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Accounting News Roundup: The IRS Is on a Roll; Deloitte, KPMG Duck HP-Autonomy Lawsuit; The Difficulty in Finding Good Accountants | 06.03.13

No Replacement for Corporate Taxes [NYT]
In response to the recent Senate hearing on tax avoidance at Apple, some pundits have argued that the best solution is to abolish the corporate income tax altogether. Their contention is that multinational corporations — which hold trillions of dollars in mostly untaxed profits offshore — are so complex and so expert at avoidance that even trying to tax them is pointless. It would be better, they say, to quit trying and to raise needed tax revenue in other ways. This would be a completely wrong approach.

IRS Faulted on Conference Spending [WSJ]
An internal watchdog at the Treasury Department is set to report Tuesday that the IRS spent almost $50 million on more than 200 employee conferences from 2010 through 2012, spending the tax-collecting agency's new acting commissioner called "inappropriate."

James Comey And KPMG: Isn't It Ironic [Forbes]
President Obama's nominee for FBI Director was one KPMG's saviors back in the tax shelter settlement reached in 2005.

Why Accounting And Finance Pros Are So Difficult To Hire [Forbes]
IMA President Jeff Thomson: "The ManpowerGroup survey says that 33 percent of U.S. employers cited a lack of workplace competencies, or soft skills, as the reason they have difficulty filling positions."

PwC US Opens 10-Story Workspace in the Heart of Tampa's Westshore Business District [PwC]
If you remember, this is the same place that did Clark Griswold-inspired light show at Christmas time.

NY accountant, lawyer to be ordained priest [AP]
As if John Stanton Jr. didn't listen to enough whining before.

In HP-Autonomy lawsuit, auditors Deloitte, KPMG out of gunsights [SVBJ]
When Hewlett-Packard Co. shareholders in November sued the company and its directors over the disastrous acquisition of Autonomy Corp., the company’s auditors, Deloitte and KPMG, found themselves dragged into the mess as defendants. What has largely escaped notice is that a May 3 consolidated complaint in the shareholders derivative case dropped KPMG LLP and Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited as defendants, refocusing the case on the company’s management and board.

For Whom Does the FASB Toil? (Not for Investors) [Accounting Onion]
Tom Selling finds a gem of a comment letter on the Board's loan loss proposal.

Companies Try to Make the First Day for New Hires More Fun [WSJ]
[S]ome companies—hoping to create a first impression that really counts—are turning to orientations that seem more collegiate than corporate, complete with co-worker networking sessions, time for new employees to tout their skills and even officewide scavenger hunts.

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