ANR: Quite a Year for Bank Fraud; CPAs Are the Worst Lotto Winners; Saddest Accountant Mugshot Ever

ICE in Deal to Buy NYSE [WSJ]
NYSE Euronext agreed to sell itself to rival IntercontinentalExchange Inc. for about $8.2 billion, in a deal that would end more than two centuries of independence for the New York Stock Exchange, one of Wall Street's most enduring symbols of American capitalism. The two companies said Thursday they agreed to a cash-and-stock transaction that values NYSE at $33.12 a share. Investors can opt for all cash, or 0.2581 IntercontinentalExchange common shares for each NYSE Euronext share or a mix of $11.27 in cash plus 0.1703 ICE shares. While ICE said it would preserve the NYSE Euronext brand and maintaining the position of NYSE Liffe in London for derivatives contracts, it said it would explore an initial public offering of Euronext as continental European entity. Euronext operates stock-exchange businesses in France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Portugal. ICE Chairman and Chief Executive Jeffrey Sprecher would hold the same position in the combined company, while NYSE Euronext CEO would be president of the combined company and CEO of NYSE Group, the companies said.

Leniency Denied, UBS Unit Admits Guilt in Rate Case [DealBook]

UBS on Wednesday became the first big global bank in more than two decades to have a subsidiary plead guilty to fraud. UBS, the Swiss bank, scrambled until the last minute to avoid that fate. A week ago, in a bid for leniency over interest-rate manipulation, the bank’s chairman traveled to Washington to plead his case to the Justice Department, according to people briefed on the matter. Knowing the long odds, the chairman, Axel Weber, asked the criminal division for a lighter punishment. But the government did not budge. With support from Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., the agency’s criminal division decided the bank’s actions were simply too egregious, people briefed on the matter said.

2012 — The year of bank fraud [Counterparties]

Impressive job, banksters.

CPAs May Make the Best Lottery Winners [AWEB]

And by "best" they mean "boringest." We want our lotto winners to make bold moves. Like these people in Iowa.

Conceptual framework among IASB priorities [JofA]

Done by September 2015. Get excited.

TIGTA Submits Semiannual Report to Congress [TaxProf]

FYI.

Accountant assistant suspected of stealing $6,101 [WLOX]
Nothing special about this story except for the alleged perp's sad trombone mugshot.

McDonald's waitress wins £3,000 compensation for being fired [Telegraph via ATL]

Sarah Finch, 19, was fired for gross misconduct after giving extra chocolate topping to a workmate on a 99p McFlurry. Miss Finch took the McDonald's restaurant to an employment tribunal after her bosses accused her of giving away food without payment. The unfair dismissal claim was settled out of court and she was awarded more than £3,000 in compensation. Miss Finch said in a statement: "I was dismissed on the grounds of gross misconduct. I was accused of stealing food. "The matter was trivial, in that I provided a fellow employee, who was purchasing a dessert, a generous sprinkling of chocolate pieces.