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ANR: Madoff’s Suggestion for Improving Audits; More PCAOB-China Progress in the Works?; Old Public Accounting Ideas That Don’t Work | 06.06.13

Madoff’s 5 best ideas to make markets fair [MW]
Includes: "Accounting firms should audit other accounting firms. — Accounting firms should be enlisted to check on their peers, which would make sure audits have been conducted properly, suggested Madoff. 'But these firms use the excuse of competition. If accounting firms keep each other in check, a proper audit would uncover most of the fraud that exists — including my own fraud.' "

What Enron and the IRS Have in Common [WSJ via Tony Catanach]
Headed up by white guys with thinning hair?

The end game [China Accounting Blog]
Professor Paul Gillis predicts that the SEC will get the workpapers they want from the Big 4's Chinese affiliates and the PCAOB will be allowed to perform joint inspections after some U.S.-China meetings in July

Tax lobbyists work to get on ‘The List’ [The Hill]

Lobbyists all over Washington are working furiously to get their tax breaks on a special list being kept by Congress’s top tax-writers. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) plan to rebuild the tax code from scratch, lowering rates and eliminating breaks in the process. Camp described it in recent weeks as a “blank sheet” approach to tax reform, while Baucus said last year that every tax break “needs to prove it has a tangible benefit to our economy or society.” “If not, it doesn’t belong in the tax code,” the Montana Democrat argued.

A dozen public accounting ideas that don’t work anymore [CPA Insider]
A lot of no brainers here, including face time and "hours-based measures" but they all bear repeating.

 
Accountant admits role in scamming elderly client [QCT]
Man, this guy really deserves a kick in the shins.
 
What Changes in the Mortgage Deduction Would Mean for Home Prices [TaxVox, Study]
The study by Ben Harris found that completely eliminating the MID would reduce home values by an average of 11.8% for the 23 cities studied. Read the whole paper here.
 
House lawmakers to grill IRS’s ‘Spock’ over conference spending [The Hill]
Faris Fink, the Internal Revenue Service official who played Spock in a now infamous “Star Trek” parody, will testify before Congress on Thursday as lawmakers probe excessive spending at the tax agency's employee conferences.

Beswick: “Change fatigue” a barrier to IFRS in U.S. [JofA]
[SEC Chief Accountant Paul] Beswick said that new SEC Chairman Mary Jo White is working through other priorities such as money market fund reform, cross-border filings, and staffing at the SEC. He also said White’s initial efforts should not be taken as a sign of whether IFRS is a priority for the SEC. Beswick said convergence is important, but said financial statement preparers report “change fatigue” in the financial reporting system as they deal with the many fundamental standards changes FASB already is issuing.

Here's What Daft Punk Look Like Without Their Helmets [Gawker]
FYI.

 

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