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ANR: SEC’s Snafu; Herz and Tweedie Practically Begging for IFRS Switch; IRS Meets Expectations | 04.25.12

Source's Cover Blown by SEC [WSJ]
Federal securities regulators, in a sensitive breach, inadvertently revealed the identity of a whistleblower during a probe of a firm that ran a stock trading platform. The gaffe by the Securities and Exchange Commission occurred during an investigation of Pipeline Trading Systems LLC when an SEC lawyer showed an executive who was being questioned a notebook from the whistleblower filled with jottings about trades, calls and meetings. The executive says he recognized the handwriting.

Former Accounting Board Chairs Urge SEC to Commit to IFRS [AT]
Robert Herz, the former chairman of the Financial Accounting Standards Board, and Sir David Tweedie, the former chairman of the International Accounting Standards Board, said Tuesday that the Securities and Exchange Commission needs to make a decision soon on committing to International Financial Reporting Standards, or other major countries could drop their support for IFRS.

Protesters Beseige Wells Fargo Meeting [WSJ]
The company's 45-minute annual meeting in San Francisco on Tuesday afternoon was disrupted three times. Twenty-four people were arrested in protests outside the Merchants Exchange Building that police estimated exceeded 1,000 people. Dozens of San Francisco police officers closed part of California Street, a stone's throw from where the bank has been based for its 160-year history. "Our intent is that this meeting should not go forward," said Sarah Norr, a 32-year-old union organizer from Oakland, who sat outside and linked arms with other protesters in an effort to keep shareholders from entering the building.

H&R Block To Pay $28 Mln To Settle SEC Charges [MW]

H&R Block Inc. on Tuesday agreed to pay $28 million to settle Securities and Exchange Commission charges that the firm was allegedly misleading investors by failing to disclose that mortgage-backed securities its mortgage subsidiary issued had a significantly deteriorating financial condition. "Option One's financial condition deteriorated significantly as its large subprime mortgage lending business suffered from the collapse of the U.S. housing market," said Robert Khuzami, director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement.
 
The very unRepublican Small Business Tax Cut [TaxVox]

Sure, cutting taxes for businesses and high-income individuals is very much part of the Republican playbook these days. But the mechanics of this one seem to fly in the face of what many in the party have been saying lately. The bill would allow both C corporations and pass-through businesses with fewer than 500 employees to deduct 20 percent of their income from federal income tax for one year. The proposal was wrapped in rhetoric about job-creators and small businesses. But, in fact, it is exactly the sort of anti free-market, short-term industrial policy that Republicans rightly decry when Democrats try it.
 
IRS gets a C on its 2012 tax season preliminary report card [DMWT]
Good enough for government work.
 
Why some can't tell left from right [MSNBC]
Alternatively: debits from credits.

 

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