Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

ANR: Pension Reform; Environmental Debits and Credits; Accountant Confuses Sex Trafficking For Love | 06.25.12

Happy Monday, folks, AG here. I'll be your humble Master of Ceremonies for the week so poor, overworked Colin can get a break. While he's hitting on hipster girls at the Denver Whole Foods, let's enjoy a nice typo-free week together. Love you!

New Rules on Public Pension Funds Seek Better Disclosure [NYT]
Cities, states and the millions of Americans who work for them will soon face new accounting rules that will require many local governments to disclose pension obligations that were hidden until now, stepping up the pressure to rein in public workers’ benefits. The new rules are the result of more than five years of work by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board on one of the most contentious topics the agency has ever tackled. The current rules have been criticized for making pensions look more affordable than they really are and creating incentives for governments to take undue risks with taxpayer money.

Accounting for pollution likely within a decade: group [Reuters]
Corporate and government accounting will likely reflect environmental profit and loss within a decade, thanks partly to progress made this week at a U.N. conference in Rio de Janeiro, backers of the plan told Reuters on Thursday. Company accounting and calculations of gross domestic product (GDP) are flawed because they fail to show governments, consumers and managers the true costs of their activities, said Pavan Sukhdev, a board member of U.S. environmental group Conservation International and a former Deutsche Bank AG banker.

Missing Rockcliffe Park school council money prompts call for change to accounting practices [Ottawa Citizen]
Psst, Canada, they're called INTERNAL CONTROLS, use 'em!

Jindal asks IRS about pension [The Advocate]
Gov. Bobby Jindal on Friday ordered his top budget adviser to seek an Internal Revenue Service decision on any potential tax consequences of Louisiana’s new 401(k)-type pension plan for future state employee hires. Earlier in the day, the Louisiana State Employees Retirement System board voted to do the same thing, with members wanting to know whether the so-called “cash balance” system would be a “qualified plan” under IRS regulations and enjoy tax-exempt status.

IRS Idiocy: One-Penny Opera [Barrons]
You certainly can't fault Uncle Sam for being anxious about our $1.3 trillion budget deficit. But taking aim at a couple for owing precisely one cent in back taxes would seem to be going a little far. Incredibly, the IRS demanded Ken Adami of Alexandria, Va., surrender all property, all rights to property, money, credits, and bank deposits because of the one-penny underpayment. In addition, the IRS said, he would have to pay a late fee of a half percent of the penny every month.

Accountant: I helped wife run sex trafficking empire out of LOVE [Birmingham Mail]
The Midland accountant who helped his brothel madam wife run a sordid sex trafficking empire last night confessed he did it all for … LOVE. Chartered accountant Jason Hinton was terrified that attractive Rong Chen would leave him because she was bored and lonely at the home they share in the leafy Worcestershire town of Kidderminster. So he forked out the cash to pay for her visits to Northern Ireland, where she wanted to set up in the vice industry. “I was afraid of losing her if I didn’t,” he sighed, admitting he knew full well that the 35-year-old Oriental beauty planned to work in a brothel.

State says clients couldn't count on this accountant [The Morning Call]
The hint this might not work out was his inactive license. Just sayin.

Confusion surrounds IFRS convergence [The Nation]
Your obvious headline of the day comes from Sri Lanka.