You can buy "the last Crumbs cupcake" for $1000 [USA Today] Accountant's plea signals more possible scrutiny of Madoff son U.S. prosecutors may still be building a case against imprisoned swindler Bernard Madoff's only surviving son, who according to sources was one of the "co-conspirators" mentioned in a plea deal by a Madoff associate last […]

Lawrence Summers goes to bat for endangered Export-Import Bank [LA Times] The case of a really bad South Jersey accountant [AP] What Seinfeld taught us about the IRS [Forbes] Public Wi-Fi provider Gowex implodes as CEO takes responsibility for false accounting The Spanish Wi-Fi provider Gowex has filed for bankruptcy protection after admitting that it […]

Ed. note: we are cutting out early for the holiday because God forbid I sprain a pinky overexerting myself with a three day weekend ahead. We may poke our heads in tomorrow to see what's up but probably not. Any lonely souls in RVA are welcome to hit me up to check out fireworks from […]

How To Profit From Accounting Shenanigans — Legally Do you mean to say it's all a game, bro? "When it comes to quarterly results, too many companies try to game the system. They tell analysts what they expect to earn in the quarter, and then magically meet or exceed earnings per share ( EPS ) […]

SEC Bars Firm From Auditing U.S.-Traded Companies Based in China The SEC said in an administrative proceeding that EFP Rotenberg LLP didn't adequately plan its audit of China's Universal Travel Group and didn't obtain enough evidence or show enough professional skepticism when it gave the company's financial statements a clean bill of health. [WSJ] Prosecutors […]

American Apparel denies Charney's request for stockholder meeting The Los Angeles retailer said Monday that a shareholder meeting demanded last week by Charney to change the company's bylaws and expand the number of board members is intended to push his "own self-interest," according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Over the weekend, […]

Americans launch backlash over overdraft fees [MW] Ikea Raises Its Minimum Wage to $10.76* an Hour Assembly of dollar bills and quarters required [BBW] Same-Sex Couples Need a Good Accountant More Than Ever [Money] Munger’s Daily Journal Dismisses Accountant After Clash [Bloomberg] FASB Fills Hole in Stock Compensation Accounting Rules [AWeb] Where Did the Elites […]

SEC Announces Fraud Charges Against Three Former Regions Bank Executives in Accounting Scheme EY kinda missed that, oops. [SEC] Mary Jo White Says SEC Statement on IFRS Coming Soon Despite uncertainty regarding the agency’s next steps, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (“SEC”) Mary Jo White reaffirmed that International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) continue to be […]

Booz Allen sues Deloitte for stealing proprietary info to 'lift out' an entire team Two federal contracting heavyweights are embroiled in a lawsuit, with Booz Allen Hamilton Inc. accusing Deloitte Consulting LLP of using stolen proprietary information to recruit an entire team of employees and then target Booz Allen’s contracts and clients. [FedBiz via Washington […]

New Evidence Shows Insider Trading Is ‘Pervasive’ and Rarely Punished Some people are not happy about this. [Fiscal Times] Morning people are less ethical at night And night people are less ethical in the morning, which means you shouldn't trust me until at least 1pm or so [HBR] The Worst Part Of The BNP Paribas […]

Successful Deloitte accountant led a double life as a sex trafficker tricking women into coming to Britain and working as prostitutes An accountant at one of Britain’s top firms led a double life as a sex trafficker. Privately educated Kunal Chaudhary, 32, was a senior manager at Deloitte in Manchester. Outwardly respectable, he was secretly […]

Suit Is Dismissed Against Auditor of Chinese Coal Company In 2010, Puda Coal, a Chinese company traded on the New York Stock Exchange, raised $116 million from American investors in two public offerings. It presented audited financial statements showing that at the end of 2009 it had assets of $111 million and a net worth […]

Scottsdale accountant seeks world’s worst businesses Perhaps for a reality TV show [Phoenix Business Journal] Two senators suggest we up the gas tax by 12 cents [AP] EY's home turf at 5 Times Square has a new owner [The Real Deal] Mystery solved: Deloitte chooses C. Fla. for IT operations hub [Orlando Business Journal] KPMG […]

Focus Financial is backing the new family office started by ex-Rothstein Kass long-timers after the KPMG acquisition [Financial Planning] SunTrust to pay nearly $1 billion for mortgage origination practices Actually, they set aside $1 billion for the settlement. The actual number was $968 million. [Reuters] The president of Argentina just called the United States extortionists […]

Unlucky Friday The 13th? U.S. Stocks End Up For The Day But Down For The Week [Forbes] Some senators are butthurt about the way the Pentagon does its accounting [Reuters] P.F. Chang's Confirms It's Another In Litany Of Credit Card Breaches [CRN] Twitter COO resignation a symptom of challenges The move fits into a pattern […]

Rule Makers Tighten Accounting for 'Repos' [WSJ] Deloitte is moving its Los Angeles office [LAT] The Salz making an impact [Twitter] Big thanks to #BarrySalzberg CEO of @Deloitte. For inspiring our after school students #IMPACTDay http://t.co/o3iD8NgXHx — ESS (@ESSofNYC) June 12, 2014 Size of pay raises often depends on industry [AP] Neighbors of the CPA […]

Ex-Goldman director Gupta loses bid to stay out of prison [Reuters] Pot activists in Colorado don't think they should self-incriminate themselves by paying pot taxes [TIME] The managing partner at KPMG's Albuquerque office is stepping down [Albuquerque Journal] Confidence Games – How The Most Prestigious Accounting Firms Raided The Treasury Did you miss that period […]

Did you know you don't have to hate your job? [DealBook] Does Race or Gender Matter More to Your Paycheck? [HBR] A Connecticut accountant is accused of stealing more than $170,000 from the library she worked at [NBC Connecticut] Accounting firm prohibited from using late founders name The Arkansas State Board rejected the firm's request […]

A British accountant who took a trip to Sri Lanka to climb Mount Everest is now stuck there [Telegraph] Congratulations to the 65 new partners out of Deloitte UK [economia] Yes, you can manipulate the narcissist in your life to be less of a self-centered jerk [The Atlantic] The Enron-Style Accounting That Deprives Americans Of […]

This Biglaw Summer Associate just told his firm to take this job and shove(l) it Cry baby says: "Sure it’s selfish and naïve to think I should not be judged, but I simply cannot be perfect for everyone for two minutes — let alone two months. I would rather be farming — so farewell." [ATL] […]

Billy Walters: No wrongdoing with Phil Mickelson, Icahn "I can tell you one thing, there ain't going to be anything to come out of this other than someone spending a lot of time and a lot of money," Walters told USA TODAY Sports. "Because I certainly haven't violated any insider trading laws. [USA Today] U.S. […]

SEC Charges Bitcoin Entrepreneur With Offering Unregistered Securities An SEC investigation found that Erik T. Voorhees published prospectuses on the Internet and actively solicited investors to buy shares in SatoshiDICE and FeedZeBirds. But he failed to register the offerings with the SEC as required under the federal securities laws. Investors paid for their shares using […]

This EYer is hoping to get sent to space In her video application, Johnson joked, “The reason I want to go on the mission to Mars is I find myself waking up every morning thinking there must be more to life and the reason for that is probably because I am an accountant. [economia] ESPN […]

A UC Berkeley administrator who previously stole from her employer stole from her employer [SF Gate] Fed's Policy Hawks Express Mix of Views on Timing of Rate Hikes To quote my 2nd favorite Fedhead: "There is a range of plausible lift-off dates, depending on how economic developments unfold" [WSJ] The Sterlings will owe about $662 […]

Speech by Hans Hoogervorst: 'Charting progress towards global accounting standards' A highlight: "The new Revenue Standard replaces American standards that contain thousands of pages of application guidance and IFRS Standards that provide too little guidance. The fact that we managed to stay converged with our colleagues of the FASB is very important and we intend […]

Snapchat CEO reveals in the douchiest way possible why you shouldn't use Snapchat [Valleywag] Did IRS illegally specially scrutinize “Israel-related organizations”? [Volokh Conspiracy via WaPo] Cynical people are more likely to experience dementia in their old age. So, basically, it's been nice knowing you. Who am I, again? [Philly.com] S.E.C. Vows More Use of a […]

The country's top-paid CEOs will get a 400% pay raise this year, while you and the rest of the unwashed masses will be lucky to get 2.9% [MW] Geithner's Dubious Accounting Timothy Geithner claims in his new book, "Stress Test," a memoir of his years as U.S. Treasury Secretary during the financial crisis, that the […]

Ed. note: as you may or may not be aware, Monday is a holiday for most people, hopefully you as well. We'll be lurking around but don't expect to see us again until bright and early Tuesday. Open Items is open for business 24 hours a day, 7 days a week as usual should you […]

CPAs Must Embrace Lifelong Learning, says the CEO of the Illinois Society in this video [YouTube] Michigan is sending a couple million to Detroit [USA Today] Mikulski Uses Accounting Tricks to Close $4B Gap The maneuver by Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., allowed for additional funding for transportation and housing programs, increases in the IRS budget, and […]

Fed Sees No Inflation Risk in Stimulus to Spur Job Market [Bloomberg] Google would serve ads in your toilet if it could [WSJ] If you use eBay, change your password [NYT] Guess who's gonna have an ethics webcast? [Compliance Week] Credit Suisse Investors Shrug Off Tax Plea [NYT] Researchers find the smell of rancid butter […]

Credit Suisse CEO Thrilled To Hear Client Response To “We’ve Pleaded Guilty To Extensive Tax Fraud” Is “Yeah, And?” [Dealbreaker] Colin told LinkedIn the story about how he wanted to grow up to be an Andersen partner when he was 22 [LinkedIn] Internet companies monkey with accounting Internet companies are potentially misleading investors by tampering […]

Credit Suisse accused of criminal conspiracy U.S. authorities charged Credit Suisse with criminal conspiracy Monday, alleging the Swiss banking giant helped wealthy American clients evade U.S. taxes. A Virginia federal court filing in Alexandria accuses Credit Suisse of conspiring to in part "advise the preparation and presentation of false income tax returns and other documents […]

SEC Charges Unregistered Securities Salesman for Selling Millions of Dollars in Oil-and-Gas Investments [SEC] I'm honored Grover Norquist put me on his ATR mailing list for some reason. Today, he sent me this on the appropriately named Death Tax [ATR] Meanwhile, on Twitter [Twitter] A large number of Google shareholders seem to have a problem […]

College grads in deeper debt than nongrads Breaking: student loans will bring you down [CNNMoney] Officials in Spain are raiding tax delinquents' safe deposit boxes and finding some odd things [AT] The Problem of Corporate Inversions: The Right and Wrong Approaches for Congress Citizens for Tax Justice totes has this one, guys [CTJ] Tim Geithner's […]

Housing regulator signals shift in policy on Fannie, Freddie [WaPo] What's up with net neutrality? Glad you asked! [Reuters] Pentagon Backtracks on Goals for First Audit, GAO Says The Pentagon has backtracked from a pledge to have all budgetary accounts ready by Sept. 30 for the initial step toward its first-ever full financial audit. Then-Defense […]

Some hack at EY shares the secret for attracting and retaining top Millennial talent (spoiler alert: you've heard it all before) [Forbes] What can you learn from Tim Geithner's new book? [NYT] Neil Barofsky has some things to say about Geithner's book [LinkedIn] Re-imagining accounting and no, it’s not boring – part 1 What most […]

Law firms to abolish accountant’s reports As part of its “wide-ranging programme of work to improve the regulation of solicitors and firms” and to cut costs, the SRA wants to end the requirements for accountants' reports on client accounts. The move could save smaller firms £800 annually, with the savings rising substantially for larger firms, […]

As One-Time Gains Fade, Fannie and Freddie Face a Less-Profitable Future "Bottom line, Fannie and Freddie are not inherently profitable operations in any conventional sense beyond the next couple of years," said Jim Vogel, a debt-market analyst at FTN Financial. [WSJ] Jeopardy-Style Game Show Helps Accounting Students [AWeb] The Fed thinks either banks are in […]

Theft and sex alleged at Kentucky monastery The abbey has accused one of its lay employees, an accountant, of embezzling what could total tens of thousands of dollars or more from its mail-order business. He says he is being falsely accused after blowing the whistle on monks he said engaged in sexual affairs behind the […]

Prestigious schools get you paid but don’t make you happier Researchers found that attending a public or private school, whether it was elite or less selective, had little bearing on one’s feeling of well being or how engaged graduates were with their post-college work. Gallup defined well being based on measures of social, financial, and […]

Let's find out what Jim Doty has to say about Developments in the Relationships Between Audit Committees and Auditors [PCAOB] The House set to vote on Lois Lerner's contempt charge next week [AWeb] Nowadays, you can go public even if your numbers are shit. Just wave the magic EBITDA wand! I can somewhat understand the […]

LinkedIn Swings to Loss on Expenses LinkedIn Corp. swung to a first-quarter loss on higher expenses but posted stronger-than-expected revenue and raised its top-line guidance for the year. The Mountain View, Calif., professional social network said revenue rose 46% to $473.2 million as sales increased to job recruiters and through premium subscriptions to individuals. Its […]

Ed. note: forgive the brief FN, our highly-trained team of monkeys is working on a big story for you guys — stay tuned! U.S. Lost $11.2 Billion in GM Bailout, TARP Report Says [Bloomberg] Here is an interesting article about why Facebook blows [Deadspin] Treasury's Repo Men Take Back Tractors, Piles of Cash, and Other […]

Here are 10 things that used to be normal before we all had smartphones that don't happen now [App360] DeVry has plans for a new income stream: ex NFL players [BBW] Bank of America's big math error The Federal Reserve required BofA (BAC, Fortune 500)on Monday to ditch its plans to return cash to shareholders […]

Exclusive: Apple, Google agree to pay over $300 million to settle conspiracy lawsuit Four major tech companies including Apple and Google have agreed to pay a total of $324 million to settle a lawsuit accusing them of conspiring to hold down salaries in Silicon Valley, sources familiar with the deal said, just weeks before a […]

Facebook Beats Earnings Estimates; CFO Steps Down [FOXBusiness] Colorado is still trying to figure out how to spend those pot taxes [CBS] Amazon.com is learning the hard way that people care more about price than brand loyalty In states where Amazon, the largest online retailer, has been forced to begin charging sales tax, households decreased […]

US student debt isn’t as scary as everyone says Exclude lawyers, they're screwed. [Quartz] Remember that time PwC redid all their marketing materials and likely tossed all the old stuff away? Me neither. [Twitter] Have you hugged a tree today? We've committed 2,748 volunteer hours to plant 2,316 trees. #Trees4Threes #EarthDay pic.twitter.com/ZfgsrIOvuA — PwC LLP […]

Ford seeks CEO [Bloomberg] Accountant resigns amid ExpoPark investigation A Montana ExpoPark accountant who was put on paid administrative leave around the time Cascade County began a "complex financial investigation" into the facility has resigned. The investigation into the county owned sports and entertainment facility has been underway since March, but Friday was the first […]

Convicted insider trader Danny Kuo really wants to make his MBA graduation, which happens to be the same day as his sentencing for insider trading (oops) [Businessweek] Virtu Financial is shelving its IPO plans for now. Because HFT drama, not because they are bad at accounting [DealBook] Are typos racist? [ATLRedline] Toby Keith's I Love […]

NY AG subpoenas high-frequency traders: Source [CNBC] JDA's favorite Fedhead says Texas is in need of skilled workers “We are seeing shortages of labor” for jobs in technology, engineering, auditing and among truck drivers, Fisher said in a speech in Austin. “We are seeing a skills mismatch around the country,” he said. Both U.S. schools […]

TurboTax Conspiring To Keep You Hooked On TurboTax Tomorrow is the last day you can pay $30 to have a stock image of a guy in a blazer tell you how much money you owe the federal and state governments. If you haven't already used TurboTax, you might want to reconsider, given that their parent […]

The Chicago Public School system used an "accounting trick" to find money. And by "accounting trick" it looks like that means "gladly pay themselves Tuesday for a hamburger today" [WGN] There's Still Time To Lower Your 2013 Tax Bill (Really!) [Tax Girl via Forbes] Client Sues Accountant Who Suggested Thieving Lawyer [The Daily Report] Could […]

In case you haven't heard, there's a bad Internet bug going around. Here's what you need to do to protect yourself just in case [Mashable] Computer problems for IRS, Canadian tax agency [Don't Mess With Taxes] Fed officials fretted over investor reaction to rate forecasts: minutes [Reuters] Former Taco Bell interns claim they came up […]

Regulators Approve New Capital Rule A campaign to make the financial system safer advanced on Tuesday, as federal regulators approved a rule that could put large banks on a firmer footing and persuade them to pare back potentially risky Wall Street activities. [DealBook] Big U.S. banks must boost capital by $68 billion under new rules […]

Argument for Financial Transaction Tax Regains Footing [NYT] There might be a rave on Mars, good to know [Houston Chronicle] Here's how long the "perfect" tweet should be [Fast Company] Medicare Agency Says Payments to Insurers Will Rise in 2015 [WSJ] Social network acted like a jerk, faces FTC complaint [PCWorld] Props to Deloitte for […]

Bond manager featured in 'The Big Short' breaks down on stand Wing Chau, an investment adviser made infamous in the "The Big Short," a best-selling book about the financial crisis, wept on the witness stand during his administrative trial on Friday before yelling, "Shame on you!" at a lawyer for the U.S. government. [Reuters] NY […]

Friended on Facebook? Praised on Yelp? The SEC May Take a Look [Compliance Week] Busy season claims another "sole" [Twitter] @going_concern I must be going to the printer/copy machine too much #busyseasonproblems pic.twitter.com/SLie1ypd8X — Chris Skrobutanas (@Skrobutanas) April 3, 2014 Google Shareholder Votes Can Be Worth Less Than Zero [BBW] Don't let your kid be […]

More Americans see middle class status slipping [Houston Chronicle] Fort Lauderdale Accountant Can Help You Claim Bitcoin Gains/Losses on Taxes [Broward Palm Beach NT] A Minnesota couple with a $1.2 million yacht has been busted for welfare fraud [FOX] Can A Television Network Be A Church? The IRS Says Yes [NPR] If you drive an […]

The Germans have come up with a bright idea: your boss can't message you after hours unless it is an emergency. Question is, who defines emergency? [Telegraph] Fed Chair Janet Yellen tried to give examples of unemployed people who can't find jobs but forgot to mention these people are felons [Bloomberg] If you are a […]

U.S. Firms Hold Record $1.64 Trillion in Cash With Apple in Lead [Bloomberg] Go Ahead, Blame the Accountants You see, it wasn't MF Global's fault that it bought all of that European debt or went bankrupt. Blame the accountants! As if Corzine, who once was co-chairman of Goldman Sachs, was the sort of Wall Street […]

Ex-Worker Says He Helped Dewey Cook Its Books [WSJ] A San Antonio accounting firm is doing something nice with its old laptops for charities in need of old laptops [San Antonio Business Journal] Wyclef Jean is broke, his accountant has the scoop: "In my most professional verbiage…there ain’t no money." [All Hip Hop] Accountant: Union […]

Taxes Won’t Kill Bitcoin, but Tax Reporting Might [Vic Fleischer/NYT] Elie Mystal reminds subway performers that their entertrainment is illegal. [ATLRedline] Preach! 5pm often marks the time of the day that people leave work. For me, 5pm marks the beginning of my second work-day of the [email protected]_concern — John Kinsella (@jkinsella7) March 26, 2014 A […]

Didya know? EY ranks up there among students who may or may not understand what it is EY does [EY] Just a couple of Joes talking taxes. @jthorndike @TaxAnalysts That's not how it has been working. Fewer taxpayers, more taxes on rich. Make mine a double, charge the rich guy. — Joe Kristan (@joebwan) March […]

Grant Thornton will be hosting the "Cracker from Caracas" in Dublin this week [Irish Times] Didya know: the cloud is New Zealand's third biggest export [Reuters] Former acting IRS commissioner Danny Werfel has moved on to greener pastures [AT] I will unfortunately be in meetings and traveling that day, but you might be interested in […]

The IRS audited fewer rich folks in 2013 [Reuters] How does your state rank as far as taxes go? [The Blaze] $116 Million Bitcoins 'Found' At MtGox And How To Protect Your Wallet [Forbes] Long-Term Unemployed Face 1 in 10 Odds of Getting Hired Each Year [TIME] It's law but read this and do NOT […]

All big U.S. banks but one pass Fed's health test [Reuters] It's hard out there for the long-term unemployed [LA Times] Rihanna's Ex-Accountant: A Fool And Her Money Are Soon Parted Which Makes You … [TMZ] One Minnesota mayor had his tax prep office raided by the IRS and FBI. Talk about bad timing [Star […]

The IRS is trying to find people who didn't file returns in 2010, it has some money of theirs [Detroit Free Press] PwC is getting shady at SXSW [Pinterest] Flappy Bird will be back… eventually [CNET] The Fed isn't going to toot its own horn about getting things back to "normal" (LOL) [BBW] Low-Wage Workers […]

New York seeks curbs on high-frequency trading [BBC] Actually, pot taxes might not bring in as much as Colorado hopes, but will likely still bring in hella green, man [Cannabist] Former accountant for a candy and tobacco distributor sentenced in $4 mil+ theft. But, uh, more importantly, there's a candy and tobacco company out there? […]

11 issues that could flare up at the next shareholder meeting [JofA] Wait, Quiznos almost went belly up? [Denver Post] Medical marijuana stores blocked from tax breaks [USA Today] Wait, high schoolers help file taxes now? To think I wasted that time of my life smoking in the park and waiting for the principal to […]

Amazon plans to raise Prime fees by $20, you outraged yet? [Reuters] Harry Reid says Ukraine aid is getting Kochblocked [POLITICO] Jingtian & Gongcheng Fined Over IPO Due Diligence [The Asian Lawyer] Did someone say diversity? The invite made it clear white people were not invited. The email read: "If you want to create space […]

ICYMI: SEC Charges Animal Feed Company and Top Executives in China and U.S. With Accounting Fraud [SEC] The web's 25th birthday starts the campaign for the Web We Want [ZDNet] Some typos are more unfortunate than others [Twitter] A-Ha Moment: I spoke to a kid that graduated from the program and realized there are kids […]

Issa Issues Report Ripping Lois Lerner [Roll Call] Dianne Feinstein is mad the CIA may have spied on her, which is sort of like Bernie Madoff getting mad at a thief stealing his wallet [POLITICO] Does a scandal-ridden firm by any other name still smell as foul? What do you do when your reputation has […]

Colorado reaps $2.1 million in taxes, fees in first month of recreational pot [Reuters] The Challenge of Linking Dewey’s Leader to Possible Accounting Shenanigans Criminal charges filed by New York prosecutors against Steven H. Davis, former chairman of Dewey & LeBoeuf, describe actions that sound quite similar to the events that led to the collapse […]