Doubts emerge over U.S. move to global accounting [Reuters]
Once thought inevitable, a decisive move by the United States to one-world accounting is now in serious doubt. Blame delays, shifting timelines, or huge debt and high unemployment problems in the United States’ own back yard, but the idea of a massive change in companies’ accounting framework is not the crowd-pleaser it once was. “If there was a compelling value proposition that said, ‘as a policy, this is the right thing to do,’ it would be going faster than it’s going,” said Steven Nielsen, chief executive officer of Dycom Industries.
Gridlock for Debt Talks [WSJ]
Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill moved along separate tracks Sunday toward a deal to increase the U.S. government’s borrowing authority, setting America’s gridlocked political system on a collision course with jittery financial markets around the world. The two camps remained split over how much to increase the debt limit—enough to get past the 2012 election or not—and how much to cut spending. A break in the impasse is needed to ensure the government won’t run out of cash to pay its bills after Aug. 2.
Owling: The new planking? [WaPo]
“Because planking is so two months ago.”
More red flags for Carlyle’s China portfolio [Reuters]
More Chinese companies in the Carlyle Group’s Asia portfolio have had questions raised about potential weaknesses in their accounting practices or financial controls, bringing further scrutiny to the private equity firm’s investments across the country. Carlyle, invested in more companies in China than any other private equity firm, is not alone in having to sort out parts of its portfolio. Several other major foreign players there have been caught up in various accounting issues that surfaced in the last few months.
Green Mountain Coffee: A Bad Cup of Java [Grumpy Old Accountants]
With lawsuits recently filed against it for securities violations, we can no longer ignore the financial reporting indiscretions of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR). This is not just a case about bad financial reporting, and likely financial reporting fraud. GMCR offers absolute proof that compliance with generally accepted accounting standards does not necessarily yield transparency in financial reporting.
PwC Hedges Bet Between Bank of America And Federal Home Loan Banks [Forbes]
Safe money is still on PwC towing to BofA.
Detecting internal control overrides [Fraud Files Blog]
News you can use.
To Plank or Not to Plank [The Summa]
There is no question.
Moody’s downgrades Greece [FT]
The second bail-out of Greece will weaken the credit ratings of Europe’s strongest countries as well as resulting in a default for Athens, Moody’s said on Monday. The US rating agency downgraded Greece by three notches to Ca, Athens’ lowest rating and one that implies the country is already in default.
KPMG Chairman-Elect Michael Andrew Announces Appointments to Global Leadership Team [KPMG]
Among them is Mark Goodburn, currently head of Advisory in the U.S., to Global Head of Advisory.
