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Accounting News Roundup: Tweedie All Over Derivatives; Romney Admits Obama Hasn’t Raised Taxes; More WTF for WFT | 09.26.12

Former top accountant Tweedie to push for global valuation rules [Reuters]
David Tweedie, who led the drive towards global accounting rules, will head a body working for international consistency in the valuation of derivatives and other financial instruments – addressing a need highlighted by the financial crisis. […] "It's where accounting was 10 years ago but worse, as it's unregulated. The idea is to pull it all together," Tweedie told Reuters on Tuesday.

Romney says Obama hasn't raised taxes in first term, but will if re-elected [The Hill]
Mitt Romney declared Tuesday that President Obama had not raised taxes during his current term, in the process undercutting one of his own campaign’s own arguments against the president. “I admit this, he has one thing he did not do in his first four years, he’s said he’s going to do in the next four years, which is to raise taxes,” Romney told a crowd in Ohio.

Republicans Champion ‘Voluntary Taxes’ [Economix/NYT]
The Republican-controlled House of Representatives took a break last week from doing nothing to pass a bill to facilitate voluntary taxation. Almost simultaneously, Mitt Romney released his final tax return for 2011, showing that he voluntarily overpaid his taxes by taking less of a deduction for his charitable contributions than he was permitted. The legislation was H.R. 6410, “The Buffett Rule Act of 2012.” Those not acquainted with the misleading titles often given to Congressional bills might at first glance think this one has something to do with raising taxes on the ultrawealthy. Of course, Republicans would never actually raise taxes on the ultrawealthy; they think, or at least assert publicly, that the deficit results from too many poor people not paying taxes. But it would be very helpful to them to have a fig leaf that looks as if they had found a way of getting the rich to pay more. That is by encouraging them to voluntarily pay more, as Mr. Romney did.

Weatherford gets extension for 2nd-quarter reporting deadline [Reuters]
Oilfield services company Weatherford International Ltd has been given more time to work out tax structure problems that have already led to more than $800 million in additional expenses spread over the past five years. The Swiss SIX exchange, where Weatherford is listed along with its New York Stock Exchange listing, granted the company's request to extend the due date for publishing its earnings report for the first half of 2012 by two months to Nov. 30. "This postponement follows previously announced agreed extensions of Weatherford's due date for providing its final second-quarter results to its lenders and debtholders," the company said in a statement on Tuesday. Weatherford also set a date of Nov. 13 for a conference call to discuss its third-quarter results, which is a few weeks later than usual.

PwC Appoints Tom Leonard as Managing Partner of its Little Rock office [PwC]
It's a fine town.

Pick a Number: Anything but Market for Loan Accounting (Part 2) [Accounting Onion]
Tom Selling owns his "acerbic" attitude towards methods of loan accounting 

Capital Gains: The Missing Link toTax Reform? [Martin Sullivan]
Here's Marty: "Proportionately, the poor benefits most from the EITC, the middle class benefits most from the mortgage interest deduction, and the rich benefit most from capital gains. If you want to cuts rates and if you want to keep the same distribution of the tax burden–as most politicians do–it is hard to do without raising the rate on capital gains." 

Florida man calls 911 because daughter refuses to get him beer [MH]
Pinellas deputies said that late Thursday night they got a 911 call from Seminole resident Robert Hagerman, 56. Hagerman said he needed help because his daughter was hitting him, throwing things and using drugs. Deputies arrived shortly after 11 p.m. Father and daughter were both home. Hagerman, however, was "very intoxicated and uncooperative," a report said. Authorities quickly determined his story was a lie. Hagerman's daughter told deputies her dad called police because she wouldn't buy him a beer. She used her cellphone to record his threats to make fake statements to the police and played the audio for authorities.
 
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