Ed. note: GC will be off on Monday for Presidents Day. See you back here on Tuesday.
MF Global vs. PwC
We touched on this story last week, but if you can’t get enough of the pre-game analysis of the pending trial between the bankruptcy trustee of MF Global and PwC, then you’ll enjoy this Wall Street Journal report by Patrick Fitzgerald. The trial is set to start on March 6th, although the parties are “engage[d] in a last-ditch attempt at mediation,” but those of us that watch this stuff keeping our fingers crossed for a trial. Hey, and former MF Global CEO Jon Corzine is expected to testify, so we don’t want to miss that.
Tax literacy
Maybe you’ve noticed, but there’s a lot of people walking around that don’t know squat about taxes. That overall ignorance is why people rant about not liking them and only want them to do one thing — go down.
Which is a shame! Taxes and tax policy are a crucial part of our system — they pay for firefighters, police, teachers, national and state parks, roads, dams, bridges (and all the people behind the scenes) and countless other things that we need for society.
In any case, now that you’ve humored my little patriotic tax spiel, I’ll mention this Washington Post article about the a tax literacy project at Tulane University Law School called Tax Jazz. It was founded by Marjorie Kornhauser and she admits that it’s no Hamilton, but it does use “theater, role-playing, and games.” That beats every tax class I ever took.
How is this still a thing?
In yet another sign that some accountants just can’t handle change, Accounting Today reports the FASB has published a “five-volume bound” print edition of its codification with “all the latest updates.” It’ll set you back $255. The main catch is you can’t use Ctrl-F in it.
Accountants behaving badly
Jennifer Smith, a controller of an unnamed company, allegedly stole $160,000 from her employer from September 1, 2016 to January 31, 2017. Whatever else you say, at least the timing was tidy.
Anyway, she’s aid to have “accessed the company’s computer payroll system and distributed more than $40,000 to herself” and also “used the banking system in January to divert about $120,000 in payments to her bank account.”
Previously, on Going Concern…
Megan Lewczyk wrote about nano-CPE.
In other news:
- Unilever says no to takeover bid by Kraft Heinz
- Deloitte’s Korean firm is in trouble.
- The Forgotten History of ‘The Oregon Trail,’ As Told By Its Creators
- Fancy pens.
- Airport agents seize horse genitals hidden in juice boxes
Get the Accounting News Roundup in your inbox every weekday by signing up here.
