A Lesson Worth Sharing

What are morals? By definition, a lesson, especially one concerning what is right or prudent, that can be derived from a story, a piece of information, or an experience. Of course there is a second definition, which is a person's standards of behavior or beliefs concerning what is and is not acceptable for them to do. The second definition gives a liberal interpretation to the meaning of morals. I wanted to pose a question to this community....a question as to how far someone should go when dealing with impropriety which is actually be a clash of morals.

You work at certain places for too long you can become stagnant, you know it's time for a change. Recruiters come and go, and you hear the next big thing, you get close, you get eager, and when the "perfect" one comes around you finally make a move. It started with a typical phone call, then another, then a lunch meeting. You give the best of yourself and you hear the bright future of the company and how you will prance off together into early retirement when the home run hits. Of course I have my faults and I am not one to believe I am retiring any time soon, barring a lottery win, but why crush the dream in the first weeks of a new courtship. Does anyone have a flaw on the first date? Delays in communications, a little quirky on the phone, waiting for the right time, and negotiations tend to take time you remind yourself...after about 11 days you have the job, but due to circumstances such as bonus and timing you see days turn into weeks and a few months and you think nothing of it.

Hurry up and wait....everyone has been their in life. Minor red flags are easily overlooked, not that the job is ideal, but a welcome chance to expand your skills. You do your research and that probably should have been enough to scare you away, there was a review or two on Glassdoor, but you justify that maybe the sales team is high stress, compared to running the books and records. The pedigree is there, he worked at big banks, the website has plenty of "partners" and plenty of work to go around. He wants to compete with the big banks, which all we need is 5% of the market and the sky would be the limit. The final hurdle is negotiations...you come close to saying no a few times, but then concessions are made and you come to an agreement. As you read the terms of the agreement and go to sign you feel uneasy with some of the language like "two year contract" and "reimbursement of training costs" you make one last ditch effort as you have a possibility of another option, before you know it all of a sudden its the end of Day 1.

Day 1, I haven't worked in a small business setting since before I started my career in accounting. The owner says come over in the early afternoon and just fill out the paperwork on the first day...an easy first day who wouldn't you say? I knock and was welcomed with confusion...no one knew I was starting, but then again its probably not everyone's business to know that. Slightly odd, but I was excited, they brought me in to the conference room and started working through a few hundred pages to sign away your life, no big deal. Within 90 mins I was on my way home. Excited for the next day I pulled into the parking garage a little early and you get a call from the recruiter, "Hey, how is it going? Great, do you mind if you tell anyone in the office that you are starting as a consultant?" What do you say to that...your recruiter tells you the situation is difficult. You haven't even started yet and something odd is already happening. Less then 24 hours ago you sign documents saying "Senior Vice President/Controller" and signing up for health insurance...and now you have to say consultant...

Day 2, Minor blips on the radar but the chance of autonomy was exhilarating, a first in over 12 years and I was feeling great. If you needed something you got it, if you needed to leave early you are the boss...well sort of....oh I know, a "consultant with benefits". A group of 10-13 people working together and the owner needs to contact me through my recruiter...and says lets meet for lunch next week. I walk in the office and meet the only other full time finance person in the office, she is nice, polite and confused...as is everyone in the office. What can you do the first week really but get the lay of the land. Working hand in hand with the other controller, who's figuring out what my strengths and weaknesses are,and what I am doing there. She knows something is up because my paperwork and health insurance doesn't scream consultant. What could really happen in those first few da....a knock at the door as you leave for lunch...a badge flashes and you think for a second....oh just serving papers...let me get the compliance manager...and off to lunch I go. The next day I come in early and try my key card and the door doesn't open. First though in my mind as many would know is "fuck...guess I made the wrong choice..." went to the bathroom and on my way back ran into someone and realized you have to push the door a little to disengage, dodged a bullet there.

Start of week two it's only going to get better from here, lunch with the owner in a couple of days and finally get to....another phone call from the recruiter...everything going well? Great, oh he wanted to ask you if you can keep saying your a consultant while he figures things out..." Sure why not....I learn a few systems, the flows of what I can and help out where it is necessary as a good...consultant...lunch on Wednesday is finally here! The corporate dining room, where we met for the original interview. Everything discussed during the interview about the view and forward looking state of the company was reiterated. As week two comes to a close there is a lot of work to be done, historical and in general, just what I was looking for, a challenge.

For the next month I hear words like getting ready to IPO, and launch a new Private Equity fund, exciting and new. Everything he spoke about is about to take off and the future is looking bright, any time this next big deal hits and we will all be laughing our way to the bank. You join the morning calls and hear about all the new origination's and deals that are out for the taking. Things are looking up. Every company has it's lows, and I am on the upside...but you here about the "AG" reports and a payable schedule that is very important to keep track of...naivety creeps in, maybe it's normal, the boss says so. Still a month goes by and it's been a dream and why not you are doing something new besides crushing NAV's for about 144 month ends but who was counting...

As a newly titled Senior Vice uh consultant, I tried to help out where it was necessary, so historical reports it was, I mean why hasn't the Private Equity fund's quarterly reports, financial statements, or audits been done in almost two years...but I am familiar with that so I start working at it, not touching the current data much. Nothing much consistent quarter over quarter and the holdings seem a little familiar and growing year over year in shares and value. There are amendments for taking carried interest early and allow early withdrawals, and a large holding in the parent company but who knows what has happened in the past 10+ years the company has been around. You ask about the auditor, you are thinking KPMG or EY....maybe Grant Thornton....but no a small firm in Stamford, CT...who handles all of the audits and valuation of the parent company...

Quarterly reporting time, lets push 6 months (somewhere in 2017) in one report to give the investors something. You try and track down transactions and you notice multiple loans between the Private Equity funds and the parent company every couple of years, in the millions....well that doesn't seem right. Wrapped it up in a few weeks and everyone is happy, finally alleviated some of the stress on the group and heading in the right direction. So much happening on all fronts, work is keeping me busy and trying to buy a house, finally settling down, so not a stressful time at all! Month one is in the books.

March is upon us, and time to start thinking about taking the Series 27 which is going to be required to run the books for the broker/dealer, and linked to year end comp, time to put my head down and power through. I start getting included in committee meetings...odd a group of 13 people need committees, but the boss says it's to protect everyone from being blamed for anything that could happen. All the groups consist of basically the same people and there are meeting minutes and everything. I will be on all of the committees in the coming months, so get ready. The first few meetings are sitting back and understanding the flow. As you sit through these meetings, almost like Jekyll and Hyde, the salesman boss is out, and a pompous man shows up in his place. You find the "AG" reports are for the Attorney General of the State....yikes was all I could think. The payable report needs to be brought up to date for FINRA, so what is the report I ask....it's a list of legal bills that this man believes he doesn't have to pay since their opinions did not line up with his. Wow, where is this from...maybe a bad day. I haven't heard from my recruiter in a while but I felt I needed to make a call....I relayed a few odd items going around and he brushed them off, and said give it a chance.

As we were so far behind, I was working on older stuff I started overhearing things on the floor like "Ryan should be out here" and "Where is Ryan?" Later that day he comes in and says why aren't you sitting out on the floor where the action happens...i did hold back a little laugh, and said no one said I had to be out there, and it was tied to my performance bonus at year end...WHAT! Now I am not one to be quiet but I spoke up and said if you want me out there i will sit there and it's not tied to performance...well you can guess that was not a fun conversation. During this little debacle within the next few days you start to hear this sensible guy kind of come unwound...you noticed the quirks before but they are getting more intense.

You can feel the tension as you go into the office, sales is not happy and the income is not there...I spend a full week twisting and turning and gathering info related to the 2017 Financials and as I start to see more expenses going out then I see income coming in. As I worked on historical reports I figure that was in the past, I mean he means well and maybe trying to pull everything back together...with all that has been going on by mid March I was starting to feel uneasy with every day.

Towards the end of month two we were heading to quarter end...and you see a well spoken man start yelling at just about everyone...."Where is your sales revenue?" and "What have you contributed this quarter end." Currently out of his ire, he comes to me and asks for a budget, Last year and this past quarter, dig in and see what I can find...I am on it. There are 5 different entities and none of them are similar across Quick Books. I asked for historical reports and you notice people have tried and failed....name after name with no consistency. You start asking questions and your coworker says there have been quite a few in the past....

One day I come in and I hear the most knowledgeable person in the finance group is fired, from herself the next day...and the boss comes to me and says can I take over the whole business...six weeks in and here comes the bombshell. Then the next day she has a few more weeks, and then two weeks, and then she's a consultant...that's an abbreviated story of one that is not mine to tell...but I am finding out that money is being hemorrhaged and its not good...at the same time there is talk of winding down the portfolios from the funds and distributing assets to the investors. So we can focus on the future. Sporadic requests come across related to investor questions from the parent company and investment company share holders if there is any further information about winding down or IPOing the company. As March comes to a close I am studying hard, getting my credit in line and trying to make this guy happy...so as I roll out my first budget he doesn't like the format...he came back with some ideas and I would take it back and work on it.

Phone call from the boss, who sits 20 feet away from me, talking secretive when he just fired my coworker, get to know everything you can so you can take over...I thinking I am way over my head...but now I am buying a house and have a family, all I can do is contemplate the next move. You update your info and start calling around, you have some buzz but nothing concrete. To get my bonus I need to pass the exam, so keep studying and working hard, I can do this...none of this is right.

April is here, I am closing on the house in weeks and have my test coming up. Budget two and three are not good enough, so back to the drawing board. Studying more and more but realizing that I might not want to put my name to this company and basically sign my life over to FINRA? All those committees may save you in a group setting but it would be me and FINRA directly...that gets me thinking what is my next move. We are diving into the current value of the funds in order to liquidate, you check the holdings and the parent company stock value is almost $2 million more then it was when I worked on the last period distributed to investors, with $1 million coming over just before I started...this is not good, so what are my options. Being proud you don't want to admit you may have made a mistake, but as you realize if you have morals and you can only go so far without crossing the line, but based on what you know how long will it take....

April 27th, 2018 to be exact...April was a blur that has gone unmatched to this point with everything going on. I decided to stop reviewing for my test, this hurt my pride, but morally it allowed me to distance myself from the possibility of doing wrong. It's not a regret since the Series 27 is not necessary in the field so I was good with that. My final two projects were the budget and the portfolio, and this is where it came to a single confrontation.

The budget was due, but my numbers were not correct. They tied to what we reported to FINRA, and I was asked "did you consult with the sales guy?" Yes I did, but he didn't agree, so at that point I said I can only work with the real numbers and I cannot drum up sales to make it better, which may have pushed a button....so he had to attack again, and he said I wasn't able to pass the test, "you told me you were smart enough", it was tougher then it looked with everything going on...which is not a lie, but definitely left out a specific reason.

And last but not least the "fucking holdings." Ah the last straw...at this point as our conversation escalated he made his way out to the floor which had 3 people on it. He started to speak louder "Son, Ryan doesn't know what is in the fucking holdings", and I responded with we need custody reports to show that we own them before we value them and let the investors know...but that was logic and he was not having that....at that point his son says "Why doesn't Ryan know whats in the fucking holdings", and he followed that up with most telling statement every...."I don't need another fucking finance person to argue with..." and I followed that up with a most Ryan like statement ever...."Well why don't you go fuck yourself" at that point he said get out, and I said OK...went in grabbed my stuff and walked out. A few odd interactions afterwards but I vowed not to go back or make the wrong move again.

10 days after I closed on my house push came to shove and a decision was made to stand up for my own set of morals, which I have always believed it was to do what was right. There were 4 people in the office that day besides me, and at that time I was supposed to be the punching bag...there are two sides to every story, and as you probably can tell this one is from my point of view. I wanted to write this for me, and for someone who could end up in a similar situation, but also to invoke thought...was he wrong in following his own morals, which what he believed was his own acceptable path? Was what he was doing unethical or illegal? Of course I already made up my mind....