Regardless of the year’s receipts, 2011 has been annus horribilis for BDO and, based on several tips we’ve received, we think it is about to get immeasurably worse for the firm’s employees and clients. Strap in ladies and gentlemen, this is a wild one!
Very quickly, some background. In March we reported rumours that BDO was buckling under the weight of repayments pursuant to a huge capital raising meant to secure the future of the firm post-GFC. Here is the letter sent to all directors in November 2009 encouraging them to offer personal guarantees in exchange for the aforementioned capital. Here is a detailed slideshow showing what the capital raising was intended to achieve. We understand that the capital raising was successful, resulting in BDO directors gaining personal exposure to the debt at an average of $1million each.
But that was the sum before we reported rumours that BDO directors were again being asked to personally guarantee a capital raising, this one in the order of $20million. BD-uh-Oh! We get to the pork pies after the break.
Pork Pie #1: MD Says Departure of Senior Partner for “professional reasons”
By December 2009, we started hearing rumours that senior, respected staff were leaving the firm. First, we reported the departure of two senior figures from the Brisbane office, followed by the Brisbane COO. Then came rumours of the loss of the firm’s Melbourne tax partners, Next came a very ugly legal action from a former partner.
Then, controversially, came rumours that BDO had lost a very valued client due to the departure of senior figures within the firm. BDO CEO Tony “Mr T” Schiffman contacted us directly to refute that rumour and we agreed to redact our post. If the leaked email below is an indication, we probably should not have:
From: Tony.Schiffmann@bdo.com.au
To: davidmason35@hotmail.com
Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2011 08:25:26 +1000David,
Your response is embarrassing, from your perspective. Kelly is on leave and James has better things to do than respond to your requests.
As I said, our lawyers will write to you today about this incident and a range of issues about your conduct over the last couple of weeks. You will soon see that we have become aware of a number of things that you have done, which in our view, give rise to an action(s) against your [sic] personally.
In relation to your explanation about your conversation with [redacted], all I can say is that I think that you are a liar, with clearly no understanding of the concept of what it means to be a professional. If you haven’t learnt that by now, then there is little prospect that you will ever understand that concept.
Regards, [we like this touch]
Tony
Sounds like our man Mr T was keen to put the squeeze on at least one of those partners to depart. Mention of “lawyers” and lies — all rather ironic, given what Tony told us later, in response to our inquiry about rumours that BDO’s international parent was “threatening to pull the licence” and that two senior partners had jumped ship. You’ll recall he responded to this by telling Firm Spy:
This is untrue. Two Partners finished with BDO in Brisbane a week ago after a lengthy transition process. Their departures were for professional reasons, and BDO wishes them well for their futures.
While it’s true that he did mention the word “professional” in his email to one of the partners, to call their departure one caused by “professional reasons” is laughably pushing the boundaries of euphemism. But we’re prepared to forgive the creativity of Mr T’s dirt-busting laundry language. “Lengthy transition process”, however, is just too much. Pork pie #1.
Pork Pie #2: “lazy and unprofessional” Advice
As for the second departure, there isn’t much well-wishing in the following leaked email, which is pretty much the client complaint from hell:
From: [redacted client]
To: simon.abraham@bdo.com.au
Subject: BDO – QLD
Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2011 22:42:05 +0000Hi Simon
I would like to draw your attention to a recent correspondence that I received from your BDO Brisbane office pertaining to [redacted] R&D Tax Concession claim. Specifically, I would like to register my total disdain for the advice of this BDO partner and the manner in which it was provided.
…
As you are aware, [redacted] has a long history of undertaking R&D activities and has developed a strong and successful relationship with BDO’s R&D team namely David Mason and Tracey Murray in preparing and claiming the R&D Tax Concession. …
… Mr Dennis Lin [BDO partner] attempted to contact me by phone once before sending us a three page memo explaining why our project isn’t R&D [for purposes of tax concessions]. His ‘analysis’ was based entirely on him reading an email I sent to David Mason providing an overview of the project … We are not R&D experts … We engage BDO due to its expertise in R&D and its ability to meet with us, learn about our project and establish the technical risk that underpins the commercial risks we talk about. … That is the reason that we pay $450 an hour for an R&D expert. … Is Mr Lin in fact such an R&D specialist? Should he perhaps have advised us that he is hence his advice is even believable? [sic]
Mr Lin … couldn’t even be bothered to get in contact with us to discuss this matter personally (one phone call, really?!) and suggests in tone that I missed the opportunity to … Mr Lin portrays that [client] is simply a name on his client list or a job that he wants to tick off …
With a single, thoughtless memo, Mr Lin has … gone a long way to destroying the goodwill that [client] and BDO have built up over the years. Surely this is not the attitude of BDO as a national enterprise? Categorising clients into important and not important and treating the ‘not important’ ones as second class citizens? Is the sum paid to BDO Brisbane by [client] to date deemed such a pittance that it warrants so little consideration?
This is a lazy and unprofessional approach from so called professionals! [Client] LOATHE this type of caper. … please assure Mr Lin that if he dares to render an account … for this ‘advice’ he will be hearing from me personally and we will take it further. …
I feel sorry for any other BDO Brisbane clients who may have received similar treatment and the resultant feelings invoked when a possible claim such as ours is pending. I resent the time I am taking now to convey this all to you. …
I look forward to your response. [ends]
B D Ouch. We make no comment on the validity of these claims, and simply state that we received an email — which you can see for yourself using the link above — bearing them. We can only wonder what swift and professional response BDO management would have taken to that email, and where the client took its money afterwards (or, if not then, presumably now, once its poetic rant has been leaked by some disgruntled BDO spy or another). Either way, we suspect Mr T has little in the way of well-wishes for this partner, his “professional reasons” or “transition process”. Pork pie #2.
Pork Pie #3: CEO Orders PA Escorted from Premises After Bad “intel”
In fairness, it does sound like much of the rot is confined to Brisbane – but staff in other offices have been affected. One recent example of the callous mistreatment of a personal assistant has come to light, from a BDO spy yesterday:
I thought that you would appreciate an update with respect to the two Brisbane R&D tax partners that departed BDO earlier this year. Firstly, in what may be a first in the Australian professional services industry, BDO walked a Personal Assistant after he tendered his notice and indicated that he would be joining another professional services firm (It probably didn’t help that the PA in question was the PA for the two former partners). Schiffman indicated that he had intel that the two partners were setting up shop at Davis Collision Cave (the IP firm) and accused the PA of heading off to work for them. The PA responded that he was definitely not going to work at DCC but was considering various offers that may or may not include the partners in question. At this point, Schiffman got angry and gave the PA ten minutes to get off the premises.
No doubt Schiffman’s line on this matter is the same to his official response to FS’s article [quoted above].
Sounds like someone had a temper tantrum. Our sympathies lie with the PA who was frogmarched from the premises in such a humiliating fashion. Schiffman’s “intel” — whether true or not — was clearly no grounds for doing what he did.
But it doesn’t stop there. We also received the following intel from another unnamed source recently:
Paul Carr former head of BDO’s Melbourne Audit parctice is leaving to join Deloitte. This follows the departure earlier this year of BDO’s Head of Tax, Aldrin DeZliva to the same firm.
B D Oops. Some … Big Deals Out the window there. Is BDO hemorrhaging clients and partners and practice heads alike? Yet BDO tells us it’s all “business as usual”. Pork pie #3.
Pork Pie #4: Perjury?
To cap things off for this installment of BDO Busting, we received the following comments and leaked email yesterday:
Do current and former directors of BDO commit perjury? Former director, Wayne Ngo, seems to think so.
From: Wayne Ngo
Sent: Monday, 31 May 2010 9:50 AM
To: TPC.Staff.Melbourne
Subject: My ResignationDear TPC staff
Further to the recent AFR articles, there have been a number of misrepresentations about my resignation which I wish to clarify in the following.
Firstly, the AFR article published on 21 May undoubtedly made public a lot of BDO’s issues. The article was largely extracted from sworn statements made by directors of BDO (mainly Pat) contained in various court documents. These court documents are publicly accessible by anyone including the media. It is therefore difficult to see how these comments were grossly inaccurate or that the AFR was not fully appraised of the facts when the article quotes directly from Pat’s own sworn statements. Ironically, though not surprisingly, a different position appears to be presented to the AFR in last Friday’s article than that which was presented to the Court only weeks ago. It was portrayed to the court that a loss by BDO on the issue of the restraints would destabilize its relationship with BankWest.
On 21 May, Croft J granted an injunction to prevent me from leaving the employ of BDO until the main hearing has been decided. This position is merely temporary and there were no findings in the judgment which affect the main trial, rather a holding pattern to maintain the status quo until then. In arriving at his decision, his Honour took into account the fact that the main trial was scheduled in less than 2 months. The judgment is publicly accessible via this link:
The judgment does not impose any restrictions to prevent existing clients and staff departing to Daniel Allison & Associates and I understand numerous ethical clearance letters continue to be received by BDO. I still have great concerns about the financial viability of the firm however this is not the primary reason for my resignation. I have resigned from BDO as I was and continue to be bitterly disappointed at BDO’s treatment of Daniel Allison in his removal as a director, which I believe to be inconsistent with the firm’s purported values of ethics and integrity. As a result, I could no longer be a part of this firm and its future.
I again thank my former staff members and team for their continued support and well wishes.
Kind regards
Wayne
Wayne Ngo
Director, Tax
Corporate and International
Mr Ngo seems to be implying that BDO has been distancing itself from sworn statements tendered in evidence — and by distancing itself, it seems he means “denying”. Could this be pork pie #4?
Send the Firm Spy your news and views!
Loading...
Where does it say BDO grew 12%?
What a scoop. All the the best to the good staff and partners. Outrageous. It’s stories like this that give the profession a bad reputation and send people spiraling into depression.
I shiver to think that choosing a career in accounting practice is just one step away from bully management. Here I thought it was all about our professional development.
Would someone hold Mr T to account? A court? Anyone?
As a former BDO partner, there is much more to uncover. I would be amazed if BDO grew organically by 12% – they are much too busy concentrating on political infighting. BDO’s funding issues extend across the country. They are not ‘working’ their way out of debt through growing revenues/profits, but by promoting new ‘junior’ partners as they come with further bank funding. This is not about recognising talent, but a muich needed bank transfer into the coffers.
To be fair, having been at BDO for many years, there are a lot of good partners and staff that deserve more respect. Just a few bad eggs up top that have spoiled what was once a very good firm.
As another in the exBDO Partner fraternity, I agree with XBDO in that the is much more ‘dirt’ to be uncovered about BDO. For example, take a look at the Perth practice and the embarrassing outcome of the legal action between M Squared (2 ex BDO partners) and the BDO Perth Practice. The courts rules in faviour of the M Squared partners. After 3 years of legal wranglings, BDO (a) lost heaps of clients to M Squared (b) couldn’t enforce restraint (c) had to pay M Squared’s legal costs (which were in the area of $1million) and (d) were found to have acted oppressively towards the partners. It was, from the start, a PR and financial disaster for the Perth practice.
Infighting, lies, self interest and greed drives BDO, not just in Perth but nationally. New Partners are taken on from other practices with guaranteed income (often in excess of $800k), whilst partners who have come through the ranks are promised progression and ignored. Junior partners are paid a pittence, on the promise of huge incomes when they make equity. And Tony Schiffmann’s ‘leadership’ is an embarrassment. He is only interested in doing deals where his interests are advanced, at the expense of the rest of the firm. Deals with PKF, GTs and the need for national intergration have all gone begging, because it didn’t suit the needs of the Australian Chairman and his cronies in Brisbane.
His ‘holier than thou’ attitude to the rest of the BDO firm, and his constant rants about ‘how strong and respected’ the Brisbane firm is (compared to the rest of the country) was offensive and alienating to the non-Brisbane BDO practices and the Partners and staff within those practices. The firm has some really good Partners and loyal staff and it’s a shame they don’t get the respect and recognition they deserve.
Like clients, Partners and staff have options when it comes to who they want to work with and for. My advice to the Partners who are still there is to, like so may of us, get out while you still have your self worth and capital. If you are a good operator, any Big 4 will take you and it will get you out of BDO’s toxic and despotic environment before its too late.
Why do companies even use BDO? Is it because they’re cheap as chips? Because if that’s the main driving factor, the old adage “you get what you pay for” could never be truer.
There goes the BDO algorithm. Voting is tight, all even (but that’s the plan, isn’t it?)
Given the number of BDO partner CVs in the market it may well be that many of the partner group can’t stomach the pork pies any longer.
Feeling very sorry for Dennis Lin and other young BDO partners like him. It is not fair that they are left to pick up the pieces and deal with the mess when partner exits are handled poorly (by others). These young guys are the ones left holding the baby. Hang in there Dennis!
@XBDO3 It might not be fair for the remaining Partners at BDO who are left to pick up the pieces due to poor leadership, but the have choices, so I think I might keep my tissues for someone more deserving, like the PA who was walked. What sort of place walks a PA? What possible actions of the PA could have warranted such an outrageous and offensive reaction? does anyone know if this part of the FS story is actually correct?
I agree with you, XBDO3. Dennis is a capable partner in his field of transaction tax and has been hung-out to dry trying to pick up the pieces.
A measure of management’s ability is not their actions when things are going well, but their actions in bad times. The current issues in Brisbane following departure of their R&D department is the latest example. The debt issues in other offices is another.
BDO is more of an affiliation of offices and allows autonomy of management in each office. (NSW & Victoria combined as one managed office.) Partners have equity in the local offices rather than a national firm and therefore a partner’s ‘income’ is determined by local profits.
Local management have made poor decisions based on short-term ‘greed’ (cash-stripping to rack-up debt in 2009 to be repaid by future profits before the world economic issues were resolved; zealously pursuing legal action against former partners for damages when the objective view may have been to settle early on and concentrate on building the business).
However, it is the role of national management to control local management and protect the national name. I am not surprised by an earlier post (15 March) that BDO International have concerns.
BDOs problems will not be solved until they consolidate into a national firm and ‘retire’ certain individuals with a record of poor management decisions (hopefully without generous payouts).
Until this happens, expect to see more partners and quality staff leave. As noted previously, there are plenty of opportunities currently in the Big 4.
The comments by XBDO are interesting, particularly regarding the role of National management in controlling the poor decision making and brand erosion caused by local offices. I pose the question, what if the leader of the offending office is also the national leader? Isn’t there a conflict of interest? This is the question a number of the PECs partners in Brisbane are concerned with, but have no outlet to discuss it, except with very close colleagues behind closed doors. If we raise the issue on the appropriate forum, we are scared that we might also be hung out to dry. A number of us suspect Tracey Murray was made an example of, sacked for asking too many challenging questions in Partner meetings and asking the very same questions about conflict and accountability that have been raised in this forum.
Tracey sent a letter to all partners a week ago, both to the office and, in my instance, to my home. While I am not sure as to the accuracy of everything she said in the letter, it contained information that is at odds with information provided in Partner meetings and by Tony Schiffmann. In particular, she claims she was asked to undergo a psychiatric evaluation and to waive her Doctor-patient right to confidentiality, so HR ( and other nominated persons) could discuss her issues with the psychiatrist. This is very different to the ‘working throughout health issues’ line we have been told about.
There is no doubt that Tracey was different and would have been best served ‘keeping her head down’. But if the majority of the information in her letter is correct, she has a good case against BDO and, as a director ( formally an equity partner under the old structure) that means my livelihood and income is a stake. So, in my catholic way, I am sorry for everything that has happened to Tracey and I don’t think she deserves what happened to her, but I won’t support her, because it will be at the expense of my own position. Sorry Tracey, but business is business and no one wants to be in your position. I’m sure you understand
I’m not shedding too many crocodile tears for Dennis Lin having to “pick up the pieces” from the mass BDO exodus.
I can completely understand the client’s response to his letter. As a former colleague of Dennis’s when he was at Malleson’s, I have found him to be abrasive, petty and disingenuous.
This kind of attitude has continued when I have worked on the other side of transactions from Dennis, while he was at Deloitte and more recently at BDO.
All I have to say really is that karma’s a bitch, ain’t it Dennis?
After following a number of recent stories over the past month, the voting on this story piqued my interest. No matter how bad the comments on the Centro or Clutz stories, the voting ‘is what it is’ and interested parties voices are given the democratic dignity of being heard and recorded.
To my surprise and keen interest is the voting on this BDO story and, on fact, other BDO stories. I ask you, how can each post, with votes ranging from 8 to 80, record an even vote? It is a statistical anomaly, statistically unsupportable and dare I say, contrived.
But by whom, I hear you say?
Whilst it is tempting to make such a question the subject of some keen spotty faced mathematics major’s PHD thesis, I suspect answer is obvious to even those students who ( dare I say) failed any first year law subject (yes- they do exist).
So to the puppeteers at BDO, what are you hiding from? The more you hide, the more we all suspect that some of what has been written is correct. If you are too fearful of letting the democratic process run it’s natural course, pity those who work at such a contrived, controlling company.
But BRAVO to the other firms who have the conviction to allow their management decisions to stand up to the scrutiny of the readers of this site!!!!
Is it legal to require someone to waive doctor patient confidentiality?
I am finding this whole BDO carryone unbelievable. Elizabeth Jamison is the Independent Chair of BDO, a person of high moral standing and corporate reputation. If Tony Schiffmann or anyone else was over stepping the mark, Elizabeth would have the moral courage to put a stop to any such issues.
Think about it, can one person have the power to do what this site claims Tony Schiffmann is doing? This isn’t North Korea people, this is corporate Australia.
@Corporate Accountability
You sound very naive. You would make an excellent BDO partner (if you weren’t one already that is)
@Corporate Accountability. Elizabeth Jamison is on a Board with Tony Young- Boys Grammer I think. That is how she got the job of ‘independent’ chair at BDO, so she is unlikely to bite the hand that got her the job in the first place.
Elizabeth knows well and truly what is going on at BDO. When she first started, Susan Rix (long time, long suffering BDO partner) took her aside to let her know all the ins and outs of the ‘ boys club’ of full equity partners. She has done nothing to scrutinize the decisions made by the full equity partners, or to promote good corporate transparent governance. She is simply a
figurehead, to give the decisions of the boys club some illusion of credibility.
Many people expected more of her and I think a previously strong reputation has been tarnished.
Just for the record, Tony Schiffmann’s claims about ‘business as usua’l and Sydney/Melbourne not having financial problems is Bullsh.t!!!.
In my last 4 months at the Melbourne office, we had to sit through contant lectures from Schiffmann, berating us about how poor our performance was and how we should try and emulate the brand value achieved by the Brisbane office. We even had to sit through a meeting with Martin Van Roekel, who threatened the Directors with pulling the BDO licence if we didn’t get our finances in order. Schiffmann pretended this meeting was initiated by BDO International. Again, Bullsh.t. This meeting was covertly organised by Schiffmann and Tony Young when they attended the BDO international conference late last year. Schiffmann ‘suggested’ to Roekel that the BDO brand might be better off in Australia without the Sydney/Melbourne practice. Schiffmann was happy to sacrifice the Sydney/Melbourne Directors and clients for his own purposes. What a prick.
The constant barrage over financial performance, stress over increasing requests for personal guarantees and a loss of faith in the brand and the capabilities and vision of the National Chairman was the reason a number of us left the Melbourne practice. From the sound of it, we got out just in the nick of time.
I have no sympathy for the Partners in Brisbane. They either agree with Schiffmann’s action or don’t have the balls to stand up to him. Either way, they deserve everything they get for standing by and watching Schiffmann’s treatment of the people in the other BDO offices .
As previously noted – Karma’s a bitch Schiffmann
Ok-name names!!! One person can not be the target of such malice. Who are Mr T’s ‘cronies’?
Elizabeth Jamison, Tony Young, who else???
Name names or shut up!
I agree with the doubts cast over Elizabeth’s independence. I have it on good authority that Tracey called Elizabeth around the time she was sacked seeking advice and guidance. Apparently Elizabeth indicated that Tony had already contracted her and, as such, was unable to speak to Tracey on this matter. Given that both Tony and Tracey were shareholders in the BDO company you would think that an independent chair wouldn’t so readily side with one shareholder and refuse point blank to listen to the concerns of another shareholder.
Tony Schiffmann’s decisions must get the Ok from Tony Young. Graeme Wikman is more interested in his wife’s business (Liz Pigeon from the Pigeon Group), Bernard Curran, Paul Gallagher and Tim Kendall support Schiffmann to keep their drawings in tact. Damian Wright and Steve Sorbello were made full equity partners last year. Sorbello came up with the profit stripping mechanism when BDO swapped from a partnership to a ‘company’. Andrew Feilding is the other full equity partner.
Schiffmann has surrounded himself with self interested yes men, obsessed with maintenance of earnings at whatever cost.
Please people, let it go. Embarrasing for Partners, staff and most importantly – your clients. No one whats to be associated with this type of carry one.
I really find all the people complaining about BDO on this site to be totally full of sh*t… you tell me there are not exclusive ‘equity partner clubs’ at other firms pulling the same sort of stuff and I will laugh… All that has happened here is the employees who are not happy with their situations or have personal agendas (pay or something) at BDO are being disloyal – what does it achieve bagging others out – I hope all of you douche bags naming names get caught out – all of you are faceless – GreenDot how about you tell us who you really are instead of whinging and then saying ‘Brisbane Partners are to cowardly to step up’ look at you hiding behind FirmSpy ya pussy.
Ps Dennis Lin is one of the nicest blokes around and I hope whoever said that crap gets karma back ten fold – all this unfounded crap must consitute libel? How can you defame someone online without verifying sources – FirmSpy you need to turn this crap off, surely you’re opening yourselves up to legal action.
Amusing that the post from Ex BDO describes others who post opinions as “douche bags” and “faceless” who are “hiding behind firmspy ya pussy”, asking for those ppl to identify themselves, when Ex BDO him/herself hides behind the very same cloak of anonymity on firmspy!
Me thinks ExBDO is actually ‘current BDO’ partner trying to justify the appalling actions of BDO. Justifying actions with the logic that other firms are just as bad says something about ExBDO.
There might be ‘ exclusive equity clubs’ in other firms, but at least progression to equity and for increased equity is based on consistent rules, unlike BDO. When Berrnard Curran made full equity Partner at BDO, the practice was small and full equity was $300k. Now he and his mates have gotten greedy and don’t want to cut up the equity pie if it impacts their earnings.
Equity progression used to be in 10-20% chunks. Steve Sorbello got 40% increase the year after he came up with the profit stripping technique, which was carried out under the guise of ‘incorporation’. Full equity progression used to tale 7-10 years. Now equity is handed out in 5% chunks, with Bernard Currann Still only bringing in $1.5-$2mil in fees, but taking home $1.2 in income. That’s ok if your a great partner, but Bernard is a disingenuous individual, who trawls through people’s diaries to see what they are doing that is not to his liking, has never gotten another person up to partner, directs the receptionists to transfer all phone enquiries to him so that he can get new work and.busies himself on BDO committees that his mates have put him on (being Tony Schiffmann and Tony Young). and takes home $1.2.
Is that how other firms work? I don’t think so, only family owned small suburban firms operate in this narcissistic way. Perhaps that’s what BDO’s problem is. They are too big (in the level of fee income) for their level of sophistication (in terms of leadership skills and business intellect).
The result is the level of disdain for it’s practices and leadership, as evidenced on this site.
Pretty amazing how such sensitive informtation is being released to FirmSpy. Anonymous, clearly you are a senior BDO employee – if you’re so unhappy with the firm and how it operates, how about you go somewhere else? How are you familiar with how the other ‘Equity Clubs’ operate Anonymous? This disdain for BDO has come as a result of the Tracey Murray and David Mason case and has just snowballed to the point it has just become malicious rumour monging – God I hope they find out who you are Anonymous, publicly disclosing salaries like you are which you have obviously discovered under the cloak of confidentiality, and sack you. You’re probably a sh*t accountant who gets ridden hard because you can’t bill or have sh*tty technical knowledge.
I love it that the partners are getting into this s**t now.. Awesome!
Will Mr Furball, aka Mr Chewbacca Wookie, take his hands out of his pocket and point at all the other filthy liars at BDO that make Melbourne stink so much. The horrible cost to society is that as soon as BDOers leave your firm, others need to put effort into showering and clothing them properly.
It takes a director at BDO five hours to construct one simple sentence about tax.
It takes several directors at BDO one hour to craft a lie to abuse and intimidate employees.
Go team GO!
And it keeps getting worse……
BDO Brisbane now doesn’t have an indirect tax team – one is on long term maternitiy leave (and will be silly to return to such a mess!), their grad finished last week to go to a law firm and the last man standing, the senior assoicate, has now walked. With Dennis Lin transitioning to an international role, that just leaves good old Dave Wilson as the sole GST specialist left at BDO Brisbane. Good luck! The knives will be out!
Not surprised if R&D needs a psychiatric assessment. If Melbourne bends over anymore we might get to say hi to Tony.
Join R&D hmmm. Psychopathic you must turn. Hmmm.
Smile like Mengele you d*ckhead.
XXX was served a small helping of one of the BDO Boys’ clubs favorite tools, the psychiatric evaluation. The Boys’ other favorite tool is the partnership offer (my cheeks have started flushing feverishly Mr T and Mr T). Given that the two often go hand in hand, if you’re a pawn skewered and propped up to voice an opinion for a dog in Melbourne, it serves you right doesn’t it babe for being a vicious thief in the first place. Donato, had better make his buck now or assume the dog’s position (they’ll probably spare the bloke the psych assessment).
Don’t worry Queensland. BDO Brisbane has an R&D team without any work, so they can pitch in an give Dave Wilson a hand providing GST advice. Can’t be too hard, 10% of a number.
Oh how funny. Karma really is a bitch!!!.
Dave Wilson was one of the directors involved in trying to force XXX to go to a BDO appointed psychiatrist. He wanted her to hand over R&D clients to GST and Corporate tax people who didn’t have enough work( or R&D ecoerience
BenDOver and take it should mind his own business. We know you’re up with Mr T, lies, and deflecting blame.
There’s enough noise about Tracey Murray to speculate that she’s going to go somewhere bigger and better than BDO.
It would appear now would be a good time for BDO International to pull the plug on this whole sordid mess and award the BDO franchise to a more ‘deserving’ firm.
I question the validity of the first email between TOny and David.
If Tony is threatening David with litigation, why has David remained working at BDO which he currently does???
Maybe these leaked emails are the only…”Porky Pie”
In relation to the revenue growth, there are a number of new clients which more than make up clients lost throughout the year. I know for a fact that my division at BDO in Brisbane has increased client base quite significantly.
@anonymous. You’re observation skills are what we all expect from a BDO partner. Pay more attention in Partner meetings!!!!
The ‘David’ referred to in the first meeting is David Mason, not David Wilson, David Krause or any other David BDO may currently have as a Partner. The email address says it all Sherlock.
In terms of growth, if your Division has increased significantly, good on you. BDO will need the extra cash to help sort out the numerous law suits it has on the go, both in Brisbane and Melbourne.
But good on you and your Division!!!
I believe the ‘David’ being threatened with litigation by Tony Schiffmann is David Mason, who was a partner in the R&D team. I know David resigned in disgust after BDO sacked Tracey Murray, the other R&D partner.
Very certain BDO has not rehired David. As per his Linkedin page, he is now with an IP firm in Brisbane.
I don’t understand how any BDO partner can actually thinks David Mason is still a partner at a firm, when he resigned nearly 6 months ago.
FYI, BDO will need to find a whole lot of new clients to replace the ones they have lost. I know for a fact that we (KPMG) picked up a client worth $750k, one of BDO’s largest clients. Who ever lost that account must still be licking their wounds.
B D Ouch
I don’t think we’re dealing with the same “Anonymous” throughout this opinion piece.
Dear Anon
Now would be a good time to go after R&D clients in Melbourne. These poor clients are often forced to sniff the smell of the oily rag called “IOU Quality”. Why do they need to pay for things that even the janitor can make up?
BDOooops Melbourne can’t tell left from right and up from down they’ve been left so dependent on their PR addicts and marketing junkies.
Even the last ladies and gents standing, who pray to each other everyday, are all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed busy covering Melbourne with layers of their toxic garbage and pushing their mistakes on the odd seagull or two.
Don’t y’all press thumbs up now ya hear.
It doesn’t get any easier for BDO in Melbourne with the head of indirect tax Chris Vittas leaving to join Grant Thornton and a large group of other partners wishing they had similar opportunities to Chris.
A piece of advice, BDO should stop strip mining employees of their knowledge as well as force stripping Melbourne of knowledge. Swapping doggie biscuits for valuable knowledge is not a fair trade.
How is that BDO Sydney has escaped controversy?? C’mon Sydney, you letting NSW down…QLD has it all over us yet again. Surely, someone stole a stapler or something juicy! Has Ian furgesson lost more skin off his head…lets have it
Back to basics for the abusive directors at BDO:
http://www.austlii.org/au/legis/vic/consol_act/cohrara2006433/s10.html