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Major accounting firm Deloitte reports extensive cybersecurity breach
Deloitte, a major US and global accounting firm, revealed that it was hit with a cybersecurity breach that may have extended from October of last year through this past March, the Guardian reports. The company -- one of the world's Big Four accounting firms -- which works with large banks, global firms and government agencies, among others, provides tax and auditing services, operations consulting, merger and acquisition assistance and, wait for it, cybersecurity advice.
BT to take £530 million hit over 'improper' Italian accounting
An accounting scandal uncovered at BT's Italian division is worse than previously thought. Far worse. In October last year, the mobile, TV and broadband provider said it had discovered "historical accounting errors" and "inappropriate management behaviour" to the tune of £145 million. A sizeable figure, but one that BT has admitted was a "best estimate" at the time. Now, following an independent review by KPMG, that number has been revised to £530 million. Alongside some dodgy accounting work, investigators found "a complex set of improper sales, purchase, factoring and leasing transactions," conducted over multiple years. Ouch.
'Rick & Morty' co-creator unveils his first VR game
Squanchtendo Games, the recently founded VR studio from "Rick & Morty" co-creator, Justin Roiland, has just unveiled its first game: Accounting. But don't let the benign name fool you, this virtual reality experience appears to be just as ingeniously deranged as its animated predecessor. Squanchtendo collaborated with Crows Crows Crows game studio to create the game which, according to the Squanchtendo release, only took about a week to craft. It is available for the HTC Vive for free through Steam VR. Details are thin as to what exactly you do in the game -- besides account, of course -- but you can bet there's going to be a whole lot of messed up shit in there.
Toshiba to cut 6,800 jobs following accounting scandal
The fallout from Toshiba's accounting scandal is hitting in force, and it's not pretty. The Japanese company has announced that it will take a $4.5 billion loss and cut 6,800 jobs, or about 30 percent of its total consumer electronics workforce. Although some of the losses can be chalked up to a tight market, Toshiba took a serious hit after admitting it lied about profits for nearly six years. As part of the restructuring, it will sell off its TV and washing machine factories to Hong Kong partner Skyworth. The company recently sold its image sensor business to Sony and stopped building TVs for the US market.
Toshiba CEO quits after company lied about $1.2 billion profits
We knew it was coming, but Toshiba's CEO and president Hisao Tanaka is no longer at the company. As the electronics giant attempts to recover from the fallout following the disclosure that it declared $1.2 billion in false profit, Tanaka and two other executives have announced their resignations to take responsibility for the scandal. An independent investigation found that management lied about operating profits for over six years in a bid to meet internal targets, starting just after the financial crash seven years ago.
Kashoo Accounting app goes universal
I've been a big fan and happy user of Kashoo for quite a few years now. It's a small business accounting service (US$49 per year) that has both a web service and an iPad app, and it distinguishes itself from competitors like QuickBooks in being very easy to use. Well, my small business accounting needs are now going away at a totally inopportune time (I'm shutting down a business), since Kashoo today announced the availability of a universal version of the app. Being able to access Kashoo from an iPhone or iPod touch now adds just that much more utility to the app. The app now also has the ability to send reports via Messages and AirDrop, so beaming an invoice or quarterly report to an iPhone-toting CPA while you're at lunch is not an issue. Taxes are the bane of every small business owner, and the update also adds taxes to Quick Entry and provides cleaner tax listings on the income and expense detailed edit views. The company has a short video showing off the new features of version 3.4; we can't embed it here, but just follow this link to see the latest from Kashoo.
Square makes accounting easier for merchants by integrating with Xero
Square can make accepting credit cards easy for small businesses. Things get less simple, however, when it comes time to do the books for those businesses -- something that often involves painstakingly inputting Square transactions into accounting software manually. To lessen that misery, last November Square launched a partnership with QuickBooks, and today the company announced another integration, this time with accounting program Xero.
TUAW at Macworld/iWorld 2014: Kashoo accounting for Web and iPad
I'm one of those people who sucks as an accountant. So when I heard about Kashoo a few years ago and realized that I could do most of the accounting work for one of my small businesses from an iPad, I jumped on the opportunity to try it out. I dropped by their booth today, and we have a short video description of their service for your viewing pleasure.
No jail time for Olympus bosses who committed $1.7 billion accounting fraud
You might think a harmless white collar crime would escape the wheels of justice. After all, what's a little $1.7 billion accounting scandal in the grand scheme of things? As it turns out, you wouldn't be far wrong: none of the three senior figures sentenced in Japan today for falsifying Olympus Corp.'s financial accounts have been sent to jail. Former Chairman Tsuyoshi Kikukawa received a three-year suspended sentence, in light of the fact that he didn't make the original decision to hide the firm's financial losses, while a former executive VP and a former auditing officer also got suspended sentences after making similar defenses. The company itself was fined $7 million. Meanwhile, the two men accused of starting the fraud, former presidents Masatoshi Kishimoto and Toshiro Shimoyama, have escaped all charges because, as reported by Kyodo News a couple of months ago, too much time has elapsed since the original crime. Oh well. If there's any upside to this sorry saga, we guess it's the fact that the whistleblower who lost his job after exposing the scandal, former CEO Michael Woodford, eventually saw some restitution.
Kashoo Version 2.1 adds new features just in time for taxes
Every year around tax time, millions of small-business owners promise themselves that next year will be different. They'll keep better records; they'll invoice customers on time; and they'll figure out a way of monitoring how well -- or poorly -- their company is doing. Kashoo created an easy-to-use cloud accounting service and a free iPad app to go along with it, and today a new version is arriving in the App Store to help those business owners keep their new tax year resolution. One of the nicest improvements to Kashoo since we first reviewed it is the ability to take a photo of a receipt with the built-in iPad camera, and then attach it to an expense within the app. Since the IRS requires physical receipts for expenses, this addition makes it much easier for business owners to capture the information to back up those expenses. Accounting professionals who are using Kashoo to help small-business clients will be able to have those clients submit receipts from the iPad app, and can then reconcile them through the web app. As TV pitchmen love to say, "But wait, there's more!" Direct printing via AirPrint has been added, so documents no longer have to be emailed to a Mac or PC prior to printing. There's a new duplicate feature for speeding data entry, and a template selector makes choosing invoice styles fast and easy. The short video below furnishes a good synopsis of the new Kashoo features. The app is free to download, but requires the purchase of a monthly (US$19.99) or annual ($189.99) subscription to use the service.
Intuit releases new QuickBooks Online app for the iPad
Intuit expanded its mobile app portfolio today with a new iPad app for its QuickBooks Online accounting service. The iPad app is a standalone solution that lets you sync items like invoices, expenses and estimates across your iOS devices and the web. Intuit talked to small-business owners during the development process and designed the iPad app with the needs of SMBs in mind. It'll allow business owners to enter contact details, jot down notes and record project details in the field. Once a project's details have been ironed out, business owners can create an estimate that the customers can sign right on the iPad. There's also a variety of tracking features that let you monitor the flow of money in and out of your business. Right from the start, you'll notice that the new QuickBooks Online app was designed from the ground up for the iPad. Its invoicing, reporting and estimates look fantastic on the larger screen. The new QuickBooks Online iPad app is available for free. It requires a QuickBooks Online subscription which is available for $12.99 each month. New users are eligible for a free 30-day trial.
Another former Olympus executive arrested in accounting scandal
As a dreaded accounting scandal continues to drag Olympus' name through the mud, federal agents in the United States arrested yet another gentleman in connection with the firm's alleged fraud. Chan Ming Fon, a citizen of Taiwan, was reportedly arrested in Los Angeles today. As the story goes, he was a former bank executive in the company, and he received some $10 million for his assistance in keeping nearly $2 billion in losses from surfacing. Preet Bharara, the United States attorney in Manhattan, said the following: "As alleged, Chan Ming Fon was handsomely paid to play an international shell game with hundreds of millions of dollars of assets in order to allow Olympus to keep a massive accounting fraud going for years." But hey, troubles aside, at least we've got an E-5 sequel coming next year! Distractions! Huzzah!
FreshBooks releases iPad app
Do you charge by the hour for your services? If so, you may already know about FreshBooks, the cloud accounting service. In late August the company released an iPhone app for on-the-go entry of billing and accounting information; now the FreshBooks app has become iPad friendly as a universal release. The free app works just like the web version of FreshBooks, providing a way for you to get paid by clients online, attach expenses to invoices, let staff or sub-contractors log hours on your projects, see hours and timesheets, and view a dashboard with a full account overview. One of my personal favorite features is the ability to snap photos of receipts to "clip" to expenses. Being able to add those expenses and document them immediately is a very compelling feature. While the app is free, you must have an existing FreshBooks account or create one from within the app. There's a 30-day free trial available if you want to try out the service and app. It's free after that time for companies who send invoices to no more than three customers, otherwise it's US$20 per month for up to 25 customers, more for additional customers.
Former Olympus executives plead guilty in accounting fraud trial
Three executives from troubled imaging giant Olympus have pleaded guilty to artificially boosting the company's true value in 2007 and 2008 by concealing losses in financial statements. Former chairman Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, ex-auditor Hideo Yamada and former VP Hisashi Mori were charged with fraud in the scandal, which was brought to light last year by ex-CEO Michael Woodford. He was fired by the Olympus board for blowing the whistle, but reportedly received a large settlement for his troubles. The company has since confessed to cooking the books as far back as the '90s to hide investment losses, and revealed in 2011 that it had a billion dollars less in value than previously stated. That, along with the poor performance of its camera division, has forced Olympus to seek a partner or raise capital to survive.
FreshBooks small business accounting service launches an iPhone app
Popular online accounting service FreshBooks released a new iPhone app that'll let users keep track of their small business expenses while on the go. The new app syncs to your online FreshBooks account and lets you manage many aspects of your small business right on your phone. Just like the online service, the FreshBooks app allows you to create professional invoices and get paid right from your iPhone. It's extremely useful to be able to log your hours and keep track of your expenses on your iPhone when you are working offsite. If you've completed your work and are ready to close out a project, you can submit an invoice before you leave the client's office. Besides invoicing, the app also lets you manage your clients and keep track of your employees. If you are talking with a new client, you can use the iPhone app to enter client contact information and generate a project estimate during the meeting. The app has a reporting feature that launches mobile safari and takes you to your online account so you can view expense reports, track revenue by client or staff, review team time sheets and more. The FreshBooks app is available for free from the iOS App Store and requires a FreshBooks account. FreshBooks is a paid service with plans that start at $20 per month. There is a free plan, but it only allows you to manage three clients and does not let you add staff to your account.
Olympus to settle with ex-chief exec over misconduct, may involve mountains of cash
As Olympus' recent accounting scandal finally begins to wind down, the guy who blew the whistle on the financial wrongdoings might actually be the one to make out like a bandit. Michael Woodford, former chief executive of the company, has settled out of court with his former employer over his unfair dismissal that occurred just two weeks after his appointment. The settlement still has to be approved by the mostly new board (read: the other guys got arrested), but the Financial Times speculates that it'll result in £10 million ($15.5 million) being awarded to Woodford, or what's left on his contract. Company stock prices are around half of what they stood at before the scandal. Suddenly all those Facebook shares you jumped on don't look so bad.
Olympus board announces chairman and president picks, resigns
Olympus's entire board handed in its resignation this week, but not before picking a new president and chairman to head up the scandal plagued imaging company. Hiroyuki Sasa, from its medical equipment marketing arm, has been named for the president spot, and Yasuyuki Kimoto, who served as an executive for the Olympus-connected Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., has been picked for role of chairman. Both appointments are pending shareholder approval. Sasa, for his part, stated the importance of getting consumers back on board with the company in light recent controversies, telling the press, "My duty is to win back as soon as possible the trust from everyone and repair this damaged brand."
Kashoo iPad app: Business accounting on the go
Kashoo began existence as an online business accounting service. With the addition of a new free iPad app, business owners now have a powerful accounting tool at their fingertips at all times. In this review, I'll take you through a quick look at Kashoo and describe how it's helped one small business owner -- me -- take control of the day-to-day transactions that keep a business going. I have to admit that accounting is not my strong suite. Back in the early 80s when I was getting my MBA, I struggled through the concepts of T-charts, debits and credits just long enough to pass the required course. Through the years, I tortured myself with various versions of QuickBooks, but when I had to move to QuickBooks Online because Intuit had once again fallen behind the curve on updates, I decided that any future companies I started would use a different accounting package. Kashoo immediately caught my attention as an online alternative. For $10 a month, you not only get full access with a lot of features (more on those later), but the company's support is incredibly good. Early on, my lack of accounting savvy had me questioning my sanity in terms of figuring out how to perform a certain task. I zapped a quick email off to Kashoo support, and within an hour or two I had a very clear answer. You can also call the support line for even faster response, and that support is free. When I initially started setting up the books for a business partnership, Kashoo's iPad app wasn't available so my work began on the web app. It's fast, and a special "setup" section made it a piece of cake to set up a profile for the business, add accounts, vendors, and more. The iPad app, however, has made life even easier. When the app is first launched, you're asked to log into your Kashoo account. If you don't already have an account, you can sign up for a free trial or paid account. For those who sign into an existing account from the app, Kashoo syncs with the server and then displays a three page "dashboard" that business owners can scroll through by swiping. The first page of the dashboard displays income by month, quarter or year in a colorful column chart format with revenue, expenses, and profit listed at the top (screenshot below). The next dashboard page shows one year's worth of income by customer in a pie chart with sections by customer. There's a slider at the bottom of the chart for constraining the income information to a shorter timeframe. The last page of the dashboard shows expenses by account (below). Once again, the slider makes it possible to look at expenses for a specific timeframe during the last year. For the last two dashboard pages, tapping on either the customer name (for income) or expense account takes you right into the transaction details for that account. Likewise, tapping a vendor name on the expense dashboard page shows you exactly who your money is going to. If you've set up more than one business in your Kashoo account, you can select between them from a "Select Business" button at the top of the app. It's even possible to set up a new business from the iPad app. The settings button for the Kashoo app is pretty minimal, allowing you to force a sync with the cloud, log out, upgrade to a premium account, or send feedback to the Kashoo team. Along the bottom of the app are seven buttons -- Dashboard, Banking, Invoices, Expenses, Accounts, Reports, and Business. I've just described the Dashboard, and Business is where you can either set up or edit information about a business. The Banking button displays bank and other accounts one at a time (below). For example, I have a savings and checking account set up for the business, a PayPal account, several cash expense accounts, a cash account, and two accounts for Visa debit cards. Tapping on any of the accounts listed takes me to a detailed transaction record showing both income going into the account and expenses being taken from that account. Tapping an individual transaction shows a detail of that transaction. The standard iPad share button can be used to preview an invoice for a transaction or to email the transaction to someone. Speaking of invoices, the Invoice button displays invoices that have already been entered into Kashoo and also allows you to create and email invoices. You can pick a customer to invoice, pick the date from a standard rolling date picker, and enter an invoice and order number, terms of payment, and a memo. There are fields for adding line items to the invoice, including quantities, unit prices, extended prices, taxes (if applicable), and a description of the line item. There's also a location on the bottom of the invoice page for adding payments that a customer has made to their account. When adding expenses to Kashoo by tapping the Expenses button, a list of vendors appears (below). You can also add new vendors -- a tap on a "plus sign" button lets you add the company contact information, payment terms, the default account to which those expenses will be charged, and other miscellaneous information. If you do business with international vendors, you can choose from a number of different currencies. The Accounts button lets you see all transactions in all accounts or just in specific accounts (below). As before, tapping on any transaction displays a detailed accounting of vendor and account information. Probably the most useful button is the Reports button, which generates a Profit & Loss Statement (below), a Balance Sheet, and Aged Receivables and Payables. While these reports can be emailed as PDFs, at this time they cannot be printed directly from the iPad. Likewise, invoices and checks can't be printed from the iPad app; you still need to use the web app to accomplish printing. If you happen to have an HP printer with its own email address, you can print the reports from your iPad by mailing the report to the printer's unique address. I've been pleased with both the web and iPad apps; they're fast, they don't crash, and I'm able to do my business account fairly easily. Since the Kashoo app is new, I expect that the development team will continue to add new features like printing as time goes by. As it is, I can now review and update the current financial status of the company from my iPad -- helpful if I'm talking to a banker or potential vendor as I don't need to print out a stack of reports prior to the meeting. If you use an accountant for tax purposes like I do, you'll be pleased to know that most of them simply want a copy of your General Ledger for the previous year. In this case, I was able to generate that GL from the web app and email it directly to the accountant. Many of the various reports created by Kashoo can be saved as .csv files for import into a spreadsheet package. Kashoo's development team continues to add functionality to the online system as well, including FreshBooks integration and Payroll (Canada only at this time), and recently adding automatic import of transactions from banks. If you're starting a new business or thinking about breaking from a traditional Mac or Windows small business accounting package, Kashoo's the first place you ought to look. And be sure to expense that new iPad to your business, OK?
Former Olympus chairman Tsuyoshi Kikukawa comes down from the mount, into police custody
If you've been following the latest camera industry accounting scandal, then you're probably well aware that all is not well at Olympus. The Japanese company took its latest blow today when former chairman Tsuyoshi Kikukawa was arrested in Tokyo on suspicion of having falsified financial statements. The Tokyo prosecutor's office released a statement saying that two other former execs were also brought into police custody, including Hisashi Mori, a former executive vice president, and Hideo Yamada, a former auditor. Olympus is also faced with the possibility of being delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange -- the decision has been deferred awaiting further evidence. So what does all this mean for the scandal-ridden camera maker's position in the industry? Little, perhaps, from a consumer perspective, considering that Olympus has continued to announce and ship new products, including the well-received EM-5. The fate of its former executives, however, is less auspicious.
Olympus sues its own president, executives over accounting scandal
Remember that super crazy Olympus accounting scandal we told you about a couple of weeks back? Yeah, well, it just got a lot crazier. The camera maker filed suit in Japan yesterday against its own president, Shuichi Takayama and 18 other past and present executives over the deal in which it worked to conceal $1.7 billion in loses. On top of that, current board members have agreed to resign, moving aside for investors to vote on new management for the company.
