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Accounting News Roundup: Will the Big 4 Get Pulled Into the Trade War? | 04.06.18

donald trump big 4 trade war

Trump Veers From Tax Script to Blast Democrats on Immigration [NYT]
Vindictive Stay Puft Marshmallow Boy Man and President of the United States, Donald Trump, was supposed to talk about the new tax law in West Virginia yesterday, but he decided “that would have been a little boring,” and ranted about immigration and repeated a lie about “millions of people vot[ing] illegally in the 2016 election” instead.

“They always like to say, ‘Oh, that’s a conspiracy theory,’” Mr. Trump said. “Not a conspiracy theory, folks. Millions and millions of people.”

It seems a little foolish to repeat falsehoods rather than talk about tax cuts, as nearly everyone knows by now, unforced errors are a feature of this president rather than a bug.

What does the trade war mean for accounting? [China Accounting Blog]
Speaking of unenforced errors, Paul Gillis writes that the trade war between the U.S. and China could spill over into the Big 4’s territory since “they are generally viewed as American.” Gillis writes that there may be “an acceleration of the process of transferring major accounts to local [Chinese] CPA firms,” but the U.S. could retaliate by strictly enforcing its laws that could lead to “deregistration of Chinese accounting firms registered with the PCAOB.” Which, in turn, could lead to a lot of Chinese companies delisting from U.S. exchanges.

WageWorks to Restate Results, CFO Resigns [CFO]
WageWorks CEO Joe Jackson and CFO Colm Callan will quit after their company announced restatements “for two quarters of 2016, full-year 2016, and three quarters of 2017.”

Keep the Music Going – Staying in Tune with Music Tax Credits [BNA]
Georgia, Louisiana, and New York are among the states that offer tax credits “to encourage development of the music industry.”

SEC Warns of Government Impersonators [SEC]
Phony SEC employees are calling around “in an attempt to trick investors into sending money or revealing sensitive account information.” The Commission wants everyone to know that they do not “contact investors to confirm trades, set up trading accounts, or record the details of trades.”

Elsewhere: The SEC is accusing a startup founder of stealing $48 million from investors to fund private jets and a dairy cow farm

Previously, on Going Concern…

I suggested that if you suspect someone of fraud that you should promote them.

I also noted that PwC will be paying a decent sized damages award to the FDIC for its role in the failure of Colonial Bank.

From the archives: Do Any Millennials Want to Work at the IRS Non-ironically? See also: Everyone Suffering from Busy Season Depression: Grab Some Bubble Wrap, Stat

In other news:

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CORRECTION: An earlier version of this post incorrectly stated that Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis were recommending the ouster of KPMG as the auditor of Wells Fargo. While Glass Lewis did oppose the reappointment of KPMG as the auditor of Wells Fargo, ISS has yet to issue a formal recommendation.