Category: ANR

IFRS Outlook: Hurry Up and Wait [CFO]
Asked which are the most crucial accounting issues that their companies are facing in 2011, 34% of the 472 CFOs who responded to the question ranked “Convergence to IFRS,” or international financial reporting standards, as number one. Cumulatively, the respondents ranked IFRS convergence higher than any other accounting issue. Yet asked to describe their companies’ “readiness to comply with global accounting standards,” 44.2% said they hadn’t “begun to address convergence,” while 38.8% said they were preparing, “but far from ready.”

Satyam Seeks SEC Approval To Shorten Period of Earnings Restatement [Dow Jones]
Satyam Computer Services Ltd. […] which is recovering from a fraud scandal, is in talks with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to shorten the time frame for which the company would need to restate its earnings under U.S. accounting standards, its chairman said. A restatement of earnings under U.S. accounting standards would be one of the prerequisites for Satyam to be able to relist on the New York Stock Exchange.

Auditors would deflate accounting bubbles [FT]
But it is right for regulators to impose high standards on auditors, who in servicing big quoted companies benefit from what looks suspiciously like an oligopoly. Accountants who habitually let a little air out of inflated asset values could help avert future market crashes. In an old joke, a chief executive asks his slick FD what the profits figure is. “What would you like it to be?” comes the reply. Sceptical auditors would guard against that.

Auditors Abandon Investors On Liability Limits [Forbes]
The Big 4 audit firms have always been preoccupied with significant legal liability in the US. Managing these cases requires exorbitant amounts of the US firms’ time and money. Their international umbrella firms and, in many cases, members firms in other parts of the world are also burdened. It’s my estimate that Big 4 leadership spends 75% of their time on litigation matters.

American Apparel CEO held teen as sex slave: lawsuit [Reuters]
American Apparel Inc founder and chief executive Dov Charney is being sued for $250 million by a woman who said he treated her as a sex slave when she was a teenage sales employee at the clothing chain. Irene Morales of Brooklyn, New York, has accused Charney, 42, of sexual harassment, creating a hostile workplace, gender discrimination and retaliation. American Apparel and directors at the company have also been named as defendants in the lawsuit, filed in a New York state court on Friday. Morales accused them of failing to protect her, and said they knew or should have known that Charney was a “sexual predator.”

Marijuana IPOs Provide Investors With Gateway to Cannabis Boom [Bloomberg]
The legalization of medical marijuana — permitted in at least 15 states — has kicked off a booming economy in ancillary goods. Startups such as Peterson’s GrowOp Technology Ltd. and General Cannabis Inc. (CANA) compare the phenomenon to the California gold rush, when the people making the real money were the ones selling pick axes and shovels. Both companies are planning initial public offerings, part of an effort to remove the stigma from what’s seen as a multibillion-dollar industry.

GM Announces CFO Transition [PR Newswire]
General Motors Vice Chairman and Chief Financial Officer Chris Liddell today announced that he will leave the company April 1, 2011, having completed the largest public offering in history and stabilizing the company’s financial operations. Liddell, 52, joined GM in January, 2010 and led the company’s financial and accounting operations on a global basis. “Chris was a major contributor during a pivotal time in the company’s history,” said Dan Akerson, GM chairman and CEO. “He guided the company’s IPO process and established a good financial foundation for the future.”

Rewriting Pension History [WSJ]
Some big companies are changing how they account for their pension plans in a way that could make their earnings look better in coming years. AT&T Inc., Verizon Communications Inc. and Honeywell International Inc. recently ended a longstanding practice in which they “smooth” large gains and losses generated by pension assets into their financial results over a period of years. From now on, these companies will count all such gains and losses in the same year they are incurred.

Cracking the Glass Ceiling From Both Sides [FINS]
Women looking to make it to the C-suite stand a better chance if they can get a boost from other women, according to a new study from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. The study shows that companies with more women on their boards of directors have a greater share of women in top executive positions.

Baucus skeptical of businesses taxed as individuals [The Hill]
“I think the development of pass-throughs has not been helpful to the American economy,” Baucus said after a hearing on tax reform in which witnesses also questioned that arrangement. “I don’t know the solution,” the senator added, “but I think the problem of pass-throughs is concerning.”

BofA CFO: To Cut Long-Term Debt To Near $300B In 2013 From $448B [Dow Jones]
Bank of America Corp. plans on trimming its long-term debt by a further third over the next three years, Chief Financial Officer Charles Noski said, continuing the bank’s goal of shrinking itself to handle new capital ratio requirements. Noski said, in conjunction with slashing long-term debt, the bank plans to keep its total asset level relatively stable through 2013. It will continue to run off assets it doesn’t think are core to its business, with only “modest” increases predicted in certain commercial and consumer loans.

Tchenguizes arrested in Kaupthing probe [FT]
Vincent and Robert Tchenguiz, among the UK’s highest-profile entrepreneurs, have been arrested as part of an investigation into the collapse of Kaupthing, the Icelandic investment bank. Enforcement officers from the Serious Fraud Office and the City of London police made the arrests at about 5.30am on Wednesday, while offices at Rotch Property, the investment vehicle that controls the brothers’ property portfolio, have also been raided.

Americans Oppose Government Shutdown, Fault Cuts in Poll [Bloomberg]
Almost 8 in 10 people say Republicans and Democrats should reach a compromise on a plan to reduce the federal budget deficit to keep the government running, a Bloomberg National Poll shows. At the same time, lopsided margins oppose cuts to Medicare, education, environmental protection, medical research and community-renewal programs.

Dynegy Warns It Likely Won’t Be Able To Comply With Debt Covenants [Dow Jones]
Dynegy Inc.’s auditor, Ernst & Young LLP, expressed substantial doubt that the company will be able to continue as a going concern, as the power producer said it is likely that it won’t be able to comply with some debt covenants in 2011.

How to Be the Ultimate Facebook Troll [Gizmodo]
Because if strange people are going to friend you, you might as well fuck with them.

Hearing set on Koch lawsuit over Internet hoax [AP]
A federal judge will hear arguments next month on whether to quash subpoenas filed by Koch Industries seeking the identities of the environmental pranksters behind a media hoax and bogus website. Wichita-based Koch sued an anonymous group behind a bogus website and fake new release issued in December that falsely announced the company was going to fund more environmentally friendly groups.

When Your Friends Become Your Subordinates [FINS]
[W]hat happens when you’re promoted and your closest work friends are left behind? You could suddenly be overseeing someone who trained you. Or perhaps you bested a buddy in a competition for the promotion. Some of your most important relationships on the job may be threatened by the transition.

Scorsese slapped with $2.85M back-tax bill [NYP]
More fallout from the “accountant marries stripper, starts Ponzi scheme” tale.

Google, Infosys Fight `Daughterly Guilt’ to Lure Indian Women [Bloomberg]
When Preethi Mohan Rao quit her job following the birth of her first child in 2006, the 28-year-old tax professional was prepared to put her career on hold indefinitely. Her bosses at Ernst & Young’s Global Shared Services in India would have none of it. As E&Y’s Indian operations grew to almost 4,000 employees by 2010 from about 200 in 2002, the company accomplished something rare in India: having an equal number of male and female workers[.]

Tax prep winners? CPAs in a landslide [CPA Success]
A three-way face-off between TurboTax vs. H&R Block vs. CPA for the best refund.

Insider Trading Hurts: McKinsey Survives But Target Companies Suffer [Forbes]
Francine McKenna explains the difference between a McKinsey and a Big 4 insider trading scandal.

Why I’ll Never Comment on TechCrunch Again [JDA]
Something to do with Facebook.

SEC `Capacity Gap’ Risks Oversight Lapses as Regulator’s Targets Multiply [Bloomberg]
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is about 400 employees short of what it needs to manage its current workload, according to a consultant’s four- month internal review mandated by the Dodd-Frank Act. The preliminary findings by Boston Consulting Group Inc. reinforce arguments by SEC officials that the agency is underfunded and understaffed as it takes on oversight of derivatives, credit-rating firms and municipal bonds, according to a draft copy of the report obtained by Bloomberg News.

Country star to IRS: ‘Shove It’ [Tax Watchdog]
That’s a $1.6 million shove.

Brussels pushes US on accounting [FT]
The European Commission has tried to bolster the US’s uncertain commitment to global accounting standards by suggesting that it could lose international influence if it does not sign up. Brussels’s impatience with the long-standing attempt to create a single language for financial reporting comes amid criticism of the rules being written for the project.

MF Global appoints new CFO [Reuters]
Brokerage MF Global Holdings , led by former Goldman Sachs Chief Executive Jon Corzine, has appointed Henri Steenkamp to the post of Chief Financial Officer. Steenkamp, who is currently the firm’s chief accounting officer and global controller, will replace Randy MacDonald, who was recently appointed global head of the firm’s retail operations, the company said in a statement.

CFOs Reveal Second-Quarter Hiring Plans [PR Newswire]
Most (85 percent) chief financial officers (CFOs) interviewed for the Robert Half Financial Hiring Index said they expect to make no changes to their current staffing levels during the second quarter of 2011. Seven percent anticipate adding full-time accounting and finance professionals, while another 7 percent plan personnel reductions. The net 0 percent projection is down two points from the first-quarter 2011 forecast.

Taxman gives ex-pats a week’s notice to return to Libya [Accountancy Age]
HMRC has announced that the ex-pats will have one week after the country is deemed safe by the Foreign Office to return there without it affecting their status. Jonathan Kropman, a tax partner at law firm Berwin Leighton Paisner, said: “Given reports of widespread damage to property and infrastructure in Libya this seems unduly harsh.

Students Struggle for Words [WSJ]
While M.B.A. students’ quantitative skills are prized by employers, their writing and presentation skills have been a perennial complaint. Employers and writing coaches say business-school graduates tend to ramble, use pretentious vocabulary or pen too-casual emails.

Al Pacino — Targeted By IRS Over $188k Debt [TMZ]
A little fallout from the Ken Starr (the guy who just got sentenced) situation.

House votes to rescind IRS reporting measure [Reuters]
The House of Representatives voted on Thursday to rescind an unpopular business tax reporting requirement in the year-old healthcare law, but the measure could be delayed by a dispute with Senate Democrats over how to pay for it. The House vote was 314-112, with 76 Democrats joining the majority Republicans despite concerns the method used to cover the cost of repealing the reporting requirements would weaken President Barack Obama’s healthcare overhaul.

Ford Accounting Move May Add $13 Billion to Profit, Expert Says [BBW]
Ford Motor Co., after earning $9.3 billion in the last two years, may make an accounting change this year to reflect confidence in its recovery, a move one tax expert said could boost its 2011 profit as much as $13 billion. Ford in the second half may eliminate from its balance sheet a valuation allowance held against deferred tax assets, it said in a federal filing this week. The reserve was created in 2006 as Ford began four years of operating losses.

Employment Data Signal Economic Improvement [WSJ]
Nonfarm payrolls rose by 192,000 last month as private-sector employers added 222,000 jobs, the Labor Department said Friday in its survey of employers. The January number was revised to show an increase of 63,000 jobs from a previous estimate of 36,000. The unemployment rate, which is obtained from a separate household survey, fell to 8.9% last month, the first time it dipped below 9% since April 2009.

The DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity [DiversityInc]
PwC #3; E&Y #5; Deloitte #8; KPMG #29.

What NFL Players Are Asking Their Accountants Right Now [Esquire]
Pro football players may have to start unloading those extra cars.

Deloitte’s role as auditor to Aero Inventory under investigation [Telegraph]
The Accountancy and Actuarial Discipline Board (AADB) said on Thursday that it had opened an investigation into the “preparation, approval and audit” of Aero Inventory’s accounts in the years leading up to its collapse in late 2009. The enquiry will centre on Deloitte’s role as well as that of the company’s accountants.

Phil Isom Joins KPMG to Lead U.S. Corporate Finance Group [PR Newswire]
Mr Isom joins KPMG from “another Big Four accounting firm’s capital advisory group.”

Sleep is More Important than Food [HBR]
In case you’ve got a decision to make this weekend.

BP Spill Chiefs Miss Out on Bonuses [WSJ]
Former Chief Executive Tony Hayward, former head of Exploration and Production Andy Inglis and current Chief Executive Robert Dudley will receive no cash bonus for 2010 and no shares under the long-term remuneration plan running from 2008 to 2010, BP said in its annual report to shareholders. Head of Refining Iain Conn and Chief Financial Officer Byron Grote will receive cash bonuses of £104,000 ($169,800) and $207,000 respectively for meeting targets within their own division. This is around 10% of the cash bonuses they received in 2009.

Twitter’s Stone: No IPO or funding talks [Reuters]
Asked about a Financial Times report last week that said a technology fund from JPMorgan was in talks to buy 10 percent of Twitter, Stone said: “(The report is) made up.”

Taxpayers Beat Wall Street as Top Lenders to Clean Energy [Bloomberg]
Government-backed development banks in Europe, Brazil and the U.S. arranged the most funding for clean energy projects in 2010, taking up the slack left by commercial lenders during the credit crisis. The European Investment Bank furnished $5.41 billion of debt for renewable energy projects last year followed by $3.16 billion from Brazil’s state development bank, BNDES, and $2.12 billion from the U.S. Federal Financing Bank, according to an annual survey by Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

Robert Half Professional Employment Report [RHI]
Nine percent plan to increase staff, while 4 percent anticipate declines. The net 5 percent projected increase is unchanged from the first-quarter survey, with most respondents, 86 percent, expecting to maintain current personnel levels.

Starr Gets 7 1/2-Year Prison Sentence for Defrauding His Celebrity Clients [Bloomberg]
Kenneth I. Starr, the money manager whose clients included actors Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes, was sentenced to 7 1/2 years in prison after pleading guilty to defrauding nine celebrities out of $33.3 million.

Ryan Donmoyer Leaves for Ernst & Young [FoC]
Donmoyer covered tax news for Bloomberg out of DC.

Wesley Snipes Seeks Supreme Court Review of His Tax Convictions [TaxProf Blog]
Um…okay.

Going through the motions: Only 1/3 of workers are engaged in their jobs [AW]
But far more are married to their jobs. Strange.

IRS Chief Tells U.S. Lawmakers House’s Spending Cuts Would Help Tax Cheats [Bloomberg]
The House spending bill for the rest of fiscal 2011, which is opposed by Senate Democrats and President Barack Obama, would cut $603 million from the IRS’s fiscal 2010 spending level of $12.1 billion, Shulman said. Those cuts would cost the government $4 billion in collected revenue, Shulman said. The hearing highlighted the conflict between the House Republican majority’s push to reduce spending and the Obama administration’s proposed funding increases for some agencies, including the IRS.

Gregg Clark rejoins Ernst & Young LLP as Americas Consumer Products Leader for Advisory Services [PR Newswire]
“We are thrilled that Gregg has decided to re-join the firm in this new role,” says Bryan Segedi, Vice Chair of Advisory Services at Ernst & Young LLP. “His experience in the areas of M&A, business and IT strategy, e-business and supply chain management make him a vital asset to the Advisory Services Practice and allows us to expand on the services already offered to our consumer products clients.”

CPA Exam Slated for International Debut in August [JofA]
Japan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Lebanon and the UAE join the fun.

Charlie Sheen And Public Company Disclosure [Forbes]
CBS and TimeWarner don’t appear to be winning. Should they be disclosing?

Big Four domination creates dearth of expert witnesses [Accountancy Age]
A lack of non-conflicted expert accounting witnesses could impact on the ability to bring litigation against the biggest firms. The Joint Disciplinary Scheme, the accountants’ watchdog that has issued its last annual report after completing its caseload, warned that the “near monopoly” of Big Four audits of the FTSE 350 meant it was difficult to find expert accounting witnesses to help in tribunals.

HMV lenders set to appoint Deloitte over debt talks [FT]
Lenders to HMV Group, including state-backed banks Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group, are about to appoint Deloitte to advise them in talks over the group’s debts, according to people familiar with the situation. The decision to appoint financial advisers came as the embattled music and entertainment retailer warned on Tuesday that it would miss analysts’ expectations for full-year pre-tax profits of £45m because of a continued “challenging” trading conditions.

Happy Tax Day (er, Sort Of) [Tax Girl]
Memo to Tax Deniers: The 16th Amendment turned 98 yesterday.

Egyptian accountants predict improved business after chaos [Accountancy Age]
Insert “denial” puns below.

Tax note to Charlie Sheen: rehab costs are a deductible medical expense [DMWT]
WINNING!

Wells Fargo Stock Grants Snub Former CFO [The Street]
Nice to see everyone is keeping this sophisticated.

Morningstar switches accounting firms [Reuters]
Good-bye EY. How-dy KPMG.

Whence The Next Fresh Accounting Scandal? The Ominous Threat of A Shoe That’s Yet to Drop [Re:Balance]
Jim Peterson thinks things have been quiet…too quiet.

There’s No Process Like FASB Due Process [The Accounting Onion]
Tom Selling goes through some constructive feedback he received on a recent post.

Seventh Circuit leaves bitter ex son-in-law bitter [Tax Update Blog]
Practical CPA advice of the day from Joe Kristan, “sometimes you just need to just let it go and move on.”

Property Taxes By County, 2005-2009 Average [Tax Foundation]
This may be the only time West Virginia looks like a tempting places to reside.

IRS Is Holding $1.1 Billion in Tax Refunds [TaxProf Blog]
If you didn’t file a return in ’07, you’ve got until April 18th to get on this and collect your refund.

A $363,000 Tax Bill to Widow Led to Obama Shift in Defense of Marriage Act [Bloomberg]
Edith Windsor and Thea Spyer had a 40-year engagement and a two-year marriage, starting with a wedding in Canada recognized under the laws of New York, where they lived, and ending when Spyer died two years ago. Her death triggered a $363,053 federal tax bill from which her widow would have been exempt had she been married to a man, because the federal Defense of Marriage Act bars the U.S. government from recognizing same-sex unions.

JPMorgan fund eyes 10% stake in Twitter [FT]
The fund hopes to acquire 10 per cent of the online messaging service for $450m, valuing Twitter at $4.5bn, according to people familiar with the plans.It is not clear if the JPMorgan fund will make a direct investment or buy out existing investors and shareholders with Twitter’s approval. But the fund does not intend to buy shares on the secondary market, the people said. The deal has not closed.

Are Amazon.com’s Days Of Tax Free Selling Numbered? [Forbes]
Retail analyst David Strasser, a managing director at Janney Montgomery Scott, suggests that they could be. “There’s a lot of momentum building,’’ he said Friday. “(Amazon founder) Jeff Bezos has built a company strategically around avoiding sales tax. But they’re going to have to deal with this,” he added.

By the Numbers: $75,000 The value of a 2011 Oscars swag bag [DMWT]
Those Kim Kardashian watches will be a collector’s item.

Tax breaks on real estate deals for people like A-Rod cost city 900M a year [NYDN]
Popcorn-free hands can afford great tax planning.

What To Do When You Are Bored With Your Job [BZUK]
As if that ever happens. But just in case.

After winning tanker contract, Boeing questioned on tax bill [The Hill]
In a Friday release, Citizens for Tax Justice declared that Boeing basically did not pay any U.S. corporate income taxes between 2008 and 2010, even as it reported around $10 billion in profits.

Everyone Comes to Work Sick But Wish Their Colleagues Wouldn’t [FINS]
What’s wrong with you people? “Pressure to work through sickness doesn’t seem to be coming from above. Only 11% of respondents said they felt their bosses discourage them from taking the day to rest. Half of respondents said their managers encourage them to stay home when they’re under the weather.”

Baruch College students compete for $10k from E&Y [The Ticker]
Ernst & Young […] sponsored a preliminary round of presentations for six groups of Baruch College students, in search of one to enter in the Your World, Your Vision national competition. E&Y’s competition picks student teams from across the country to compete against one another, each representing their school with a unique community program proposal. The prize for the top three teams in the country is a $10,000 award from E&Y to help implement or sustain their program. Through their investment, E&Y is responding to the community’s need of corporate responsibility.

Tax Court Denies Deduction for TV Anchor’s Clothing Expenses [TaxProf Blog]
For you future Ron Burgundys out there, “The Tax Court yesterday denied business expense deductions claimed by a TV new anchor for her wardrobe and other personal expenses and sustained accuracy-related penalties.”

Ex-Duke lacrosse star insists tax bill a ‘mistake’ [Tax Watchdog]
[F]our years after receiving an undisclosed settlement from Duke University, Reade Seligmann, one of three lacrosse players exonerated in a racially-charged rape case, owes the IRS almost $6.5 million in taxes, according to public records. The 24-year-old New Jersey native’s lawyer disputes the tax bill, however.

Coach CFO Devine to Retire; Search Commencing for Successor [Business Wire]
Submit your résumé now.

Rep. Paul Broun Asked At Town Hall: ‘Who Is Going To Shoot Obama?’ [HuffPo]
Glad to see the discourse has lightened up.

Rush Limbaugh Tells IRS-Burdened Consumers “You Need Tax Resolution Services, Co. on Your Side” [PRWeb]
Speaking of lunatics.

Wealthy accountant who gave autistic son cannabis to calm him gets 51-week sentence [Telegraph]
A wealthy accountant gave her autistic son cannabis in an effort to calm him after social services refused to help because she was middle class, a court heard.

NY suit against Ernst over Lehman takes detour [Reuters]
The firm has moved the case to federal court from state court, saying it involves questions of federal auditing standards. But Cuomo’s successor, Eric Schneiderman, wants to move the case back. Some lawyers said Ernst’s move could be an attempt to streamline defenis already fighting a similar lawsuit in federal court.

Google Penalizes Overstock for Search Tactics [WSJ]
Google Inc. is penalizing Overstock.com Inc. in its search results after the retailer ran afoul of Google policies that prohibit companies from artificially boosting their ranking in the Internet giant’s search engine. Overstock’s pages had recently ranked near the top of results for dozens of common searches, including “vacuum cleaners” and “laptop computers.” But links to Overstock on Tuesday dropped to the fifth or sixth pages of Google results for many of those categories, greatly reducing the chances that a user would click on its links.

U.S. Indicts Four Ex-Credit Swiss Bankers in Tax-Evasion Conspiracy Probe [Bloomberg]
The bank’s managers in its cross-border business “knew and should have known that they were aiding and abetting U.S. customers in evading their U.S. income taxes,” according to the indictment. In the fall of 2008, the bank had “thousands” of accounts with $3 billion in assets not declared to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, according to the indictment.

SEC Charges IndyMac Execs: No Sign Of Ernst & Young [Forbes]
Maybe the SEC has black and yellow fever?

State & Local Tax Burden: Highest in NJ & NY, Lowest in AK & NV [TaxProf Blog]
With Connecticut at #3, the Tri-state area has this on lockdown.

US executives unprepared for accounting changes [Accountancy Age]
Lots of sandbagging going on out there, “Deloitte found just 7% of respondents questioned believed their company was ‘extremely’ or ‘very’ prepared for the possible changes.”

The Little People Pay Taxes [Economix/NYT]
Somehow the janitors and security guards in the Helmsley building have a higher effective tax rate than the average employee in said building.

Beckstead and Watts Settles Inspection Case with PCAOB [AT]
Beckstead and Watts managing partner Brad Beckstead announced Wednesday that his firm has settled its lawsuit against the PCAOB. Under the terms of the settlement, the PCAOB has agreed to withdraw its formal inspection report dated Sept. 28, 2005, and release Beckstead and Watts from an accounting investigation it launched in September 2005 without any formal findings.

Private-Share Trade Is Probed [WSJ]
The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating potential conflicts of interest in the fast-growing market for buying and selling shares of private companies such as Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. The move is part of a broadening probe by the U.S. agency, still at an early stage, of the thriving bazaar that has sprung up largely beyond the reach of regulators and traditional securities firms. Trades handled by SecondMarket Inc., SharesPost Inc. and other market makers specializing in privately held shares are conveying eye-popping valuations on some companies while disclosir financial results.

PwC to proactively promote women [Accountancy Age]
The Big 4 firm will implement a “comply or explain” approach, which will ask division leaders to proactively consider women for promotion or explain what the blockers to progress there are. It said that the emphasis will initially fall on achieving proportionate promotion rates at manager and senior manager levels.

Wells Fargo CFO ‘Well Equipped’: Analyst [The Street]
“Not only is Mr. Sloan personable and candid, but also he is very conversant in many key areas of investor focus,” said Morford in a note describing Wells Fargo’s CFO Tim Sloan after meeting with him last week. Morford said that the 10-K for the company should be filed on time next week and that the company said there were no financial or accounting related issues to the sudden retirement of former CFO Howard Atkins.

Robert Herz, Former FASB Chairman, Joins WebFilings as Senior Advisor [Business Wire]
WebFilings, developer of the first and only end-to-end solution for external financial reporting, announced today that Robert Herz, former Chairman of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), has joined the company as Senior Advisor. “As a forward-thinking accounting industry leader, Bob brings a unique and valuable perspective to our team,” said Matthew Rizai, CEO of WebFilings. “We are extremely excited to leverage his knowledge and experience as we continue to evolve our industry-leading product and service offerings.”

‘Can you hear me now?’ Your cell phone’s state and local taxes are huge! [DMWT]
Nebraska is your big winner with a state and local rate of 18.64%. New York comes in at #3 with 17.78%.

Harry Reid Says Nevada Should Outlaw Prostitution, Gets Bitchslapped by Whores [JDA]
The lede from TLP, “Did you hear the one about the politician and the hookers? Turned out to not be so funny. Maybe that was because he was trying to fuck the hookers and take their money at the same time.”

Emanuel Wins Big in Chicago [WSJ]
Almost five months after resigning as President Barack Obama’s chief of staff to enter this city’s mayoral race, Mr. Emanuel received 55% of the vote with more than 97% of the precincts reporting, more than the simple majority needed to avoid a run-off campaign against second-place finisher Gery Chico. Mr. Chico, a onetime chief of staff to Mayor Richard M. Daley, received 25% of the vote.

Tricia Conahan named Chief Marketing & Sales Officer at Grant Thornton [GT]
“It is exciting to be joining an organization with a renewed focus on growth,” Conahan said. “I am a passionate believer in the discipline of marketing, and the value that it brings to help grow businesses. I am looking to bringing Grant Thornton’s dynamic vision to the marketplace.”

Archstone Looks Likely to Go Public Again [WSJ]
The sharp rise in the value of rental-apartment buildings is raising the likelihood that Archstone, one of the companies that became a symbol of the commercial real-estate downturn, will be resold to the public this year in what could be the largest real-estate initial public offering ever.