Month: May 2010

Update on Koss Fraud

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VIDEO: World of forensic accounting unveils how companies are cheated out of millions

The story of the alleged $31 million fraud at Koss Corp by the company’s former VP of Finance, Sue Sachdeva, hasn’t gotten much air time over the last month or so.  Aside from the usual class action lawsuits when there is a fraud discovered at a public company, the only bits of news that are remotely notable at Koss are the continued declaration of dividends and the filing of a 10-Q without any financial statements included.

Koss is a public company, but the stock is thinly traded. The Koss family apparently owns about 70% of outstanding shares of stock. The declaration of a dividend, therefore, is nothing more than the Koss family publicly announcing that they are going to pay themselves.

Read moreUpdate on Koss Fraud

Wasteful Spending at Milwaukee Public Schools

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I have spent plenty of time ranting about the employee costs at Milwaukee Public Schools. The bulk of the problem is teacher salaries and benefits, which average $100,000 per teacher per school year. In order to make things work financially within MPS, they must cut salaries and benefits for the teachers. If they don’t, the only other way to control teacher costs is by laying off teachers.

But don’t forget that administrative costs in MPS are way out of line as well. Simply put, “central office” provides limited value to the students, but costs taxpayers a ton. Of course, we do need administrative staff to keep things running as a district. But how much staff does the district need?

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Get over the Facebook privacy drama

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Today Daily Finance has published an article by me about the current state of the Facebook privacy drama. Simply put, it’s completely overblown.

I don’t like the fact that Facebook seems to make huge changes just when I’ve finally figured out the last batch of changes. But this is the internet, people. Things move fast, and so Facebook has to make frequent changes to keep developing their business model.

And make no mistake – – Facebook is a business. As much as you might like to think it’s just a clever way to interact with your friends, the reality is that Facebook is a business that needs to generate revenue one way or another. Users don’t seem willing to pay for access to Facebook, so the company must look to advertisers and other partners to bring in money.

Read moreGet over the Facebook privacy drama

Someone is Finally Starting to Talk Sense at MPS

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No one is really solving the money problems at Milwaukee Public Schools, but finally the school board is at least talking sense about some of the costs. Last night the school board made it clear that if MPS teachers want the district to restore teaching positions (particularly in elective-type areas like art and music), they would have to help the district cut costs.

The teachers in MPS are overpaid, thanks to the hard work of their union. The problem with MPS is not “lack of funding” which is often cited. It’s the employee costs. In March it was reported that the average MPS teacher salary is $56,500, with an average benefits package of $43,505,  for total average compensation of $100,005 per teacher. That’s simply more than the job is worth, and more than the district can afford. While employees everywhere are taking cuts in pay and benefits, the teachers of MPS keep being given more and more.

Read moreSomeone is Finally Starting to Talk Sense at MPS

An Anonymous Source Reveals Numbers For MonaVie

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No, this is not Mona Vie's site. No, MonaVie doesn't endorse or approve me writing about them. In fact, they'll probably get mad that I'm mentioning them. I don't like MonaVie.

I received the following information about multi-level marketing company MonaVie via email from an anonymous source. I have written here about MonaVie in the past, and my opinion is that it is another thinly veiled pyramid scheme with an overpriced product (magic juice) as a front.

If you are thinking about getting involved with MonaVie as a distributor, this is the single most important article to read about it. This will give you a good idea of how little money you’re going to make.

And you should also take a careful look at the below. Note that I have not verified the accuracy of the assumptions in this article from the anonymous source. You should do your own research on MonaVie prior to making a decision.

Read moreAn Anonymous Source Reveals Numbers For MonaVie