Autonomy Founder Defends Company's Accounting [WSJ]
Give Mike Lynch some credit. Dude sticks to his guns: "The founder of U.K. software maker Autonomy Corp. on Wednesday defended his former company's accounting in an open letter to shareholders of Hewlett-Packard Co. ahead of H-P's annual shareholder meeting. […] In his letter Wednesday, he said H-P, based in Palo Alto, Calif., had been selectively leaking documents to the media. He called on H-P to share any evidence it has against Autonomy."
Randolph W. Thrower Dies at 100; Ran I.R.S. Under Nixon [NYT]
And Tricky Dick was not a fan: "Randolph W. Thrower, a Republican lawyer who headed the Internal Revenue Service under President Richard M. Nixon from 1969 to 1971 before losing his job for resisting White House efforts to punish its enemies through tax audits, died March 8 at his home in Atlanta. He was 100."
Is China investing enough in accounting? [China Accounting Blog]
According to Paul Gillis, the short answer is "yes." The slightly longer answer: "[O]ver the last ten years, revenue of accounting firms in China has grown at an average annual rate of 22%. Big Four and local firms have grown at the same average rate of 22%, but their annual performance varies quite widely. GDP growth during this period averaged 10%, meaning that the investment in accounting services was more than double the GDP growth. That is great news."
Buffett Graham Swap Is Latest Deal to Limit U.S. Tax Take [Bloomberg]
WB criticizes other companies for complaining about their taxes. That may be because he so shrewdly uses the code to his advantage and doesn't know why they don't: "Warren Buffett, who has criticized businesses for complaining about tax rates, showed last week how adept he is at lowering his company’s payments to the U.S. Berkshire Hathaway Inc. plans to limit taxes on more than $1 billion of gains in Graham Holdings Co. stock by swapping the shares for assets owned by the former Washington Post publisher, according to a March 12 regulatory filing outlining terms. Either side can cancel the agreement if lawyers determine it doesn’t qualify for the intended tax treatment."
San Jose: Accountant sentenced to prison for tax evasion, fraud [SJMN]
Steven Boitano, a CPA, filed six years worth of false tax returns. In the period of 2001-2003, he reported making estimated payments of $100k. Yeah, he didn't do that.
Deloitte gets $1.5M contract to assess Nevada health exchange; Sandoval demands cooperation from Xerox [RGJ]
Apparently no one at the Nevada state house bothered to call Massachusetts or Florida about their experiences with the Green Dot.
Would a Republican Senate Improve the Chances for Tax Reform? [Jeremy Scott/Tax Analysts]
This just reminds me that it's an election year and I couldn't be more MEH about it.
This guy wins technology: "A Bristol graphic designer who was ripped off by an internet seller has turned to Shakespeare to get his revenge. Edd Joseph, 24, who lives in the city with his girlfriend, was furious when he bought a PS3 games console for £80 and the seller failed to deliver the goods. So Edd decided to take his revenge by sending him the entire works of the Bard – by text. Edd discovered he could copy the words from the internet and paste them into a text message – without costing him a penny on his unlimited mobile phone package. He sends it as one text but his victim can only receive them in 160 character chunks – meaning the 37 works of Shakespeare will buzz through in 29,305 individual texts."