Accounting News Roundup: Mischievous Non-GAAP Reporting; More Bad News for KPMG South Africa; Theranos Losers | 05.04.18

New Year Rings in Sales Tax for Amazon Shoppers in Three States [Digits/WSJ]Nevada, Indiana, and […]

Foes Plan Post-Vote Deals [WSJ]
Democrats are engaged in a sharp internal debate over how—or whether—the president and congressional leaders should work with the GOP, which is favored to take control of the House of Representatives and maybe the Senate. White House officials, who declined to comment, haven’t given allies clear signals about their approach, partly because their calculation depends on Tuesday’s outcome.

Strategists in both parties see two options for President Barack Obama. He could seek deals on issues including trade, taxes and spending, following the model of President Bill Clinton, who after losing Coromised with the GOP to overhaul welfare.

Morningstar Selects KPMG as Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm [PR Newswire]
Auditor Swap: E&Y for KPMG.

Preventing Election-Season Clashes in the Workplace [Bloomberg BusinessWeek]
With less than a week to go, some of you may have already broken the “don’t send racist/sexist email” rule but at least you’ll be ready for 2012.

Jailed Stanford accuses ex-lawyer of incompetence [AP]
Stan is on his 5th round of attorneys after accusing Bob Bennett of “incompetence, unethical behavior, deceit and only caring ‘about dipping his fingers in the money pot.’ “

Billionaire Julian Robertson Notches Tax Win For New York City Non-Residents [Janet Novack/Forbes]
And saves $27 million. Hoo-rah!

IFRS Adoption by the US: Definitely Not in the “Public Interest” [Accounting Onion]
Besides the many accounting related objections to IFRS, there are two broadly “legal” objections. These involve the role and authority of the SEC as determined by Congress. The concern is that IFRS adoption would involve a “loss of sovereignty” for the SEC and a departure from its mission of acting “in the public interest.”

IRS Commissioner Predicts Relief From Testing and Continuing Education for CPA-Supervised Nonsigning Preparers [JofA]
In his keynote speech at the AICPA’s National Tax Conference in Washington, Shulman acknowledged the Institute’s concerns about the IRS’ new regulatory regime for all paid tax return preparers.

“I am very sympathetic to the argument that the rules should be flexible for people who have met a higher professional standard,” Shulman said. “Therefore it is highly likely that as we implement the new rules and procedures there will be some relief for testing and continuing education requirements” for such nonsigning preparers supervised by a CPA, enrolled agent or attorney.

Smith & Wesson Holding Corporation CFO Resigns to Pursue Business Opportunity [PR Newswire]
William F. Spengler is over guns and is moving on to the…phytochemical and natural products industry.

IRS Auditors Begin Accepting QuickBooks and Peachtree Records [WebCPA]
Business owners and tax professionals have been advocating that the IRS begin accepting taxpayer records in electronic format instead of continuing to use traditional paper books and records for audits, the IRS noted. The IRS Small Business/Self-Employed Examination Division is responding to those wishes expressed in tax practitioner focus group interviews conducted at the 2008 Nationwide Tax Forums and from other stakeholders

~ Morning, gang. We’ll be doing a half day today, so we suggest you do the same. Have a great three-day weekend and we’ll see you back here on Tuesday.

U.S. Is Set to Sue a Dozen Big Banks Over Mortgages [NYT]
The federal agency that oversees the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is set to file suits against more than a dozen big banks, accusing them of misrepresenting the quality of mortgage securities they assembled and sold at the height of the housing bubble, and seeking billions of dollars in compensation.

SABMiller Queries Foster’s Financial Statement [Bloomberg]
SABMiller Plc (SAB), which has made a hostile $10 billion bid for Foster’s Group Ltd. (FGL), questioned the Australian brewer’s statements on its financial performance and net debt in a submission to the country’s Takeover Panel. The Australian government agency received the application from SABMiller, according to a statement on the panel’s website. A panel hasn’t been appointed and no decision has been made to conduct proceedings, the government agency said. SABMiller argues there is “no reasonable basis for several forward-looking statements” in Foster’s fiscal 2011 results presentation, according to the statement. The world’s second- largest brewer by volume sought an order that Foster’s clarify “misleading and deceptive” remarks.

Investors to SEC: Please Don’t Switch to IFRS [CFOJ]
When SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro said in June that investors aren’t clamoring for International Financial Reporting Standards, she may have been understating things… a bit. Now, some of the biggest U.S. investor groups are letting the SEC know in no uncertain terms that it should postpone its decision on IFRS and even stop the convergence process between U.S. GAAP and IFRS.

Boeing’s Tax Assets Could Trump Liabilities for Years [CFOJ]
In total, the company has tax liabilities of roughly $10.7 billion. That’s compared to $14.4 billion in deferred tax benefits, which means it ultimately won’t pay anything to the IRS unless the value of those assets erode.

U.S. Showed No Job Growth in August; Rate Stays at 9.1% [NYT]
The net addition of no jobs in the month was down sharply from a revised 85,000 gain of jobs in July, the Labor Department said Friday, and was far below a consensus forecast by economists of 60,000. The unemployment rate stayed constant at 9.1 percent in August.

Undocumented workers got billions from IRS in tax credits, audit finds [WaPo]
The Internal Revenue Service allowed undocumented workers to collect $4.2 billion in refundable tax credits last year, a new audit says, almost quadruple the sum five years ago. Although undocumented workers are not eligible for federal benefits, the report released Thursday by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration concludes that federal law is ambiguous on whether these workers qualify for a tax break based on earned income called the additional child tax credit.

D.C. Circuit: ‘The IRS is Not Special’ [TaxProf]
I won’t have it!

Salesforce Chief Calls Accounting Criticisms “Ludicrious” [SFC]
In fact, [Mark Benioff] says, Salesforce set the standard for other software-as-a-service companies that came after it.

KPMG Announces Nationwide Community Service Campaign at More Than 200 Non-Profits to Mark 9/11 Anniversary [KPMG]
As part of the “Service in Remembrance” campaign, taking place from September 6-11, thousands of KPMG partners and employees will volunteer at more than 200 non-profits across the country. “We look forward to being a part of something extraordinary, as the KPMG family proudly joins millions of Americans in support of the National Day of Service,” said KPMG LLP Chairman and CEO John Veihmeyer.