile, all parts of your profile become public, not just the ones that you want people to see. General Creighton Abrams used to say: The higher you go up the flagpole, the more your ass is exposed. |
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Post by LFC on Feb 17, 2022 20:57:27 GMT
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pnwguy
Associate Professor
Posts: 1,447
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Post by pnwguy on Feb 17, 2022 21:22:02 GMT
Pull their passports. They are all a flight risk. |
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Post by goldenvalley on Feb 17, 2022 21:29:01 GMT
Pull their passports. They are all a flight risk. This is not a criminal investigation so I doubt the courts have the ability to do anything like that. Too bad. |
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Post by LFC on Feb 18, 2022 21:41:27 GMT
Remember the folks who freaked out about Hillary's emails? Who compared her to a sailor who took photos of classified nuclear sub technology, destroyed them to try to hide evidence, and got a year in jail? Remember "the law's the law?" I wonder what their opinion is on Trump. Just kidding. I don't wonder at all. [snip] Blatant theft of top secret documents is a serious crime. Even if he was president when the transfer happened possession of those documents is also a serious crime. LOCK HIM UP! LOCK HIM UP!
. Ditto destruction of documents in direct violation of both the law and a prior warning not to do it. I just hope Garland has a pair of balls. If he doesn't then let him go and maybe bring in Liz Cheney! |
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Post by LFC on Feb 18, 2022 21:51:59 GMT
Another Republican throws away any vestige of dignity, pride, or honesty on the Altar of Trump. Hope that taste of Preparation H in your mouth is worth it.
Little Marco too, not that he had any dignity, pride, or honesty left to sacrifice. Lap up |
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Post by indy on Feb 18, 2022 23:00:21 GMT
Little Marco too, not that he had any dignity, pride, or honesty left to sacrifice. Lap up Rather an overbroad use of the word 'people' there.
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Post by Traveler on Feb 21, 2022 20:25:13 GMT
Indy, good to see you again. So much shit lately, I don't need LFC to condense it for me, so I have been absent myself. Hard to digest a sustained shitshow like current events. Fun to catch up every now and then. Maybe we will have a war to deal with?
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Post by LFC on Feb 22, 2022 15:36:33 GMT
Trump's PAC is taking in big money and handing out peanuts? Say it ain't so! |
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