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Accounting News Roundup: Big 4 Chinese Firms Attempting a Workaround; Autonomy Snaps at HP; EY Throws Money at Wisconsin | 02.05.14

Big Four’s Chinese Affiliates May Mull Workarounds [WSJ]
This sounds like best bad idea the firms have come up with so far: "The Big Four’s Hong Kong affiliates aren’t affected by the ruling, and if they were to temporarily take over some of the Chinese affiliates’ work, it might minimize the disruptions the suspension would cause for the Chinese firms’ clients, some observers believe. But others say a switch would be unfeasible as the Chinese firms’ reason for refusing to give the SEC the documents it wanted – they said Chinese laws on state secrecy prevented them from turning over the documents – could also apply in certain cases to the Hong Kong firms if they took over the work. That could leave the Hong Kong firms similarly unable to comply, and potentially subject to U.S. sanctions."

Autonomy management hits back at HP [FT]
That restatement ruffled a few feathers: "In a strongly worded statement on the website of Mike Lynch, Autonomy’s former chief executive, the group’s management team at the time of HP’s 2011 takeover said any allegation of misrepresentation, fraud or accounting impropriety was 'completely false.' "

Deloitte CEO Barry Salzberg Joins Board of Venture Philanthropy Organization New Profit [Deloitte]
This intro has the most barf-inducing buzzwords I've ever seen: "
Barry Salzberg, CEO of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (DTTL), has been elected to the Board of Directors of New Profit Inc., a pioneering venture philanthropy and social innovation organization."

LOLanswers!

Obama Tax Rhetoric on Offshore Profit Falls Shy of Action [Bloomberg]
A politician who over-promises and under-delivers?! NOT IN MY AMERICA! "In his sixth year in office, Obama can claim relatively few accomplishments on international taxation — an issue he used as a populist applause line during his campaigns and as recently as his Jan. 28 State of the Union address."

Ernst & Young donates $1.1M to UW-Madison School of Business [MBJ]
Here's how the gift will be distributed: "The accounting and global management firm will give $850,000 to the Global Mindset Leaders Program, which teaches students about cultural and social diversity in business, and the remaining money will pay for programs in the School of Business' accounting department."

Journalists at Sochi are live-tweeting their hilarious and gross hotel experiences [WaPo]
No worries, though. Russia is ready! "Some journalists arriving in Sochi are describing appalling conditions in the housing there, where only six of nine media hotels are ready for guests. Hotels are still under construction. Water, if it’s running, isn’t drinkable. One German photographer told the AP over the weekend that his hotel still had stray dogs and construction workers wandering in and out of rooms."

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