• Open Letter to KPMG: The Ties That Bind Overstock.com and Patrick Byrne With Deep Capture LLC [White Collar Fraud]
Patrick Byrne’s indirect stalking of his critics on Facebook through the Deep Capture website has now been brought to the attention of KPMG, courtesy of Sam Antar:

You must investigate Overstock.com’s (NASDAQ: OSTK) relationship with Deep Capture LLC as part of your continuing audit of the company and take steps to require management to make disclosures under Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 57 (SFAS No. 57) governing “Related Party Disclosures.”

At the direction of Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne, the company has used Deep Capture’s resources, such as its web site, as a conduit to intimidate, harass, threaten, smear, and pre-text company critics. For example, Deep Capture Managing Partner Judd Bagley violated Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities and deceptively posed as “Larry Bergman” in an effort to gather personal information and spy on Overstock.com ‘s and Patrick Byrne’s critics, including me (See Item 3 Safety and Item 4 Registration and Security).

Altogether, Judd Bagley posted on DeepCapture.com the names of 7,483 “Facebook friends” of Patrick Byrne’s critics and that list included spouses, minor children, and other people that have nothing to do with Overstock.com, Patrick Byrne, or Byrne’s delusional short selling conspiracy theories.

• IRS Plans New Disclosures on Uncertain Tax Positions [Compliance Week]
The IRS, in a surprise move, is now requesting more information from corporate taxpayers when they take uncertain tax positions. Now before you start belly-aching, Doug Shulman would like everyone to know that he could have been a lot harder on you:

“We could have asked for more – a lot more – but chose not to,” Shulman said. “We believe we have crafted a proposal that gives us the information we need to do our job without trying to get in the heads of taxpayers as to the strengths and weaknesses of their positions.”

That almost sounds like an apology, Doug. Are you getting soft on us?

Building a Blog Following [Blogging Suits]
Yours truly did his best to give some advice to the budding accounting bloggers out there over at Blogging Suits:

Despite the reaction of strangers, the content and purpose of your blog is yours to decide and there are certain techniques that can be utilized that will keep your readers engaged and coming back (no matter how “boring” a subject might seem):

• Blog regularly – For any blog to be successful, regular content is paramount. I’m not suggesting that you dedicate your entire day to posting but you should commit to posting to at least twice a week. Long periods without posting will turn readers off and they’ll assume that you’re not serious about keeping them informed.

Don’t get excited, no one is expecting you to keep the schedule we do here at GC. Besides, we have taskmasters walking around that shock us every 20 minutes to keep us going.

• Flat-pack accounting [The Economist via TaxProf Blog]
Oh the Swedes. They’re pretty clever with the flat-packed furniture but the entity structure is a whole other matter. The Economist reports that IKEA’s profits are largely sheltered from taxes by virtue of its holding company, which just happens to be organized as a foundation. The foundation’s stated purpose is to more or less educate you on matching the drapes with the paint you chose for the living room:

If Stichting Ingka Foundation has net worth of at least $36 billion it would be th charity. Its value easily exceeds the $26.9 billion shown in the latest published accounts of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which is commonly awarded that accolade.
Measured by good works, however, the Gates Foundation wins hands down. It devotes most of its resources to curing the diseases of the world’s poor. By contrast the Kamprad billions are dedicated to “innovation in the field of architectural and interior design”. The articles of association of Stichting Ingka Foundation, a public record in the Netherlands, state that this object cannot be amended. Even a Dutch court can make only minor changes to the stichting’s aims.
The Kamprad foundations compare poorly with the Gates Foundation in other ways, too. The American charity operates transparently, publishing, for instance, details of every grant it makes. But Dutch foundations are very loosely regulated and are subject to little or no third-party oversight. They are not, for instance, legally obliged to publish their accounts.

This allows IKEA to pay as little as 3.5% tax on its profits. Ragnar Danneskjöld would be proud.
• Obama to Call for Three-Year Freeze on Some Federal Spending [Bloomberg]
In case you’re unaware, the POTUS is giving a big speech tomorrow evening where he’ll talk about, amongst other things, a three-year spending freeze for domestic programs to get the deficit under control.

The Environmental Protection Agency and the Commerce, Interior and Justice Departments are among the executive branch agencies subject to the freeze, officials said, while the Defense Department, Department of Homeland Security, Veterans Affairs and unspecified international affairs programs would be exempt.

With the DoD and DHS exempt from the freeze, one would think that GOP types would be pleased with this idea. Not so.

A spokesman for House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio was critical of Obama’s plan. “Given Washington Democrats’ unprecedented spending binge, this is like announcing you’re going on a diet after winning a pie-eating contest,” the spokesman, Michael Steel, said yesterday.

Wait a minute. Wouldn’t going on a diet right after the pie-eating contest be the perfect time?
• How Many Ways Can You Say Goodbye to a Job? [WSJ]
The temptation to go out in a blaze of glory by virtue of a BodySuit man type stunt is only for the boldest of souls. The Journal has plenty of advice on how to bow out gracefully, despite the temptation to use all your vacation, return to work and then give notice.

Some 60% of workers say they intend to leave their jobs when the economy improves, according to a survey by Right Management, a talent and career-management consulting firm in Philadelphia. It might be tempting to give the boss an earful if you land a new job in the coming months. But the way you quit can have a long term impact on your career.

Taking your fancy Swingline isn’t such a good idea either.