CPA Success

New film's inconvenient truth: We're going broke

David Walker's gone Hollywood.

The former U.S. comptroller general is on a crusade to inject some fiscal responsibility into the U.S. government. His message: Unless the country gets smart and starts reining in its spending, a financial nightmare awaits the next generation.

Walker has toured the town hall circuit extensively, was the subject of a "60 Minutes" piece and even appeared on Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report." (In the latter, between host Stephen Colbert's brilliantly snarky commentary, Walker said the oncoming wave of baby boomer retirements will bring "a tsunami of spending that could swamp the ship of state." Responded Colbert, tongue planted firmly in cheek: "Well, just don't let them retire.")

Now, Walker is taking his message of fiscal reform to the masses with the theater release of the documentary "I.O.U.S.A." Reuters is already saying the film "may be to the U.S. economy what 'An Inconvenient Truth' was to the environment." And while debt and financial mismanagement aren't everyone's idea of a great summer film, a review in The Economist says the documentary is "a bold attempt to highlight a potentially huge problem."

"'The Dark Knight' it may not be," the article reads, "but for those who care about economic reality as much as cinematic fantasy, it might just be the scariest release of the summer."

If you're interested in seeing the film, visit iousaTheMovie.com and click on "Find a Theater Near You." And once you've seen it, be sure to tell us what you think.

What dead chefs and rats can teach us about leadership

So I was watching the brilliant animated movie "Ratatouille" with my 5-year-old daughter for about the 75th time the other day. And by "watching," I mean "not watching." I was reading a magazine, if you must know the truth. "Ratatouille" is a great movie, but after the first dozen or so viewings, the mind starts to wander.

Anyway, at one point my ears perked up at some of the dialogue. It was near the beginning of the movie, when we are introduced to Gusteau, a recently deceased chef who once ran the kitchen at a 5-star Paris restaurant. In a TV interview recorded before his death, Gusteau offered his philosophy on cooking:

"Great cooking," he said, "is not for the faint of heart. You must be imaginative, strong-hearted, you must try things that may not work. And you must not let anyone define your limits because of where you come from. Your only limit is your soul. What I say is true: Anyone can cook ... but only the fearless can be great."

It's not often you get sage business advice from a children's movie about a rat and a dead chef, but there it was. I heard similar sentiments at a recent conference, and it's inspiring every time.

Do you have the guts to be great? What are you doing to prove it?

Accounting's never been more entertaining

Cross-dressing hilarity, Nat King Cole parodies, Cher ... When the worlds of accounting and pop culture collide, you end up with some wacky, wonderful stuff.

• Let's start with "Love, Sex and the IRS," a play that seems to draw its inspiration in equal parts from "Some Like it Hot" and "Three's Company." According to this AccountingWeb article, it's a play about "Jon and Leslie, two men who have been living together in the Big Apple for years. Jon does the taxes for both of the out-of-work musicians and learns he could save a lot of money if he were married to Leslie. It's all fun until, you guessed it, they get audited and Leslie must play the part of Jon's wife. Cross dressing ensues and so does hilarity ..." Of course it does! Meet the cast, then read the book. (And props to Bob Jensen, king of the CPAS-L listserv, for telling us about the play.)
• Next up is another AccountingWeb article, this one about the musical side of CPAs. The cool thing is, it mentions The Accounting Crows, a group of rockin' Connecticut CPAs whom we've mentioned here before. But the star of the article is Steven Zelin, a former industry accountant who does a parody of Nat King Cole's "Unforgettable" called -- get ready for it -- "Tax Deductible." Weird Al Yankovic would be proud. (Thanks to the MACPA's Richard Rabicoff for digging up that article.)
• Finally, in tribute to the end of tax season, we've got Entertainment Weekly's list of "15 Incredibly Awesome Accountants" -- not actual accountants, mind you, but characters in well-known movies and TV shows. Any list that includes Cher, Gene Wilder and George Wendt is worth a look, if you ask me.

What's your favorite accounting pop-culture moment?

CPAs ruled TV in 2007 ... for 6 weeks, anyway

Richter

CPAs finally landed a starring role on network television in 2007. The show in question was NBC's "Andy Barker, P.I." (we told you about the show when it was launched in March). It was the story of a CPA-turned-private detective (played by Andy Richter) and one of the best-reviewed sitcoms of the year.

As the year comes to a close, we have some good news about that show ... and some bad news.

First, the good news: Entertainment Weekly has listed "Andy Barker, P.I." as one of the 10 best new shows of 2007. In its review, EW calls the show "strange, smart" and "a superb satire" of the detective genre.

The bad news? The show was cancelled after only six episodes.

For prime-time CPAs, it's back to the drawing board ...

Don't miss 'Planet Earth'

Last night I got to see Planet Earth, a spectacular series on the Discovery Channel. The videography was amazing, with rare photos of some amazing places and animals on Earth. This 11-part mini-series is like having National Geographic in video, narrated by Sigourney Weaver. It is worth making it a priority to watch -- a perfect tax season break!

I remember as a kid sitting with my family on Sunday evenings to watch a Disney movie (I seem to remember "The Love Bug!"). In an era of multiple TVs, video games and the Internet, this series gives you an excuse to gather your family together for a night of wonder. Once I got my older teen-age boys to take a look, even they were mesmerized ...

Who are CPAs? This video has the answer

The CPA profession is the star of a new video that defines the work and rewards that come with being a CPA.

Titled "Defining America's CPAs: Maryland," the video is a compilation of interviews with 30 MACPA members conducted during the MACPA's "road show" in early December 2006. MACPA Executive Director Tom Hood, Editor Bill Sheridan and a video team from the AICPA's MultiMedia Group (led by Director Will Avgerakis) spent four days traveling throughout the state and interviewing members about their jobs and their inspirations.

The video is now available on YouTube. Watch it by double-clicking the image below.

Print transcripts of the interviews are also being made available on our blog. Keep checking back for additional transcripts as they become available.

CPAs hit prime time

Richter

Ever wonder when we'll see CPAs featured as characters in TV sitcoms? Well, you can stop wondering.

"Andy Barker, P.I.," a new NBC sitcom set to debut this Thursday at 9:30 p.m., follows the exploits of a CPA-turned-private investigator. As NBC explains, Andy Barker is "an earnest, hard-working CPA who has succeeded at everything -- until his new accounting business fails to take off. But when he's mistaken for ... the retired private detective who used to occupy his storefront office, Andy embraces the twist of fate and dives into his double life."

The show stars Andy Richter of "Late Night with Conan O'Brien." Coincidentally, O'Brien is the series' co-creator and executive producer.

Will you be watching?

Is this a good thing, or a bad thing?

Brace yourselves, CPAs: Leonardo DiCaprio is taking on accounting fraud.

The Academy Award nominee will star in a movie about the collapse of energy giant Enron, according to this story on the CNNMoney Web site. DiCaprio "will play a newcomer who exposes the accounting fraud at the Houston-based company," representatives from Warner Bros. said.

The film likely will be based on Conspiracy of Fools, a book by New York Times reporter Kurt Eichenwald about the Enron debacle.

The only question now is: Can we get Jack Nicholson to play Jeff Skilling?