Accounting Deals in China Cost a Firm Its Registration [NYT, PCAOB, PCAOB]
The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board announced on Wednesday that it had revoked the registration of [Brock, Schechter & Polakoff] and fined it $20,000. It also barred James R. Waggoner, the firm’s former director of accounting and auditing, from auditing public companies. The board said that in 2006 Brock, Schechter was approached by audit firms in Taiwan and China with an interesting proposition: the American firm would become the auditor of record of several companies, but the Chinese and Taiwanese firms would do all the work. Brock, Schechter agreed. Brock, Schechter did so despite the fact that neither the firm nor any of its employees had any experience doing audits of public companies anywhere, according to the board. Nor did anyone working for the firm know how to read or speak Chinese.
Like an Anorexic, U.S. Sees Itself Fat With Taxes [Reuters]
Like anorexics, who think they are grossly fat when they are very thin, the American body politic is suffering from a national version of body dysmorphia, with nearly half the country believing taxes are high, when they are comparatively and historically low.
Because realizing that fruit is healthy is far more complicated than the instructions for the AMT.
Neil Armstrong grants rare interview – to Australian accountant [AFP]
[Certified Practicing Accountants of Australia] head Alex Malley said he suggested the idea to the space veteran when he was in Australia last year helping the organisation with its 125th anniversary, and he agreed. "I know something not a lot of people know about Neil Armstrong – his dad was an auditor," Malley told News Limited newspapers.
H&R Block Names Gregory J. Macfarlane Chief Financial Officer [H&RB]
Relieving Jeff Brown who will assume the Chief Accounting Officer role.
The new council will replace the Private Company Financial Reporting Committee and will have the ability to identify, deliberate, and vote on any proposed changes, which will be subject to endorsement by the Financial Accounting Standards Board, which the FAF oversees, and be submitted for public comment before being incorporated into GAAP. The PCC will also serve as the primary advisory body to FASB on the appropriate treatment for private companies for items under active consideration on the FASB's technical agenda.
William James, formerly of the New York Football Giants and Philadelphia Eagles, admitted that he wasn't even trying to file his income tax returns.
Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber, lists himself in Harvard 1962 alumni report; says ‘awards’ include eight life sentences [BG]
Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber, who is serving life in prison for sending deadly mail bombs, won’t be able to attend his 50th reunion festivities at Harvard College. But he did contribute a bizarre entry to the alumni report for the class of 1962. While many of his classmates sent in lengthy updates on their lives for the 2 ½-inch-thick “red book,” the entry for “Theodore John Kaczynski” only contains nine lines. The listing says his occupation is “Prisoner,” and his home address is “No. 04475-046, US Penitentiary—Max, P.O. Box 8500, Florence, CO 8126-8500.” Under the awards section, the listing says, “Eight life sentences, issued by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California, 1998.”