Regulator Says Broker Audits Fail to Include Required Work [NYT, Earlier]
“The auditors,” said Jeanette M. Franzel, a member of the board, “were not properly fulfilling their responsibilities to provide an independent check on brokers’ and dealers’ financial reporting and compliance with S.E.C. rules.”

A Lesson in Loan Accounting from an Unexpected Source: Oil and Gas Companies [Accounting Onion]
Tom Selling: "[E]stimates of loan loss reserves are ineffable; and methodologies for predicting future losses are, to say the least, controversial.  It's a paradox that oil and gas managers engage outside experts to estimate reserves for financial reporting purposes; yet bank managers, who have the more subjective task, think they know enough to estimate loan loss reserves all by themselves."

Leave Romney Alone [DT]
Anthonye Nitti: "This is who Mitt Romney is, at least in part: a rich guy with rich guy tax problems and rich guy tax solutions. Romney wasn’t obligated to pay any more tax than the law required, and he very likely didn’t. His refusal to overpay the government shouldn’t be an indictment on his ability to lead a government. As a voting public, we’ve got to be able to compartmentalize Mitt Romney the presidential candidate from Mitt Romney the aggressive taxpayer."

Burning Question: Do Germs Spread on Airport Security Lines? [WSJ]
[U]nless you're in the middle of a monsoon and the airport has flooded, you're not going to be sloshing through a sea of water and spreading foot germs." Even in the humid month of August, when sweaty feet traipse through airport security, the area is essentially a dry environment.