Jim Ulvog's latest on l'affaire LondonAn extremely vague, hard to understand comment in the CNBC report yesterday, yes, the one wherein the camera operator ran the camera lens into the side of Mr. London’s face, indicated KPMG had taken some financial action against Mr. London. The article cited Mr. London’s attorney as saying that matter had been resolved through the partnership agreement. [Attestation Update]
This will come in handy next time Jon has to read a PCAOB inspection report.
GM Raises Sights for IPO [WSJ]
General Motors says it is raising the price range for its initial public offering of common stock to $32 to $33 per share. The new price range is about 14% higher than originally expected.
The share and price expansion are the result of strong investor demand for shares in the U.S. auto maker, which now is generating solid profits after shedding costs under a 2009 bankruptcy reorganization.
A Little Extra on the Road [NYT]
Corporate accountants have long known that otherwise law-abidin el expense fraud.
And while new software programs help detect fraud, businesses report that travel fraud increased in the last few years as the distressed economy put more financial pressure on both employees and employers.
“I don’t think people always take the view that falsifying expense claims is a criminal act,” said John Verver, vice president for services and product strategy at ACL Services, a provider of financial monitoring software and expertise.
IRS Throws in Towel on Closely Watched International Tax Case [TaxProf Blog]
Transfer pricing nerds will like this one.
Litigation Disclosure: What They Don’t Know Can Hurt You [Forbes]
Francine’s latest at Forbes discusses the progress on a new litigation standard. Or lack thereof, “Everyone – the lawyers, the auditors and company executives – has been fighting the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s (FASB) proposals for expanded disclosures over loss contingencies for more than two years. For shareholders, this means, everyone who is supposed to be working for you is fighting additional disclosures that would help you – the investor – know if a legal bomb was about to drop on your investment.”
Dudley Says QE2 Critics Don’t `Understand’ Fed’s Exit Plan [Bloomberg]
Federal Reserve Bank of New York President William Dudley said critics of the expansion of monetary stimulus are underestimating the central bank’s ability to raise interest rates when necessary.
“People do not understand clearly” that “we can have an enlarged balance sheet and not have a long-term inflation problem,” Dudley said in an interview with CNBC. “We are very confident of our ability to exit when the time comes.”
Jason Blumer: Don’t Believe the Lies [CPA Trendlines]
Blumer is thinking about the future, “It seems the end of a public accountant’s career is steeped in misery, being “worn out” and adverse to change. Not a very exciting picture for those entering universities deciding what to major in! Is this what the younger generation has to look forward to when they retire?”
Meet the New Small-Business Owners in Congress [You’re the Boss/NYT]
Last Tuesday’s elections will send 33 small-business owners and entrepreneurs to Washington, according to The Agenda’s exhaustive (and exhausting) search. All are Republicans. Two are women.
Jack Link wins national Ernst & Young award [MBJ]
The beef jerky company that does ads like this:
European Bank Blowups Hidden With Shell Games [Bloomberg]
Today many of Europe’s largest financial institutions are seemingly on the brink again, driven by fears of pent-up losses stemming from the sovereign-debt debacle. Only you don’t hear much criticism of fair-value reporting anymore. That’s probably because the accounting mandarins gutted many of their fair-value rules in response to the financial system’s near-meltdown three years ago. This hasn’t made banks safer. It has given politicians and bankers one less culprit to blame, though.
Amnesty Program Yields Millions More in Back Taxes [NYT]
More than 12,000 American taxpayers have voluntarily revealed their secret offshore bank accounts to the Internal Revenue Service as part of the government’s latest tax amnesty program, agency officials said on Thursday. The move will allow the United States Treasury to collect at least half a billion dollars in unpaid taxes. The voluntary disclosure program, which was in effect from February until last week, is part of an initiative to deter tax evasion via offshore bank accounts. Since the I.R.S. began its previous amnesty program in 2009, more than 30,000 taxpayers have reported their secret overseas accounts, and the federal government has collected $2.7 billion in taxes and penalties.
BofA Keeps Countrywide Bankruptcy as Option [Bloomberg]
Bank of America Corp. (BAC), the lender burdened by its Countrywide Financial Corp. takeover, would consider putting the unit into bankruptcy if litigation losses threaten to cripple the parent, said four people with knowledge of the firm’s strategy. The option of seeking court protection exists because the Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank maintained a separate legal identity for the subprime lender after the 2008 acquisition, said the people, who declined to be identified because the plans are private. A filing isn’t imminent and executives recognize the danger that it could backfire by casting doubt on the financial strength of the largest U.S. bank, the people said.
UBS $2 bln loss to trigger investment bank retreat [Reuters]
Swiss bank UBS came under increasing pressure to shrink or sideline its investment bank business — source of a $2 billion rogue trading loss — as ratings agencies warned lax risk management could prompt downgrades. The bank is expected to announce a major restructuring involving the loss of thousands more jobs at an investor day in New York on November 17, the Tages-Anzeiger newspaper said on Friday, as it seeks to reassure private clients.
It’s National Tax Preparer Recruiting Week at Jackson Hewitt [AWEB]
Anyone looking for a new gig?
Chuck Woolery Responds to Warren Buffett [TaxProf]
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