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Accounting News Roundup: Brits Going After Olympus; FASB Panel Pushes Back on Lease Proposal; Dress (like the Boss) for Success | 09.04.13

British fraud agency to prosecute Olympus over accounting scandal [Reuters]
Britain's fraud agency will prosecute Olympus Corp (7733.T) and its British unit Gyrus for falsifying accounts, the Japanese medical equipment maker said on Wednesday, dragging a $1.7 billion accounting scandal back into the spotlight after it erupted nearly two years ago. Olympus plunged into the red and its share price tanked after details of massive hidden losses were discovered late in 2011, but it has since swung back into profit and Sony Corp (6758.T) paid 50 billion yen ($500 million) to become its biggest shareholder this year.

Deloitte kicks off "Team USA Road Show" of Olympic athletes [AT]
"The 'Team USA Road Show' demonstrates Deloitte's focus on strengths-based leadership and the high performance culture many students today seek," said Patty Pogemiller, director of Deloitte Services and talent acquisition leader, in a statement. "Olympians and Paralympians are exceptional talents who stretch themselves, thrive as leaders and turn passion into reality. These qualities make them strong ambassadors of our culture and ideal motivators for students to ignite their own careers."

FASB Panel Says Ditch Lease Accounting Proposal [CW]
FASB's Investor Advisory Committee met with FASB last week to explain their concerns over the complexity of FASB's pending proposal to require new accounting for lease contracts that would bring all leased assets and their related liabilities on to corporate balance sheets. IAC told FASB the current proposal would produce information that would not necessarily be all that helpful or important to users of financial statements. “Overall, the idea that liabilities related to leases is something that would be helpful to investors — it's definitely the right idea to get more transparency on that,” said David Trainer, CEO of New Constructs and a member of the IAC. “However, I think the complexities of the underlying activity make it almost impossible to create a one-size-fits-all solution that we can just put on the balance sheet. The most decision-useful information is to enhance disclosure to let analysts who, given their multiple potential interpretations, can do with it what they wish.”

Could dressing like the boss lead to a promotion? [Telegraph]
More than half of employees said they were influenced by what their managers wore to work, while 61 per cent said dressing like their colleagues created a better and more productive work atmosphere. And managers are not immune to the flattery of workers copying their clothing and style choices, with 68 per cent admitting staff with a similar look to them gained brownie points and were more on their radar.

Gen Y managers perceived as entitled, need polish [CNBC]
Generation Y managers are widely perceived as entitled, and score significantly lower as hard-working team players in newly released research from EY, the global firm that includes Ernst & Young LLP. That's especially striking since members of Gen Y, or the millennial generation, which EY defines as people aged 18 to 32, are moving into management at a rapid pace. Some 87 percent of Gen Y managers in the EY survey took on a new management role, between 2008 and 2013, compared with 38 percent of Gen X managers and just 19 percent of those aging baby boomer managers. Gen Y workers, including managers, now make up about a third of the U.S. workforce, according to Karyn Twaronite, EY's Americas inclusiveness officer. And at EY itself, which hires thousands of young recruits every year, Twaronite says the workforce is almost two-thirds Gen Y. 

Baker Tilly completes RSM Tenon acquisition [Accountancy Age]
Baker Tilly has completed the acquisition of RSM Tenon's trading operations. The acquired firm will continue to trade under its own name "for a short period of time" until it operates under the single Baker Tilly brand. The jobs and employment rights of RSM Tenon's 2,300 partners and staff, across its 35 offices, wil be unaffected.

Man wears sign apologizing for threatening police [WKYC]
Richard Dameron, 58, threatened police during 911 calls and then skipped out on his punishment. Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Pinkey Carr ordered him to hold a sign this week outside of the Second District police station in Cleveland. The sign reads, in part: "I was being an idiot and it will never happen again." He told Carr he couldn't show up to his last court appearance because he didn't have a ride.

Posted in ANR