New accounting rule would ease Greek pain: IASB [Reuters]
European Union banks would have more breathing space from losses on Greek bonds if the bloc adopted a new international accounting rule, a top standard setter said on Tuesday. The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) agreed under intense pressure during the financial crisis to soften a rule that requires banks to price traded assets at fair value or the going market rate.

Obama Summons G.O.P. and Democratic Leaders for Deficit Reduction Talks [NYT]
Mr. Obama, who met secretly with Spr at the White House on Sunday to try to advance the talks, called House and Senate leaders from both parties to the White House for further negotiations on Thursday. And he rejected talk of an interim deal that would get the government past a looming deadline on raising the federal debt limit without settling some of the longer-term issues contributing to the government’s fiscal imbalances.

U.S. Will Probably Adopt IFRS Standards, IASB Chairman Says [Bloomberg]
The U.S. will probably adopt International Financial Reporting Standards, said Hans Hoogervorst, the new chairman of the London-based accounting organization IASB. The U.S. Financial Accounting Standards Board, which wanted to expand the use of fair-value accounting to all financial assets, has dropped that model and “that has made talking to each other a lot easier,” Hoogervorst told delegates at an IFRS conference in Zurich today.

Antitax Extremism in Minnesota [NYT]
More than 40 state agencies have closed, including the state parks over the July Fourth holiday. Courts and public safety agencies are operating, but essential services for the poor, like food pantries and child care subsidies, have evaporated. Many parents say they may have to quit their jobs if state-subsidized child care does not resume quickly. The shutdown will cost the state money, since many of the 22,000 laid-off workers will receive unemployment benefits and health insurance, while the treasury is unable to collect on tax audits, lottery tickets and park fees.

IFRS Is for Criminals [Grumpy Old Accountants]
Possible prerequisite for using principles-based accounting: walking on water.

Obama’s Twitter Town Hall: He’ll Take Questions in 140 Characters or Less [Bloomberg]
President Barack Obama will take questions today in what White House officials are calling his first Twitter town hall, complete with a “Tweetup.” Users of the social networking service can post questions for Obama before and during the event, which starts at 2 p.m. Washington time. Questions should fit Twitter’s 140-character limit and include the hashtag #askObama.

Casey Anthony, acquitted of murder in toddler’s death, faces IRS tax lien [DMWT]
I still don’t know who this woman is but she sure is popular on Twitter.

What does my boss want from me? [Accountant by Day]
Short answer: your soul. ABD has a slightly longer answer.

SEC Gauging U.S. Global Accounting Readiness [CFOJ]
The long road to determining whether U.S. companies will ever adopt international accounting rules will take another turn this week as U.S. securities regulators hold three roundtables to try to assess how ready the world’s largest economy would be if it goes forward with a plan to adopt IFRS. While the U.S. Securities and Exchange has spent most of the past two years slowing down an earlier plan that would have had U.S. companies using IFRS as soon as 2014, it aims to decide in the next year whether even a slower incorporation of IFRS is a feasible option.

Americans Rank Airlines Lower Than the IRS [ABC]
Overall, the U.S. airline industry scored a 65. That’s lower than the satisfaction score for Domino’s Pizza. Lower than the Post Office. Lower than the IRS. Well, lower for electronic tax filers, anyway, according to the most recent government rankings.

Profits Thrive in Weak Recovery [WSJ]
Two years after the official end of the recession, a range of indicators show that the economic recovery has been the worst, or one of the worst, since the government began tracking such data after World War II: Unemployment is too high, bank lending necessary to spur spending is too low, home prices are depressed while household expectations for financial well-being are near record low levels. Many economists predict the sluggish rebound may continue for years.

How Zynga Recognizes Revenue [Dow Jones]
Washington Mutual Inc. (WAMUQ) and other co-defendants agreed to settle a consolidated shareholder class-action lawsuit for $208.5 million, putting behind it one chunk of the failed bank’s litigation issues. The suit in federal court in Seattle was the consolidated version of several other class-action lawsuits filed by shareholders, in multiple courts, that all essentially alleged that Washington Mutual failed to stop them from investing when the now-failed thrift knew, or should have known, how much trouble it was in. Some of the lawsuits were actually filed long before the thrift’s collapse, though the plaintiffs regularly updated the consolidated case to include the latest reports on Washington Mutual.

2 Republicans Open Door to Increases in Revenue [NYT]
One of the senators, John Cornyn of Texas, said he would consider eliminating some tax breaks and corporate subsidies in the context of changes in the tax code, provided there was not an overall increase in taxes. “I think it’s clear that the Republicans are opposed to any tax hikes, particularly during a fragile economic recovery,” Mr. Cornyn said on “Fox News Sunday.” “Now, do we believe tax reform is necessary? I would say absolutely.”

Budget Needs Let Fireworks Fly Lawfully [NYT]
Desperate to find any source of untapped revenue, many cities, counties and states are scrapping decades-old restrictions on firework sales, trying to rescue budgets battered by several years of economic doldrums. A 65-year-old ban on fireworks in Hawkins County, Tenn., was lifted in May after a county commissioner persuaded colleagues that the sales could generate as much as $200,000 in annual permit fees and sales tax revenue. “Every penny helps,” said Shane Bailey, the county commissioner.

Minnesota Lawmakers, Governor to Discuss Ending Shutdown After Holiday [Bloomberg]
Minnesota Republican legislative leaders are returning to the capital in St. Paul today after a long holiday weekend ready to resume talks with Democratic Governor Mark Dayton on ending a government shutdown, said Senator Geoff Michel, the deputy majority leader. “It was probably healthy for the legislature and the governor to get out of St. Paul and get a little perspective,” Michel said in a telephone interview yesterday from Edina.

Unpaid taxes total $400B, but little political will to pursue it [Seattle Times]
In its most recent analysis, from 2001, the Internal Revenue Service estimated about 84 percent of federal taxes were voluntarily paid on time that year, leaving a gross tax gap of $345 billion, or roughly 16 percent, uncollected. Late payments and IRS collection efforts cut the net tax gap to $290 billion in 2001. But similar estimates point to a gross tax gap of $410 billion to $500 billion in 2010, said Benjamin Harris, a research economist at the center-left Brookings Institution. “You could go a long way toward solving our budget mess by closing the tax gap, but the problem is, it’s not easily closed,” Harris said.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn Accuser Said to Have Lied on Tax Return [AT]
Prosecutors found a number of inconsistencies in the accuser’s story about the incident as well as her finances, according to The New York Times. They found that she had lied on her application for asylum from Guinea about a gang rape, and misrepresented her income in order to qualify for public housing. She also claimed a friend’s child as her own on her tax return as a dependent, in addition to her own daughter.

China listings in U.S. could slow on accounting scandals -PwC partner [Reuters]
The negative sentiment towards some North America-listed Chinese companies triggered by recent accounting scandals will probably slow the momentum of Chinese firms’ IPOs in the United States, a partner at accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers China operations said on Monday. “The current negative public opinion on Chinese companies in overseas markets, especially in the United States, will definitely affect Chinese companies seeking a listing in those markets,” Jean Sun, assurance partner with PwC in Beijing, told reporters. “Investors are now less willing to dip into their pockets (for Chinese companies), so it’s understandable that the listing momentum will slow,” said Sun.