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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama will name close aide Tom Donilon as his new national security adviser on Friday in a move that could have implications for the struggli

wonder if CNBC will finally cancel the ludicrous Jim "truth" Cramer campaign once this news breaks. We doubt it - ... SEC Charges Financial Media Company and Executives Involved in Accounting Fraud. Washington, D.C., Dec. 18, 2012 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged a digital financial media company and three executives for their roles in an accounting fraud that artificially inflated company revenues and misstated operating income to investors. ... The SEC alleges that TheStreet Inc., which operates the website TheStreet.com, filed false financial reports throughout 2008 by reporting revenue from fraudulent transactions at a subsidiary it had...

(CNSNews.com) - Although the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the federal government will spend $3.563 trillion in fiscal year 2012 and the White House Office of Management estimates it will be $3.795 trillion, actual withdrawals from the U.S. Treasury have already exceeded $10 trillion. In fact, as of the close of business Wednesday, withdrawals from the Treasury equaled $10,201,615,000,000 for fiscal 2012, which began on Oct. 1, 2011 and will end on Sept. 30. According to the Daily Treasury Statement--the official daily accounting sheet for the federal government—withdrawals from the Treasury exceeded $10 trillion this year on Aug. 30, when...

...OK, now I get it – we’re playing by government rules. It’s like Chicago rules only better. Here’s all you need to know: if generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) were good enough for government work, we wouldn’t have had to invent generally accepted government accounting principles (GAGAP). But you already knew that your government operates by it’s own rules, didn’t you? Anyway, in case you were wondering why you’re just now hearing that the national deficit is actually 6 times higher than previously reported, it’s because of the golden rule. Using these special government rules, we don’t have to count...

I use Quickbooks (Intuit) in my business. After learning about their decision to cut ties with the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, I must change my software provider and was looking for some recommendations from the smartest people in the world. Thanks in advance.

Accountant has embezzled Dh656, 854 by forging chequesA Tunisian accountant is facing 27 charges all related to embezzlement of approximately Dh656, 854 from her employer from 2009 to 2011, the Dubai Criminal Court heard. In addition to embezzlement, MBS, 33, is accused of forging cheques and bonds. Her employer, Ehab Ahmad Fathi, 44, businessman, Emirati, testified that he recruited MBS in his engineering office as accountant at the end of 2009. “Due to work-related problems occurred between her and another accountant in the office, the later was terminated in February 2010. I retained MBS as she holds a higher degree...

y DAVID M. WALKER, The Fiscal Times December 30, 2011 In Washington, if you want to make something public while minimizing press attention, you should release it on a Friday. The current Administration topped that by issuing the consolidated financial statements of the U.S. Government, which included the Government Accountability Office's (GAO) related independent audit report on the Friday before Christmas when the public was focused on the holiday season and key policymakers were either headed out of town or already gone. The report was simply posted on the Internet and provided to the press on request and without any...

Imagine that Uncle Sam suddenly morphed into Samuel Smith, CEO of Federal Enterprises, Inc., a conglomerate with 2.8 million employees in 2009, $2.2 trillion in revenues in 2010, and a proposed budget of $3.7 trillion for 2012. If this private company were run the way Washington works, newspaper headlines soon would scream: “MR. SMITH GOES TO ATTICA.” Washington’s routine accounting methods would trigger indictments against similarly behaved business executives. In fact, people have been convicted for operating as Washington has for decades. • Consider the Obama administration and the previous Democratic Congress’s mishandling of $500 billion in Medicare funds. If...

Professional choices for Black, Latino and American Indian college students can seem limited; the students are often more interested in popular or high-status occupations or professions they know well through their parents, family and friends. Accounting continues to lack significant racial/ethnic diversity, which is a real challenge for accounting firms as they try to relate to increasingly diverse clients. Latinos comprise only 3 percent of the CPA profession and Blacks account for only 1 percent, according to the American Institute of CPAs. Data about new hires that were CPAs shows 4 percent were Latino, 4 percent were Black, and just...

Or the Kylnvelds, Ernsts, Coopers (aka “c”). Take your pick.From the mailbag: All staff just received a voicemail from the firm stating that they will be performing a salary adjustment for all staff 2nd year through manager as they have realized the marketplace is providing different salaries than expected and would like to stay competitive. No word on amounts, one on one meetings with partners are occurring in the next week. This little Friday Surprise was brought to you by Carlos Sabater (listen to the full message below) and the salary adjustment will be for audit professionals only. We’ll definitely...

When it comes to accounting, the devil is in the details. A new Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) rule taking effect in December requires greater transparency for union pension plans and threatens to bankrupt organized labor. In order to survive, unions need a bailout and fast. This presents a political problem -- if unions go bankrupt, so do Democrats. Eleven of the top 20 largest political contributors are labor unions, and nearly all of that money is spent campaigning against Republicans. By bailing out unions, Democrats are bailing out themselves. Unions have known for years that their multiemployer pension plans...

Signing a deal that makes anyone a net profit participant in a Hollywood movie deal has always been a sucker’s bet. In an era where studios have all but eliminated first dollar gross and invited talent to share the risk and potential rewards, guess what? Net profit deals are still a sucker's bet. I was slipped a net profit statement (below) for Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix, the 2007 Warner Bros sequel. Though the film grossed $938.2 million worldwide, the accounting statement below conveys that the film is still over $167 million in the red.

Accounting basics: when a company experiences what accountants call "a material adverse impact" on its expected future earnings, and those changes affect an item that is already on the balance sheet, the company is required to record the negative impact--"to take the charge against earnings"--as soon as it knows that the change is reasonably likely to occur. This makes good accounting sense. The asset on the balance sheet is now less valuable, so you should record a charge. Otherwise, you'd be misleading investors. The Democrats, however, seem to believe that Generally Accepted Accounting Principles are some sort of conspiracy against...

* 3/17/10 at 10:58 AM Former Lehman Executives ‘Giggle’ at ‘Nonprofessionals’ Who Think Losing Billions of Dollars Is a Big Deal How do you think former Lehman Brothers executives felt about the recently released report on the firm's failure that reveals, among other things, the firm used a weird accounting practice known as "Repo 105" to move $50 billion of toxic mortgage assets off its books in order to make its balance sheet look healthier? Embarrassed? Regretful? Are they thinking to themselves Wow, in retrospect, that does look pretty bad. What were we thinking? Not really, no. This morning's Post...

One of Britain’s biggest companies could face legal action over the $700 billion collapse of Lehman Brothers, a scathing report revealed today. Accountancy giant Ernst & Young failed to challenge the book-keeping 'gimmicks' the American investment bank was using to stay afloat, according to report author Anton Velukas. He concludes that the British firm been 'negligent' and that Lehman could pursue claims against the firm for 'professional malpractice'. It is also revealed that one of the UK's leading law firms gave Lehman the green light to use the accountancy gimmick - known as 'Repo 105' - in the first place....

Next Tuesday is James Madison's birthday and National Freedom of Information Act Day, the high point of Sunshine Week celebrations of the public's right to know. Madison enshrined that right with the First Amendment's guarantee of an independent press. President Obama could use the occasion to strike a major blow for transparency with one simple directive: He could tell the Federal Housing Finance Agency to drop its nonsensical claim that it doesn't have to make public Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac documents, especially those concerning federal campaign contributions made on behalf of the two agencies in the years leading to...

Hello fellow DBA and other small business owners, I'm seeking advice about accounting software for small business operations. I've used Quickbooks for decades and I'm looking for a new application since my business has upgraded to Win-7, which is WOW btw. QB has become a tiresome and time consuming ordeal since the old school support has become a memory of the past. What app do you use and how long? Does it fare well with small DBA’? And any other input would be gratefully appreciated.

(CNSNews.com) – Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) says the Obama administration is using an accounting “gimmick” in its budget by not including the debt owed by mortgage firms Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. “The accounting gimmicks that are used today would make an Enron and WorldCom accountant blush,” Hensarling told reporters. “The American people know that under the policies of this administration—under the policies of this Congress—we are drowning in a sea of red i

Have not done this in a while and I know we all love it lol. I have been posting this every now and again, but don't believe I have seen one this year. :) Let's just have a fun post today.

Secretary Kathleen Sebelius discusses abortion coverage in the Senate health bill with a representative from BlogHer on December 21, 2009