With offices set to close over the Christmas break, it is interesting to see how the different firms are managing the shut down. We invite you to tell us how and for how long your office will close. Are you being given extra leave? Is it forced, involuntary leave?

EY partners missed this memo

Apparently staff at EY are none too happy with the involuntary leave being thrust upon them. This from an anonymous EY spy over the weekend:

Ernst and Young have shut down for 3 weeks during the Christmas break… this seems mighty similar to those people who were forced to take 3 weeks unpaid leave at PwC except they get to choose when to take theirs!

Indeed, PwC did implement an involuntary a leave of absence scheme earlier in the year which offered staff a choice of when they could take a total of three weeks leave over the course of the year. Similarly, KPMG implemented the “Temporary Work Arrangement” which availed to both staff and partners a range of means to manage any further reductions in work flows. However, given that work has picked up, it appears that the partners are attempting to resile from what was (we think) a reasonably generous original offer.

And this now leaves us with Ernst & Young: the firm that apparently decided against the implementation of any device to save jobs during the downturn or to give staff an opportunity to be heard in making decisions about leave. Poorly handled?

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Pop the champagne corks - we finally received some inside goss from inside Ernst & Young!

In response to our post earlier in the week profiling the ludicrous PWC CA policy, we received the following comments from an anonymous EY spy:

I’d like to mention that Ernst & Young also has the same policy to PwC in terms of failing 2 CA subjects and you’re out. But on top of that, if we fail a subject we owe E&Y $1k (per subject) for study assistance /time off etc. Can you believe it? We already work ridiculous hours to get through the piles of work AND we also have the added pressure of having to study and pass our CA subjects otherwise we could lose our jobs AND owe E&Y $1k! Theres really no such thing as “study assistance” because they’re gonna get their moneys worth anyway. Watch those fancy grad brochures… they are empty promises.

No, we can’t believe it either. As for fancy grad brochures … yeah, we’ve seen those too. Interesting how the finer details of “piles of work” and fanciful “study assistance” (read “undue stress caused by potential loss of salary”) never make the fine print of glossy firm spruiking, don’t you think?

EY spies - please keep up the good work. We need more from you, more often.

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If you’re like us here at the Firm Spy, and you’re wondering to whom we can apportion blame for the disfigurement of

growing old gracefully

As noted in the Brisbane Times in relation to the investigation of Paul Hogan by the ATO’s Project Wickenby:

Ernst & Young’s involvement is described in several affidavits by a principal in its tax division, Marcus Davis… Ernst & Young employees who provided tax advice to Hogan include former partner John Hart, partner Paul Mclean, senior managers Seth Hertz and Despina Bakis, of Sydney, and Washington DC senior manager Paula Charpentier… [as well as] Clive Hinton and Con Boulougouris, both former Ernst & Young internal lawyers

One can assume that Hogan was well advised, seeing as how he could afford the estimated $50,000 in plastic surgery.  If only he had received as robust surgical advice: plastic surgeon Dr Kourosh Tavakoli noted of Hogan’s appearance:

Comparing his face colour and texture to his neck, my conclusions are that the operations he has had include a facelift, eyelid surgery, CO2 laser resurfacing and Botox treatments … My guess is that when he had his facelift, they decided not to do his neck, but he’s probably due for a neck lift.”

Anyway. The Beverly Hills Institute of Aesthetic & Reconstructive Surgery also commented that Hogan had failed to achieve a ‘natural’ look.

Do you like the new look Paul Hogan? Send the Firm Spy your news and views!

In a huge week for Big 4 accounting screwups gossip, the Firm Spy can today reveal new rumours of discreet sackings, but this time at Ernst & Young.

This from an Ernst & Young spy today:

We made a big public cut earlier in the year but since then there have been many other departures w

A poorly timed laugh at an underhanded departure

hich have not been reported. The people I have spoken to who know people in other areas that have left have said these departures were mostly involuntary, despite the firm telling us differently. I can say that in my own group, we have also had a few who have gone in suspicious circumstances… A lot of my co-workers are now worried that if these gradual job losses continue, we might all go too.

Hmmm… this sounds familiar! Is the corporate world degenerating into a new day-time soap opera?

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An Ernst & Young worker smooching her partner

You’ll recall earlier Firm Spy posts in respect of Accounting Firm job losses, including:

• the first wave of PWC redundancies;
• the second wave of PWC redundancies;
• the KPMG redundancies;
• the Goldman Sachs JB Were redundancies;
• the deferral of PWC graduate positions; and
• the cancellation of graduate positions at Fordham.

Today, the Firm Spy can reveal another devastating blow to the Accounting Firm sector; the sacking of nearly 100 staff at ‘Big 4’ constituent Ernst & Young.

An EY Firm Spy gave the following synopsis of the rationale behind the sackings:

‘people on certain clients, people who didn’t have a strong enough profile within the firm, people who didn’t spend their whole day smooching partners. For grads, it was based on chargeables… [but] we are [still] recruiting for 2010… A large number of the staff who got retrenched were in fact top performers ranging from graduates to managers. That’s right- they even sacked people who had only been with the firm since July.’

Do you believe these redundancies were well handled? Share your views and news!