Tweedie: Auditors must change “golf course” perception [Accountancy Age]
ICAS President Sir David Tweedie has said that the Big Four must change the perception that their relationships with the FTSE 100 companies they audit are too cosy. Speaking on BBC Radio 4's In Business programme, Tweedie said that auditors need to get rid of the perception that winning business "is like playing golf" with their clients.
JPMorgan Dips into Cookie Jar to Offset "London Whale" Losses [Reuters]
"They really made two stupid decisions," said Lynn Turner, a consultant and former chief accountant of the Securities and Exchange Commission. The first was taking risks with derivatives that they did not understand, Turner said. "The second is selling assets with high income that they can't replace," Turner added.
GAAP Is CRAP: The Case of JP Morgan [GOA]
Cleverly rigged accounting ploys in the House of Jamie Dimon.
Cleverly rigged accounting ploys in the House of Jamie Dimon.
Accounting for Hastie's Problems [WSJ]
Hastie Group says wayward accounting is partly to blame for the company's collapse. But this is not Australia's Enron. Hastie went into administration this week with around 500 million Australian dollars (US$492 million) of debt. The plumbing, air conditioning and refrigeration services company had a market capitalization of around A$220 million as recently as last year. But it faced a litany of issues well before A$20 million went missing from its services division and put the final nail in the company's coffin.
Improvised Explosive Device Tax [WSJ]
'Taxmageddon' isn't only about the half-trillion-dollar blow to the economy that arrives in 2013 on the end of the Bush-Obama tax rates. Several of the Affordable Care Act's worst tax increases kick in too, such as the new excise tax on medical devices. The 2.3% levy applies to the sale of everything from cardiac defibrillators to artificial joints to MRI scanners. The device tax is supposed to raise $28.5 billion from 2013 to 2022, and it is especially harmful because it applies to gross sales, not profits. Companies at make-or-break margins could be taxed out of existence, especially in an intensely competitive industry where four of five businesses are start-ups or midsized. As even the liberal papoose Elizabeth Warren recently put it, the device tax "disproportionately impacts the small companies with the narrowest financial margins and the broadest innovative potential."
'Taxmageddon' isn't only about the half-trillion-dollar blow to the economy that arrives in 2013 on the end of the Bush-Obama tax rates. Several of the Affordable Care Act's worst tax increases kick in too, such as the new excise tax on medical devices. The 2.3% levy applies to the sale of everything from cardiac defibrillators to artificial joints to MRI scanners. The device tax is supposed to raise $28.5 billion from 2013 to 2022, and it is especially harmful because it applies to gross sales, not profits. Companies at make-or-break margins could be taxed out of existence, especially in an intensely competitive industry where four of five businesses are start-ups or midsized. As even the liberal papoose Elizabeth Warren recently put it, the device tax "disproportionately impacts the small companies with the narrowest financial margins and the broadest innovative potential."
Moody’s Fading Relevance Exposed In Nordic Downgrades [Bloomberg]
“Moody’s in general is very backward looking; they are often stating things that are well recognized from the financial community for a long time,” Swedbank Chief Financial Officer Goran Bronner said in response to Bloomberg questions on May 23. “I don’t think Swedish banks should put any particular emphasis on it.”
