Ben Affleck – The Big 4 Accounting Firms

4 Reasons Why The Big 4 Should Produce The Sequel To The Accountant

big4accountingfirms — Mon, 31 Oct 2016 20:46:57 +0000

The Accountant ended in a way that left an opening for a sequel. There are numerous possibilities for the sequel if the production companies choose to create one.

According to Box Office Mojo the movie has made about $80 million globally on a production budget of $44 million.

That is about a 100% rate of return based on gross revenue. I think there is a strong chance that there will be a sequel especially after the upcoming Batman movies. Ben Affleck will want to cash in on his Batman popularity by making other movies.

Ben Affleck is probably the most expensive actor in the movie. The only other expensive characters that will have to be brought back are Anna Kendrick and possibly Jon Bernthal, so I think The Accountant 2 can be produced in a cost-effective manner.

If you want to learn who those characters are, make sure to check out our The Accountant Wiki page.

Let’s move onto what we came here to discuss. Why should the Big 4 produce the next Accountant movie.

1. I Think It Could Increase The Profitability Of The Film

The film did not highlight public accounting at all, so I think it could do even better if they featured the big 4 firms. The big 4 accounting firms employee almost one million people across the globe. If you featured the accountant working at a big 4 firm, you could tap into that huge pool of potential customers. Additionally all those public accountants also have families that they would drag to the films. Another benefit is that accountants are very well paid, so maybe they would purchase the tickets to the movie. They would also purchase the movie on iTunes, apple TV, android or amazon when it gets released to streaming services.

Check out our revenue posts to learn about how many employees work for each big 4 firm

Ernst & Young Number of Employees

PwC Number of Employees

Deloitte Number of Employees

2. Whichever Big 4 Public Accounting Firm Helped Produce The Movie Could Use It As A Recruiting Tool

All the big four firms have been trying desperately to recruit to millennials. Well why not produce a full blow movie about accounting to reach them. I feel like that would be one of the best ways to get recruits through the door. After watching The Accountant, I was pumped that I was an accountant. I think the big 4 could get a lot of young people to not only choose their firm, but they could also get high school students to explore going to college to major in accounting.

EY has been trying to market to millennials

KPMG pays for kids to go to college

PwC changed its dress code

Get your copy of The Accountant Movie today on Amazon.

So why doesn’t one of them get the biggest bang for the buck and produce a Hollywood movie about accounting? I think they should.

3. The firm that produced it could use it to improve their image

Lets face it – the big 4 accounting firms have been getting tons of heat lately:

Deloitte faced scrutiny over the Monsanto whistleblower

KPMG has been asked to answer for the Wells Fargo fraud

EY has had to settle with the SEC for getting too close to clients and for not detecting fraud at Weatherford

PwC settled a case where they faced a $5.5 billion judgment

Any one of these firms can use a huge publicity boost. All of the firms look like they aren’t doing their jobs. The public obviously expects them to spot fraud, and they are not accomplishing it. They can improve their image by having Ben Affleck’s character work at their firm and have him take down a bad client.

Let’s use the recent headline about KPMG not spotting the fraud at Wells Fargo as an example. You could have The Accountant work at KPMG on a big bank client. He finds that thousands of employees at the bank were directed by a corrupt CEO to defraud customers. He later finds out that the CEO is part of a huge criminal ring and blows him and his cronies away. BOOM!!! KPMG looks like a legit firm that tries to get rid of bad guys that are poisoning the public trust(even if that’s not true).

4. The Big 4 Firms Could Pool Together And Improve The Image Of Public Accounting At Large

As we stated above all the big firms have faced bad publicity. Why not pool together and help fund the sequel. They can create a fake big accounting firm in the film that The Accountant works for to improve all of their images. They can show public accounting in a positive light to promote more people to trust public accountants.

This could be their first test venture into Hollywood. If it goes well, then they can keep putting out tons of movies about accounting, taxes, and consulting. The big 4 firms already do this to some extent with the Center for Audit Quality. The center for audit quality is supposed to increase investor confidence in the big 4, but it hasn’t really accomplished this as evidenced by all the bad press. The governing board consists primarily of big 4 partners which shows that the big 4 have already partnered together to try to improve their public image.

The Accountant Review

big4accountingfirms — Sun, 16 Oct 2016 05:26:52 +0000

The Accountant Movie Review

The Accountant starring Ben Affleck is much better than some of the criticism it has received. It only received about 50% on rotten tomatoes.

It is a thrilling and interesting movie with a lot of plot twists.

The movie centers around an accountant named Christian Wolff. He is played by Ben Affleck.

You later learn in the movie that the name Christian Wolff is derived from a mathematician.

Christian has autism and that is central part of the plot. The movie tries to show how a person with autism functions in society. It shows how a person with autism might be awkward, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t smart.

The movie opens up with the accountant sitting in his office with two clients. They are filing their taxes and are facing a hefty tax bill. Christian consults his clients on how to claim home business deductions on their tax return to reduce their taxes. It’s funny because this is how most people view tax accountants.

Christian is an accountant, but he is also an international man of mystery. That is likely why many people have drawn the parallel between him and Ben Affleck’s other popular character, Bruce Wayne.

The other major character is Dana Cummings who is played by Anna Kendrick. She is a junior accountant at a robotics company who finds a discrepancy in her company’s financial statements.

Christian Wolff is the center of an investigation from the Treasury Department’s crime unit throughout the movie. Because of this investigation, his business partner suggests that he takes a regular client to shed some heat.

He decides to take a robotics company as a client to accomplish this. The robotics company is where Dana Cummings works.

Christian Wolff and Dana get to the root of the financial problems at the robotics company, but they quickly find that their findings comes with consequences.

In dealing with those consequences, Christian learns to be slightly less socially awkward. He accomplishes this by getting close to Dana. He is able to connect with her on a nerdy accountant level.

The action in this movie was great, and the references to accounting are cool. I think it shows how accountants can be cool even if their jobs aren’t the most exciting.

The movie also shows how you can make accounting cool if you are passionate about it. Christian comes into every accounting situation very confident because he of his high level of intelligence.

The accounting scenes are a bit cheesy because they use general accounting terms. They also make accounting seem very easy. Christian tears through 15 years of financial records in one night.

They also reference the Crazy Eddie financial fraud which is funny since most accountants learn about that case in their college accounting class. I think the creators of this movie just googled “things accountants learn” and came up with the terms they used in this movie.

There are some cheesy components to this movie, but they aren’t overbearing.

Conclusion

If you are an accountant, you need to go see The Accountant. The good parts of this movie exceed the cheesy low points. The action is great, and the movie is packed with great actors. It also takes an interesting look at autism and our understanding of intelligence.

It’s not common that accountants are at the center of a movie so go out and see The Accountant asap.

The post The Accountant Review appeared first on The Big 4 Accounting Firms.

Could The Accountant work at the Big 4?

big4accountingfirms — Tue, 11 Oct 2016 20:03:55 +0000

Could Christian Wolff Work at a Big 4 Accounting Firm?

The Accountant starring Ben Affleck comes out in theaters on October 14.

The main character is Christian Wolff. He is a math genius who has autism. He is also a money launderer and a well trained assassin.

In this post, we will go over some key questions about whether Christian Wolff could cut it as a Big 4 Accountant.

The Accountant Wiki

The Accountant Wiki. The Accountant movie starring Ben Affleck will be released in movie theatres on October 14, 2016. Read our review, watch The Accountant movie trailer, learn about the characters, and read some quotes from the movie.

Could Someone with Autism be Successful at the Big 4?

People that are different don’t always thrive at the Big 4. The surest way to success at the big four public accounting firms is fitting in with the crowd.

You need to flow with the status quo. The big four accounting firms center around client service. What this means is a successful big 4 accountant needs to get close to clients in anyway possible.

Christian Wolff says he struggles socializing with people. At the big 4, socializing is very important. It’s important to get close to clients, and it’s important for internal politics. Sometimes internal politics at the big accounting firms is more important to a person’s success than good client service.

This means that you have to walk around and talk to superiors and partners. If you are afraid of socializing, you will be too scared to socialize with superiors. When annual review time comes around, partners won’t know who you are and they won’t stand up for you.

I think it could be difficult with someone with autism to succeed at the big 4 if they were like Christian Wolff. This is not to say that people like Christian Wolff could not be successful professionals.

I believe that is why Christian Wolff works for himself. He doesn’t socialize well, but he does work hard. Hard workers aren’t always rewarded at the big four. It’s usually the people that play internal politics the best. Hard workers do make really good sole proprietors though.

Could Someone Launder Money for Clients at the Big 4?

The Accountant has some of the most notorious criminals in the world as his clients. According to J.K. Simmons, the Accountant is capable of coming in cold and uncooking years of books for his clients.

The question is could someone in the big 4 launder money for their clients.

PwC was fined a couple years ago for helping one of their clients laudner money. The money ultimately made its way to terrorists, so this has already happened.

Additionally, based on the recent headlines, there could be a rogue employee in the big 4 that launders money for clients.

PwC settled a $5.5 billion case involving one of their clients that committed fraud. The largest allegation from that case was that fraud occurred on PwC’s watch, and they did nothing about it. How could they possibly notice one of their employees being a money laundering genius.

Deloitte missed an accounting error at Monsanto that resulted in a large whistleblower payout. The amount was extremely material and Deloitte never detected it.

EY settled allegations that they got too close to clients with the SEC. They could not remain independent of their clients which creates an environment where fraud could occur.

In conclusion, I don’t think the big 4 firms have the checks set up to detect a rogue employee.

Could Someone Be An Assassin at the Big 4?

In The Accountant, there is a lot of gunplay. We see Christian Wolff battling with criminals with a machine gun, and we also see him shooting with a sniper rifle.

The primary reason he is able to do this is because he is a sole proprietor.

He can set his own work hours and his hours when he perpetrates his crimes.

Could you be an assassin at the big 4 firms?

I think you could be an assassin and still work for the big 4.

Most big 4 firms have flexible working hours and some even have flexible dress codes.

I think the accountant could thrive in the big 4. He is a genius, so he could definitely get all his work done in time.

Then he could go out and be an assassin whenever he wanted too. He could even come to work in his undercover assassin clothes for half the day (as long as they fit the firm guidelines), then go out later and commit criminal activities.

Would You Be Able to Spot Christian Wolff at the Big 4?

If someone like Christian Wolff worked at the big 4, would you be able to spot him?

In other words, could you spot an assassin or criminal.

The big 4 public accounting firms each have over 200,000 employees. Turnover is also insane at the big 4. As we saw in the big 4 revenue releases, they hired over 50,000 employees but lost 40,000.

It’s hard to pay attention to people if they leave the firms in such short periods of time. You don’t really watch peoples routines or learn their habits.

Therefore, one of those employees could be a money-laundering assassin and you might not notice.

Conclusion

I think the only thing that would prevent Christian Wolff from succeeding at the big 4 would be the severity of his autism. If you have difficulties socializing, then you will have difficulties moving up in the big 4.

I think that’s why the movie features him as a sole practitioner.

Anyone with similar social troubles, should also be a sole practitioner.

Other than that, I think Christian Wolff could be a successful big 4 accountant.

The post Could The Accountant work at the Big 4? appeared first on The Big 4 Accounting Firms.

5 Things You Didn’t Know About The Accountant Movie

big4accountingfirms — Mon, 10 Oct 2016 21:44:25 +0000

5 Things You Need to Know About The Accountant

The Accountant comes out in theaters on October 14, 2016. It has an all star case featuring Ben Affleck, J.K. Simmons, Anna Kendrick among others. There hasn’t been much press about the movie. That’s why i wanted to cover 5 things you likely don’t know about the movie.

1. Christian Wolff has Autism

Ben Affleck and the director, Gavin O’Connor, have stated publicly that the main character, Christian Wolff, has autism. Christian Wolff is a math genius who lives with autism. This character definitely has a lot going on in his life.

He is an accountant, who is also a money launderer, an assassin, a fugitive and a person living with autism. All those things should make for a great movie. Most of us have a difficult time just being accountants and being good family members.

Bill Dubuque decided to give the character autism when writing the script. He was approached by a producer of the film saying that they would like him to write a financial thriller. He wasn’t interested until he decided that the character would have autism.

Ben Affleck and Gavin have also stated that they are worried how the movie will be received by the autism community. They are afraid that they might not be portraying autism accurately and that the public will take it badly.

Ben Affleck also noted that he spent a lot of time learning about autism to ensure that he portrayed it correctly.

2. The writer was a corporate headhunter before he became a screenwriter

The writer Bill Dubuque used to be a corporate headhunter. Variety profiled him a couple of years ago when he was involved with the script for the movie “the Judge.”

THe Judge starred Robert Downey Jr.

Bill’s first movie, The Headhunters Calling, caught the eye of Robert Downey Jr. who asked Bill to help work on the script for the Judge.

The accountant is only Bill Dubuques third movie, so we will have to see how it turns out.

It should be within Bill’s wheelhouse to write a good script about an accountant. I believe this because corporate headhunters often deal with placing accountants. He’s probably dealt with accountants during his 12 years as a corporate headhunter.

Even if he doesn’t have specific experience in placing accountants, he likely has experience placing similar professionals.

Featured

Oct 31, 2016

The Accountant Movie, Ben Affleck, The Accountant, PwC, KPMG, EY, Deloitte

Ben Affleck – The Big 4 Accounting Firms

4 Reasons Why The Big 4 Should Produce The Sequel To The Accountant

1. I Think It Could Increase The Profitability Of The Film

2. Whichever Big 4 Public Accounting Firm Helped Produce The Movie Could Use It As A Recruiting Tool

3. The firm that produced it could use it to improve their image

4. The Big 4 Firms Could Pool Together And Improve The Image Of Public Accounting At Large

Conclusion

The Accountant Review

The Accountant Movie Review

Could The Accountant work at the Big 4?

Could Christian Wolff Work at a Big 4 Accounting Firm?

Could Someone with Autism be Successful at the Big 4?

Could Someone Launder Money for Clients at the Big 4?

Could Someone Be An Assassin at the Big 4?

Would You Be Able to Spot Christian Wolff at the Big 4?

Conclusion

5 Things You Didn’t Know About The Accountant Movie

5 Things You Need to Know About The Accountant

1. Christian Wolff has Autism

2. The writer was a corporate headhunter before he became a screenwriter

3. John Lithgow is in the movie

4. Anna Kendricks mother was an accountant

5. Jon Bernthal is an assassin

Conclusion

The Accountant Film Starring Ben Affleck

Who Is Christian Wolff The Accountant?