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New CPA Sick of Bare Office Walls, Wonders When Certificates Will Arrive

This just in:

I had a question regarding when you receive those frameable versions of your CPA certificate. I passed and became licensed Oct. of 2010. The [Connecticut State Board of Accountancy] just sent my SBOA CPA certificate (the fancy frame-able one). But I have seen in other people’s (who have their CPA) offices that they have frameable certificates from their state’s SBOA, AICPA and state society (i.e. CT Society of CPA’s).

When do you get the AICPA and State Society of CPA’s version of the frame-able certificate? I want to hang them up…otherwise what else is earning a CPA good for (other than that whole making a living thing).


Just for grins, I called up the State Society of CPAs in the Constitution State only to leave a voicemail with their membership coordinator. I also emailed the AICPA’s VP of Students, Academics, and Membership, so I’ll let you know if I hear anything.

And since it’s been a number of years since I’ve passed the CPA and my memory isn’t what it used to be, I can’t really speculate as to the length of your wait. If others are more familiar with the timeliness or lack thereof as it relates to your paper trophies, please inform our inquisitor by commenting below. In the meantime, maybe he should just get one of those old Farrah Fawcett posters? Other suggestions would be welcome.

Who Is Bizarro Grover Norquist?

If you’ve been keeping up with things, you’ve noticed that Americans for Tax Reform founder and president Grover Norquist is everywhere. He’s like some sort of omnipresent Swedish tax assassin superhero (it helps having an active blog and Twittertter.com/#!/GroverNorquist”>accounts).

He’s getting Presidential candidates to sign his Taxpayer Protection Pledge; he’s preparing for inevitable destruction of our nation’s capital; he’s going on the Colbert Report to make grandmothers everywhere shake in their orthopedic shoes.

This PR assault has resulted in a flurry of blog posts from us (okay, just me) on GN’s wily ways, mostly because we admire said wiliness, political tenacity and overt sarcasm and sass. However, a question has now been asked by Joseph Thorndike that we had not previously considered Who is the anti-Grover Norquist? That is, who is the progressive stalwart on tax policy? Presumably someone who would argue that we need to always raise taxes in every instance possible and any time taxes are cut, a corresponding elimination of tax expenditures would occur. Okay, maybe I’m being a tad literal. Anyway, Thorndike gives it a shot:

During the NPR interview, I was asked if I could think of a left-leaning counterpart to Norquist. I was stumped. A bunch of people came to mind, notably Bob McIntyre at Citizens for Tax Justice and Bob Greenstein at the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities. But neither seemed to fit the bill very well. Sure, McIntyre and Greenstein have been important and highly influential voices for progressive tax policy. But neither has reshaped political debate in Norquistian fashion.

In my opinion this is an futile exercise since the bizarro version of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge would be the political equivalent of guzzling arsenic. Americans don’t like taxes, so there’s virtually nothing to be gained by taking the 180 degree positions of Norquist (again, in their purest form). Similarly, the organization “Americans for Tax Reform” sounds quite sensible. An organization named “Americans for Keeping This God-awful Fuckshow of a Tax System the Way It Is” on the other hand, is less attractive.

Thorndike then posits that guys like McIntyre and Greenstein are “entirely too knowledgeable when it comes to tax policy to ever be compared to Norquist.” Fine. So Grover isn’t as tax wonky as those other guys. Policy wonks typically don’t make good political tacticians and certainly don’t make for good politicians. Wonks look at actual numbers, facts and statistics to make conclusions. Lots of politicians struggle with English. Norquist is acutely aware of this and relies on speaking to them in terms they can understand, such as, “You raise taxes and I’ll end your political career.” Politicians can understand that. They cannot understand Howard Gleckman.

So bizarro Grover Norquist, if you’re out there, please make yourself known. Every (super)man needs a nemesis.

Not Grover: Who’s the Progressive Counterpart to Norquist? [Joseph Thorndike]

DOJ Curious to Know if Credit Suisse Pulled a UBS

That is, helped American clients stash money offshore.

Credit Suisse said Friday it had been notified that it was the object of an investigation by the United States Department of Justice, citing “a broader industry inquiry.” The Swiss bank said that it had previously received subpoenas and other information requests from the Justice Department and other government agencies regarding cross-border services that its private banking arm provided to American clients.

As you may recall, the situation for UBS didn’t turn out so well and they sorta went back on that whole “secrecy” thing. Unfortch for Credit Suisse, they’ll probably have to snitch too:

On Friday, a court in Lausanne upheld the Swiss government decision to force UBS to hand over client data, citing “virtually uncontrollable economic repercussions for Switzerland” if it had not done so. That decision implies that Credit Suisse, too, may be ordered to surrender information about customers’ accounts to American authorities.

Credit Suisse Discloses U.S. Inquiry Into Private Banking [DealBook]
Earlier: DOJ: You Bet Your A$$ We’re Going After More Offshore Tax Evaders

CPA Exam Marketing, You’re Kind of Doing It Wrong

I don’t say this to be mean, I say this to be helpful I swear. I noticed something sketchy about this Becker marketing campaign.

Apparently they have a Posterous (news to me) and share CPA exam tips. That part sounds awesome but somehow it fails in the execution. Here’s what I mean:

Did you know that the sections of the CPA Exam have different time allotments?

You can use as much of the time allotted to complete each section as you like. The testing computer screen displays a countdown of the time you have left. As you practice, it’s important to learn how to budget your time wisely, so you don’t find yourself scrambling at the end to finish.

Sorry but that’s horribly vague. What is that supposed to tell someone about time allotments on the CPA exam? What on Earth is ‘You can use as much of the time allotted to complete each section as you like?’ supposed to mean? Sure you technically can use as much of the time allotted (I’m assuming they mean per section?) but I don’t think that’s a very helpful suggestion to give someone actually trying to pass the CPA exam.

In a different post, they also say “Getting your CPA is a little like getting to Carnegie Hall — it’s all about practice!”

Each post ends with an obvious link to one of their products that is tangentially related to whatever the vague “tip” says.

In fewer words, WTF purpose is this supposed to serve?

Like I said, meant to be useful, I swear.

Accounting News Roundup: Fewer Tax Changes in Possible Debt Deal; Ernst & Young and News of the World; Minnesota Is (Almost) Open for Business | 07.15.11

As White House talks falter, Senate works on agreement to raise debt limit [WaPo]
President Obama prepared Thursday to bring bipartisan talks over the debt to a close, as Senate leaders worked across party lines to craft an alternative strategy to raise the nation’s $14.3 trillion debt limit and avert a government default. “It’s decision time,” Obama told congressional leaders after meeting at the White House for a fifth straight day. Obama gave Republicans until early Saturday to tell him whether any of three options for trimming the federal budget would win GOP support.

Rebekah Brooks ’s British Subsidiary [NYT]
After days of mounting pressure from politicians and investors, Rebekah Brooks, the embattled chief executive of Rupert Murdoch’s British newspaper operations, announced her resignation on Friday in another stunning blow to Mr. Murdoch’s once all-powerful empire, now facing investigation by authorities in Britain and the United States.

Smaller Tax Changes on the Table [WSJ]
The scope of possible tax changes in a deficit-reduction deal has narrowed so sharply in recent days that taxes might disappear from a final deal altogether. Congressional Republicans have warned they won’t accept any tax increases, while President Barack Obama has repeatedly insisted that any agreement to curb budget deficits be “balanced” by both spending cuts and increased tax revenue. The two sides have inched closer over the past days. Some, but not all, Republican negotiators have said they would consider ending some tax breaks if their value was offset by tax cuts, resulting in no net increase in revenue. And White House officials dropped on Wednesday a requirement that a deal result in increased revenue.

NOTW case raises questions over auditor’s role [FT]
Allegations of police bribery at the News of the World have raised fresh questions about the role of auditors and their responsibility for preventing corporate wrongdoing. But as preparations are made for a judge-led inquiry into the disgraced tabloid, the firm that vetted its accounts seems unlikely to face investigation by audit regulators, at least not in the coming weeks. For almost a decade, Ernst & Young has audited News Group Newspapers, an arm of the US-based News Corp that contains the now-defunct News of the World and its sister tabloid, the Sun. It also audits News Corp.

Minnesota governor, GOP lawmakers agree to end shutdown [WaPo]
Minnesota’s two-week-old government shutdown moved toward resolution Thursday, as Gov. Mark Dayton (D) and Republican legislative leaders agreed to a deal for closing the state’s $5 billion budget gap without a tax increase. Speaking to reporters outside his office after emerging from a nearly three-hour meeting with GOP legislative leaders, Dayton said that the government shutdown would end as soon as lawmakers flesh out details of the agreement and move them through a special session of the Legislature. Officials said that should happen “within days.”

Going In Circles: A Few Remarks On Audit Reform [Re:The Auditors]
The Billy Preston video is an especially nice bonus.

Some Internal Auditors Spent £5,000 on a Bongo Drumming Team-Building Event at a Burlesque Club

Building rapport on a team is important. Getting to know the guy/girl next to you in the trenches makes for a stronger unit and the willingness to help each other out when necessary. This can be accomplished in a number of ways. The occasional happy hour. A pool party. And yes, sometimes team building can occur in more tantalizing environment. But with musical instruments? Apparently.

Internal auditors from the Department of Communities and Local Government spent almost £5,000 on a bongo drumming team-building event held at a burlesque club. The vitriolic exposé from the Conservative Party said the department under the Labour government “policed wasteful spending”. Apparently the club’s dancers, Lady Beau Peep and “showgirl sensation” Amber Topaz, were not present during the event.

Bongos help internal auditors spend £5,000 [Accountancy Age]

When It Rains, It Pours: R. Kelly Hit with Tax Lien

If you’ve been poking around the web the last couple of days, you probably heard that R&B singer R. Kelly is in danger of getting thrown out of his house. It’s an unfortunate turn of events for RK who stopped paying his mortgage payments trying to strongarm JP Morgan into modifying his loan.

Unfortunately for R., it appears he also has blown off the IRS. Delinquent celebrity taxpayer scoop artist Robert Snell reports:

Music industry bad boy R. Kelly has more than foreclosure to worry about. Kelly, the controversial R&B star owes more than $837,000 in delinquent federal taxes, records show.

Snell reports that the IRS released a $1 million lien just last month against RK, so it’s unclear if this little oversight is the result of his JPM negotiating strategy or he’s still getting caught up on things.

R. Kelly believes he can fly — from tax bill [Tax Watchdog]

IASB Chairman: You Can’t Stop IFRS; You Can’t Even Hope to Contain It

“It is my strong conviction that the momentum behind IFRS is so strong right now it can only be delayed but it cannot be stopped any more,” IASB’s chairman Hans Hoogervorst said.

The United States has an “extremely important” decision to make this year on whether to replace its own Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP)standard with IASB rules, Hoogervorst told a webcast meeting of the IASB’s trustees in New York. By next year two thirds of the world’s top 20 economies (G20) will be allowing or requiring local listed companies to use the IFRS accounting rules. [Reuters, Earlier]

KPMG Suggests Toronto Let the Lawn Get Out of Hand a Bit, Wait Longer to Shovel Snow to Cut Some Spending

The City of Toronto needs some help with ideas of how to cut some spending in their budget. STAT. Enter KPMG. They have to find savings where they can and sometimes that means making suggestions that may not go over so well. For example, those perfectly manicured lawns you see around the city? That’s due to a weekly grass cutting regimen. And guess what? It’s gotta go:

The report […] says weekly grass cutting may not be necessary except for “high-use surfaces” such as playing fields. Public works chair Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong recently complained that a wet spring had grass and weeds growing out of control on city sites and called for more grass cutting.

Can you imagine if the City of New York let the grass go for an extra few days? You can just imagine the outrage. Anyone with a park view would be calling up 411 to complain that they can see “weeds” and “that jungle of a lawn” from their veranda on the 20th floor. “Absolutely shameful,” they’d say. Not sure if Toronto’s residents are so hung up on those sorts of details but it stands to reason that there are at least a few citizens who are meticulous about the city’s lawns.

Anyway, KPMG had another suggestion:

KPMG says the city could wait for more than five centimetres of snow before clearing parking lots and pathways, although there would be increased risk of “slip and fall claims.”

Of course Canadians are little tougher when it comes to the snow, so a couple more inches of snow is probably NDB. But with the offset of increased “slip and fall claims” this could be a net zero effect.

But the best savings idea of all? Those zoos and “farm attractions” that your kids love so much? Those should probably go too:

“Consider elimination of the zoo and farm attractions . . . Some zoo and farm attractions could be closed, however, these are enjoyed by many Toronto residents,” the report states.

Happy families out on a Sunday be damned! There’s a fiscal crisis to be averted! The city still has to decide whether to implement these suggestions but if they do, KPMG will have crying children to answer to. Ones that aren’t employees.

Close small zoos and Riverdale Farm, consultant suggests [Toronto Star]

This EU Guy Really Doesn’t Like the IASB’s New Magical Fair Value Plan

In case you thought the fair value debate was limited to the U.S. circa 2008, think again. A rule you probably haven’t heard of (but will likely see a version of once government debt becomes as much of a pain in the ass here as it has been in Europe) called IFRS 9 (which replaces IAS 39) would allow banks to price some government debt on their books at cost, instead of current awful prices.

Apparently the European Union doesn’t like this idea. EU Internal Market Commissioner Michel Barnier told a webcast meeting in New York this week “I do not believe this will be the first solution to the problems we face in Europe at the moment,” referring to IFRS 9‘s creative interpretation of “fair value.” Ironically, IFRS 9 accomplishes this feat by eliminating available for sale and held-to-maturity classifications for bonds, leaving only amortized cost and fair value.

IASB Chairman Hans Hoogervorst insists this plan is really only the suck less option, not some sort of magical accounting trick that will suddenly make Greece solvent and Irish banks healthy. “Under IFRS 9 impairments will still be painful but I am convinced it would be more timely done because the cliff effect is much less severe,” he said at a recent joint meeting of the IASB’s trustees and monitoring board of public officials, including Michel Barnier.

EU’s Barnier says won’t budge on accounting rule [Reuters]

Accounting News Roundup: Facebook’s Value; Yankee Fan’s Loot; San Diego’s Cats | 07.14.11

Is Facebook Worth $100 Billion? [WSJ]
The Palo Alto, Calif.-based social network was valued at $15 billion in October 2007 when Microsoft Corp. invested in the company. By this January, Facebook commanded a $50 billion price tag when Goldman Sachs Group Inc. led a $1.5 billion funding round in the company. Today, transactions of Facebook stock on private marketplaces value it at about $84 billion. Some people believe that if Facebook goes public next year, it will trade at a $100 billion valuation, more than the market capitalizations of Hewlett-Packard Co. (currently at $74 billion) and Amazon.com Inc. (at $9g>US board changes swaps accounting for local govts [Reuters]
The board that sets accounting standards for state and local governments on Wednesday changed some financial reporting requirements for swaps and other hedging instruments the governments use. The Governmental Accounting Standards Board said that “deferred outflows” and “deferred inflows” of resources should be reported separately from assets and liabilities on financial statements.

Raters Put U.S. on Notice [WSJ]
Moody’s Investors Service said it was reviewing the government’s top Aaa bond rating for a possible downgrade, citing the “rising possibility” that the government’s $14.29 trillion borrowing limit won’t be raised soon enough to prevent the U.S. from running out of money to pay its bills. In addition, ratings agency Standard & Poor’s privately has told lawmakers and top business groups it might cut the U.S. credit rating if the government fails to make any of its expected payments—including Social Security checks—even if it makes all its debt payments, people familiar with the matter said.

Fan Who Returned Ball Is Reaping Rewards [WSJ]
On Wednesday, the 23-year-old from Highland Mills, N.Y., was guaranteed at least a $50,000 donation, given a 2009 World Series ring, and got an offer to have his taxes covered should the IRS not consider the items Lopez received Saturday gifts. In case there are still some contrarians who believe Lopez didn’t make the right decision, Topps announced Lopez will also have his own baseball card. “It’s an incredible feeling,” Lopez said yesterday at Modell’s Sporting Goods in Times Square, his newfound public relations team not far from his side. “Never ever would I have expected this, so it’s a cool thing.”

ConocoPhillips to Split Into Two Businesses [DealBook]
ConocoPhillips said on Thursday that it would break itself into two companies, spinning off its refining business to shareholders by the first half of next year. ConocoPhillips would hold onto its higher-margin exploration operations, and would seek acquisitions to expand that business.

Small Firms Defend LIFO [In Charge/WSJ]
Known as last-in, first-out – or LIFO – the strategy is used by businesses of all sizes to reduce taxable income by deducting the most recent cost of goods from sales. Since newer goods added to inventories tend to be more costly than older ones, the result gives the appearance of lower earnings, especially during periods of high inflation. In practice, most businesses prefer to sell older inventory items first, before they lose their value or become obsolete. Rolling back the strategy, which has been used for decades, would raise more than $60 billion in tax revenue over 10 years by increasing the tax liability of manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers nationwide, according to the administration. It has proposed repealing LIFO from the tax code since 2009.

White House threatens veto for bill defunding Wall Street reform [The Hill]
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a statement Wednesday saying senior advisers would recommend the president veto an appropriations package for financial services and general government if it made it to the president’s desk. The legislation was approved down a party-line vote by the House Appropriations Committee. Among a litany of problems it identified with the package, OMB warned that the $19.9 billion package does not provide sufficient funding to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), or the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

EU’s Barnier says won’t budge on accounting rule [Reuters]
The European Union won’t give the green light yet to a new accounting rule that could ease fallout from the euro zone’s sovereign debt crisis on banks, a top EU official said on Wednesday. “I do not believe this will be the first solution to the problems we face in Europe at the moment,” EU Internal Market Commissioner Michel Barnier told a webcast meeting in New York. The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), under pressure from policymakers at the height of the financial crisis, has eased its “fair value” or mark-to-market rule that was known as IAS 39.

Cat Owners Hiss at Licensing Proposal [NBC SD]
“So now you have Animal Control being your tax collector,” says Sandee Gilbert, the owner of a 1-year-old Cornish Rex male named Nike. “And as a tax collector, you’re going to accrue a tremendous amount of cost trying to find the owner of that cat.”