SEC Faces China Auditor Appeal as Ban Imperils Diplomacy [Bloomberg]
It's exciting when they cut it so close! "The Securities and Exchange Commission will have to weigh the punishment just as U.S. and Chinese regulators make strides in overcoming some of the legal conflicts that the auditors say prevented them from cooperating with probes of China-based companies listed on U.S. exchanges. China has signaled that the diplomatic progress could be derailed if the SEC upholds the judge’s Jan. 22 decision. The firms said that day they will submit an appeal, which must be filed by Feb. 12.
China firms head for U.S. IPOs, not fussed by accounting flap [Reuters]
Obviously the investment bankers are excited about this, but so are the short sellers: "John Hempton, chief investment officer of Sydney-based Bronte Capital, said a lack of penalties for Chinese firms' past misdeeds in the 2011 scandals meant the potential to find accounting fraud was always there. 'We welcome the new bull market,' said Hempton, best known for having taken short positions on several U.S.-listed Chinese companies in the past. 'We hope that they issue hundreds of new shares because they will provide our future happy hunting ground.' "
Deloitte & Touche Plays Rough in Kabul [CNS]
This sounds pretty standard for doing business in Afghanistan: "Deloitte & Touche frightened an employee so badly he suffered a stroke after he warned it that a ranking Afghan official felt it was defrauding the Afghan and U.S. governments, the man claims in court. Nazir Khalji, a U.S. citizen, sued Deloitte and its Afghanistan chief Gareth Davies in Federal Court. His claims of defamation, assault and wrongful firing stem from events he claims happened last year while he worked for Deloitte in Kabul."
Big Four Accounting Firm Called a Big Liar [CNS]
And just in case you can't get enough Big 4 civil cases in your life: "PriceWaterhouseCoopers steered the dying, elderly founder of a Dallas metals company into making $8.5 million in ill-advised loans, his estate claims in court The estate of Thomas E. Bentley sued the accounting firm in Dallas County Court. Bentley founded The Richardson Trident Co. in 1962 as a distributor of raw and fabricated metals. He sold it to a competitor, Metals USA, in 2011. His estate claims that PriceWaterhouseCoopers and its Dallas-based partner Alan King, of Dallas, took advantage of him after the sale."
6 steps to help you become the best tax client [DMWT]
Joe Kristan reminds us of the most important step. "[S]tep number seven: pay your preparer promptly."
Incoming Senate Finance Chair Wyden Outlines His Tax Agenda [TaxVox]
You get a sense that Wyden is serious when Howard Gleckman quotes him describing the IRC as "“dysfunctional, rotting mess of a carcass.”
The Wurst of Deutsche Bank [Accounting Onion]
Tom Selling laments over a non-GAAP doozy: "[O]f what use is any bank performance measure that excludes changes in the bank’s allowance for credit losses?"
Bacon sales sizzle to all-time high [MW]
I think we can all agree that the bacon bowl is peak bacon.
