Americans Favor Budget Cuts Over Raising Corporate Tax [NYT]
While most Americans say corporations do not pay their fair share in taxes, they still prefer cuts in government spending to increasing taxes on corporations as a means of cutting the federal budget deficit, according to a recent New York Times/CBS News poll. But when given a choice between raising taxes on corporations and raising taxes on households that make more than $250,000 a year, almost two-thirds of respondents opt for taxing businesses.

Hedge Accounting: Convergence Crunch Time [Accounting Onion]
The CFA Institute wrote a 39-page letter to the IASB criticizing its hedge accounting exposure draft. E&Y wrote a similarly lengthy comment letter; a very different letter.

Trade group: Administration wants to expand corporate tax umbrella [The Hill]
A trade association is concerned that the Obama administration is working on a tax reform plan that would make more businesses pay taxes as corporations. An executive at the National Association of Publicly Traded Partnerships (NAPTP) recently signaled that the group had received information indicating that the administration wanted large so-called pass-through entities — businesses that pay taxes through the individual code — to be subject to corporate taxation.

IRS considers tax deadline extension for storm victims [BBJ]
Victims of severe storms, tornadoes, straight-line winds and flooding beginning April 15 in parts of Alabama may qualify for tax relief from the Internal Revenue Service. Individuals who reside or have a business in these counties may qualify for tax relief: Autauga, Bibb, Blount, Calhoun, Cherokee, Choctaw, Colbert, Cullman, DeKalb, Elmore, Etowah, Fayette, Franklin, Greene, Hale, Jackson, Jefferson, Lawrence, Limestone, Madison, Marengo, Marion, Marshall, Morgan, St. Clair, Sumter, Tallapoosa, Tuscaloosa, Walker, Washington and Winston.

IRS Recognized for Clear Writing [AT]
The Internal Revenue Service received an award for the written clarity of its official notices, while insurance provider CareFirst Blue Cross Blue Shield of Maryland received an award for the most confusing language. The Center for Plain Language gave the IRS its Grand ClearMark Award for the clearest language with its simplified notices, while CareFirst got the WonderMark Award of confusion for its muddled explanation of health care benefits “The IRS has worked hard to overcome its image with Americans and these two revised notices are a sign that the IRS has changed,” said Annetta Cheek, PhD, chair of the board of directors of the Center for Plain Language.

Global Accounting Rules at Risk [CFOJournal]
When U.S. securities regulators let foreign companies stop reconciling their financial results with U.S. GAAP in 2007, it seemed inevitable that U.S. companies would one day adopt International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) themselves. But over the past few years, the SEC turned its focus to the financial crisis and slowed down efforts to set a formal date for the switch. Now some think support is waning and full adoption of the standards in the United States is no longer possible.

Deloitte Survey: Two Out of Three Employees at Large Companies Looking for the Exit Sign [Deloitte]
Despite the sobering news, dissatisfied employees are transparent about their leading turnover drivers, providing executives and talent managers with a clear picture of the most effective employee retention strategies. When asked to list their top three retention incentives, 53 percent of the respondents ranked promotion/job advancement first, followed by increased compensation at 39 percent, and additional bonuses or other financial incentives at 34 percent. Boosting employee support/recognition from their managers, a non-financial incentive, was also ranked as an effective retention tactic by a strong 30 percent of the surveyed employees.

State Cigarette Excise Tax Rates [Tax Foundation]
From a monetary standpoint, why anyone in the tri-state area smokes, is a mystery.

Bin Laden Is Dead, President Obama Says [NYT]
Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the most devastating attack on American soil in modern times and the most hunted man in the world, was killed in a firefight with United States forces in Pakistan on Sunday, President Obama announced. In a dramatic late-night appearance in the East Room of the White House, Mr. Obama declared that “justice has been done” as he disclosed that American military and C.I.A. operatives had finally cornered Mr. bin Laden, the Al Qaeda leader who had eluded them for nearly a decade, and shot him to death at a compound in Pakistan.

Satyam Investors’ U.S. Lawsuit OvPwC for $25.5 Million [Bloomberg]
Investors in Satyam Computer Services Ltd. (SCS) settled a lawsuit against PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP for $25.5 million related to its audit of the Indian firm that included a $1 billion overstatement of assets. Satyam, the software exporter embroiled in India’s biggest corporate fraud probe, reached a $125 million settlement in February in the class action in New York. Satyam agreed last month to pay $10 million to settle a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit.

The Osbournes — 357,000 More Tax Problems [TMZ]
Clearly the moral of the story is, don’t cancel meetings with your accountants.

Ohio accounting students meet fraud expert [AW]
The old cliché, “If you want to build a better hen house, ask a fox,” rang loud and clear today at The Ohio State University Fisher College of Business. You’re probably familiar with Enron, WorldCom, and Madoff scandals, but do you remember the ZZZZ Best Carpet Cleaning fraud from the 1980s and the man behind it, Mark Morze? Morze was found guilty of stealing $100 million and creating more than 10,000 phony documents and several fake tax returns. None of the auditors, lawyers, and bankers who were charged with examining the books detected the fraud. This legendary tale of deception is now must-read material for accounting and business students, helping them prepare to be able to make decisions that will shape their own careers and lives.

Is Going Public Going Out of Style? [CFO]
No matter how you slice it, the number of publicly traded companies in the United States continues to fall. On the major exchanges, there were 5,091 companies, including foreign-based ones, listed at the end of February, a 2% drop from 2009 and a 42% decline from the peak of 8,823 in 1997, according to new data from Grant Thornton. Looking across all U.S. exchanges, including the over-the-counter (OTC) market, the number of U.S.-based companies has fallen more than 30% since 2000, according to Audit Analytics.

Some Closer than Others: Inside The Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting [Forbes]
Aka: Francine goes to Omaha.

Deloitte’s leader makes her case for diversity in the executive suite [Boston Globe]
With less than a month to go as chairman of Deloitte, Sharon Allen continues making the rounds.

E&Y awaits ruling on challenge to ICAI [FT]
Ernst & Young is due to learn this month if it can proceed with a legal challenge that could derail an investigation into its auditing of Anglo Irish Bank, the property lender that had to be rescued by the Irish government in 2009. The Irish arm of the global accountancy network has objected to the way that the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland has probed its work at Anglo Irish before its nationalisation.

New H&R Block CEO Cobb gets $900,000 sign-on bonus [KCBJ]
H&R Block Inc. will pay new CEO William Cobb a base annual salary of $950,000 on top of a $900,000 cash sign-on bonus, plus the potential for millions of dollars in additional compensation. Former CEO Alan Bennett will stay with H&R Block full time until July 31, then get a monthly fee of $15,000 under a one-year consulting contract, according to a Friday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. After that, he’s eligible for a one-time cash bonus to be determined by the board.