• A Modest List of Financial Analysis ‘Red Flags’ – “Patrick Byrne is the CEO” isn’t one of them but Overstock.com does get mentioned. [The Accounting Onion]
• Tax Vox’s Lump of Coal Award: The Worst Tax Ideas of 2009 – California gets its very own spot at #4. [Tax Vox]
• War on Wall Street as Congress Sees Returning to Glass-Steagall – Bank break up courtesy of Maverick? [Bloomberg]
• How the VP of Finance at Koss steals millions – “For the year ended 6/30/09, Koss had sales of $38.2 million and profits of $2 million. For the year ended 6/30/08, Koss had sales of $50 million and profits of $4.5 million. If Sachdeva stole $20 million over the last four years, that’s $5 million per year…. and far exceeds the profits for the last couple of years. How did no one notice?” [The Fraud Files Blog]
• New security restrictions could hurt airlines – As if they needed help. [Reuters]
• Black Eyed Peas Didn’t File Tax Returns for Years – Due to ‘an inadvertent oversight’. [Web CPA]
• Gee, Who WASN’T Bribed? – This involves one large process of elimination. [The Market Ticker]
We understand that the first day back after the Christmas break could be one of the worst on the entire year. Especially if you’re one of the few actually working. We’ll check in with you unfortunate souls later today.
Related Posts
Preliminary Analytics | 09.04.09
• Stanford’s Money-Losers, Unlike Madoff’s, Get No Help From SIPC – Sucks. [Bloomberg]
• Ex-SEC Lawyer: Madoff Report Misses Point – “Genevievette Walker-Lightfoot told Dow Jones Newswires on Thursday the SEC inspector general should have focused more of his attention on how supervisors, rather than the staff examiners and investigators, handled the agency’s many stillborn probes of Mr. Madoff.” Supervisors? Responsibility? Get out. [WSJ]
• Zimbabwe to get $500m IMF loans – Seems silly that these are called loans. [BBC]
• U.S. Job Losses Increased in August, Unemployment Rose to 9.7% – And the spin is that this good news. [Bloomberg]
• Congress to probe SEC’s lapse on Madoff – Because this is a perfect opportunity for members of Congress to talk about how smart they are and how stupid the SEC is. We haven’t had enough of these anyway. [Reuters]
Preliminary Analytics | 12.10.09
• SEC’s Khuzami ‘Skeptical’ of Auditors’ Claims on Privilege – Privlege shmivlege. [FEI Financial Reporting Blog]
• Obama Proposes $12,000 “Cash for Caulkers” Program – Including the most immature montage ever. [TaxProf Blog]
• Overstock.com and Patrick Byrne Have an Enemies List That Includes Friends and Family Members of Critics – Using Facebook no less. Anyone surprised? [Sam Antar/White Collar Fraud]
• Madoff Auditor Plea May Signal Other Probe – Tax charges thrown in with David Friehling’s guilty plea may indicate that prosecutors may be building a case against other Friehling clients including the Madoff sons. [WSJ]
• Broadcom Co-Founder Cleared in Backdating Probe – “U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney made the announcement after Samueli, owner of the NHL’s Anaheim Ducks, spent two days testifying for the defense in the fraud trial of a former executive for the telecommunications chip maker. ”You have restored my faith in the criminal justice system,” an exhilarated Samueli told the judge in federal court in Santa Ana.” Avoiding prison will do that. [AP via NYT]
Preliminary Analytics | 11.03.09
• Berkshire Buys Burlington in Buffett’s Biggest Deal – WB likes BNSF for $100 a share and he’ll thrown in some free DQ just because he can. [Bloomberg]
• Business Bankruptcy Filings Increased 7% in October – Over 130k total personal and commercial bankruptcies, up 20% from last year. [WSJ]
• What To Watch For On Tuesday – It’s election day. [NPR]
• Stanley, Black & Decker in Deal – “The transaction, which had been discussed three times before, according to the companies, represents a view that the housing market will bounce back from current lows, but also an acknowledgement that the do-it-yourself market and construction will not soon approach sky-high levels of a few years ago.” [WSJ]
• RBS, Lloyds Diverge on U.K. Aid as They Unveil Plans – “The U.K. government said Tuesday it will put £31.2 billion ($51.2 billion) in new taxpayer money into the two banks as part of a revamp of the banking system and the long-awaited asset-protection program.” [WSJ]