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ANR: Groupon’s Audit Committee; Another SEC Suit Against a Chinese Company; IRS Likely to Have Temp Commish After Shulman Exits | 04.12.12

Posted on by Caleb Newquist

Groupon accounting problems put spotlight on board [Reuters]
[C]orporate governance experts questioned the financial background of the Groupon board's audit committee, which is supposed to oversee both its auditor and the company's own accountants. Groupon spokesman Paul Taaffe said the audit committee has met regularly to address accounting issues since the company discovered in February that the refund rate had increased. Committee members "were in contact with each other, the audit firm and management continuously," he said.

House GOP Gears Up for Tax Fight [WSJ]
House Republicans, preparing for a year-end expiration of tax cuts, this week begin meetings within their caucus in hopes of building a strategy that can both garner significant GOP support and counter Democratic attacks on tax policy. The planning sessions, described by aides and lawmakers, are being led by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R., Mich.) and hosted House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.). The sessions are expected to pave the way for tax-related votes, possibly before the November elections, in order to shape the debate over Bush-era tax cuts and so-called tax extenders in an election season featuring sharp divides over tax policy.

SEC Files Suit Against Third Chinese Company [WSJ]
U.S. regulators sued a Chinese commercial-vehicle company and 11 investors Wednesday over alleged stock manipulation, ratcheting up pressure on U.S.-traded Chinese firms with accounting problems or other issues. The Securities and Exchange Commission's civil lawsuit against AutoChina International Ltd. alleges the company and the investors, including a senior AutoChina executive and relatives of the company's chief executive and majority shareholder, artificially boosted trading in AutoChina stock to make it seem more active than it really was. The intent was to make it easier for the company to get financing, the SEC said. AutoChina said in a statement that it believes the SEC's lawsuit is "without merit" and that "all of the evidence it is aware of contradicts the SEC's allegations." The company said it "intends to defend against the claims vigorously."

IRS likely to get temporary commissioner when Shulman leaves [GovExec]
In comments to Government Executive following Shulman’s announcement this month that he did not wish to be appointed to a second term, a spokeswoman for Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, a longtime Finance Committee member, said, “it seems very unlikely to Sen. Grassley that the Senate would consider an IRS commissioner nominee before the next president is chosen — the choice should be the next president’s, whether that’s President Obama or someone else.”

J.C. Penney CFO to leave this week [Rueters]
J.C. Penney Co Inc said on Wednesday that Michael Dastugue is leaving on Friday after just 15 months as chief financial officer as the department store chain continues to work on its overhaul under its new chief executive. Chief Operating Officer Mike Kramer will assume the CFO duties on an interim basis while a search for a replacement is conducted, the company said. Kramer joined Penney in December, a month after his former boss at Apple Inc, Ron Johnson, became Penney's new chief executive officer.

When Your Friends Get Off at Five Every Night [HSWAFM]
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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IRS says tax changes will cause some filing delays [AP]
The Internal Revenue Service says some taxpayers will have to wait until mid- to lat- February to file their returns dulaw approved by Congress in its lame-duck session. The changes apply to tax breaks on college tuition, state and local property taxes and out-of-pocket expenses for teachers. The IRS said Thursday the delays would be minimal for people who itemize deductions, because they normally must wait for financial documents before filing their returns.

Accountants, Texas board still at odds over Enron [Bloomberg]
To many in the accounting world, Carl Bass is a hero. Long before Enron became a worldwide symbol of scandal, Bass told his supervisors at Arthur Andersen LLP that something was amiss with the Houston energy giant. But the Texas state board that licenses accountants sees Bass differently — as unfit to continue in his profession. Nearly a decade after Enron collapsed and took Arthur Andersen with it, the work of Bass and another former Andersen partner, Thomas Bauer, as Enron auditors is still being debated in a highly contentious and costly proceeding.

Can You Break the Law by Complying With It? [DealBook]
The state claims Lehman’s auditors aided in a fraud, using Repo 105 transactions to make the books look healthier than they actually were. Ernst & Young proclaimed it did nothing wrong because its work complied with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, or GAAP. Both may well be right — although that won’t necessarily preclude a claim against Ernst & Young.

TLP: No Animals Were Harmed … [JDA]
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The 12 gadgets of Christmas: Top tech toys of 2010 [Business Zone]
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Accountant Accused of Swindling Actress [WSJ]
A New York City man who did accounting work for entertainers was accused of swindling a “Law & Order” actress out of more than $1 million Thursday. The man, 50-year-old Joseph Cilibrasi of Manhattan, pleaded not guilty in Manhattan Supreme Court, where nine charges were levied against him and his company, Cilibrasi & Associates. Mr. Cilibrasi, who faces up to 25 years in prison on the top charge, was held on $100,000 bond or cash.

Blame game: Accountant denies claims in Koss case [TBJGM]
Julie Mulvaney, Sujata Sachdeva’s alleged accomplice at Koss Corp., claims she did nothing wrong and simply followed orders from Sachdeva, who Mulvaney described as a “powerful, insistent, imperious, overbearing superior.”

Deloitte plans to move offices to Midtown [NYP]
Deloitte has decided to consolidate its offices in Midtown, putting the kibosh on a long expected downtown deal for the accounting giant to move from 2 World Financial Center into 400,000 square feet at 4 World Financial Center owned by Brookfield Properties. Instead, Deloitte, which was also going to lease an additional 100,000 square feet at 30 Rockefeller Center in Midtown, may consolidate in that tower and lease even more space — if it can find the elbow room, The Post has learned.


Best of 2010: Accounting [CFO]
In the realm of accounting, no one moved more rapidly this year than the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board. The two standard-setting bodies set forth an aggressive agenda that called for a dozen or so new rules to be issued by 2011.

Congress Resolves Many Tax Issues During Lame-Duck Session [JofA]
Congress adjourned its year-end lame-duck session on Wednesday after passing legislative fixes for several pending tax issues, including the estate tax, the expiration of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, an alternative minimum tax (AMT) patch, and extensions of many expired provisions. However, it failed to repeal the expanded Form 1099 reporting requirements that were enacted as part of this spring’s health care reform legislation. The tax changes made during the lame-duck session were enacted as part of the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 (Tax Relief Act of 2010, PL 111-312), which Congress passed on Dec. 16, and President Barack Obama signed into law the next day.