How Wal-Mart Made Its Crumbling China Business Look So Good for So Long [Bloomberg] After years of heralding China as one of its best markets, Wal-Mart (WMT) in August said its performance there was among the worst in its major countries. A management shake-up and job cuts have followed. Although the reversals seem abrupt, cracks in the foundation of Wal-Mart’s retail business in China have been developing for years, hidden by questionable accounting and unauthorized sales practices, according to employees and internal documents reviewed by Bloomberg.
Utah tax accountant sent to prison for income tax crimes [Salt Lake Tribune] It wasn't Greg Kyte, we assure you.
Luxembourg tax files: Juncker ‘solved problems’ for Amazon move [The Guardian] The plot thickens.
Former CPA from Heber City sentenced to federal prison in tax case [Deseret News]
Madoff's Secretary Gets Lighter Sentence Due to Her 'Unusually Small Stature' [Compliance Week]
GM Raises Sights for IPO [WSJ]
General Motors says it is raising the price range for its initial public offering of common stock to $32 to $33 per share. The new price range is about 14% higher than originally expected.
The share and price expansion are the result of strong investor demand for shares in the U.S. auto maker, which now is generating solid profits after shedding costs under a 2009 bankruptcy reorganization.
A Little Extra on the Road [NYT]
Corporate accountants have long known that otherwise law-abidin el expense fraud.
And while new software programs help detect fraud, businesses report that travel fraud increased in the last few years as the distressed economy put more financial pressure on both employees and employers.
“I don’t think people always take the view that falsifying expense claims is a criminal act,” said John Verver, vice president for services and product strategy at ACL Services, a provider of financial monitoring software and expertise.
IRS Throws in Towel on Closely Watched International Tax Case [TaxProf Blog]
Transfer pricing nerds will like this one.
Litigation Disclosure: What They Don’t Know Can Hurt You [Forbes]
Francine’s latest at Forbes discusses the progress on a new litigation standard. Or lack thereof, “Everyone – the lawyers, the auditors and company executives – has been fighting the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s (FASB) proposals for expanded disclosures over loss contingencies for more than two years. For shareholders, this means, everyone who is supposed to be working for you is fighting additional disclosures that would help you – the investor – know if a legal bomb was about to drop on your investment.”
Dudley Says QE2 Critics Don’t `Understand’ Fed’s Exit Plan [Bloomberg]
Federal Reserve Bank of New York President William Dudley said critics of the expansion of monetary stimulus are underestimating the central bank’s ability to raise interest rates when necessary.
“People do not understand clearly” that “we can have an enlarged balance sheet and not have a long-term inflation problem,” Dudley said in an interview with CNBC. “We are very confident of our ability to exit when the time comes.”
Jason Blumer: Don’t Believe the Lies [CPA Trendlines]
Blumer is thinking about the future, “It seems the end of a public accountant’s career is steeped in misery, being “worn out” and adverse to change. Not a very exciting picture for those entering universities deciding what to major in! Is this what the younger generation has to look forward to when they retire?”
Meet the New Small-Business Owners in Congress [You’re the Boss/NYT]
Last Tuesday’s elections will send 33 small-business owners and entrepreneurs to Washington, according to The Agenda’s exhaustive (and exhausting) search. All are Republicans. Two are women.
Jack Link wins national Ernst & Young award [MBJ]
The beef jerky company that does ads like this:
Obama’s Proposal to Simplify Tax Code Complicated by a Mix of Tax Breaks [Bloomberg]
President Barack Obama laid the groundwork for reducing the corporate tax rate and simplifying the tax code in his State of the Union address. He also erected a political hurdle to these efforts as they could lead to higher rates for millions of businesses. Obama said in the Jan. 25 speech that he wants to rid a “rigged” tax code of “loopholes” that allow some corporations to pay less than others, and would use the savings to reduce the top 35 percent corporate rate, one of the world’s highest. He also called for “millionaires to give up their tax break” after an extension of Bush-era tax cuts expires in 2013.
Blue-Ribbon Panel: Just Tweak GAAP for Now [CFO]
The blue-ribbon panel charged with addressing generally accepted accounting principles for private companies presented its recommendations to the Financial Accounting Foundation on Wednesday, in the form of a 70-page report the FAF is slated to consider at its next meeting in February. At its core, the report urges the FAF to create a separate board to modify existing GAAP for the needs of private for-profit companies, allowing for “differences, where warranted, in measurement, recognition, and presentation, and not just disclosure” between public and private companies. However, it stops short of asking for a radical departure from current norms. “At least in the near term, the system should focus on making exceptions and modifications to U.S. GAAP,” the report reads, “rather than move toward a separate, self-contained GAAP for private companies or a wholesale reorganization of GAAP.”
University of Texas at Dallas team takes top honors in AICPA competition [AW]
The students from the University of Texas took first place this past weekend in a national case competition sponsored by the AICPA that focused on enhancing sustainability practices at a business. For winning the AICPA Accounting Competition January 21, the team from Texas, which called itself Eco Consulting LLC, was awarded $10,000. Eco Consulting was comprised of students Dariel Dato-on, Diane Henry, Jinson Jose, and Jennifer Rauschuber. The students were advised by director of undergraduate accounting John Barden, CPA.
‘I’m like a mayor of a medium-sized city’: An interview with IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman [The Federal Coach/WaPo]
Like Wasilla?
Stewart CEO Leaves To Be Missionary After Differences With Chairman [Dow Jones]
Now who’s doing God’s work?
Lawsuit alleges San Carlos bookkeeper embezzled $4.8 million [SJMN]
The guilt finally got to Georgia Engelhart, who spent the last 30 years stealing the money from Don and Carole Tanklage’s company. She admitted to the embezzlement in a letter to the couple.
