AllianceBernstein’s CFO Howard to Leave After Less Than a Year [BBW]
AllianceBerstein Holding LP, a New York-based asset-management firm, said Chief Financial Officer John Howard will leave the company in February after less than a year on the job. Howard will return to his former employer, Greenwich, Connecticut-based AQR Capital Management, in his previous role as chief operating officer, AllianceBernstein said today in a statement. AQR runs one of the world’s biggest hedge funds.
BlackBerry Playbook: awesome fail [AccMan]
Once again, Dennis Howlett fails to show any restraint. We’re so thankful for that.
Bankers’ bumper bonuses are the ‘mistake’ of flawed accounting rules [Telegraph]
The House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee, which is investigating the role of auditors in the financial crisis, was told that the controversial International Financial Accounting Standards (IFRS) had allowed banks to hide risks so that profits and bonuses were inflated. The devastating assessment of the accounting rules was articulated for the first time by some of Britain’s biggest institutional investors. Iain Richards, of Aviva Investors, told the Lords that the IFRS system of auditing the banks had had “a material cost to the taxpayer and to shareholders” because “as a result dividend distributions have been made and bonuses have been paid that were imprudent.”
Acela Bob, Meet Acela Jim: Kelley Drye Managing Partner Conducts Confidential Conversation on Packed Train [ATL]
FYI for the loud talkers.
Tsingtao hopes to ditch foreign auditors [FT]
So a brewing company is going to fire its Hong Kong (i.e. foreign auditors) in exchange for a mainland (i.e. pinkos) auditor.
Audits Add Shine to Firms [WSJ]
When do audits really have value? When they’re done for small businesses, “Based on data from more than 10,000 closely held companies—about half of which have less than 500 employees—a study by the University of Chicago Booth School of Business found audited businesses save an average of $6,900 for every $1 million in outstanding debt every year as a result of lower interest rates, which were more than half a percentage point below rates paid by nonaudited businesses. For a loan of $3.3 million, the average size of loans analyzed in the study, the savings was about $23,000.”
PwC Announces Top Ten Questions for Audit Committees Credit Quality Disclosures, Loss Contingencies, Whistleblower Bounty Program and Tax Reform Top List [PR Newswire]
Jesus, that’s a mouthful. And we love rambling headlines.
BDO expands into Kosovo [Accountancy Age]
Your dream international rotation is now a reality.
IRS Oversight Board Releases Latest Taxpayer Attitude Survey Results [JofA]
87% say it’s not acceptable AT ALL to cheat on your taxes, which is a 6% increase from 2003. When you consider the tax policy positions of who was president then and who is president now, it doesn’t make a damn bit of sense.