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Footnotes: SEC Bugs CFOs; Inclusion Solutions; The Cost of Compliance | 07.10.14

Posted on by Adrienne Gonzalez

SEC’s ‘Dear CFO’ Letter on XBRL Calculation Requirements The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s latest “Letter to Industry” – aka "Dear CFO Letter" – provides a not-so-gentle reminder that issuers must include required “calculation relationships” pertaining to eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) provided in their Form 10-Q quarterly reports. [FEI]

So, this exists [Twitter]

White House Opposes House GOP’s Bonus Depreciation Bill [AWeb]

What Good Is a Crash to Prevent a Crash? Sayeth Noah Smith: "Conclusion: The Fed has raised asset prices, but there’s no sign that it has caused an irrational rise in prices." [Bloomberg View]

Amazon is getting sued because you let your kid rack up in-app charges [Reuters]

Regulatory compliance costs American households $15,000 EACH [The Economist]

You gotta play to #win #or #something [Twitter]

How Gowex CEO Went From Defiant to Disgraced in Five Days [Bloomberg]

The little secrets of our happiness: How finding a fiver in your pocket or sleeping on fresh bed sheets are the things that put us in a good mood OMG that's all it takes? Here I thought it was alcohol and yelling at people that were the key to happiness. [Daily Mail]

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Accountants Can Kick a Politician’s Butt?

Figuratively, of course.
Denver Post:

Perlmutter, a Democrat from Golden, had introduced an amendment that would allow regulators, if they ever faced another economic crisis like the one last fall, to tinker with standard accounting rules that many believe exacerbated the crash.
But accountants, despite their milquetoast image, are not to be messed with lightly. An army of pinstriped lobbyists had been working committee Democrats for two days, and by just after 2 p.m. Wednesday, they forced Perlmutter to accept a compromise that gutted the amendment.
“Basically, the accountants were kicking my butt,” Perlmutter conceded.

Of course. Should of known it was lobbyists and not an army of abacus-wielding Bob Herz fanboys.

Guilty Madoff CFO Update

It’s offish. DiPascali pleaded guilty to all ten counts against him and faces 125 years in prison, just quarter century short of Boss Ponz. However, because he is cooperating with the U.S. Attorney, DiPascali may be lucky enough to get a sentence under the century mark.
The bright side for Frank DiPascali is that he gets to spend his last few days as a free man courtesy of a very nice sister who put up her house for the $2.5 million bond. Sentencing is tentatively set for May 2010.
DiPascali was the man that many Madoff investors corresponded with directly so it’s clear to us that he was LYING A LOT.
Per the WSJ:

The former chief financial officer for Bernard Madoff says he helped the disgraced financier and others “carry out a fraud that hurt thousands of people”…Mr. DiPascali said at the plea hearing that the transactions were “all fake. It was all fictitious. It was wrong, and I knew it was wrong at the time.”

Okay then, nothing really new there but we will be waiting patiently to hear the other names. Next bean counter up for book throwing is David Friehling, who was kind enough to rubber stamp the Madoff financial statements for around $14k a month. Bright side for Friehling is that he’s looking at 50% less time in jail then Bernie.

Madoff Auditor to Plead Guilty Next Week

Reuters:

“The government anticipates that, at the pretrial conference scheduled for Nov. 3, 2009 … David G. Friehling, the defendant, will plead guilty pursuant to a cooperation agreement with the Government,” prosecutors said in a letter to the judge handling the case in Manhattan federal court.

According to the WSJ, “Mr. Friehling is expected to plead guilty to are securities fraud, investment advisor fraud, obstructing or impeding the administration of Internal Revenue laws, and four counts of making false filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.” Since he’s flipping, Friehling will likely not face the maximum sentence of 108 years but he still probably shouldn’t make any long term plans.
Friehling will be third person related to the Madoff scheme to plead guilty and this will no doubt be the last time that we hear about an auditor admitting guilt.
Earlier: Judge, Possibly Fearing a TP’d House, Denies Bail for Madoff CFO