• Green accounting? Gimme a break – Please consider the environment before putting forth crappy green initiatives. [AccMan]
• Alleged Informant Had History of Helping Galleon – Tipper A has prior convictions that related to tipping Galleon as far back as 1998. [WSJ]
• Nacchio re-sentencing date on hold – Apparently there’s no rush on these insider cases. [Denver Business Journal]
• FAS 157 Revisions: ‘There Does Not Appear To Be Any Benefit’ – That’s what one person thought anyway. The FASB received 109 comment letters on the proposed revisions. [Private Equity Beat/WSJ]
• Zoom cuts auditor UHY loose after merger – Goldman Parks Kurland Mohidin will take it from here. [Boston Business Journal]
• IASB recruits expert panel – “Board wants candidates to test cash flow model.” Maybe you? [Accountancy Age]
Author: Caleb Newquist
Founding editor, Going Concern.
New McGladrey Directors to Check Out Natalie Gulbis?
Maybe! RSM McGladrey/McGladrey & Pullen announced new directors in their Charlotte office today which is obviously exciting for them. We also think it’s nice that the press release still has both names of the firm together.
That gets us to wondering if M&P is heeding our advice? Regardless of that whole situation, it’s nice to see them come together for the sake of the new directors. Sort of like when bitterly divorced parents show up at their son or daughter’s graduation. Very touching.
Along with these promotions, the national finals for the McGladrey Team Championship start on Sunday at Pinehurst and you-know-who is going to be there.
Obviously we’re very curious as to whether these new directors will be in attendance to get a look at Natalie’s swing. Two McGladrey directors are actually playing in the tournament, so unless NG has a clause in her contract that says she doesn’t have to golf with accountants, there’s an outside shot one of those lucky ducks might end up in her group.
So if you’re in the area, it might be worth checking out since A) Obvious answer; and B) the silent auction has some cool stuff if you’re willing to drop some coin. Oh, and it benefits the Special Olympics, so that’s good too.
This is it! [RSM McGladrey Golf Blog]
PwC Has the Perfect Solution to This Whole Satyam Misunderstanding
P. Dubs India wants to avoid having a long, tedious, legal battle over this whole thing. Nobody wants that. So they offered a consent application to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to say sorry about the mixup and let’s just forget the whole thing ever happened.
Not that burying the hatchet won’t take time. The SEBI seems to have an even more dense bureaucracy than the SEC:
The application will be looked at by the Internal Committee of SEBI. If the committee feels that there is merit in this consent, both sides are willing to come to a certain point, it goes to a high power committee on consent proceedings which is headed by a retired Bombay High Court Judge.
Based on the committee’s decision, both sides will sit across the table and decide whether or not they agree with the punishment that could be meted out. As per the consent agreement, there is no acknowledgement of wrong doing.
Oh right, did they mention that last part? There’s nothing to gained by pointing fingers at any one responsible individual or company. PWI would just prefer that they come to an agreement where they aren’t no one is to blame. Problem solved!
PwC hands out olive branch to SEBI in Satyam case [Money Control]
Today in Bad Decisions: Borrowing Money from Your Ex-Mother-in-Law
Do you have a mother-in-law? How well do you get along with her? Not good, huh? Whatever differences you may have, surely it’s not this bad:
When a former son-in-law in Illinois failed to settle an asserted loan by his ex-mother-in-law to her satisfaction, she gave up on collecting but issued a 1099-C reporting the amount as debt forgiveness income.
Ex-Son-in-Law took it badly, and fought back. He sued Ex-Mom, claiming that because she wasn’t required to issue a 1099-C, it was fraudulent for her to do so.
Borrowing money from your mother-in-law, let alone your ex-mother-in-law is not what we would consider a good life decision. Jesus, especially if you’re a deadbeat. We understand that times are tough but hey, next time around he’ll know.
So this guy is in a tough spot. Solution? Sue her for fraud, of course! The judge in the case said someone issuing an unnecessary 1099 did not constitute fraud so the son’s only remedy now is to argue that the contents of said 1099 were fraudulent. Good luck with that, man. You’re finished.
A Victory For Bitter Ex-Mother-In-Laws Everywhere [Tax Update Blog]
Job of the Week: S&P Needs Help Getting Things Back on Track
Or at least give it your best shot. Rating agencies have received their fair share of the blame for the mess we’re in so some fresh blood is in order.
S&P needs an Associate Director – Financial Planning and Analysis. You.
Company: Standard & Poor’s
Location: New York
Title: Associate Director – Financial Planning and Analysis
Description: The Associate Director – Financial Planning & Analysis is responsible for providing financial analysis and support to the Standard & Poor’s Structured Finance Ratings team. The position provides financial support to the Director, Finance and VP, Finance in the US including the preparation of budget and medium range plans for individual cost centers.
Responsibilities: Identify, track, and disseminate information on environment and industry trends; Perform special in-depth analysis on an ad hoc basis; Report and track Global Insurance trends and produce forward issuance estimates in conjunction with BLs/RPLs; Direct the centralized planning function for Structured Finance Ratings, ranging from more conceptual to the more task-oriented; Prepare internal and external presentations; Develop central components of monthly management reports; Advise line operations and development personnel in the identification, research, evaluation and presentation of specific recommendations to senior management on new products and business opportunities; Provide timely flow of the full range of strategic and environmental planning information and analysis
Skills Required: An MBA with a concentration in Finance or a CPA, as well as a minimum of 4-7 years experience in business planning and development functions and/or management consulting; Highly developed research and analytical skills
See the full description at the GC Career Center and check out all the other great jobs at the main page.
CalCPA Is Doing About Everything It Can to Motivate You to Reactivate Your CPA
The California Society of CPAs understands that some of you are lazy. You don’t work for a company that provides enough CPE (and the cheapskates won’t send you to Vegas for a week) and self-study is out of the question, so your license becomes inactive.
So CalCPA is trying to get you back on the fast track to active status by offering the CPA Active Pass.
This will allow you to get the “inactive” from behind those precious letters and you can wear all of your CPA attire again without having to explain that you’re technically not an active CPA. Details-shmetails.
The CPA Active Pass allows you attend 80 hours of live CPE courses including webcasts, which is the real bonus so you won’t even have to leave your house.
No more excuses people.
CalCPA Helps Inactive California CPAs Reactivate [Web CPA]
Earlier: Arnie Signs 150-Hour Rule for California
Someone Is Letting KPMG Employees Handle Firearms
Judging by everything that has gone on in the past few months, we can’t emphasize enough how dangerous this could have been. Video after the jump.
Some Atlantans Get to be a Cop for a Day [Fox 5 Atlanta]
Preliminary Analytics | 10.23.09
• Bernanke Calls for Action on Reform – Ben is kindly reminding everyone that maybe we should try to make some regulatory changes since, you know, the world almost ended. [WSJ]
• The pyramid principle – Small banks are not doing so hot. [The Economist]
• Critics: Executive Pay Cuts A Sop To Taxpayers – Campaigns are starting people, progress will have to wait. [NPR]
• Man Pleads Guilty To DWI In Motorized La-Z-Boy – Doing anything with a BAC of 0.29 is probably illegal. [AP via NPR]
• Bank claim that is out of this world – Dalton Chisholm has to present additional evidence today in order to give him a prayer at becoming the first ever billion-trillionaire. [BBC]
Review Comments | 10.22.09
• The Code is 23! – Happy, happy. [Tax Update Blog]
• Accounting Firms Succeed Despite Economic Slump – “CCH, a Wolters Kluwer business, surveyed 100 U.S. accounting firms and found that even in a contracted economy, none of the firms have lowered their rates.” [Web CPA]
• Microsoft Tries to Lose ‘PC Guy’ Image With Windows 7 – Hodgman. We warned you. [Bloomberg]
• Is $5,500 Golf Cart Credit Emblematic of “Tax Policy in the Age of Obama” – WSJ op-ed criticizing the President’s policy? The horror. [TaxProf Blog]
• Fraud Reported in Program to Help New Homebuyers – “Some claims were filed for children as young as 4 years old.” [NYT]
SHOCKER: Volunteer Tax Preparers Have High Error Rates
Forty-one percent per a Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration report. Luckily, the TIGTA has suggestions:
TIGTA recommended that the IRS analyze the accuracy of returns prepared at individual volunteer sites to identify patterns and concerns on which to focus education, training and accountability. The report also suggested that the IRS improve the intake sheet that is used at the start of the tax prep process to include questions based on new tax laws and filing status, and improve the reviews of intake sheets and returns completed at volunteer sites.
The TIGTA anonymously sent auditors to volunteer testing sites which seems pretty unfair. If those sneaky bastards had reviewed the tax returns instead of Monday morning quarterbacking the volunteers maybe there would’ve been less mistakes. Just a thought.
The SEC’s Education of the Public Now Includes Video Games
Just when you thought the SEC had run out of good ideas, investor.gov comes along and just blows your mind all over again.
Nevermind Mary Schapiro’s surprisingly pleasant welcome and tips on how to avoid fraud. The Money Game page is where the real ingenuity comes into play.
Moneytopia takes a while to load, which obviously serves as proof that this latest method of educating the public has caught fire like no one could have expected.
Except for the Commission that is. Lucky for us, Schape & Co. had the foresight to realize how popular Moneytopia would be and allows you to play Bust Out while you wait.
When the game finally loads (after our horrendous score of 600), Moneytopia takes a stab at our earlier suggestion regarding financial statements, using cartoons and make believe wealth and connections to explain how to be not only a better investor but an honest investor. Like we said, another bullseye.
We’d All Appreciate It if Grant Thornton Got Involved in a New Lawsuit
Grant Thornton just isn’t able to shake Parmalat, the freaky-ass extended-life milk company. Parmalat appealed the latest dismissal of its lawsuit against GT and Bank of America that accuses the two companies of helping set up phony transactions so “insiders could steal from the company.”
Parmalat’s Chief Milk-Magician, Enrico Bondi, is obviously not satisfied with the $100 million that he twisted away from BofA and will continue to hassling both companies until long past the expiration date on his product.
Parmalat appeals BofA, auditor lawsuit dismissals [Reuters]