Accounting News Roundup: Madoff Ex-Controller Expected to Take a Plea; PwC's Nally Works Hard for the Money; Deck the Halls with Tax Art

MF Global Used Customers’ Money Days Before Company’s Failure, CME Says [Bloomberg]
CME Group detailed its dealings with MF Global in documents released yesterday by the oversight panel of the House Financial Services Committee. Christine Serwinski, chief financial officer for North America at MF Global, and Edith O’Brien, a treasurer, told Mike Procajlo, an exchange auditor, at around 1 a.m. on Oct. 31 in Serwinski’s Chicago office that the customer money was transferred on Oct. 27 and Oct. 28 and possibly Oct. 26, according to a CME Group timeline. “About $700 million was moved to the broker-dealer side of the business to meet liquidity issues in a series of transactions on Thursday, Friday and possibly Wednesday,” Serwinski and O’Brien told Procajlo hours before the firm filed for the eighth-largest bankruptcy following record quarterly losses and $6.3 billion in trades on European sovereign debt.

Madoff’s Ex-Controller Expected to Plead Guilty Next Week [DealBook]

Enrica Cotellessa-Pitz, the former controller of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, will admit on Monday to falsifying the company’s records and making phony submissions to government regulators, according to a letter filed by federal prosecutors on Thursday. She has not been charged yet but is cooperating with the government, the letter said. Ms. Cotellessa-Pitz would be the 11th person criminally charged in the Madoff case.

WithumSmith+Brown Merges in EisnerLubin [AT]
WS+B will add 50 employees, including nine partners, by adding NYC-based EinserLubin.

Dennis Nally of PwC: 'If auditors aren't doing enough, who's going to pay for them to do more?' [Guardian]

Asked about his salary, he looks at his PR man, who quickly steps in to say it is not disclosed. We can presume it was in the millions, as PwC's UK chairman, Ian Powell, took home £3.7m this year. "I would say I earn every dollar I make," says Nally, a fit-looking 59-year-old.

PwC subject of probe into BarCap compliance [Reuters]

Accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) is being investigated over its auditing of Barclays Capital Securities in relation to the investment bank's compliance with rules governing the protection of client money. The Accountancy and Actuarial Discipline Board said on Friday its investigation would cover PwC's conduct in preparing reports on Barclays Capital, the investment banking arm of Barclays Bank PLC, to the Financial Services Authority.

Woman's breast implant disappears during Pilates [MSNBC]
During a Pilates routine, she was doing a Valsalva maneuver, a breathing technique in which a person takes a deep breath and holds it while bearing down. […] Doing a Valsalva maneuver increases pressure inside your chest cavity. In this lady's case, enough pressure built to essentially send her right implant through the thin tissue between her ribs and into the space in between the lungs.

Christmas Gifts for that Special Tax Person [TaxProf]

Something to accompany that CPA certificate on your office wall.

Accounting News Roundup: “Showdown Votes” on Taxes This Week; Are Accountants Adaptable or Not?; Some Brutal Honesty About Your Career | 11.30.10

Caleb Newquist
November 30, 2010

Disintegration of the Big Four Audit Firms? As They Tell the House of Lords, “We Don’t See That on the Horizon” [Re:Balance]
Round 2 (previous comments here) from Jim Peterson, “The epitaph for the private delivery of audit services to the world’s large global companies was written in London on November 23.”

Democrats to Test Republican Mettle With Tax-Cut Vote [Bloomberg BusinessWeek]
Dems are feeling out the GOP this week with some “showdown votes” that may set the stage for many late nights in December. Ah, politics.

An Interview With WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange [Forbes]
A “major American bank” is next on the leaking block. Not sure if Vegas has handicapped this but Team Jehovah seems like an early favorite.

Google Is Said to Be Poised to Buy Groupon [DealBook]
All your cheap sushi and massages could belong to GOOG.

Former Quest Energy Exec Sentenced To 16 Years For Fraud [Dow Jones]
Former CFO David Grose received his sentence for three counts of wire fraud. Ouch.

MarcumStonefield Enhances Tax, Assurance Services and Quality Control with Key Appointments [PR Newswire]
MS appoints three to in-charge positions, “Nanette Miller has been named Partner-in-Charge of Assurance Services, Alan Griffith has been named Partner-in-Charge of Tax Services, and Michael Feinstein has been appointed head of Quality Control for all of MarcumStonefield’s offices in California and Hong Kong.”

Smart Year-End Tax Moves for Investors [WSJ]
FYI – just in case you don’t have the utmost confidence in the lame-o Congress.

Accountants are more adaptable than you think [AWEB UK]
Point.

Accountants are less adaptable than you think [AccMan]
Counterpoint.

Top 20 Inconvenient Career Truths [Forbes]
A favorite: “If you hate your job, it probably won’t get better with time. Sticking around because you’re afraid will only dig you deeper into the rut.” Also, “If you find yourself job-hopping and nothing ever satisfies you for any period of time, it’s time to look at yourself. Most likely, you’re part of the problem.”