Vote on Boehner Plan Delayed Amid Opposition [NYT]
House Republican leaders were forced on Tuesday night to delay a vote scheduled on their plan to raise the nation’s debt ceiling, as conservative lawmakers expressed skepticism and Congressional budget officials said the plan did not deliver the promised savings.

What’s Wrong With America’s Job Engine? [WSJ]
Between the end of 2007 (when American employment peaked) and the end of 2009 (when it touched bottom), the U.S. economy’s output of goods and services fenumber of workers fell by a much sharper 8.3%. Today’s puzzle: How and why employers managed to boost productivity, or output per hour of work, like never before during the worst recession in decades?

Americans ‘Disgusted’ as Politicians Fail to Compromise on Debt [Bloomberg]
“They’re not in touch with reality,” said Cheryl Carroll, 51, who lives in Tinton Falls, New Jersey, with her two daughters. She has been applying for jobs in retail and subsisting off her family’s investments since her husband died last year. “They should really get an average American in Congress who knows how to balance their checkbook,” Carroll said. “It would be fixed in a week.”

Obama’s ‘70 million checks’ per month: Actually, it’s even more than that. [WaPo]
The mind-boggling number challenges a common critique of the federal government as a creaky apparatus where tax dollars are lost in the bureaucratic cracks. From the vantage point of the 70 million or 80 million checks, the government is a finely tuned machine that brings in revenue and disperses it back out across the country.

IRS is investigating Bell finances [LAT]
The Internal Revenue Service has opened an investigation into the handling of bonds and employee compensation packages in the financially struggling city of Bell, according to sources familiar with the ongoing probe. At least two IRS agents have been assigned to the investigation and have been in and out of Bell’s red-brick city hall since February, one source said. “They’re sifting and combing through everything,” the source said. The sources requested anonymity because they were not authorized to talk about the investigation.

CPA: Can’t Prepare Anymore [Tax Update]
Definitely not “Current Power of Attorney.”

Employees Can’t Use IRS Computers for Craigslist, eHarmony, Facebook, Foursquare, Gmail, TaxProf, Twitter, Yelp [TaxProf]
Or simply, “Any use that reduces productivity or interferes with the performance of official duties.”

Next Accounting Standard Project: Dairy Cows? [CFOJ]
Bovines at fair value?

ICAEW helps US focus on global standards [Accountancy Age]
International financial reporting standards are in focus at the ICAEW, which is to chair an American Accounting Association debate on the future of the global standards in the US. The panel will include former chairman of US regulator the FASB, Robert Herz, and forms part of the AAA’s annual conference from 6 – 10 August.

Cops: Calif. man tries to fix hernia with butter knife [MSNBC]
The man’s wife called police to say her husband was sick and tired of waiting to get surgery for his rupture and decided to take matters into his own hands on Sunday evening, Glendale Police Sgt. Tom Lorenz told msnbc.com. When officers arrived at the couple’s apartment, they discovered the man, naked and sprawled out on a lawnchair, with a butter knife protruding from his abdomen, Lorenz said. The man was cooperative and even pulled out the knife when asked, he said.

Obama Warns of Default Risk [WSJ]
With Congress deadlocked a week before the government runs out of cash to pay its bills, President Barack Obama warned Monday in his starkest terms yet that the U.S. is on the brink of a default that could trigger an economic upheaval. Mr. Obama made his comments in a prime-time national address followed immediately by a response from House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio), who dismissed not only the president’s approach, but virtually his entire record in office. Both men spoke just hours after the top Republican and Democratic leaders in Congress unveiled competing debt plans. Thely faced opposition that could make it hard to pass their respective chambers.

More U.S. lawsuits target Chinese reverse mergers [Reuters]
Accounting debacles at U.S.-listed Chinese companies have prompted a surge of securities fraud lawsuits, but investors might have trouble recouping their losses even if they win. More than one-fourth of the 94 U.S. securities fraud lawsuits seeking class-action status and filed from January to June related to so-called Chinese reverse mergers, according to a study released on Tuesday by the Stanford Law School Securities Class Action Clearinghouse and Cornerstone Research in Boston.

News Corp. Board Challenged [WSJ]
The Journal [!] reports that the audit committee is even less independent than we thought.

IRS Change Helps ‘Innocent Spouse’ [WSJ]
The Internal Revenue Service is giving some relief to “innocent spouses” who otherwise may have been liable for a partner’s tax debt. Effective immediately, the agency has eliminated a rule that disqualifies taxpayers from innocent-spouse status if they fail to file for relief within two years—a provision that snagged people who otherwise qualified, including abused women.

UK company auditors told to stand up to banks [Reuters]
“We find too many audits that require significant improvement. Scepticism is a key factor in those audits that do need an improvement,” said Paul George, director of auditing at the Professional Oversight Board (POB). The POB’s annual survey of audits found that the UK operations of the “Big Four” — KPMG, PwC, Deloitte and Ernst & Young — along with two smaller firms Grant Thornton and BDO, all failed to be sceptical enough. PwC was told to pay more attention to how impairment of goodwill is calculated, while Ernst & Young should make sure there is enough evidence to back growth rates. Grant Thornton, KPMG, BDO and Deloitte were told to apply appropriate challenges to company bosses.

Bad Food? Tax It, and Subsidize Vegetables [NYT]
Simply put: taxes would reduce consumption of unhealthful foods and generate billions of dollars annually. That money could be used to subsidize the purchase of staple foods like seasonal greens, vegetables, whole grains, dried legumes and fruit.

Men use ‘sniff test’ to tell clothes’ cleanliness, survey shows [MSNBC]
For some reason, this required a survey.

Auditors’ Somewhat Raised Confidence [CFO]
First the good news: fewer companies are carrying around the burden of a going-concern qualification. […] Now the bad news: the numbers are still high. And the drop in qualifications has more to do with companies dropping out of the public-company sector, getting acquired, or — confirming their auditors’ predictions — going bankrupt.