Category: ANR

The Audacity of Chinese Frauds [NYT]
In mid-March, just after the fraud at China MediaExpress was exposed, Longtop announced plans to put some of the cash to use by spending up to $50 million to repurchase its own shares. On April 28, the company tried to assure analysts that the fraud claims were bogus. Derek Palaschuk, a Canadian accountant who served as the company’s chief financial officer, wrapped himself in Deloitte’s prestige, saying that those who questioned Longtop were “criticizing the integrity of one of the top accounting firms in the world.”

Funding Concerns Still Surround IASB [CFO Journal]
The International Accounting Standards Board has faced questions for years about whether its funding sources are stable enough for it to truly be the world’s top accounting standard setter. So it was likely an uncomfortable day last month when it disclosed an operating deficit of £1.3 million ($2.1 million) for 2010. But perhaps even more awkward for the IASB is the fact that the Financial Accounting Foundation, which funds and oversees the U.S. Financial Accounting Standards Board, recently stepped forward to help it with its finances.

Goldman Sachs Needs a New Audit Committee [Bloomberg]
Jonathan Weil takes a look at the members of Goldman’s audit committee – the chair of which is James Schiro, PwC’s former CEO – and doesn’t like what he sees.

Goldman CFO says clients “past” Levin — analyst [Reuters]
Goldman Sachs believes its clients are “largely past” the regulatory investigations and accusations that have surrounded the bank, according to an analyst who met its Chief Financial Officer. Goldman Chief Financial Officer David Viniar said the bank does not expect the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to bring any more claims against it after a $550 million settlement last year, according to a report from Susquehanna Financial Group analyst David Hilder.

SJSU announces scholarships in memory of 2 slain honor students [SJMN]
Days before Marcory “Cindy” Tarlit Caliguiran and Thomas Kyle Williams would have graduated with honors from San Jose State’s business school, SJSU announced scholarship funds have been created in their memories.

Small Businesses Fight IRS Over Data [WSJ]
The Internal Revenue Service, moving aggressively to collect more taxes from small businesses, is telling companies being audited to turn over exact copies of the electronic records kept in their business-software programs, according to a letter from an agency official to the American Institute of CPAs. The accounting group fears this will force small businesses to turn over customer lists, personnel data, confidential client information and other unrelated information often contained in the off-the-shelf software programs many businesses use to manage all aspects of their finances.

Conservative Group Wins Nonprofit Status From I.R.S. [NYT]
The Internal Revenue Service has granted nonprofit status to the group that brought down two senior executives at NPR and dealt a death blow to the community organizing group Acorn with videos of its employees giving tax advice to people claiming to be a pimp and prostitute.

SEC Staff Presents “Condorsement” as Possible Method for Move to IFRS [JofA]
A staff paper published Thursday by the SEC’s Office of the Chief Accountant (OCA) presents in detail and solicits comments on the so called “condorsement” approach to incorporating IFRS into the U.S. financial reporting system. “The Staff’s discussion in this Staff Paper is not intended to suggest that the Commission has determined to incorporate IFRS,” the paper says, “or that the discussed framework is the preferred approach or would be the only possible approach.”

~ Sorry for the late start today, the Internet gods were not smiling on me this morning.

IRS Scrutinizes Gifts of Real Estate [WSJ]
The Internal Revenue Service has a low-profile but sweeping effort under way to use state land-transfer records for evidence of omissions in reporting gifts of real estate to family members. Beth Shapiro Kaufman, a partner in the private-client group at law firm Caplin & Drysdale in Washington, D.C., said many tax advisers may not be aware of the IRS effort. She added that as the agency gets records from more states, “we can expect additional examinations.”

Report: Philips looking at accounting in Mexico [AP]
A Dutch newspaper says Royal Philips Electronics NV is investigating possible accounting mistakes at its Mexican business in 2009. The Eindhovens Dagblad newspaper says it has papers from a KPMG accountant indicating the company’s earnings statements may have to be adjusted as a result. The report gave no indication of the size of the potential problem. Mexico accounts for a small percentage of the company’s sales. Philips spokesman Steve Klink said Wednesday he couldn’t comment on the accuracy of the report, but added that the company takes adherence to accounting and ethical rules seriously and would take appropriate action if warranted.

SEC Approves Rewards for Whistleblowers [WSJ]
The Securities and Exchange Commission approved in a 3-2 vote a plan to pay financial rewards to whistleblowers who report evidence of corporate wrongdoing merely to the agency, without also informing their employers. Business groups and others had argued that to earn such “bounties,” employees should have to first report their findings through internal company channels before going to the SEC.

KPMG – ‘the greenest building on the wharf’ [Guardian]
London’s rapidly expanding Canary Wharf may not be the most obvious place to look for innovative examples of sustainable building and design. Yet when KPMG selected 15, Canada Square as the site of its new UK headquarters, it had a very clear vision – to go beyond the demands of environmental and building legislation to create the greenest building on the wharf.

Improving the Code of Professional Conduct [JofA]
The AICPA’s Professional Ethics Executive Committee (PEEC) is undertaking a project to recodify the Institute’s ethics standards. The Ethics Codification Project’s primary focus is to improve the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct so that members and others can apply the rules and reach correct conclusions more easily. To achieve this, PEEC will restructure the Code into topical areas, edit the Code using consistent drafting and style conventions, and revise certain Code provisions (primarily independence) to reflect the “conceptual framework” approach. PEEC will expose the restructured and redrafted Code for public comment before considering it for final adoption.

Senate rejects Ryan budget [The Hill]
The Senate on Wednesday resoundingly rejected a budget sponsored by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) that calls for significant cuts to future Medicare benefits. The 40-57 vote came one day after Republicans suffered an upset defeat in a special election in upstate New York where Democrats made Medicare cuts the primary issue.

AIG Share Sale Raises $8.7 Billion for Treasury, Insurer [Bloomberg]
The Treasury sold 200 million shares yesterday at $29 each, compared with the closing price of $29.46 on the New York Stock Exchange. The government, which retains a majority stake, needs to sell shares at an average of about $28.73 to recover a $47.5 billion investment. AIG disposed of 100 million shares, raising $2.9 billion, according to a statement from the company.

Only China can tackle its own dodgy accounting [Reuters]
What about the hostage takers?

John Edwards: U.S. Green-Lights Prosecution for Alleged Campaign Law Violations Tied to Affair Cover-Up [ABC]
A source close to the case said Edwards is aware that the government intends to seek an indictment and that the former senator from North Carolina is now considering his limited options.

State Tax Revenue Increases by 9.1% [WSJ]
The revenue gains, which were driven by a 12.4% jump in personal income taxes, reflect the improving economy as well as tax increases passed during the recession. Sales taxes grew 5.6% while corporation income taxes, which are volatile and make up only a small portion of states’ tax collections, grew 6.9% in the quarter.

Resume Debate: Word v. PDF [FINS]
Hey, it matters.

RubinBrown joins forces with Bondi & Co. accounting firm of Denver [KCBJ]
RubinBrown LLP will merge with Bondi & Co. LLC on June 1 in a move designed to put the combined company among the nation’s 50 largest accounting firms. RubinBrown Chairman James Castellano said the deal will boost the firm’s annual revenue from $54 million to $65 million. Bondi partners were given a partnership stake in RubinBrown, but financial terms were not disclosed. The Bondi name will disappear.

LarsonAllen to Merge in Raymon Pielech Zexter [AT]
“RPZ has built a strong tax practice over the years, and we’re very proud of that,” RPZ managing shareholder Jeff Raymon said in a statement. “But in today’s business and financial market, we need to offer our clients more to help them succeed and stay competitive. Joining with LarsonAllen will give us the capacity to serve the broader spectrum of their financial and advisory needs almost immediately.”

Huguette Clark, the reclusive copper heiress, dies at 104 [MSNBC]
“IRV1040” is lurking.

Evidence Said to Tie Ex-I.M.F. Chief to Housekeeper [NYT]
Evidence from the work clothes of a hotel housekeeper matched DNA samples taken from Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former managing director of the International Monetary Fund who has been charged with sexually assaulting her, a person briefed on the matter said Monday. The test results were consistent with what law enforcement officials have said about the account provided by the woman, the person briefed in the matter said.

FAF Unveils New Accounting Review Process [CFO Journal]
The Financial Accounting Foundation unveiled a new process for reviewing financial accounting rules on Friday, but some observers wonder if the process will undermine the independence of the Financial Accounting Standards Board, and give greater weight to the needs of filers and their consultants, rather than the investing public the rules were meant to serve.

Accountants shun social media when attracting clients [Accountancy Age]
Less than one in ten accountants use social media as a main means of attracting clients, according to a survey by the CCH IT company and YouGov. At its annual conference, CCH said that, even with the vast technological advances, “traditional” and “conventional” methods such as face to face meetings continued to dominate the way accountants draw in new clients.

Democrats request $15 million for taxpayer aid program [The Hill]
House Democrats are urging appropriators to include $15 million in a bill to expand and strengthen services provided to low- and moderate-income taxpayers through matching grants to Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) centers.

Are the Feds Going Insane? [WCF]
When people start snooping around your illegal activities, just conduct an internal investigation to get them to back off.

Wanted: a New PCAOB Member [The Summa]
Dan Goelzer’s term wraps in October. Feel free to throw your hat in the ring.

State Corporate Income Tax Rates [Tax Foundation]
Iowa?

Why Obama’s Corporate Tax Reform Will Fail [Tax.com]
A large reduction in the U.S. corporate tax rate is inevitable. It can’t miss when proponents have an easy-to-understand talking point: The United States will soon have the highest corporate tax rate in the world. If it weren’t for the Japanese earthquake, we would already have the number one spot.

Lagarde is Front-Runner to Head IMF [Bloomberg]
Support mounted for French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde to head the International Monetary Fund as Mexico offered its central bank governor as an emerging- market candidate, challenging Europe’s 65-year hold on the job. U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne said in a May 21 statement his nation will back Lagarde to become the first woman to head the Washington-based lender. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said consensus was emerging in Europe for her to get the post, Deutsche Presse-Agentur reported two days ago.

Citi Hiresmuel Di Piazza As Senior Banker [Dow Jones]
Samuel Di Piazza Jr., the former Chief Executive of PricewaterhouseCoopers International LLP, joined the growing group of rainmakers Di Piazza, who left PwC in 2009, joined Citi as vice chairman of the bank’s “institutional clients group,” the bank’s name for its investment banking division, and as a member of the senior strategic advisory group. He is one of several prominent executives and politicians hired to help Citi get and maintain a seat at the table when multinational corporations and governments seek strategic advice for deals and issue securities.

The Right Job? It’s Much Like the Right Spouse [NYT]
Barry Salzberg’s interview with the Times features a lot of the same anecdotes as his speech at Wharton and he throws in a marriage metaphor for good measure.

House Arrest Starts for Strauss-Kahn [WSJ]
Dominique Strauss-Kahn is out of jail, but the experience of others who have faced house-arrest arrangements as tight as his suggests the former International Monetary Fund chief faces a trying time. Mr. Strauss-Kahn, accused of sexually assaulting a hotel maid earlier this month, will be forbidden to leave a New York City apartment for all but a few situations. The arrangement calls for at least one armed guard to keep him under close surveillance 24 hours a day, seven-days a week—all at Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s expense.

Sears CFO Departs, Company Taps Controller Phelan [WSJ]
Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLD) said Chief Financial Officer Michael D. Collins resigned Friday and appointed William K. Phelan, a senior vice president and controller at the department-store operator, as his temporary replacement. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Sears said Collins resigned “to pursue another opportunity,” but said he would remain at the company until June 10 to ensure a smooth transition.

Koss settles suit against directors in embezzlement case [MJS]
Koss Corp. has reached an agreement to settle a shareholder lawsuit filed against the Milwaukee stereophone manufacturer last year in connection with the $34 million embezzlement by a former executive. The company said Friday that the agreement in Milwaukee County Circuit Court calls for the dismissal with prejudice of claims against individual Koss directors. Claims against former Koss auditors Grant Thornton and Sujata Sachdeva, Koss’ former executive vice president of finance, would be dismissed without prejudice, meaning they could be refiled.

SEC Asks Wipro to Prove KPMG Independence [WSJ]
Wipro Ltd. said it has received a notice from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, asking the company to prove the independence of its financial auditor, KPMG India Pvt. Ltd., failing which the software exporter will have to appoint a new auditor. In an SEC filing dated April 20, Wipro said it is cooperating with the U.S. regulator’s request and that the outcome of the SEC’s review on the matter is uncertain.

Deloitte Aims To Nearly Double China Staff By 2015 [Dow Jones]
Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu International plans to nearly double its China staff by 2015 to support its business expansion in one of the world’s fastest-growing markets, a senior executive said Friday. China is now Deloitte’s fourth-largest market in terms of employees, with more than 8,000 people in 14 cities across mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau.

China Unicom Uncovers Improper Accounting But Says No Impact On Results [Dow Jones]
China Unicom [,,,] Ltd. (CHU) said Friday a national audit conducted last year found improper accounting procedures at the telecom operator, but it has rectified the issues and doesn’t anticipate any material impact on its past earnings.

Secret Donors Multiply in U.S. Election Spending [Bloomberg]
Commission on Hope and four other Republican-leaning groups spent at least $4.05 million attacking candidates in the run-up to the November voting, according to Campaign Media estimates and TV station records obtained by Bloomberg News. None of that spending can be found searching the public database of the Federal Election Commission, and FEC spokeswoman Mary Brandenberger said the commission has no record of it.

Tax overhaul should begin with (second) home-related tax breaks [DMWT]
Gotta start somewhere.

Christine Lagarde Is Favored to Head IMF [Bloomberg]
French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde emerged as the leading contender to replace Dominique Strauss-Kahn at the International Monetary Fund as developing nations failed to unite behind a candidate. U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner called for the quick appointment of a new managing director yesterday while the Obama administration avoided backing any one person.

Coburn: Newt Needs to “Keep His Mouth Shut” [ABC News]
Senator Tom Coburn says Gingrich needs “keep his mouth shut” about Paul Ryan’s Medicare plan until he has his own plan to deal with skyrocketing entitlement spending. “If you haven’t put a plan on the table, you need to keep your mouth shut because the problem hasn’t gone away,” Coburn told ABC news in an interview on the Capitol subway. “You’re elevating yourself by being critical of someone else.”

Is Corporate Tax Reform Realistic? [TaxVox]
A panel of veteran international tax experts tried to put the U.S. struggle to fix its corporate tax system in broader perspective. Unfortunately, they concluded that the U.S. is lagging well behind the rest of the world in corporate reform and, worse, the odds of any serious progress anytime soon are slim.

Strauss-Kahn Quits IMF, Kicking Off Succession Contest [Bloomberg]
Dominique Strauss-Kahn resigned as the 10th leader of the International Monetary Fund, kicking off a contest for his successor as Europeans seek to retain the job amid a lack of unity among emerging-market nations. “I want to devote all my strength, all my time, and all my energy to proving my innocence,” Strauss-Kahn said in a statement released by the Washington-based IMF four days after his arrest on sexual-assault charges. The fund said it will comment “in the near future” on the succession. Strauss-Kahn, 62, had beeFrance’s 2012 presidential election.

U.S. watchdog sees cross-border audit deal with China this year [Reuters]
James Doty, chairman of the PCAOB told Reuters, the breakthrough came during the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue that took place in Washington last week. “Both sides have agreed to accelerate efforts, including undertaking a process for negotiations and engaging in technical assistance activities, to reach a bilateral agreement governing cross-border audit oversight,” Doty said in an emailed statement.

Beyond the Balance Sheet: Redefining the Role of Today’s CFO [CFO Journal]
The role of the CFO is not what it used to be. Traditional control, financing and compliance are still important aspects of the job. But in a hypercompetitive world, the best CFOs have a much broader set of skills, insights and experiences.

In defense of Gen – Y (aka the millennials) [CPA Success]
Tom Hood is here for you.

Baby Names for Accountants [The Summa]
After the “Baby Like” craze, Dave Albrecht has taken things a step further.

The Quandary of Coburn’s Exit [WSJ]
The remaining members of the Gang of Six met without Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and agreed to press on in their effort to craft a long-term pact that could include controversial proposals to raise revenues and curb Social Security. But the departure of Mr. Coburn, a conservative known as a deficit hawk, could prove a fatal blow to hopes that an ad hoc set of senators could crack the code of deficit-reduction politics and find a compromise that has escaped party leaders.

California Court Compels Overstock.com to Turn Over Contact Information of Former Employees to District Attorney Investigating Consumer Fraud [WCF]
You can practically see Sam Antar wringing his hands in glee (like a convicted criminal would do) over this.

G.O.P. Senators Question I.R.S. Scrutiny of Donors [NYT]
A group of Republican senators wrote to the head of the Internal Revenue Service on Wednesday seeking internal correspondence and other information about the agency’s heightened scrutiny of donations to some nonprofit advocacy groups that are playing a growing role in political campaigns.

McDonald’s Under Pressure to Fire Ronald [WSJ]
More than 550 health professionals and organizations have signed a letter to McDonald’s Corp. asking the maker of Happy Meals to stop marketing junk food to kids and retire Ronald McDonald. The letter, slated to run in the form of full-page ads in six metropolitan newspapers around the country on Wednesday, acknowledges that “the contributors to today’s (health) epidemic are manifold and a broad societal response is required. But marketing can no longer be ignored as a significant part of this massive problem.”

Madoff liquor cabinet sells for $41,500 [CNN]
Among other items, a bottle of “mysterious brown liquid” went for $950.

Senate Refuses to End Tax Breaks for Big Oil [NYT]
The Senate on Tuesday blocked a Democratic proposal to strip the five leading oil companies of tax breaks that backers of the measure said were unfairly padding industry profits while consumers were struggling with high gas prices. Despite falling eight votes short of the 60 needed to move ahead with the bill, top Democrats said they would insist that eliminating the tax breaks to generate billions of dollars in revenue must be part of any future agreement to raise the federal debt limit.

Hooray for More Restatements? [CFO Journal]
Financial restatements rose 7.6% last year, according to a new study. And that’s a good thing, says Audit Analytics about its findings. The trouble is, one could also reach the opposite conclusion from the same study. […] Its counter-intuitive to conclude that more accounting do-overs are a good thing, of course, but the research firm says it’s the latest sign that SarbOx is working by improving companies’ internal financial controls.

States Pass New Laws Governing the Accounting Profession [AT]
California accountants are grappling with a series of legislative proposals designed to address concerns sparked by a recent series of high-profile cases of fiscal malfeasance by municipal governments throughout the state. In addition to bills authorizing the state controller to audit the financial records of local governments, the legislature is considering the creation of a “multi-disciplinary fiscal ‘SWAT team’” of auditors and law enforcement personnel to investigate municipal waste and corruption.

“Next tier” outline benefits from OFT audit inquiry [Accountancy Age]
The tier of firms that could most benefit from the OFT’s inquiry into audit market competition have outlined some of their wishes from the investigation. Grant Thornton partner Steve Maslin […] said there were a number of measures that could be taken that would open the market to reduce FTSE 350 audit concentration away from the Big Four.

Kroger CFO: Supermarkets Acting Rationally In Price Hikes [Dow Jones]
Retailers are acting rationally in passing along higher prices to consumers, Kroger Co. (KR) Chief Financial Officer Mike Schlotman said Tuesday, with supermarkets unwilling to keep prices low in the face of inflation. “We’re seeing everybody being fairly rational and realistic about the need to pass that inflation along,” Schlotman said at a BMO Capital Markets conference.

Schwarzenegger’s love child raises child support, marital money & tax questions [DMWT]
How did Arnie hide all that diaper money?

UK watchdog suspects auditors restrict competition [Reuters]
Britain’s Office of Fair Trading said problems in the audit market meet the conditions for a referral to the country’s main Competition Commission watchdog. The watchdog said it had “reached the provisional view that there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that there are features of the market that restrict, distort or prevent competition in the UK.

New York Investigates Banks’ Role in Fiscal Crisis [NYT]
The New York attorney general has requested information and docus from three major Wall Street banks about their mortgage securities operations during the credit boom, indicating the existence of a new investigation into practices that contributed to billions in mortgage losses.

Judge Jails IMF Chief in Sexual-Assault Case [WSJ]
International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was ordered held without bail Monday after Manhattan prosecutors charged him with seven counts stemming from allegations he sexually assaulted a hotel housekeeper—a decision that sends one of the towering figures of international finance and French politics to a jail cell on New York’s Rikers Island.

LinkedIn Boosts IPO Price to Raise $405.7 Million [Bloomberg]
LinkedIn Corp., the networking website for professionals, increased the price range for its initial public offering, lifting the company’s potential valuation to as much as $4.25 billion. The company is selling shares at $42 to $45 each, according to a filing today with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The shares had been offered for $32 to $35 apiece. At the new top end of the range, LinkedIn would raise $405.7 million, about 29 percent more than previously sought.

A Brief Exchange with an IASB Member on Hedge Accounting [Accounting Onion]
You might read this “brief exchange” and conclude that “accounting joust” may be more appropriate.

Bienvenue! French Audit Firm Mazars Arrives In U.S. [Forbes]
Francine takes a look at WeiserMazars as a potential player in the U.S. and is probably taking advantage of “French” as a hot SEO term.

Honda CFO: Earnings Likely To Take Hit From Quake, Strong Yen [Dow Jones]
Honda Motor Co.’s […] earnings are likely to suffer in the fiscal year that started in April due to the negative impact of the March 11 earthquake on the company’s production capacity and persistent yen strength against the dollar, the company’s chief financial officer said Tuesday.

Sen. Kyl: Close Tax Loopholes But Don’t Collect More Money [WSJ]
Sen. Jon Kyl, the No. 2 Senate Republican, went to the Senate floor today to make clear that he is for closing tax loopholes, but he doesn’t want any net increase in tax collections. “I would be very much in favor of taking a look at these tax expenditures, various subsidies, for example, to different groups to see whether we could reduce some of those subsidies and thereby reduce tax rates in a revenue-neutral manner,” he said Monday.

Police Seek Evidence From I.M.F. Chief on Sex Attack [NYT]
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the leader of the International Monetary Fund, spent most of Sunday at the Manhattan Special Victims Unit in East Harlem as prosecutors sought additional evidence, including possible DNA evidence on his skin or beneath his fingernails, to bolster allegations that he had sexually assaulted a maid in a $3,000-a-night suite at a Midtown hotel, officials said.

IMF in Wake of Scandal Turns to Lipsky [Bloomberg]
The International Monetary Fund turned to John Lipsky when it was ordered to develop an early- warning system to prevent a repeat of the 2008 financial meltdown. Now, the IMF is calling on him to guide it through its own crisis.

Boehner questions Obama’s commitment to tackling debt, deficit [The Hill]
On dealing with major spending issues, including entitlement programs, Boehner invited the president to “lock arms and we’ll jump out of the boat together. “I’m serious about dealing with this, and I hope he’s just as serious,” he said. As both parties haggle over raising the $14.3 trillion debt limit, Boehner insisted that everything was up for discussion — except tax hikes.

The Very Rich Really Are Different [TaxVox]
“Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me,” wrote F. Scott Fitzgerald. He wasn’t talking about taxes (the laws were very different back in 1926) but his assertion certainly applies to the way the wealthy fare under today’s tax law.

Gingrich Blasts House GOP’s Medicare Plan [WSJ]
White House hopeful Newt Gingrich called the House Republican plan for Medicare “right-wing social engineering,” injecting a discordant GOP voice into the party’s efforts to reshape both entitlements and the broader budget debate. In the same interview Sunday, on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Mr. Gingrich backed a requirement that all Americans buy health insurance, complicating a Republican line of attack on President Barack Obama’s health law.

Gingrich businesses owed unpaid state taxes [AP]
They’re all caught up now.

How did $250,000 become the tax definition of rich? [DMWT]
Obama’s economic team was in a competitive game of darts during the campaign.

A Small, Dubious Company Gets A Moment In The Sun For No Discernable Reason [TFI]
Roddy Boyd’s latest focuses on Kingtone Wirelessinfo Solution Holding Ltd. and their hocus-pocus ride to this morning’s opening bell at the Nasdaq.

California Bar Confirms Disciplinary Proceedings Against ‘Tax Lady’ Roni Deutch [TaxProf Blog]
Roni throws in the towel.

E&Y fails to halt Anglo Irish investigation [Accountancy Age]
Ernst & Young in Ireland has failed in a bid to halt an investigation into its work as auditor of Anglo Irish Bank. The High Court in Ireland ruled on Friday that the firm had no grounds for a judicial review of a probe ordered by the country’s Chartered Accountants Regulatory Board (CARB).

CFOs Hate the Corporate Rate [CFO]
Finance chiefs were in the spotlight on Capitol Hill Thursday as they testified before the House Ways and Means Committee about the corporate tax rate. At a hearing convened by committee chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.), CFOs Greg Hayes of United Technologies, Mark Buthman of Kimberly-Clark, Ed Rapp of Caterpillar, and James Crines of medical-device maker Zimmer Holdings testified that they would like to see the rate lowered and the tax code overhauled to reduce complexity and enable better planning.

Oil Chiefs, Senators Play to Type at Hearing [WSJ]
Oil companies and their profits were reluctant guest stars Thursday in a Capitol Hill melodrama that paired energy policy with the federal deficit. For more than three hours, the chief executives of Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp., ConocoPhillips and the U.S. units of BP PLC and Royal Dutch Shell PLC sparred with Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee who had summoned them to explain why their companies needed tax breaks at a time of surging industry profits and rising gasoline prices.

Big U.S. banks oppose derivatives accounting plan [Reuters]
Wall Street’s biggest banks are urging rule-makers to scrap a derivative accounting proposal that could inflate their balance sheets by trillions of dollars. The draft rules, unveiled by the Financial Accounting Standards Board in January, would force banks to report their full exposure for most derivatives on their balance sheets, instead of net amounts.

I.R.S. Moves to Tax Gifts to Groups Active in Politics [NYT]
Big donors like David H. Koch and George Soros could owe taxes on their millions of dollars in contributions to nonprofit advocacy groups that are playing an increasing role in American politics. Invoking a provision that had rarely, if ever, been enforced, the Internal Revenue Service said it had sent letters to five donors, who were not identified, informing them that their contributions may be subject to gift taxes depending on whether the donations exceeded limits under the tax laws.

Why Iowans for Tax Relief and Grover Norquist are misguided about tax reform [Tax Update Blog]
And Joe likes Ronald Reagan (but manages not to mention him).

Rich Russians Buy Bunkers on Apocalypse Angst [Bloomberg]
Danila Andreyev started building “panic rooms” three years ago, when fears of terrorist attacks and commercial disputes turning violent created demand in Russia. Now he’s selling “survival bunkers” for as much as $400,000 each to capitalize on angst over theories the world will end next year. “I myself am not a believer in doomsday scenarios,” Andreyev, 31, whose Spetsgeoproekt company is completing 15 bunkers at hidden locations across Russia, said at his office in central Moscow. “But when you start hearing clients talking about the end of the world, it gets you thinking.”

Yankees Let Fans Take Batting Practice at Stadium; Bring $1,500 and a Bat [Bloomberg]
On June 5, the Yankees and Steiner Sports Collectibles will hold their event that includes batting practice, tours of the stadium, a catered lunch and gifts — all for a cost of $1,500 to $3,000 per batter. “There is no experience like this,” Steiner Sports President Brandon Steiner said in a telephone interview. “People just melt when they get on the field.”

KPMG appoints Michael Andrew as global chairman based in HK [Reuters]
Accounting giant KPMG has appointed Michael Andrew as global chairman to be based in Hong Kong, the firm said on Thursday. Andrew, a 27-year veteran at the accounting firm, was previously chairman of KPMG Asia Pacific and Australia, KPMG said in a statement. He replaces Tim Flynn, who will retire at the end of September.

Oil CEOs on the Hot Seat [WSJ]
With gas prices above $4 a gallon in much of the country, Democrats and Republicans are ether to cut tax credits for oil companies enjoying a banner profit year. Senate Democrats plan to grill the CEOs of Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp., ConocoPhillips and the U.S. units of BP PLC and Royal Dutch Shell PLC about the taxes they pay at a Finance Committee hearing on Thursday. Republicans, who have criticized the Obama administration for not acting faster to approve more offshore drilling, won passage of a House bill Wednesday that would require decisions to be made about offshore-drilling permits within 60 days.

Next Up, a Crackdown on Outside-Expert Firms [DealBook]
With the government securing a conviction against Raj Rajaratnam of the Galleon Group on Wednesday, federal prosecutors will shift their focus to expert networks — the intricate web of money managers, corporate executives and consultants at the center of another wave of insider trading cases.

The $8,000 Credit Cost Some Home Buyers Much More [WSJ]
If you missed out on the $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers that expired just over a year ago, you might be better off for it. Numbers released Monday suggest typical recipients have lost twice as much to falling house prices as they gained from the incentive.

Democrats Embrace U.S. Tax Increase Versus Medicare Cut in Debt Talks [Bloomberg]
Democrats in Congress are gaining new confidence in promoting tax increases to reduce the national debt by presenting them as the alternative to Republicans’ proposed cuts in Medicare health-care coverage for the elderly. Democratic leaders are avoiding any call for tax increases on the middle class, a key voting bloc, and limiting their proposals to those that would affect wealthy individuals, oil and gas companies, and businesses accused of sending jobs overseas.

Google’s Mysterious Retroactive Charge [CFO Journal]
Google’s surprise $500 million charge against first-quarter earnings for an ongoing government investigation related to online advertising raises an interesting question: Why is Google applying the charge retroactively to the first quarter?

H&R Block Tax Services sues Arizona franchisee [KCBJ]
The division of H&R Block Inc. (NYSE: HRB) claims in U.S. District Court in Kansas City that Phoenix-based XL Wealth Management LLC signed an agreement on July 20, 2010, to open franchise locations in Arizona in preparation for the height of the 2011 tax season. But according to the lawsuit, that’s as far as things got in H&R Block’s relationship with XL Wealth Management. Despite H&R Block’s agreement to provide $550,000 in startup money and the company’s subsequent visits to Arizona to check on XL’s progress, the franchise locations never opened.