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Accounting News Roundup: Romney Missing Out on PE Tax Controversy; Sticking Up for Facebook; Democrats’ Tax Planks | 09.05.12

How Romney Avoided Controversial Tax Practice [WW/WSJ]
Mitt Romney appears to have dodged a bullet after his lawyer said last week that the GOP candidate never engaged in a tax practice that’s now being investigated by New York’s attorney general. The statement, however, created another mystery: How did Mr. Romney avoid getting involved in a tax practice that appears to have been widely used in recent years at his old firm, Bain Capital? According to a person familiar with Bain’s retirement agreements, the answer is fairly simple: The way Mr. Romney’s retirement agreement was structured didn’t give him an opportunity to participate.

Facebook Handled their IPO Exactly Right [MB via MW]
Mark Cuban: "Facebook was able to raise about 10 BILLION DOLLARS in this IPO. The CFO’s job is not to manage shareholder portfolios. His job is to help Facebook succeed. I don’t know about you, but putting 10 BILLION DOLLARS in the bank in my opinion is one way to help them succeed. Who’s job is it to help manage the portfolio’s of FB investors ? If an investor doesn’t manage their own portfolio, the brokers who sold them the stock are responsible.  It’s their job to read the prospectus if you as an investor are too lazy to do so.  It is the job of the broker to help the investor understand the value of the company and make a buying decision. No question that there are a lot of brokers out there that did not do their jobs."

Ex-Porsche CFO Haerter ‘Aghast’ at Criminal Case Over Bank Loan [BBW]

Former Porsche SE Chief Financial Officer Holger Haerter told a German court on the first day of his trial that he didn’t make misleading statements in 2009 when the company refinanced a 10 billion-euro loan ($12.5 billion). Haerter denied charges he downplayed Porsche’s liquidity needs when negotiating with BNP Paribas SA (BNP) about a 500 million- euro share of the loan. He said prosecutors didn’t understand the complex terminology used in the discussions. “I am aghast at these charges because I have always been very meticulous in all my declarations,” Haerter, 66, told the Stuttgart court today. “It has never been my way to deceive business partners and I didn’t do it here.”
 
Kingfisher Losses Understated Due to Improper Accounting [WSJ]

The auditor of Kingfisher Airlines Ltd. has found out that the carrier's losses last financial year were under-reported due to improper accounting practices, Kingfisher said Wednesday in its annual report to shareholders for the past financial year. The carrier's auditor, B.K. Ramadhyani and Co., said that Kingfisher's losses for the past year ended March 31 would have been 34.44 billion rupees ($616.39 million) instead of the reported 23.28 billion rupees had the company properly amortized repairs and maintenance costs on leased aircraft and made provisions for withholding tax and security commission to guarantors of the company's loans. The auditor's observations are likely to add to the woes of a company already marred by a severe cash crunch and struggling to keep its operations afloat. The auditor also pointed out anomalies in the way Kingfisher assigned the rights on some aircraft purchases to its lessors. It also said Kingfisher owes 5.39 billion rupees as tax deducted at source.

Reason #17 to Hire Me: Blaming Turbo Tax Can Not Protect You From Penalties [DT]
Alternative title: Taxes shouldn't be this complicated.

Tax Planks in Democratic Party Platform [TaxProf]
FYI.

Lehman’s Detroit Escape Means 90% Loss On Properties: Mortgages [Bloomberg]
Literally pennies on the dollar.

What do you get with a menage a trois, drugs, a revolver and a SWAT team? Trouble in Pasco County [TBT]
David Rice and his wife, Mindi, both 29 and already familiar with the Pasco jail, spent Wednesday evening at their home on 20th Street injecting themselves with prescription drugs and having sex with a 24-year-old woman. They all fell asleep. Then Mrs. Rice woke early Thursday to find her husband trying to have sex again with their friend — without her, deputies said. This made her angry, sheriff's spokesman Kevin Doll said. Mr. Rice insisted "he was only trying to grab the covers to cover himself," Doll added. Mrs. Rice grabbed a loaded revolver, threatened to kill the woman and fired a round into the ceiling, deputies reported. Her husband took the gun away, authorities said, and squeezed her throat "with one hand while holding the handgun beside her face." "B—-, I'll f—— kill you," Mr. Rice told his wife, according to the report. He fired the gun, the bullet whizzing past Mrs. Rice's head and lodging into the wall. The woman called 911 and managed to escape about 2 a.m. The husband and wife refused to come outside, so the SWAT team assembled. The standoff lasted two hours. The couple eventually came outside voluntarily, but Mr. Rice fought with deputies who shocked him with a Taser. He ran back inside, barricading doors, but was persuaded to give up by negotiators.

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