Accounting News Roundup: McGladrey Whistleblower Says Audit Sucks; EY’s New BFFs; What’s the Cloud? | 01.16.15

EU Forges Greek Bond Deal [WSJ]
European leaders said they secured a deal to reduce Greece’s debt after they labored overnight and into Thursday morning to find agreement on what they had billed as a blockbuster package to stem the Continent’s debt crisis. French President Nicolas Sarkozy said after the marathon negotiating session that the leaders had reached agreement with private banks on a “voluntary” 50% reduction of Greece’s debt in the hands of private investors. He also said they had agreed to expand the firepower of the euro zone’s bailout vehicle, known as the European Financial Stability Facility, by four- or five-fold—suggesting it could provide guarantees for around €1 trillion, or about $1.4 trillion, of bonds issued by countries such as Spain and Italy.

Ruth Madoff Says Couple Tried Suicide in 2008 [NYT]
Mrs. Madoff said in an interview with The New York Times: “I don’t know whose idea it was, but we were both so saddened by everything that had happened. It was unthinkable to me: hate mail, phone calls, lawyers.” The situation was “just horrific,” she continued. “And I thought, ‘I just can’t, I can’t take this. I don’t know how I’ll ever get through this, nor do I want to.’ So we decided to do it.”

Decade-Old Accounting Regulation Becomes Popular Target on 2012 Campaign Trail [FoxNews]
Because some people just can’t let it go.

State Tax Haul Jumps 10.8% [WSJ]
States beset by budget travails and high national unemployment notched a double-digit rise in tax revenue in the second quarter, thanks in part to recession-era tax increases and the slowly recovering economy. State tax revenue climbed 10.8% during the quarter ended in June from the year-ago period, according to a report released Wednesday by the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government at the State University of New York. Preliminary data, also not adjusted for inflation, show growth continued in July and August, though at a slower pace, the Institute said. In 41 states that have reported for those two months, tax revenue was up 6.8% compared with the same two months in 2010. The growth was led by 9.8% gains in income taxes and 3.6% in sales taxes.

Bankers, Beware of Auditors Who Blow Off Their Regulator [Francine McKenna/Bank Think]
*cough*Deloitte*cough*

On the Job, Beauty Is More Than Skin-Deep [WSJ]
Don’t be ugly.

Eight Questions the WSJ Could Have Asked KPMG China [Silicon Hutong]
Including: “What does your “risk management” department do, exactly? In layman’s terms?”

House GOP Abandons Its Proposal [WSJ]Last-minute protests from conservatives in the House created a day […]