Author: Caleb Newquist

Pay Tally Up 19% for Finance Chiefs [WSJ]
Median pay for chief financial officers of S&P 500 companies surged 19% to $2.9 million last year, as profits and stock valuations rebounded and some finance chiefs assumed broader responsibilities, according to a Wall Street Journal survey. CFO pay varied widely, from less than $600,000 to more than $60 million. Five CFOs received more than $20 million in compensation. Growth in pay partly reflected the growing clout and multiple responsibilities of some finance chiefs, and moves by some companies to combine the function with others.

Fannie Mae Silence on Tay Fraud [Bloomberg]
The first sign of what would ultimately become a $3 billion fraud surfaced Jan. 11, 2000, when Fannie Mae executive Samuel Smith discovered Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp. sold him a loan owned by someone else. Fannie Mae, the government-sponsored enterprise which issues almost half of all mortgage-backed securities, determined over the next two years that more than 200 loans acquired from Taylor Bean were bogus, non-performing or lacked critical components such as mortgage insurance.

In Deficit Plan, Taxes Must Rise, President Warns [NYT]
President Obama pressured Republicans on Wednesday to accept higher taxes as part of any plan to pare down the federal deficit, bluntly telling lawmakers that they “need to do their job” and strike a deal before the United States risks defaulting on its debt.

LivingSocial Said to Be in Talks With Banks for $1 Billion IPO [Bloomberg]
LivingSocial, the second-largest website devoted to daily coupons, is selecting investment banks for an initial public offering that may value the company at $10 billion to $15 billion, according to a person with direct knowledge of the talks. The Washington, D.C.-based company is seeking to raise about $1 billion in an IPO and has had conversations with Barclays Plc, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Allen & Co. to lead the offering, said the person, who asked not to be named because the discussions are private. LivingSocial also has talked with additional banks for the IPO, which may happen by the end of the year, the person said.

No News from the SEC on its IFRS Roundtable is Bad News [Accounting Onion]
Tom Selling can’t get any details for the upcoming dog and pony show.

Spreadtrum Says Muddy Waters Questions Over Its Accounting Are Groundless [Bloomberg]
Spreadtrum Communications Inc. (SPRD), the Chinese chip designer whose accounting was questioned by Muddy Waters LLC, responded to the short seller’s report today by saying inventory surged last year because of new products. Muddy Waters, the investment firm run by Carson Block whose research has preceded almost $5 billion in share losses among Chinese companies trading in North America, cited a fivefold increase in inventory in a letter to Spreadtrum’s management. Block’s firm said the company’s deferred costs may have climbed too fast in explaining why it was betting the stock will fall.

Energy Cos Face Big Tax Hit If Congress Ends Accounting Method [Dow Jones]
As contentious negotiations over how to raise the federal government’s $14.29 trillion debt ceiling continue, Republicans lawmakers this week sharply criticized the White House for wanting to repeal the “last-in, first-out,” or LIFO, accounting method in order to raise revenue. The Joint Committee on Taxation, a nonpartisan Congressional research office, has estimated that repealing the method would generate new revenue of nearly $70 billion over 10 years, but the GOP charged that such a move could cripple struggling manufacturers.

PwC Appoints Nick Walker to Lead Kentucky Market [PwC]
Mr. Walker takes the helm in Louisville from Philip Gregory who is retiring after 33 years with P. Dubs.

Greece Secures Austerity Vote [WSJ]
Clashes have broken out between dozens of anarchists and police in front of Greece’s parliament Wednesday, just ahead of a vote on a five-year austerity plan the country needs to pass to avoid default. Eyewitnesses said demonstrators smashed marble paving stones in Athens’s central square and threw rocks at police, prompting them to respond by firing tear gas and clearing the area of people in front of Parliament.

Congress Finds Tax Code Complexity Contributes to Tax Gap [AT]
The complexity of the federal Tax Code can engender errors and underpaid taxes, according to a new government study. The study, by the Government Accountability Office, noted that the GAO has documented millions of taxpayer errors in following complex rules for determining taxpayers’ “basis”—generally the taxpayer’s investment in a property—in securities they sold or corporations they own.

Bank of America Agrees to $8.5 Billion Mortgage Settlement [WSJ]
Bank of America Corp. agreed Wednesday to pay $8.5 billion to settle claims by a group of high-profile investors who lost money on mortgage-backed securities purchased before the U.S. housing collapse. The payment will be the largest such settlement by a financial-services company to date, exceeding the total profits of the Charlotte, N.C., bank since the onset of the financial crisis in 2008.

Large Accounting Firms Bungled 17% of Australia Audits, Regulator Says [Bloomberg]
Four large accounting firms in Australia didn’t conduct proper audits in 17 percent of the cases reviewed by the country’s regulator, with smaller firms falling short almost a third of the time. The firms, which aren’t identified in the report, generally didn’t contain sufficient evidence to back the conclusions reached, according to the study, which was conducted between July 1, 2009 and Dec. 31 and was released today by the Australian Securities & Investment Commission.

The PCAOB’s Concept Release: What Might a Truly Useful Auditors’ Report Actually Say? [Re:Balance]
No, coverage of the Casey Anthony trial will not be a part of it.

A UBS Customer Pleads Guilty to Tax Evasion [Reuters]
An 81-year-old disbarred New York maritime lawyer admitted hiding more than $26.4 million at the Swiss bank UBS to avoid paying taxes, and agreed to pay a $9.8 million fine in pleading guilty on Monday. The former lawyer, Kenneth Heller, banked the money with UBS and then moved it to a smaller private Swiss bank, Wegelin, in June 2008 after reading that UBS might identify account holders, federal prosecutors said.

My Auditor, My Whistle-blower [CFO]
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s new whistle-blower rules, issued late last month, received much attention for providing cash rewards to securities-fraud informants. CFOs should be aware of a potential outcome of the rules that was not well publicized: auditors can blow the whistle on their own audit clients and receive a substantial bonus for doing so.

~ Good morning capital market servants. I’ll be traveling this morning to an undisclosed location, so posting my be on the lighter side until later this afternoon. That should give you plenty of time to either A) determine my whereabouts or B) dig up some dirt and send it to us. If you manage to sniff out my trail correctly, your reward will be a hot date with either Adrienne or DWB, depending on your preference.

Former Citigroup Accountant Accused of Embezzling $19.2 Million [NYT]
Gary Foster toiled away as a midlevel accountant in Citigroup’s Long Island City back office, collect0 paycheck last year. But federal prosecutors claim Mr. Foster gave himself a bonus fit for a star investment banker by embezzling more than $19.2 million from Citi before its auditors picked up on the scheme.

Siemens CFO Says Tailwind From Recovery Is Likely Over [WSJ]
“The tailwind from the economic recovery is likely over. Now, increased efforts are required for continued growth,” Siemens Chief Financial Officer Joe Kaeser told analysts at an event in Shanghai. Kaeser has already said several times that growth will slow in the second half of the current fiscal year 2011, which ends in September, as the comparison base gets tougher.

Lululemon eyes $1 billion in revenue [Reuters]
While Lululemon’s sales have soared along with its share price, investors have been concerned that competition might start to slow its ascent. “We’re not feeling it or seeing it on a global basis or even store by store,” Chief Financial Officer John Currie told the Reuters Global Consumer and Retail Summit on Monday, when the stock hit an all-time high. “But you know, it’s a competitive marketplace. So, the next competitor … we have to worry about them just like we do about Nike and Adidas.”

Fed policymaker: Mortgage-interest deduction can be bad incentive [The Hill]
Narayana Kocherlakota, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, said in a speech in Big Sky, Mont., that the tax code now provides both taxpayers and financial institutions incentives to carry at times excessive debt. Kocherlakota, currently a member of the policy-making Federal Open Market Committee, specifically singled out the mortgage-interest deduction and a policy that allows banks to deduct interest payments on debt.

Los Angeles Dodgers File For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy, Seek Television Deal [Bloomberg]
The Los Angeles Dodgers filed for bankruptcy protection after Major League Baseball rejected a television deal with News Corp. (NWS)’s Fox Sports, leaving team owner Frank McCourt unable to make payroll this week. Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig last week said the 17-year TV-rights deal, which McCourt valued at about $3 billion, would harm the franchise in the long term. Baseball took over the Dodgers’ business operations about two months ago.

Negotiators Wrangle on Taxes [WSJ]
With time running short to reach a deal to avoid a government default, President Barack Obama met privately Monday with Senate leaders in hopes of resolving an impasse over whether to include tax increases in a deficit-reduction agreement. The White House argued that the deficit can’t be significantly cut without eliminating tax breaks for certain wealthy individuals and companies, while Republicans said doing so would cripple the economy.

Audit Comittees Dig Into Compensation [CFOJ]
A new rule requiring companies to disclose whether their compensation structures could lead to excessive risk-taking has so far failed to result in significant new disclosures. However, the rule has forced audit committee board members to work more closely with their compensation committee counterparts and may result in more members serving on both in the future.