Accounting News Roundup: FASB Suggests Keeping Things Brief; KPMG Teaming Up with Hoyas; Steve Nash's Taxes

JPMorgan profit falls on $4.4 billion trading loss [Reuters]
JPMorgan Chase & Co, the biggest U.S. bank, posted $4.4 billion of credit trading losses, but said it had cleaned up the group responsible for the bad bets. The bank said its Chief Investment Office, which made the trades, was no longer betting on credit derivatives. Another group will manage what is left of the trades. The CIO, which manages risk for the overall bank and invests excess deposits, will now focus on conservative investments, JPMorgan said. The problems were isolated to the group, the company added. "We have put most of this problem behind us and we can now focus our full energy on what we do best," Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon said in a statement.

My word! U.S. accountants suggest brevity a virtue [Reuters]

The Financial Accounting Standards Board is seeking comment through Nov. 16 on ways to make financial reports more relevant and useful. Cutting the volume of verbiage is not the main goal but will probably be a result, the Financial Accounting Standards Board said. "Financial reports have become too long, and thus much less effective tools for communicating with investors," said FASB spokeswoman Christine Klimek. Often the information investors need is there but "hidden in plain sight," she said. From basic tables showing income, cash flow and assets and liabilities, annual reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission have ballooned as accounting standards have grown more complex over the years. "The real problem is not so much the financial statements themselves, it's the SEC filings surrounding them which have gotten really long and really boring," said Michael Young, a partner at law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher and expert on financial reporting.

Brooklyn Park woman pleads guilty in $1M embezzling [MST]
Cynthia Carol Jacobsen, 58, of Brooklyn Park, set up business entities in the name of her daughter and submitted bogus bills that Land O'Lakes paid unwittingly. Jacobsen admitted to forging her daughter's signature on 489 checks to obtain $1,046,152. She then moved the money to her own accounts and gambled it away. The company uncovered the embezzlement after an audit prompted by a tip from a co-worker, authorities said. The diversion caused Land O'Lakes to misrepresent its financial position while it lasted.

KPMG And Georgetown University Launch New Consumer Research Institute [KPMG]
FYI.

Did Steve Nash Sign with the L.A. Lakers for Tax Reasons? [TaxProf]
L.A. > Toronto isn't that hard of a sell to begin with.

Lawrence Edmonds Vows To Lick Every Cathedral In United Kingdom Before December [The Sun via HP]
“We’ve no idea why the bet was centred on licking cathedrals — it just was. I’ve tasted a lot of new places.”