Alterra Investors Should Oppose KPMG Reappointment, ISS Says [Bloomberg]
Alterra Capital Holdings Ltd. (ALTE) investors should reject the insurer’s plan to reappoint KPMG- Bermuda after a government accounting board faulted the auditor’s work, said Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. The proxy-advisory service joins Glass Lewis & Co. in advising shareholders next month to vote against a proposal by Alterra’s management to keep the Bermuda affiliate of the Big Four accounting firm as the company’s auditor.

Obamas Earned $1.7 Million, Paid $453,770 in Taxes; Bidens Made $379,178 [Bloomberg]
President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, reported $1.7 million in adjusted gross income last year and paid $453,770 in federal income taxes, according to tax returns released yesterday by the White House. The Obamas’ adjusted gross income for 2010 dropped about 69 percent from the previous year, when it was $5.5 million, and 2010 was the couple’s lowest-earning year since 2006, before Obama’s presidential campaign generated interest in books he wrote. Their total federal income tax liability for 2010 dropped about 75 percent from 2009, when it was $1.8 million.

ASU 2011-2: The Accounting for Troubled Debt Restructurings Still Leaks Oil [Accounting Onion]
How accounting standards and Hondas are not alike.

Testy 9th Circuit Hears Whistleblower Case [CNS]
Two Boeing employees who were fired after providing a newspaper reporter information about alleged ethics violations asked the 9th Circuit to reconsider a federal judge’s ruling that the Sarbanes-Oxley Act does not prohibit termination for disclosures to the media. No court has yet addressed whether employees can be fired under federal whistleblower laws for providing non-confidential information about potential fraud to the press.

Arguments Have Loopholes, Too [CFO]
The debate over GE’s taxes has as many holes as the IRC.

Gary Busey Endorses Donald Trump for President in 2012 [YouTube]

Greenspan Says U.S. Should Let Bush-Era Tax Cuts Expire [Bloomberg]
Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said tax cuts put in place by former U.S. President George W. Bush should be allowed to expire and the U.S. should return to tax rates that were in effect under former President Bill Clinton to help address the budget deficit. We should “allow the Bush tax cuts to expire,” Greenspan said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” today, calling the economic crisis “imminent and dire.” We should “put the rates back to where they were during the Clinton administration,” he said.

$1.1 Billion Error in Australian MNC? Yes, Says Mum PwC Partner [inAudit]
In the latest development concerning the debt classification error in Australian MNC Centro Properties Group, a PricewaterhouseCoopers partner admitted he was silent on the matter on the belief that he needed not to say again what the firm’s accounting manager has already raised at a “high level.”

Pricewaterhouse-Coopers (PWC) to pilot electric cars with London-based staff [EB]
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) will pilot electric cars with London-based employees as part of its sustainable travel strategy. The electric cars, which will be made available at the firm’s locations in Southwark and Westminster, can be charged onsite and through the Hertz and Source London charging network.

Prom Night Tax Tip [Tax Update Blog]
“Textbooks” has a funny definition in Iowa.

Top 10 tax tips from CPAs, also known as Letterman’s annual spoofing of taxes [DMWT]
6. H. Block, good guy. R.Block, complete greaseball.

PwC: U.S. Companies Pay World’s 6th-Highest Effective Tax Rate [TaxProf Blog]
However some people are calling this study “extraordinarily disingenuous.”

ANOTHER ONE: Chili’s Serves Alcoholic Mudslide To A Four-Year-Old [BI]
Maybe these casual dining restaurants are too casual.

Where Have All the Bank C.F.O.’s Gone? [DealBook]
CFOs seems to be a bit of a rest stop at some of the world’s largest banks.

Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. Blames iPad For American Unemployment [HuffPo]
On Friday, Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-IL) addressed the United States’s current unemployment crisis and claimed the iPad was “probably responsible for eliminating thousands of American jobs.” Jackson, himself an iPad owner, expanded on his statement by pointing to the recent bankruptcy of Borders Books. “Why do you need to go to Borders anymore? Why do you need to go to Barnes and Noble? Just buy an iPad and download your book, download your newspaper, download your magazine,” the Congressman said.