FASB Simplifies Goodwill Impairment Test [CFOJ]
Bowing to complaints from private companies, the Financial Accounting Standards Board is changing how companies perform their goodwill impairment tests. The changes to the standard, approved Wednesday, will allow companies to do a preliminary assessment based on qualitative factors to determine whether they even need to perform a goodwill impairment test.

Auditor to IRS: Speed it up [The Hill]
Because people are starting to notice this bureaucracy thing.

Tech Blogger Won’t Be Charged in Apple iPhone Case [WSJ]
San Mateo County Assistant District Attorney Morley Pitt said charges were not filed against Gizmodo.com’s Jason Chen or other employees, citing California’s shield law that protects the confidentiality of journalists’ sources. “The difficulty we faced is that Mr. Chen and Gizmodo were primarily, in their view, engaged in a journalistic endeavor to conduct an investigation into the phone and type of phone it was and they were protected by the shield law,” said Mr. Pitt. “We concluded it is a very gray area, they do have a potential claim and this was not the case with which we were going to push the envelope.”

I need to pee [AccMan]
Now I’m just peed I didn’t think of it first.

Behind the Numbers: Critical Financial Analysis in Litigation [Fraud Files Blog]
Tracy Coenen tells you how.

Why did Green Mountain Coffee Roasters miss red flags? [WCF]
Probably because they don’t read Sam Antar’s blog.

Ex-Marvell accountant arrested for insider trading [Reuters]
Former Marvell Technology Group Ltd […] accountant Stanley Ng was arrested on Wednesday as part of the government’s probe into insider trading, an FBI spokesman said. Ng, 42, was charged with conspiracy to commit securities fraud by federal prosecutors in Manhattan, according to a complaint unsealed on Wednesday.

Poll: Americans skeptical Washington can fix economy [The Hill]
Meanwhile, just 1 in 5 thinks Washington is “focused on the right things,” half as many as backed that statement in October 2010.

Is Obama Smart? [WSJ]
When it comes to piloting, Barack Obama seems to think he’s the political equivalent of Charles Lindbergh, Chuck Yeager and—in a “Fly Me to the Moon” sort of way—Nat King Cole rolled into one. “I think I’m a better speech writer than my speech writers,” he reportedly told an aide in 2008. “I know more about policies on any particular issue than my policy directors. And I’ll tell you right now that I’m . . . a better political director than my political director.”

Sales up at UK arm of Deloitte [FT]
The biggewas the consulting business, which increased its sales by 13 per cent to £517m, aided by the integration of acquired businesses and extra financial services work. Gains in market share lifted auditing revenues 4 per cent higher to £652m, the group said, while the tax and corporate finance divisions posted increases of 5 per cent and 11 per cent respectively. However, the average profit distributed to each partner fell 13 per cent from £873,000 to £758,000 because of the cost of making new hires and increasing pay to retain existing staff.

Markets Sink Then Soar After Fed Speaks [WSJ]
The Federal Reserve sent investors lurching from worry to hope as it warned that the economy would remain weak for some time but said it was prepared to take further steps to shore it up. The Fed’s statement, which included plans to keep interest rates near zero for at least the next two years, ultimately sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 4%, its biggest daily gain since March 2009. Yields on Treasury bonds dropped as investor demand pushed up prices.

For Murdoch, a Board Meeting With Friendly Faces [NYT]
One [director] is a former Goldman Sachs president who helped News Corporation broker mega-deals. Another is godfather to one of Mr. Murdoch’s grandchildren. Another ran Mr. Murdoch’s Australian subsidiary, News Limited. And those are just some of News Corporation’s directors who are designated as independent — chosen because they comply with regulations intended to ensure that companies maintain a layer of objective oversight.

NYSE Seeks to Tighten ‘Reverse’ Deal Rules [WSJ]
The New York Stock Exchange wants to toughen the standards that “reverse-merger” companies must meet to list on the Big Board, in the wake of accounting questions at many Chinese companies that have gone public via such transactions. The exchange is proposing a series of “seasoning” requirements that would effectively delay an NYSE listing for reverse-merger companies and set bars they would have to clear to obtain it.

BofA Doesn’t Need to Raise Capital, Finance Chief Thompson Tells Nomura [Bloomberg]
Bank of America Corp. (BAC), the largest U.S. lender, won’t need to raise extra capital to meet new international standards, Chief Financial Officer Bruce Thompson told Nomura Securities International analysts. The bank will be able to comply by cutting expenses, selling assets and letting some holdings decline naturally as they mature by the time the rules become fully effective, Thompson said in a meeting with analysts led by Glenn Schorr in New York.

A Much Needed Accounting Lesson for Two Senators [Accounting Onion]
Namely, Carl Levin (D-MI) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH).

People on the Move: KPMG Taps Chris Goodman as CMO [AdAge]
Goodman comes from Young & Rubicam and also did stints at Accenture and IMG.

Plante & Moran Elects 9 New Partners and One Affiliated Entity Member [P&M]
Six men and four women.

Swiss to Settle Tax-Evasion Dispute With Germany [Bloomberg]
Switzerland and Germany completed an accord to end a dispute over tax evasion by wealthy Germans holding cross-border accounts with Swiss private banks. As part of the settlement, Swiss banks will pay 2 billion Swiss francs ($2.8 billion) to the German government to cover the failure by their clients to disclose undeclared money in the past, the Swiss finance ministry said today in a statement.

Mad As Hell! [ZH]