O'JIT February 2007

Editorial Comment
Whew! At last all our Secondees are now safely installed in their Receiving Offices. The last departure was Yashmeetha Maharaj, placed in the Jersey office, who finally departed on the 9th of February. The delays were due to work permit documents being delayed on the Receiving Office side. Despite the best efforts of both sets of co-ordinators, the process seemed to go on for ages.

Despite the fact that Yashmeetha will only be starting work on the 12th of February, you will be interested to know that we have been paying her since the beginning of January. I think this incident, which is by no means an isolated case, demonstrates the commitment of E&Y to our Secondees.

It is also interesting to note that our JIT Secondees are far better remunerated than the Secondees from other South African Firms. Whilst the per diems are similar, $50 for E&Y and $51 for one of the other Big 4 Firms, the big difference lies in the net remuneration. All our Secondees, net approximately R22 000 a month, whilst a top rated (significantly exceeds expectations) competitor’s Secondee would net R19 800. In addition, most of them drive “compacts” whilst our guys are driving around in some really heavy metal – including Bernard Kruger’s V6 Gas Guzzler!!!

Bernard, incidentally, has become known throughout the Baltimore Office as the “BB Man” – from Bloem to Baltimore! Others, in the office refer to him as Elvis, due to the luxuriant sideburns he now sports. Yes, they are even bigger than when he left. Perhaps we should have seconded him to Graceland.

Speaking of driving, please watch your alcohol intake, especially if you are the designated driver. One of our Secondees, who shall remain unnamed, whilst en route between San Francisco and San Jose, had an encounter with the long arm of the US law. According to reliable sources, she was asked to walk the white line on the road to prove her sobriety. Fortunately, she passed the test and was allowed to proceed. (She had to use her charm abundantly!)

Andre is now well into the USA leg of his trip. Apart from his usual complaints about eating and drinking too much with the Secondees, he has been complaining bitterly about the cold. Apparently, he found minus 30 degrees Fahrenheit (0 - 14° C) with a touch of wind chill, in Chicago, too tough to handle!! He never left the hotel at night. Dinner drinks consisted of items from the mini bar.

He has now been joined by Mariana for the East Coast leg of his trip. We have heard that Mariana’s trip thus far has not been without its drama. Her flight out of RSA was delayed by 24 hours and she arrived in the USA a day late. This meant a change in all their travel plans. The situation was further compounded by the fact that she arrived sans luggage. A week later, she has still not been reunited with her bags and had to do some emergency shopping in DC. Apparently, AJB’s suits did not fit her properly!!

To the guys that have sent us news, thank you very much. We have enjoyed your letters, pictures, blogs and stories. Some of these are included later. To those of you who are feeling guilty, you can appease your guilt by sending interesting stuff through to your JIT Co-ordinators. It is all forwarded to the Editorial Board for review and inclusion (I have been advised that it is contrary to E&Y’s value system to gossip about your fellow employees. We will, therefore, only be able to include true stories that are of general public interest in future editions of O JIT – ed).

Feedback on our Secondees
The feedback on your performance thus far has been nothing short of excellent. Wherever Andre travels, the reception he gets from Receiving Office Partners is outstanding. You are doing South Africa, E&Y SA, the SA Accounting Profession and yourselves proud. Keep up the good work. Only a couple more weeks for most of you and the “Working experience of a lifetime” will be over.

We had some really great feedback from Victor Veger – JIT Partner responsible for the Dutch Practice and a great fan of the JIT Programme. Below is a copy of a letter he sent to Andre:

Andre,
This weekend we had a welcome program for all JIT staff in Amsterdam. I joined the group dinner Saturday night and had the pleasure of meeting all South African JIT staff personally. Please accept my compliments for the quality of the group. They are all very presentable and sociable, bring a sound knowledge of E&Y tools and methodologies and also are motivated to make the best of their period with us.

Various audit teams in both Rotterdam and Amsterdam have already expressed to me personally how pleased they were with the individual who joined their team. So it seems they are off to a good start.

All staff seemed to be doing well, they pretty much liked their apartments and cars. As always we have picked up a few improvement opportunities from meeting with them and we will seek to fix them before next year's group arrives.

We expect to see you over here in a couple of weeks and trust you will find them enjoying themselves in the Netherlands.

Regards and please advise us timely of our travel plans because I would like you to have an opportunity to meet with some colleagues as well.
Victor

In one Receiving office the local JIT Co-ordinator was so impressed with the pre-briefing that our Secondees received – that she remarked thereon that they new all prior to their arrival.

In certain areas such as McLean (Washington DC) and Dallas, only JIT’s from SA are employed. There’s no doubt that our people are making their mark as whichever office you go to, the people know the South African’s are there.

What fantastic endorsements of the Programme and our Secondees.

Happy Birthday
A serious omission from the last edition of O’JIT was our Birthday List. Our apologies for those we missed in January. To set the record straight we have included the Secondees who had birthdays in January as well as those who will be celebrating in February:

Liesl (Mustang) Pottas
02-Jan
Thabiso (Tubs) Madiba
10-Jan
Alan (V6 Chevy) Welsh
15-Jan
Stuart Masson
15-Jan
Wiehahn Beukes
17-Jan
Craig Ribaudo
18-Jan
Shaheeda Mia
23-Jan
Kelly Gilman
27-Jan
Nicola Bester
29-Jan
Lee Pienaar
30-Jan

Marguerite Potgieter(her engagement ring is BLINDING!)
02-Feb
Gregory (The Organiser) Rodrigues
06-Feb
Rowan King
07-Feb
Graeme Hedding
12-Feb
Renee van der Merwe
21-Feb
Jacques Nel
26-Feb

We trust that you will enjoy celebrating these special times with your new friends and colleagues

JIT Bonuses
We would like to remind you that a JIT Bonus pool has been established and that everyone who submits a minimum of two Performance Appraisals, supplied by a Manager / Partner with a minimum of a 3 rating, required – all values met) for work undertaken in the first three months of their secondment will be eligible for this bonus. It will be paid out in April to all those who qualify.

Remember it is your responsibility to obtain these Performance Appraisals from the Partners or Managers for whom you undertake work. You will not qualify for a JIT bonus if we have not received at least two Performance Appraisals.

Photographic Competition
We noted with interest that KPMG has copied our initiative in their “Outbound Assignee Newsletter” (yawn!!) and have introduced a photographic competition. We have been doing this for a number of years!!

As usual, we are a couple of steps ahead of the game and the prize for the best photograph this month will receive a specially constructed hamper of South African “goodies” Robyn is, as I write, shopping for the kind of luxuries that will surely get your mouth’s watering. The hamper will include: Ouma Rusk, Woolies new Free Range biltong, a couple of bottles of really good SA wine, Nik Naks, Mrs Ball’s se Blatjang, Kit Kats, Crunchies and other tempting snacks. The hamper will be couriered to the winner before the end of March and will make a fine addition to any farewell party – if you are prepared to share that is!

An additional prize will be awarded to the Best Caption attached to a photo.

I will be the sole judge and will not enter into any correspondence around my decision!!

How to enter: Log on to http://DMitchell93.photosite.com/
Password: JIT123

You may post two photos in the competition Album under your name. Each photo must include at least one fellow JIT Secondee.

If you wish to create additional albums to share you photos with us all, please feel free to do so. Please label the albums that you create with your name and home city

News of your Fellow Secondees
News from the Secondees is slowly starting to trickle in. By comparison with previous Secondees, you guys are pretty pitiful – with a few notable exceptions. By far and away the most verbose – writing wise that is – is our “Guzzling Gourmet” Alan Welsh. That is if anyone could ever classify fast foods as Gourmet food. We have been in stitches reading Alan’s daily diary, where he seems to do little else but eat! Well I suppose he did get to an ice hockey game, saw the Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Gnarles Barkley and joined a gym – which seems mightily under-used. He claims to have put on only 3kg’s since arriving, but seems to have eaten about two tons of fast food. Go you good thing and keep the Daily Diary going – but only the short version please!!!

Richard “no mates” Hinwood is probably the most under worked Secondee in the USA. Despite the fact that it is Busy Season in Philly, he is only clocking up about 40 hours per week. He is so lonely that he has asked to be put onto bigger teams so that he can meet more people. I suppose we do feel a level of sympathy for him as he is one of only a very few Secondees who does not have fellow South Africans working with him.

Contrast this with John “I can’t ski yet” Collins, who has worked 80 hour weeks, since his arrival in Houston.

An interesting story about John de Bufanos and Lee Pienaar, in McLean, Washington. Apparently when Lee first arrived at her apartment, it was a smouldering ruin. She then asked the driver to drop her at John’s apartment where she planned to spend the night – mmmm! It took her an hour, where she came close to breaking down the door, to raise him. He tells us that he had taken a sleeping pill. Lee, our advice to you is that there are many fish in the sea. We also heard that John (by the way, Bufananos is French for Buffalo and has nothing to do with his lack of soccer skills) starved himself for three days prior to having dinner with Andre. He then proceeded to eat over 2kgs of meat at Fogo de Chao. Lee you must have been relieved that you weren’t sharing with him after that!!

Wessel “I’m sure its here somewhere” Boshoff, in Amsterdam, must be eating his heart out at the fact that the McLean Secondees have all been issued with portable GPS systems. It took him over an hour to find Andre’s hotel after they had had dinner last year!

Mark “no dates” Webber is desperate to hook up with an American lady. We hear via the grapevine that despite the fact that he is a pretty eligible bachelor, spends many hours grooming before going out to the pubs and wears Paco Rabane, his mates reckon he couldn’t even win a Hunt the Grunt evening. (We hear that Graeme Hedding won this one!!) Mark, we recommend a website called www.DoubleYourDating.com, we are sure it will help.

Ryno Campher’s Dad has contracted Cancer. Ryno was returned to South Africa for two weeks. The team spared no trouble to fly him back to SA. He has since returned to the USA after his Dad had been operated on (all expenses paid by TIC and NY FSO kept his apartment for him during his absence).

Another Secondee who apparently has been on the wrong side of the law is Tara “Where’s my car?” Clinton. We hear that she felt completely at home when she went outside her apartment and her car was not where she had parked it. Not even her looks could get it out of the pound without paying the fine. She and the Pacific North West team seem to be having a blast. Check some of their skiing pics out on: www.snapfish.com, username = david.aggett@ey.com, password = 12345

Brandon “Sexy Back” Wood has hired a body guard, as he is being stalked by a woman who thinks he is Justin Timberlake! (Please will someone explain to Andre who Justin Timberlake is!!!?)
the UK
Kirsten “Aloha” Rose has struck it rich. Her boyfriend, who is on secondment with her in San Francisco with PWC, was sent to Hawaii on client work. Instead of coming home over the weekend, he gave her his home coming ticket and they spent the weekend on Waikiki!! Life is really tough for the PNW team.
, Switzerland, Monaco, the UK, BelguimGermany –
On the other side of the Atlantic we have had some news from Henno “I’m so cosy with Gareth” Kotze and Gareth “I love my dishwasher” Mortimer seem to have set up home in a delightful apartment at Canary Wharf, prior to his departure to the Channel Islands. They are working hard and seem to be enjoying the UK.

Benno “I’m not here” Deysel, and his wife Theana, who is with PWC Amsterdam (E&Y and PWC sharing the costs of the department – who said the firm’s could not work together??!) who has been based in Amsterdam since October. We say based, because he has travelled through France, Germany, Switzerland, Monaco, the UK, Belgium and Austria and has plans to visit Germany – again, the Maastricht Carnival and Scotland. In addition, he has had the benefit of two skiing trips with the Firm. They really look after our people in Holland!!

Villiers “I’m inundated” van Veen, (known as Triple’V’ (Villiers Van Veen) in the USA) in Norway has had to come off the ski slopes as a result of a bad fall. He plans to return to the slopes next weekend, his knee permitting. And sorry girls, he is no longer replying to e-mails he is now busy playing Vikings!!
s -
Where is Andre’s Hotel in Dallas?? Andre made the same mistake (do you remember last year Wessel?) to ask the JITters in Dallas “Bonsai” (Phillipus Grobbelaar), Allan Welsh (Driver) and Brandon ‘earring’ Wood to drop him off at his hotel after dinner with Marinda Engelbrecht and her husband in Dallas. After driving up and down the various motor ways outside Dallas for quite a while, Brandon got stuck into the map and we then EVENTUALLY found the Western Park Central Hotel. In Washington on the way to the dinner, Andre and Mariana took a ‘town car’ $100 later rather than getting lost again. Just as well as it started snowing on the way back!

After having assisted the Jersey office with getting a Secondee, Noel Baggott, to San Francisco, the South African group adopted him and made him an honourary South African. He joined us at the dinner and had a great time. (Shonna, please bill the Jersey Office for the proportionate cost!)

Situations Vacant
We have a number of vacant positions, primarily 18 months to two years. For those of you who have been bitten by the travel bug, you may want to consider fantastic positions going in Bermuda, Grand Cayman, Holland, the UK and USA.

Should you be interested in these, or any other positions, please advise your JIT Co-ordinator as soon as possible. There are about 10 positions in the USA for qualifying candidates, in the Quantitive Services in the Tax Compliance Department.

Johannesburg Townhouse for Rent

An Ernst & Young employee is going to the Bahamas on a 9 month secondment and would like to rent out her fully furnished two bedroom, two bathroom with parking and garden townhouse in Sandton, for 6 months. We have an email that has photos of the townhouse if you would like to take a look.

A Big Thank You
One of Andre’s great strengths is his enduring ability to network and build relationships. These often have payback for our Secondees

A special thanks to Mareijke Weidemann and Lara Bayne (SF), Francois Labuschagne for looking after our guys in Philly and James MacGregor for looking after our NY FSO Secondees. It is really appreciated

Old contacts and friendships renewed. It was really great to meet up with some previous SA employees, JITters and South African friends in the various cities Andre and later Andre and Mariana visited. Other than names already previously mentioned earlier in the O’JIT, Hugh Rosengarten (TSRS Partner San Francisco) Sean Cremen (Audit San Francisco) Pierre Fourie (Manager TSRS), Richard Mathonsi (Global Exchange programme San Francisco from AABS Services), Desiree Wittig, Jackie Morgan, Shane Attlee (Class of 2006) all met us and exchanged pleasantries, travel tips, etc.

The Back Page
A classic quote from Andre: There is a new saying going around the US Practice. They now classify under-performers as “PURE” people. PURE stands for Previously Undetected Recruitment Error. In our line of business, we will get a great deal of mileage from this one!!

Came across an interesting definition of an Auditor the other day. Check it out on the following website: http://uncyclopedia.org/wiki/Auditor

Conclusion
Guys you are doing a great job and we are very proud of you. Keep up the good work, continue to have fun and make the most of this wonderful opportunity.

Keep the news flowing, it makes my job so much easier, and hopefully makes O’JIT more fun and interesting for all of you.

The JIT Team
Andre, Mariana, Shonna, Debbie, Robyn and David