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Footnotes: The New Normal; DeVry’s Future Plans; BofA Bounces Its Own Fed Check | 04.28.14

Posted on by Adrienne Gonzalez

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 after the bank said it incorrectly reported capital ratios in recent stress tests. The second largest U.S. bank by assets said the error was caused by an "incorrect adjustment" related to bad debts the bank assumed when it acquired Merrill Lynch in 2009. It means the bank doesn't have as much high-quality capital on hand as everyone thought. [CNNMoney]

Uncle Sam is paying his debt down [BBW]

New Mexico accountant accused of insurance fraud A New Mexico accountant has pleaded not guilty to charges that defrauded the federal and state unemployment insurance system out of more than $1.3 million. [Houston Chronicle]

If Pfizer Avoids U.S. Taxes By Buying AstraZeneca, Will Congress Be Forced To Act? [Forbes]

It appears some judges may not be impartial due to their financial ties (shock, I know) [Center for Public Integrity]

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Facebook Finds a CFO, Hopefully One that is Okay with Awkward Interaction

Facebook Inc. announced today that David Ebersman will be the company’s Chief Financial Officer:

Ebersman, 39, will oversee Facebook’s finance, accounting, investor relations and real estate functions. He will formally start in September, Palo Alto, California-based Facebook said in a statement today.

You’ll note that Ebersman will oversee “investor relations”. It’s probably no coincidence that this is not a task that falls on Mark Zuckerberg who “has been known to have awkward interactions with other humans”:http://valleywag.gawker.com/344440/60-minutes-scoop-zuckerberg-remains-awkward-with-humans.
Thus, another challenge that will face Ebersman in his new position will be actually interacting with his boss. We here at Going Concern predict that awkward encounters with Zuckerberg will definitely be the biggest unforeseen challenge that Ebersman will wrestle with.
The article does not elaborate on whether Ebersman’s status updates on the social networking site are trite observations about the weather, his busy weekend, or a bad day at work.
“
Facebook Names Former Genentech Manager Ebersman Finance Chief”:http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a1vS1Ub87oSA [Bloomberg]

The IASB is Getting Serious About Convergence

Trying to get accounting standards to converge is hard work. It’s so difficult, in fact, that the International Accounting Standards Committee is considering changing the name of the International Accounting Standards Board to the IFRS Board.
This critical move will obviously speed up a process that has been going on, seemingly, since Luca Pacioli was in short pants. We’re definitely in favor of putting your agenda out in front but this still seems to be typical accountant passive-aggressive behavior.
Since we’re sure you have much better ideas for the what the IASB’s new name should be, submit your suggestions in the comments. The best we could come up with appears in the tag line.
IASB Could Be Renamed IFRS Board [Web CPA]

Labor Day: Long Weekend or Just a Long Weekend?

Labor Day.jpgAs the psychological end of summer approaches, there’s an issue out there that we find confusing. We heard a rumor that KPMG is requiring its remaining faithful to take Friday as PTO, even though some offices have kindly asked for their employees’ to squeeze in some extra time for the month of September.
On the one hand we’re sure lots of you don’t have to be asked twice to take an extra day of PTO. However, this is still America, which means if you’re inclined to spend an extra eight hours in your massive gray cubicle, to comply with your office’s request of 50 hour weeks, you’re allowed to do so.
The risk the firms run here is that by extending a typical three day bender into a fourth, this will allow you additional time to seriously consider saying, “To hell with this,” and fulfilling your lifelong dream of becoming a freak show performer.
So discuss in the comments the upcoming weekend and whether your firm is putting the gun to your head (and if you’re cool with that) to start the festivities early or if you’re expecting a long romantic weekend with your spreadsheets.