Category: ANR

Why CEOs Avoided Getting Busted in Meltdown [Bloomberg]
“Fraud, it turns out, begets fraud.”

Old Mutual Hedge Fund Group Hires New C.F.O. [DealBook]
Old Mutual Asset Management, the hedge fund arm of the London-based life insurer, is set to name Steve Belgrad as chief financial officer on Wednesday. Mr. Belgrad, a graduate of Princeton and Harvard Business School, is leaving his post as chief financial officer of HarbourVest Global Private Equity, which he joined in 2008. Mr. Belgrad, who previously worked for the Affiliated Managers Group, the Janus Capital Group and Morgan Stanley, will begin at Old Mutual on June 1.

SEC to Form Small-Business Committee [WSJ]
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is forming a small-business committee to review fundraising rules for small private firms that critics say hinder access to capital and are stunting economic growth. Testifying before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Tuesday, SEC Chair Mary Schapiro said the new division will focus on “regulatory questions posed by new capital-raising strategies,” among other issues.

IRS Demands $6 Million More from Racing Champ Castroneves [AT]
The Internal Revenue Service has filed suit in U.S. Tax Court against three-time Indianapolis 500 champion Helio Castroneves after he won a high-profile victory against the IRS two years ago and paid $5 million in taxes.

The Top 400 Taxpayers: Incomes Fell 21.5%, Tax Rates Rose 8.2% in 2008 [TaxProf Blog]
Are the rich getting eaten?

IRS Asks for Input on Health Care Law [Forbes]
Guess who’s out of ideas?

AICPA Wants IRS to Let Small Businesses E-file S Corp Form [AT]

Sweat Protection Without the Stains [WSJ]

Microsoft to Acquire Skype [WSJ]
Microsoft Corp. agreed to buy Internet phone company Skype Technologies SA for $8.5 billion in cash—the most aggressive move yet by Microsoft to play in the increasingly converged worlds of communication, information and entertainment. “Skype is a phenomenal service that is loved by millions of people around the world,” said Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer in a statement announcing the deal Tuesday. “Together we will create the future of real-time communications so people can easily stay connected to family, friends, clients and colleagues anywhere in the world.”

Boehner Outlines Demands on Debt Limit Fight [NYT]
Speaker John A. Boehner said Monday that Republicans would insist on trillions of dollars in federal spending cuts in exchange for their support of an increase in the federal debt limit sought by the Obama administration to prevent a government default later this year.

Deloitte Makes Acquisition to Strengthen its End-to-End Analytics Portfolio of Services [Deloitte]
Deloitte today announced it has purchased substantially all of the assets of Oco, Inc., a provider of enterprise-class software as a service (SaaS) business analytics solutions.

Being Expedient: PwC Settles Satyam U.S. Class Action [Re:The Auditors]
Satyscam, we barely knew you.

11 Clues a Client is a Loser and 4 Keys to Finding a Winner [AW]
A stripped down version of risk management.

IFRS Adoption is Dead! (I Think) [The Accounting Onion]
Tom Selling is quite ready to call for time of death, “Way back in November 2008 when Christopher Cox was calling the tune, the SEC issued its proposed ‘Roadmap’ for achieving a ‘single set of globally accepted accounting standards.’ That was the point at which the ‘IFRS adoption is inevitable’ pot banging reached deafening levels. Thankfully, however, it has been mostly downhill from there.”

SEC Cracking Down on Foreign Shell Cos. [CFO]
While the Securities and Exchange Commission has recently stepped up its enforcement efforts against allegedly fraudulent U.S. shell companies in greater China, those efforts aren’t limited to that region, according to James Kroeker, the SEC’s chief accountant.

Madoff Trustee, Fairfield Liquidators Join Forces [WSJ]
The trustee for investors hurt by Bernard Madoff’s fraud reached a settlement with liquidators of the Fairfield Greenwich Group funds, the biggest feeders of money into the Ponzi scheme, in which they resolved claims against each other and agreed to jointly pursue the fund owners, including Connecticut financier Walter Noel.

Democrats’ Plan Would Offset Deficit by Ending Big Oil’s Tax Breaks [NYT]
Linking two of the politically volatile issues of the moment, Senate Democrats say they will move forward this week with a plan that would eliminate tax breaks for big oil companies and divert the savings to offset the deficit. With high gas prices and rising federal deficits in the political spotlight, senior Democrats believe that tying the two together will put pressure on Senate Republicans to support the measure or face a difficult time explaining their opposition to voters whose family budgets are being strained by fuel prices.

Debt fund to target gap in lending [FT]
A group of former bankers and the departing global chairman of Deloitte have formed a debt fund manager in an effort to target an expected shortfall in funding to mid-cap European companies. The group is the latest European venture to start up in the wake of the credit crisis to fill a gap created in lending to smaller companies.

The Role and Relevance of Audits: PCAOB Chairman Doty Creates His Own Expectations Gap [Re:Balance]
Jim Peterson wonders if Jim Doty can pull off making real changes to the auditor’s report.

Is Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Shuffling the Beans to Beat Earnings Expectations? [WCF]
Does a negative provision for sales returns sound fishy to anyone?

What Mom should be paid [DMWT]
If you happened to blow off Mother’s Day, this should help you make up for it.

FASB Chair Answers Push for Private-Company GAAP [CFO]
Prompted by a proposal earlier this year by a blue-ribbon panel on the future of private-company accounting standards — a proposal that includes giving oversight of those standards to a brand-new board — the Financial Accounting Standards Board has heightened its focus on private-company issues, according to Leslie Seidman, the board’s chairperson.

Is the Chinese Listing Bubble Going Bust? [CFO Journal]
Suddenly the boom in Chinese listings on U.S. exchanges is looking shaky, and two primary reasons were reinforced in separate developments today. On Wall Street, Renren, dubbed the Chinese Facebook, tanked after its shares debuted at a stratospheric multiple on Wednesday, calling into question the appetite for future Chinese IPOs. Meanwhile, at a New York City financial conference, SEC officials were nearly elbowing each other out of the way to express their concerns about reverse mergers that are allowing Chinese firms to back door their way into U.S. markets.

U.S. Economy Adds 244,000 at 9.0% [NYT]
The United States economy added 244,000 jobs in April after a gain of a revised 221,000 jobs in March, the Department of Labor said on Friday, as the unemployment rate rose to 9 percent in April from 8.8 percent in March.

The Grand Illusion: PwC Settles Satyam U.S. Class Action Claims [Forbes]
Oh boy, “The SEC and the PCAOB would not confirm that their enforcement actions regarding the Satyam audit were finished.”

BDO USA Settles Bankest Suit With Former Client Banco Espirito Santo [Bloomberg]
BDO’s statement emailed to Bloomberg: “BDO USA LLP has entered into confidential settlement agreements with Banco Espirito Santo and Barry Mukamal, the bankruptcy trustee of E.S. Bankest LC, pursuant to which the lawsuits against BDO have been resolved,” sounds a lot like what we published yesterday.

The Kabbalah Centre in Los Angeles is the focus of an IRS investigation into tax evasion [LAT]
Sources familiar with the investigation said the criminal division of the IRS is looking into whether nonprofit funds were used for the personal enrichment of the Berg family, which has controlled the Kabbalah Centre for more than four decades, a period in which it expanded from one school of a little-known strain of Judaism to a global brand with A-list followers like Ashton Kutcher and Gwyneth Paltrow and assets that may top $260 million.

New PCAOB Chairman Pushes for Audit Overhaul [AT]
“I do not believe that the global audit firm networks themselves pose a systemic risk to our economy,” said Doty. “Initiatives to shrink the global audit firms would likely weaken their ability to audit large, multinational companies that may be systemically important.” He said governments should instead focus on regulation. “To protect investors, governments should regulate such firms, not cripple them,” said Doty. “There’s no reason to think that if there were more major firms, they would be more likely to stand up to their clients.”

U.S. auditor watchdog hopeful of access to China [Reuters]
U.S. audit watchdogs are hopeful of ending a stalemate that has blocked inspections of auditors in China, the head of the audit oversight agency said on Thursday. With more Chinese companies raising capital in the U.S. markets, “I believe Chinese authorities understand they have a real interest in solving our impasse,” James Doty, chairman of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board said.

Raise Taxes, but Not Tax Rates [NYT]
Reducing the budget deficit and stopping the explosion of our national debt will require more tax revenue as well as reduced government spending. But the need for more revenue needn’t mean higher tax rates.

States Use Tax Breaks in War for Jobs [BBW]
New Jersey is granting Panasonic (PC) a $102.4 million tax credit to move its North American headquarters—nine miles. The incentives, announced on Apr. 20, will help defray the cost of leasing a new high-rise office tower to be built in Newark to replace Panasonic’s digs in Japanese electronics maker has outgrown. The company concedes that its decision to stay in New Jersey, where it employs 800 workers, was swayed by the tax break. Peter Fannon, vice-president of technology policy at Panasonic North America, says the company fielded “quite competitive” offers from Atlanta, San Diego, Los Angeles, and Brooklyn, N.Y., among others. Says Fannon: “We would not be in New Jersey without [this program].”

Accounting Troubles Can’t Stop Renren IPO [CFO Journal]
Shares of Chinese social network Renren soared nearly 50% in their U.S. stock market debut on Wednesday, as eager investors appeared willing to overlook the last-minute resignation of its audit committee chair and disclosures about material weaknesses over accounting.

Montgomery County Council passes 5-cent bag tax [WaPo]
The Montgomery County Council approved a 5-cent bag tax Tuesday that will go into effect Jan. 1, a move environmentalists hope will revive a stalled effort to pass a similar tax statewide. Montgomery politicians were inspired in part by the District’s bag tax, but they took the idea further by including nearly all retail establishments, not just those that sell food.

Another Guilty Plea In Connecticut Ponzi Case Tied To Venezuela [Dow Jones]
A Venezuelan accountant pleaded guilty in Connecticut federal court Wednesday to one count of conspiracy to obstruct the Securities and Exchange Commission in its investigation into a Ponzi scheme uncovered earlier this year. In that case, Connecticut investment adviser Francisco Illarramendi admitted on March 7 to running a Ponzi scheme involving hundreds of millions of dollars over several years and trying to impede a federal investigation into his activities by fabricating evidence.

PricewaterhouseCoopers hired for Charlotte tourism audit [CBJ]
Hiring the auditor marks the latest development in a controversy over $100,000 in bonuses paid to CRVA staff member Ereka Brim for her work on the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association basketball tournament. The issue was reported first by the Charlotte Observer, raising questions about whether visitors authority executives should have approved the bonuses, which were indirectly paid by the CIAA.

Former Aide to Rangel Pleads Guilty in Tax Case [City Room/NYT]
James Capel, who had been a top adviser to Representative Charles B. Rangel for more than a decade, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to failing to file tax returns, months after Mr. Rangel was censured on the House floor over his own tax problems. Mr. Capel, 67, who rose from a community representative in Mr. Rangel’s office to become his chief of staff, admitted in Manhattan Criminal Court that he did not file tax returns from 2003 through 2009. His failure to file resulted in about $25,000 in unpaid taxes.

SABMiller Names New CFO [WSJ]
SABMiller PLC, the global brewer of flagship brands Grolsch, Peroni Nastro Azzuro and Miller Lite, said Wednesday its chief financial officer, Malcolm Wyman, is to retire by the end of August after 25 years at the company. Mr. Wyman, 64 years old, who will also stand down from the board at the group’s forthcoming annual shareholders meeting on July 21, will be succeeded by James Wilson, finance director for SABMiller’s Europe division, it added in a statement.

PwC reported to accounting regulator after taking out criticism of client from report [Telegraph]
[C]oncerns relate to an independent report that PwC was hired to write for Magellan Aerospace Corporation, a Canadian aircraft parts company. PwC’s brief was to look into a whistleblower’s claims that Magellan’s order book had been inflated. However, criticism of Magellan’s “poor” accounting was left out of PwC’s final version – at the request of the client’s audit committee.

ParenteBeard LLC Announces Combination With McCrory & McDowell, LLC [ParenteBeard]
“McCrory & McDowell has a reputation for excellence and an entrepreneurial spirit that is consistent with the values and principles of our firm,” said Bob Ciaruffoli, ParenteBeard Chief Executive Officer. “This combination capitalizes on the strengths of both firms to create a unique, significant CPA and consulting services firm in the Pittsburgh region, which will benefit our clients, our team members and the larger business community.”

Two Out Of Three Looking To Switch Jobs, Says New Survey [Forbes]
Deloitte predicting a nationwide exodus.

Senators Introduce Bill to Repeal Ethanol Tax Credit [AT]
Senators Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., introduced the Ethanol Subsidy and Tariff Repeal Act, which would eliminate the VEETC and also fully repeal the import tariff on foreign ethanol. Cosponsors include Senators Ben Cardin, D-Md., Richard Burr, R-N.C., Jim Webb, D-Va., Susan Collins, R-Maine, and James Risch, R-Idaho.

Dunkin Brands Files for IPO [WSJ]
Now you can do more than run on it.

Bin Laden Aides Are Said to Have Bought Bulk Orders of Pepsi, Coke [Bloomberg]
The two polite Pakistanis who helped Osama bin Laden hide in the shadow of their country’s army bought bulk food orders, chose major brands and equally favored Pepsi and Coke, neighbors and a local shopkeeper said.

How to Criticize Your Boss — Nicely [WSJ]
How do you the let the boss know that (s)he uses cliched catch phrases way too much?

Americans Favor Budget Cuts Over Raising Corporate Tax [NYT]
While most Americans say corporations do not pay their fair share in taxes, they still prefer cuts in government spending to increasing taxes on corporations as a means of cutting the federal budget deficit, according to a recent New York Times/CBS News poll. But when given a choice between raising taxes on corporations and raising taxes on households that make more than $250,000 a year, almost two-thirds of respondents opt for taxing businesses.

Hedge Accounting: Convergence Crunch Time [Accounting Onion]
The CFA Institute wrote a 39-page letter to the IASB criticizing its hedge accounting exposure draft. E&Y wrote a similarly lengthy comment letter; a very different letter.

Trade group: Administration wants to expand corporate tax umbrella [The Hill]
A trade association is concerned that the Obama administration is working on a tax reform plan that would make more businesses pay taxes as corporations. An executive at the National Association of Publicly Traded Partnerships (NAPTP) recently signaled that the group had received information indicating that the administration wanted large so-called pass-through entities — businesses that pay taxes through the individual code — to be subject to corporate taxation.

IRS considers tax deadline extension for storm victims [BBJ]
Victims of severe storms, tornadoes, straight-line winds and flooding beginning April 15 in parts of Alabama may qualify for tax relief from the Internal Revenue Service. Individuals who reside or have a business in these counties may qualify for tax relief: Autauga, Bibb, Blount, Calhoun, Cherokee, Choctaw, Colbert, Cullman, DeKalb, Elmore, Etowah, Fayette, Franklin, Greene, Hale, Jackson, Jefferson, Lawrence, Limestone, Madison, Marengo, Marion, Marshall, Morgan, St. Clair, Sumter, Tallapoosa, Tuscaloosa, Walker, Washington and Winston.

IRS Recognized for Clear Writing [AT]
The Internal Revenue Service received an award for the written clarity of its official notices, while insurance provider CareFirst Blue Cross Blue Shield of Maryland received an award for the most confusing language. The Center for Plain Language gave the IRS its Grand ClearMark Award for the clearest language with its simplified notices, while CareFirst got the WonderMark Award of confusion for its muddled explanation of health care benefits “The IRS has worked hard to overcome its image with Americans and these two revised notices are a sign that the IRS has changed,” said Annetta Cheek, PhD, chair of the board of directors of the Center for Plain Language.

Global Accounting Rules at Risk [CFOJournal]
When U.S. securities regulators let foreign companies stop reconciling their financial results with U.S. GAAP in 2007, it seemed inevitable that U.S. companies would one day adopt International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) themselves. But over the past few years, the SEC turned its focus to the financial crisis and slowed down efforts to set a formal date for the switch. Now some think support is waning and full adoption of the standards in the United States is no longer possible.

Deloitte Survey: Two Out of Three Employees at Large Companies Looking for the Exit Sign [Deloitte]
Despite the sobering news, dissatisfied employees are transparent about their leading turnover drivers, providing executives and talent managers with a clear picture of the most effective employee retention strategies. When asked to list their top three retention incentives, 53 percent of the respondents ranked promotion/job advancement first, followed by increased compensation at 39 percent, and additional bonuses or other financial incentives at 34 percent. Boosting employee support/recognition from their managers, a non-financial incentive, was also ranked as an effective retention tactic by a strong 30 percent of the surveyed employees.

State Cigarette Excise Tax Rates [Tax Foundation]
From a monetary standpoint, why anyone in the tri-state area smokes, is a mystery.

Bin Laden Is Dead, President Obama Says [NYT]
Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the most devastating attack on American soil in modern times and the most hunted man in the world, was killed in a firefight with United States forces in Pakistan on Sunday, President Obama announced. In a dramatic late-night appearance in the East Room of the White House, Mr. Obama declared that “justice has been done” as he disclosed that American military and C.I.A. operatives had finally cornered Mr. bin Laden, the Al Qaeda leader who had eluded them for nearly a decade, and shot him to death at a compound in Pakistan.

Satyam Investors’ U.S. Lawsuit OvPwC for $25.5 Million [Bloomberg]
Investors in Satyam Computer Services Ltd. (SCS) settled a lawsuit against PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP for $25.5 million related to its audit of the Indian firm that included a $1 billion overstatement of assets. Satyam, the software exporter embroiled in India’s biggest corporate fraud probe, reached a $125 million settlement in February in the class action in New York. Satyam agreed last month to pay $10 million to settle a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit.

The Osbournes — 357,000 More Tax Problems [TMZ]
Clearly the moral of the story is, don’t cancel meetings with your accountants.

Ohio accounting students meet fraud expert [AW]
The old cliché, “If you want to build a better hen house, ask a fox,” rang loud and clear today at The Ohio State University Fisher College of Business. You’re probably familiar with Enron, WorldCom, and Madoff scandals, but do you remember the ZZZZ Best Carpet Cleaning fraud from the 1980s and the man behind it, Mark Morze? Morze was found guilty of stealing $100 million and creating more than 10,000 phony documents and several fake tax returns. None of the auditors, lawyers, and bankers who were charged with examining the books detected the fraud. This legendary tale of deception is now must-read material for accounting and business students, helping them prepare to be able to make decisions that will shape their own careers and lives.

Is Going Public Going Out of Style? [CFO]
No matter how you slice it, the number of publicly traded companies in the United States continues to fall. On the major exchanges, there were 5,091 companies, including foreign-based ones, listed at the end of February, a 2% drop from 2009 and a 42% decline from the peak of 8,823 in 1997, according to new data from Grant Thornton. Looking across all U.S. exchanges, including the over-the-counter (OTC) market, the number of U.S.-based companies has fallen more than 30% since 2000, according to Audit Analytics.

Some Closer than Others: Inside The Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting [Forbes]
Aka: Francine goes to Omaha.

Deloitte’s leader makes her case for diversity in the executive suite [Boston Globe]
With less than a month to go as chairman of Deloitte, Sharon Allen continues making the rounds.

E&Y awaits ruling on challenge to ICAI [FT]
Ernst & Young is due to learn this month if it can proceed with a legal challenge that could derail an investigation into its auditing of Anglo Irish Bank, the property lender that had to be rescued by the Irish government in 2009. The Irish arm of the global accountancy network has objected to the way that the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland has probed its work at Anglo Irish before its nationalisation.

New H&R Block CEO Cobb gets $900,000 sign-on bonus [KCBJ]
H&R Block Inc. will pay new CEO William Cobb a base annual salary of $950,000 on top of a $900,000 cash sign-on bonus, plus the potential for millions of dollars in additional compensation. Former CEO Alan Bennett will stay with H&R Block full time until July 31, then get a monthly fee of $15,000 under a one-year consulting contract, according to a Friday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. After that, he’s eligible for a one-time cash bonus to be determined by the board.

Here’s a Tax Guide for Nuts [WSJ]
New York is the latest state to roll out a set of odd distinctions between “food” items that are taxable (e.g. Hi-C) and non-taxable (Tang).

Most States Seen Raising Jobless Tax on Businesses [NYT]
As persistently high unemployment has drained the funds that are used to pay jobless benefits, more than two-thirds of the states expect to raise taxes on businesses this year to replenish them, according to a survey of labor agencies released Wednesday. Unemployment taxes remain low by historical standards: the survey, by the National Association of State Workforce Agencies, found that states have effectively cut the unemployment tax rate on businesses by 64 percent since the unemployment program began collecting taxes from employers in 1938.

Fiesta Bowl considers cutting ties to legal, accounting firms [TAR]
The Fiesta Bowl, which has made numerous changes to keep its status among college football’s elite post-season games, is considering whether to cut ties with its longtime legal counsel, Snell & Wilmer, and accountant PricewaterhouseCoopers. The bowl’s recently completed internal investigation into financial wrongdoing and potentially illegal behavior by employees raised questions about whether Snell & Wilmer’s lawyers and accountants at PricewaterhouseCoopers did enough to alert board members to improprieties.

Northern Oil and Gas, Inc. Announces Appointment of Deloitte & Touche LLP as Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm [NOG]
Northern Oil apparently wants to play with the big boys, as they ditch Mantyla McReynolds (a BDO alliance firm) for Deloitte.

What a Coinkydink! Overstock.com Buys Naming Rights Near Courthouse [Gary Weiss]
Honestly, you can’t make this up.

Priest Questioned Over Gambling Spree After Deloitte’s Internal Audit [inAudit]
A parish priest in Ottawa, Canada has decided to end his 14-year service to the Glebe church following an internal audit conducted by Deloitte LLP that revealed several controversies involving his gambling activities.

KPMG Auditor Cleared of Taking Bribe for Work on Hontex’s Hong Kong IPO [Bloomberg]
A KPMG senior manager was cleared by a Hong Kong judge of accepting a HK$300,000 ($38,601) bribe for his work on the listing prospectus of Chinese fabric maker Hontex International Holdings Co. The prosecution failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Leung Sze-chit, 33, intended to accept envelopes containing cash as a reward from Chan Chau-wan, a consultant hired by Hontex for its listing, in February 2010, District Court Judge Stephen Geiser said today.

House G.O.P. Members Face Voter Anger Over Budget [NYT]
After 10 days of trying to sell constituents on their plan to overhaul Medicare, House Republicans in multiple districts appear to be increasingly on the defensive, facing worried and angry questions from voters and a barrage of new attacks from Democrats and their allies. The proposed new approach to Medicare — a centerpiece of a budget that Republican leaders have hailed as a courageous effort to address the nation’s long-term fiscal problems — has been a constant topic at town-hall-style sessions and other public gatherings during a two-week Congressional recess that provided the first chance fo reaction to the plan.

Navistar Sues Its Former Auditor Deloitte & Touche [Bloomberg]
Navistar International Corp. (NAV), a maker of medium- and heavy-duty trucks, accused its former auditor Deloitte & Touche LLP of professional malpractice in a lawsuit seeking $500 million in damages. Navistar claimed shoddy work by Deloitte & Touche accountants from 2002 to 2005 forced the company to revise its financial statements, according to a 134-page complaint filed today in Illinois state court in Chicago. “Deloitte lied to Navistar and, on information and belief, to Deloitte’s other audit clients, as to the competency of its audit and accounting services,” the Warrenville, Illinois-based truckmaker alleged in its complaint.

H&R Block names former eBay exec as CEO [KCS]
William Cobb takes over for Alan Bennett.

Congress Wrangles With Taxman’s Take in U.S. Deficit Reduction Talks [Bloomberg]
Many Republicans, determined to prevent tax increases, say federal revenues shouldn’t exceed 18 or 19 percent of gross domestic product, the nation’s total output. Senate Republicans have offered a constitutional amendment that would cap the federal take below 17 percent of GDP. President Barack Obama, meanwhile, has proposed a budget that would push revenue to 20 percent of GDP by the end of the decade and announced a proposal April 13 that would raise that number even higher.

Litigation Piling Up At Ernst & Young [Forbes]
Keeping the lawyers in business.

Warner Says Gang of Six Debt Plan Weighs $3 in Cuts to $1 in Taxes Raised [Bloomberg]
While the emerging proposal by the so-called Gang of Six won’t increase tax rates, the Virginia Democrat said it will include scrapping some tax breaks and limiting others, such as shrinking to $500,000 from $1 million the size of mortgages on which interest payments can be written off or scaling back deductions for charitable giving.

Understanding Your Unemployed Friend [The Awl]
Stop saying “funemployment”; it’s really not.

Ex-Facebook CFO, Khosla VC Gideon Yu Goes To…The San Francisco 49ers [BI]
Yu’s résumé also includes a stint as YouTube’s CFO.

Yelp Plans To Go Public, Despite Booming Private Market [WSJ]
Yelp Inc., the consumer-reviews website, is declining to seek another round of financing and instead has its sights set on going public, the start-up’s chief executive officer, Jeremy Stoppelman, said in an interview. “An IPO is back on the table for us,” Mr. Stoppelman said. He declined to say exactly when the company would look to go public, but did say “the process hasn’t officially started yet.” The seven-year-old start-up is actively looking to hire a new chief financial officer with public company experience to guide it through the process, Mr. Stoppelman confirmed.

Fight for Lehman’s Remains Heats Up [WSJ]
A three-way battle over the remnants of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. is coming to a head, as the defunct investment bank’s estate fights with big-name hedge funds and Lehman’s former archrival Goldman Sachs Group Inc. over how to divvy up $61 billion in assets.

10 Things Your Coworkers Won’t Say [SmartMoney]
“Your good attitude makes me hate you,” and “You’re disgusting,” among others.

Oracle replaces CFO as Safra Catz gets the job again [Reuters]
Oracle Corp has replaced its chief financial officer less than three years after he joined the company, tapping its president Safra Catz to do the job. The company said on Monday that CFO Jeffrey Epstein resigned, but did not give a reason. Epstein, who joined Oracle in September 2008, could not immediately be reached for comment. Epstein had little visibility with investors. During quarterly earnings conference calls, it was Catz who read the company’s closely monitored profit forecasts and not Epstein. Epstein reported to Catz and not to Chief Executive Larry Ellison. “The CFO role at Oracle is different from the CFO role at other companies. It’s not as high profile,” said Jefferies & Co analyst Ross MacMillan.

IRS opens audit of Denver medical-marijuana dispensary [DP]
The Internal Revenue Service has opened an audit of a Denver medical-marijuana dispensary, the latest action in what one observer calls a “guerrilla campaign” by the federal government to push back against the cannabis industry. The audit is believed to be the first of its kind in Colorado and follows audits of numerous medical-marijuana dispensaries in California and other states.

Monday Map: State Income Tax Rates [Tax Foundation]
Oregon and Hawaii are your big winners at 11%.

Mergis Group Accounting & Finance Worker Confidence Index Slips Despite Increased Economic Optimism [Mergis Group]
The Accounting and Finance Employee Confidence Index, a measure of overall confidence among U.S. accounting and finance workers, dropped 4.0 points to 52.1 in the first quarter of 2011, according to a recent survey of 3,654 U.S. adults among which 156 are employed in Accounting and Finance commissioned by The Mergis Group®, the professional placement division of SFN Group, Inc. The survey, conducted online by Harris Interactive®, shows that although workers gained confidence in the strength of the economy more workers believe to be fewer jobs available.

Will and Kate Toilet Seats, Condoms Join Tacky London Souvenirs [Bloomberg]
The April 29 royal wedding has flooded London with trinkets, baubles, books and DVDs. The marriage could add as much as 620 million pounds ($1 billion) to the economy in tourism revenue and sales of food and drink, according to Verdict Research, a retail analysis unit of Datamonitor Plc.

Royal Wedding to Give London $177 Million Boost, PwC Says [Bloomberg]
PwC forecast that 560,000 people will travel to London from other parts of the U.K. and that 550,000 people will head for the Westminster area where the wedding is held, while nearly 1 million people will watch it on big screens.

PricewaterhouseCoopers creates new role to boost its public image [Telegraph]
[PwC], the accountancy giant, is to appoint its first-ever head of reputation in de House of Lords inquiry into the lack of competition among auditors. Richard Sexton, head of the accountant’s assurance division which includes its audit arm, will take the role. He will manage a small team focused on how the firm is perceived and its interaction with politicians and regulators.

So You Want to Use Your iPhone for Work? Uh-oh. [WSJ]
For lots of workers, the company BlackBerry just doesn’t cut it anymore. As people pack increasingly sophisticated smartphones in their personal life, they’re clamoring to use those gadgets in the workplace as well. And many of their bosses are loosening up. They’re ditching the traditional BlackBerry-or-nothing policy and allowing a wider range of mobile devices, including tablets such as the iPad.

With public’s backing, Dems to push tax hikes for the wealthy [The Hill]
Congressional Democrats say they will aggressively push for allowing taxes to rise for the wealthiest Americans – a move they say is not only widely popular, but sets up a stark contrast with Republicans who want to keep the tax rates the same but make broad changes to entitlement programs.

Slippery People: Corporate Governance at Berkshire Hathaway [Re:The Auditors]
The Buffet/Sokol/Lubrizol timeline plus Francine announces that she is going to Omaha for the annual meeting on Saturday.

SEC Releases Special Study On Sarbox 404(b) For Smaller Public Co’s [AW]
[T]he SEC released a special study on implementation of Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404 (b) – the auditor’s report on internal control over financial reporting – with respect to smaller public companies (specifically, accelerated filers with market cap between $75 million and $250 million). The SEC study, required by Section 989G(b) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, examined existing studies and included a call for public comment.

FASB Issues Goodwill Impairment Proposal [JofA]
FASB issued an exposure draft of a proposed Accounting Standards Update intended to simplify how businesses are required to test goodwill for impairment. “Nonpublic companies have expressed concerns to the Board about the cost and complexity of performing the goodwill impairment test,” FASB member Daryl Buck said in a press release. “The proposals contained in this Update are intended to address those concerns and to simplify and improve the process for public and nonpublic entities alike.”

Six Flags says arbitrator rules in favor of former CFO [Reuters]
Theme park operator Six Flags Entertainment Corp (SIX.N) said an arbitrator ruled in favor of certain claims made by its former Chief Financial Officer Jeffrey Speed. The arbitrator has directed the company to pay $23.7 million, plus interest and attorney’s fees, the company said. Six Flags replaced Speed as the CFO in September last year, and later terminated his employment, without cause, in October, the company said in a regulatory filing.