Ireland Is Second Euro Nation to Seek Aid as Banks Wobble [Bloomberg]
Ireland became the second euro country to seek a rescue as the cost of saving its banks threatened a rerun of the Greek debt crisis that destabilized the currency.

The euro erased gains and Irish bonds pared an early advance after Moody’s Investors Service said a “ multi-notch” downgrade in Ireland’s Aa2 credit rating was “most likely.” The prospect of January elections loomed as the Green Party said it would pull out of Prime Minister Brian Cowen’s coalition.

Deloitte, Delphi, and GM: Duped or Duplicitous? [<auditors.com/2010/11/21/deloitte-delphi-and-gm-duped-or-duplicitous/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+ReTheAuditors+(re:+The+Auditors)">RTA]
Francine McKenna takes a peak at underbelly of one part of the GM situation.

Authorities may be close to filing insider trader cases [Reuters]
Federal authorities may file a series of insider trading cases against hedge fund traders, consultants and Wall Street bankers within weeks, several lawyers familiar with the situation said.

Prosecutors and securities regulators are likely to file a number of cases targeting the $1.7 trillion hedge fund industry rather than a single spectacular case, said the lawyers, who have knowledge of the investigations but did not want to be identified since details have not been made public.

SaaS players still outperforming on-premise vendors [AccMan]
Dennis Howlett: “In the past it was possible to ignore or critique this kind of assessment on the grounds the SaaS vendors operate on a fraction of the revenue the on-premise vendors enjoy and are in growth mode. Therefore you would expect to see high growth percentage based on the total size of the market. That’s changing.”

Cultures Clash in Combination of Bank Regulators [FINS]
The bigger concern is bridging the gap in culture. Consumer protection advocates have criticized both agencies for failing to police financial institutions adequately during the crisis.

“[The merger] could exacerbate problems at the two agencies, but it won’t make them better,” said Travis Plunkett, legislative director at the Consumer Federation of America. “A severe house-cleaning from the top down, focused on changing the culture and improving regulatory oversight, is necessary.”

BAE to Face Accounting Charge as Prosecutors Test Plea Powers [Bloomberg]
BAE Systems Plc, Europe’s biggest defense company, will be charged with failing to keep proper records of payments at a London court tomorrow, testing U.K. fraud prosecutors’ ability to negotiate plea deals.

BAE will plead guilty to accounting irregularities regarding its business dealings in Tanzania and may pay 30 million pounds ($48 million) under a proposed settlement with the U.K. Serious Fraud Office, said Sam Jaffa, a spokesman for the SFO. BAE was under investigation in the U.K. since November 2004 for allegedly paying bribes to win deals in six countries including Tanzania and the Czech Republic.

In Pictures: 10 Highest State Income Tax Rates For 2011 [Forbes via TaxProf]
Damn you Hawaii, with your bait and switch tactics.

Google CFO Pichette Says Social Networking a Part of Strategy [Bloomberg]
The quest for world domination will be disguised as fun!

FASB, GASB Standards to Undergo New Review Process [JofA]
The Board of Trustees of the Financial Accounting Foundation (FAF), the oversight body for the two standard setters, announced a review process it described as independent of the standard-setting process of FASB and GASB. FAF Chairman John J. Brennan called it a “mechanism for obtaining ‘real world’ feedback and analysis” of standards.

Bernanke Takes Aim at China [WSJ]
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke fired back amid criticism at home and abroad of the Fed’s easy-money policies, arguing that China and others are causing global problems by preventing their currencies from strengthening as their economies boom.

Rino Int’l admits to accounting fraud – auditors [Reuters]
Chinese clean-technology firm Rino International Corp (RINO.O) admitted to accounting malpractice, according to a letter from its auditors filed with U.S. securities regulators, a week after research firm Muddy Waters first made the allegations.

According to the letter, Rino’s Chief Executive Zou Dejunas said the company did not enter two of the six Rino customer contracts discussed in the Muddy Waters report, while a third was “explainable.”

When asked about the company’s other contracts, CEO Zou said “there might be problems with 20-40 percent of them,” according to the letter from auditors Frazer Frost LLP that was filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

KeyCorp Says Mooney to Be First Woman Chief Exeutive at a Top 20 U.S. Bank [Bloomberg]
KeyCorp, Ohio’s second-largest bank, said Beth Mooney will take over as chairman and chief executive officer when Henry L. Meyer retires in May, making her the first woman to lead one of the 20 biggest U.S. banks.

Mooney, 55, vice chairman of the bank and head of community banking, was named president and chief operating officer effective immediately, the Cleveland-based lender said yesterday in a statement. She was named a member of the board and takes over as CEO on May 1.

COSO Launches Project To Modernize 1992 Internal Control Framework [FEI Blog]
From Edith Orenstein, “the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) announced it has launched a project to moderize its landmark Internal Control-Integrated Framework.

The framework, first published in 1992, has been supplemented by various publications since that time, including publications geared toward small public companies, and on monitoring of internal controls.”

Reid, Senate Dems go hardball on taxes [OTM/The Hill]
After the election of course, “Reid will force a vote on extending tax cuts for families earning below $250,000 and individuals below $200,000 that would allow tax rates on the wealthy to expire. But it’s not clear whether that vote will be on a permanent or temporary extension because of a split in the Democratic caucus, a notable change since the election.”

Genuine remorse from Sachdeva? Laughable. [Fraud Files]
Tracy Coenen is not impressed with the judge’s reasoning behind Sue’s 11 year sentence, “How remorseful can she be when almost her entire 25 page sentencing memo is full of excuses for why she shouldn’t be held (as) responsible?”

GAO: Compliance Costs of ObamaCare’s 1099 Reporting Requirement Are Low [TaxProf Blog]
So any talk of the financial burden on small businesses is just political rhetoric? Get out!