India Bans PricewaterhouseCoopers From Auditing Listed Firms for Two Years [WSJ]
The Securities and Exchange Board of India banned PwC affiliates from auditing listed companies for two years over the $1 billion Satyam fraud (India’s Enron, if you prefer). As you may recall, PwC partners were sentenced to jail for this debacle, but the firm has maintained that “its accountants were duped” and “is confident it can reverse the order in court.”
The Big Three [Reuters/Breakingviews]
A column from Una Galani suggests that India’s ban of PwC “might also prompt multi-national companies in India to dump the auditor in other jurisdictions too, just to make it easier to file their global accounts.”
Apple Could Get a $4 Billion Boost From Tax-Law Quirk [Bloomberg]
In what appears to be a stroke of dumb luck (or savvy lobbying), companies, including Apple and Microsoft, whose fiscal years began before January 1 (when the new tax law took effect) “get an extra chance to reduce foreign cash they’ll accumulate this year — which they can do by distributing cash dividends to their U.S. parents before tallying up what’s left to be taxed.” One tax law professor stated the obvious: “Are there planning opportunities? Yes, most likely.”
Elsewhere in Apple taxes: UK squeezes extra £136m tax payment from Apple
I.R.S. Paid $20 Million to Collect $6.7 Million in Tax Debts [NYT]
Not too good, man. Taxpayer advocate Nina Olson also reported, “private contractors in some cases were paid 25 percent commissions on collections that the I.R.S. made without their help.”
Audit committees will be dealing with new accounting standards and tax reform this year [AT]
A couple of KPMG reports state that, yes, members of the junk drawer committee will stay busy with revenue recognition, tax reform, and cybersecurity, among the usual stuff.
Previously, on Going Concern…
Greg Kyte’s Exposure Drafts cartoon showed that you can’t run from the billable hour.
In Open Items, Updated PCAOB Staff Guidance on Determining Auditor Tenure
From the archives: Deloitte Resents the Depiction of Its Independent Review Foreclosure Work as “Story Time”
In other news:
- NYC sues oil companies over climate change
- A Prime Number Could Be the Answer to Bitcoin’s Power Problem
- Why It’s Still Worth Getting a Flu Shot
- You’re Most Likely to Do Something Extreme Right Before You Turn 30
- Woman returns ‘dead’ Christmas tree to Costco in Jan. for full refund
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