Proposal Would Create New Accounting Standard-Setter for Private Companies [NYT]
The parent organization of the Financial Accounting Standards Board will propose on Tuesday that a new body be set up to modify accounting rules for private companies, some of which have complained that existing rules are too complicated and costly. The new group, to be called the Small Company Standards Improvement Council, would be able to modify or allow exceptions to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, known as GAAP, for nonpublic companies. The new group would be led by a member of FASB, ad include all seven members of the accounting standards board, said John J. Brennan, the chairman of the Financial Accounting Foundation, which appoints members of the accounting board. Decisions would be subject to ratification by FASB, which presumably would want to keep variations in standards to a minimum.

No big outflows since trade scandal: UBS CFO [Reuters]
“We saw no material change in net new money flows as a result of the trading incident,” CFO Tom Naratil told an investor conference in London. “We believe there is further upside to our overall performance,” he also said.

SEC Asks Apple CFO for Information on Nokia Patent Litigation Settlement [Bloomberg]
The two mobile-phone makers had been in litigation since October 2009, when Nokia filed a lawsuit accusing Cupertino, California-based Apple of infringing patents. Nokia also demanded royalties on the millions of Apple iPhones sold since the device’s introduction in 2007. Nokia said in March it had 46 patents asserted against Apple in civil lawsuits and complaints lodged with the U.S. International Trade Commission.

U.S.-Chinese Progress on Accounting Is Dealt Setback [WSJ]
U.S.-Chinese negotiations to allow American audit-firm inspectors into China suffered a setback Monday, as U.S. regulators indicated that a planned visit to Washington by their Chinese counterparts to continue the talks has been postponed. Regulators previously said the Chinese were slated to visit Washington this month for a second round of the talks, which began in Beijing in July. The two countries are negotiating on whether to allow inspectors from the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, the U.S.’s auditing regulator, into China to scrutinize the work of Chinese accounting firms which audit U.S.-traded companies.

Crowe to Merge in Perry-Smith [AT]
Puts CH in the San Francisco and Sacramento markets.

Giant Alien Snails Attack Miami, Though They’re Not in Much of a Rush [WSJ]
Floridians have grown accustomed to invasions of exotic creatures, like the Burmese pythons slithering throughout the Everglades. But residents here are especially grossed out by the latest arrivals: giant African land snails that grow as long as eight inches, chew through plants, plaster and stucco, and sometimes carry a parasite that can infect humans with a nonlethal strain of meningitis.

Fannie Mae Waited on Loan Abuse Action [Bloomberg]
The inspector general of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, released a report today on outside law firms hired by the government- sponsored firm to handle mortgage defaults. Among other things, the report said, Fannie Mae didn’t act on the December 2003 allegation from an unidentified shareholder until it hired a law firm two years later to look into the matter. In May 2006, the law firm reported to Fannie Mae that Florida-based foreclosure attorneys were “routinely filing false pleadings and affidavits.” Fannie Mae didn’t notify its regulator of the findings, according to the inspector general.

PwC reports record $29.2 billion revenue, regains lead [Reuters]
Growth in its consulting business helped PwC increase revenue 10 percent in fiscal 2011, allowing it to regain its position as the world’s largest accounting and consulting firm. PwC’s global network of firms reported record revenue of $29.2 billion for the year that ended June 30, up from $26.6 billion in 2010 and the strongest growth since 2008. PwC, formerly known as PricewaterhouseCoopers, also said on Monday that it plans to hire a record 20,000 graduates worldwide in fiscal 2012 and offer training internships to 10,000 students. Its staff now numbers about 169,000.

[WSJ]
The Republican presidential candidate wants to scrap the current system—with its income-tax rates as high as 35% for individuals and corporations—and replace it with a system that combines a 9% personal flat tax, a 9% corporate flat tax and a 9% national sales tax. The plan would eliminate the estate tax as well as current taxes on investment income, in an effort to boost investment and the economy. The Cain plan also would eliminate the payroll tax that hits many working-class Americans hard, and instead fund entitlement programs such as Social Security from the new revenue structure.

Financial services set to shed 8,000 jobs [FT]
The UK financial services sector is set to shed 8,000 jobs over the next three months as turmoil in global markets damps growth prospects, according to a survey by the CBI employers’ group and PwC, the professional services firm. The pace of business growth in the financial sector continued to slow in the three months to September and is expected to be slower still in the final quarter. For the first time in two years, companies expect there to be no improvement in profitability.

Salary vs sleep: Which would you pick? [WaPo]
Which would you prefer: An $80,000 job with reasonable work hours and seven and a half hours of sleep each night, or a $140,000 job with long work hours and just six hours of sleep? A new study from researchers at Cornell, to be published in the American Economic Review, found that most people would pick the higher-paying job with more hours and less sleep.

In Debt Talks, Divide on What Tax Breaks Are Worth Keeping [NYT]
The 71,000-page tax code has become loaded with dozens of obscure but economically valuable tax breaks. Nascar racetrack operators can speed up their write-offs for improvements to their facilities; makers of toy wooden arrows pay no excise tax; and Eskimo whaling captains get a charitable deduction of up to $10,000 for hunting blubber. Multibillion-dollar operations like oil refineries, Hollywood productions and hedge funds have all profited. And there is little sign that the lawmakers who helped write the breaks into the tax code are willing to back away from them. Whether any of them are scrubbed from the books may ultimately prove how serious Congress is about reducing the debt, and how adept powerful lobbies are at guarding their benefits, political analysts and tax experts say.

Groupon’s Stumbles May Force a Smaller IPO [Bloomberg]
Groupon Inc., the largest online- coupon site, may have to settle for a smaller initial public offering as management gaffes, restated results and regulatory scrutiny leave investors leery of owning the stock. The valuation might need to drop to as low as $3 billion to $5 billion to entice shareholders, said Josef Schuster, founder of IPOX Schuster LLC, which invests in IPOs. That’s a fraction of $25 billion that was said to be discussed as a potential valuation when Groupon met with underwriters earlier this year. It’s also below the $6 billion Google Inc. (GOOG) offered last year. “Interest is diminishing by the week,” said Schuster, who manages $2.5 billion in assets for the Chicago-based fund. “All the news that’s coming out underlines some form of turmoil in the company. As an IPO investor, you don’t want that.”

KPMG LLP Names Steven Hill Vice Chair — Strategic Investments [KPMG]
Replacing Mark Goodburn.