BDO in talks to take over accountancy rival PKF [Telegraph]
BDO, Britain’s sixth biggest audit firm, is understood to have agreed a deal in principle with its smaller rival PKF, which last year had revenues of more than £100m. The deal will see PKF’s UK business separated from its international operations and incorporated into BDO. Martin Goodchild, the managing partner of PKF, is yet to put the deal to the firm’s 70 UK partners but it is understood that he has agreed the broad terms, which could include an “equity sweetener” for PKF’s partners. This will be offered in the form of a guaranteed profit share scheme – a method by which firms divide each year’s gains between senior executives. […] If the deal is successful, BDO is likely to leapfrog Grant Thornton to the number five position, behind PwC, Deloitte, KPMG and Ernst & Young.
No Criminal Case Is Likely in Loss at MF Global [DealBook]
A criminal investigation into the collapse of the brokerage firm MF Global and the disappearance of about $1 billion in customer money is now heading into its final stage without charges expected against any top executives. After 10 months of stitching together evidence on the firm’s demise, criminal investigators are concluding that chaos and porous risk controls at the firm, rather than fraud, allowed the money to disappear, according to people involved in the case. The hurdles to building a criminal case were always high with MF Global, which filed for bankruptcy in October after a huge bet on European debt unnerved the market. But a lack of charges in the largest Wall Street blowup since 2008 is likely to fuel frustration with the government’s struggle to charge financial executives.
The Faulty Reasoning of the IASB's Three-Bucket Loan Loss Model [Accounting Onion]
Tom Selling is on a roll.
What Does Poker and Revenue Neutral Tax Legislation Have in Common? [AWEB]
Short version: there are winners and losers.
Paul Ryan, critic of Glass-Steagall, but what does he think of other famously-named financial laws? [DMWT]
Not a fan of Dodd-Frank either.
Why You’re Not Getting a Raise [Smart Money]
It may not simply be because you lack skills or smarts.
Jailer Fired After Inappropriate Facebook Friend Request [AP]
Authorities in northeast Georgia say a jail deputy was fired and another resigned after they sent Facebook friend requests to an inmate while she was locked up in the county jail. Oconee County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Lee Weems said Monday that both deputies also had face-to-face conversations of a sexual nature with the 23-year-old inmate. Authorities say the inmate didn't have access to her phone or a computer in jail, but a subsequent examination of her computer showed the Facebook friend requests sent by the men.
White House: No Permanent Tax Cut on Rich [