Accounting News Roundup: PwC Nabs HSBC Audit; AICPA Offers Suggestions; Accounting Firm Sued…for Libel? | 03.18.15

Posted on by Caleb Newquist

HSBC confirms PwC will take over as auditor from March 31 [Reuters]
May God have mercy on this audit team.

AICPA Sends Tax Proposals to Congress [AT]
34 of them, to be precise.

Audit shows 74-year-old woman who served as accountant for orthodontist stole more than $680K [Fox6]
Joyce Sakach allegedly wrote 340 fraudulent checks payable to a fake company she created.

Meet the ORIGINAL fashion blogger, a flamboyant 16th century accountant [DM]
German-born Matthaeus Schwarz painted 137 watercolor portraits over 40 years.
 
Dallemand files suit against Macon accounting firm [Macon.com]
An accounting firm being sued is not unusual; an accounting firm being sued for libel and slander because of their audit presentation is, on the other hand, pretty unusual.
 
Writing Assessment for EY Leadership Program? [r/accounting]
Accountants are skerd of werds!
 
Meth Labs in Walmart: Not That Unusual [Slate]
In addition to last week's bust in Indiana, mini meth labs in Walmarts have been reported in Oklahoma, Tennessee, Michigan, Missouri and Texas. 

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Accounting News Roundup: Obama Talks Taxes in the SOTU; SEC Issues Guidance on Climate Change Disclosures; Video of Dennis Nally in Davos | 01.28.10

• Tax Portions of President Obama’s State of the Union Speech [TaxProf Blog]
The POTUS gave his first State of the Union address last night and he talked about a lot of things over his 70 minute chat. Luckily if you didn’t manage to watch, listen, or were simply screaming at the TV during the whole thing, Paul Caron summed up the tax portions for you, “Let me repeat: We cut taxes. We cut taxes for 95 percent of working families. We cut taxes for small businesses. We cut taxes for first-time homebuyers. We cut taxes for parents trying to care for their children. We cut taxes for 8 million Americans paying for college.”

Whoa, what was that part about small businesses? ” I am also proposing a new small business tax credit — one that will go to over one million small businesses who hire new workers or raise wages. While we’re at it, let’s also eliminate all capital gains taxes on small business investment; and provide a tax incentive for all businesses, large and small, to invest in new plants and equipment.”

Is he talking about — GASP — bonus depreciation? And eliminating capital gains taxes? Maybe! Regardless, the President has his work cut out for him since he’s dealing with an angry populous and negotiating with some resistant players across the aisle (who would likely propose the same ideas).


• SEC Issues Interpretive Guidance on Disclosure Related to Business or Legal Developments Regarding Climate Change [SEC.gov]
Don’t worry, this doesn’t mean that companies will get all Al Gore on you with Climate Change talk but they will have to expand on the existing disclosures. Mary Schapiro isn’t interested in their opinion on the matter anyway; she’d rather that issuers just explain the impact of certain areas that may require disclosure. Pesky regulation, treaties with foreign countries, impacts on their business, you get the idea. Filings aren’t complex enough anyway.

• PwC Chairman Nally Says CEOs Are `Cautiously Optimistic’ [Bloomberg]
Looks a little cold over there in Toblerone land but Dennis looks like he’s enjoying himself. He also isn’t surprised that people aren’t as freaked out as, say, a year ago but dang it, things are still a little hairy.