NYSSCPA Members in the News

Tracey Niemotko (Mid-Hudson)
The Mount’s Niemotko Joins NYS Society of Certified Public Accountants Board
Mount Saint Mary College
Tracey Niemotko, professor of accounting and chair of Mount Saint Mary College’s School of Business, was recently elected to The New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants Board of Directors as a Chapter Representative. Niemotko, who earned accounting and Juris Doctor degrees from Fordham University, is a certified public accountant and a certified fraud examiner.

Other Accounting and Finance News

New York City Gives Tax Credits to Dead People and Ineligible Corporations
Wall Street Journal
New York City failed to collect nearly $60 million in tax revenue because the Department of Finance improperly awarded tax credits to dead people and corporations, an audit by the city comptroller released Thursday found. Comptroller Scott Stringer accused the Department of Finance, the agency responsible for collecting taxes, of failing to take the most basic steps to ensure that tax credits intended for seniors were going to people who were alive, describing the agency as “asleep at the wheel.”

Justice Department Asks Judge To Force Facebook To Turn Over Tax Documents
Forbes
The U.S. Department of Justice took the unusual step Wednesday of turning to a judge to help resolve a years-long dispute between Facebook FB +0.08% and the IRS over the company’s taxes. In a petition filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, lawyers for the DOJ asked a judge to grant an order to force Facebook to respond to a series of summonses issued by an IRS agent investigating the company’s use of foreign subsidiaries to transfer intellectual property assets.

IRS Sets Money Market Fund Rules Loose
Law360
After more than two years stewing, the IRS issued its final rules on tax treatment for gains and losses in money market funds Thursday, as part of multiyear efforts to reform rules and tax treatment for the funds. The IRS plans to publish the rules in Friday’s Federal Register. The new guidelines are a response to the rules the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved in 2014, which are designed to curb investor runs on institutional money market funds.

Bankruptcy Legislation for Big Banks Gains Steam
Wall Street Journal
Legislation to make the bankruptcy of a big bank more feasible is gaining steam on Capitol Hill, a development that could help the largest U.S. financial firms counter criticism that they remain “too big to fail” without a taxpayer bailout. Changes to the bankruptcy code were included in a financial-services budget bill the House passed Thursday, along with other regulatory provisions such as congressional oversight of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s budget.

Treasuries Fall Before Jobs Data on Signs of Labor-Market Health
Bloomberg
Treasuries fell, with benchmark 10-year notes halting a four-day rally, as data signaled job-market resilience before the Labor Department releases its June payroll figures on Friday. Yields rose as reports showed applications for unemployment benefits fell to the lowest since April and private payrolls rose more than forecast.

More Than Ever, Banks Play the Role of Government Law-Enforcement Agents
Wall Street Journal
When a Chinese businessman was blocked from the U.S. financial system in 2009 for suspected missile-part sales to Iran, he renamed his companies, adjusted his address and kept sending wire transfers through New York, according to court documents. Several New York banks noticed the similarities with banned firms, filing more than 40 reports with the government flagging the transactions as suspicious.

Who Benefits From the Income Tax Credit?
New York Times
Peter D. Salins doesn’t mention crucial details showing that the earned-income tax credit is a complement to higher wages, not a substitute. Even in less expensive regions of the country, a single worker will soon need $15 an hour to cover the basics, and workers in costlier regions or with children will require even more.

IFAC Pushes to Build Accounting Profession in Developing World
Accounting Today
The International Federation of Accountants has been trying to build the reach and influence of the accounting profession in emerging markets in Africa, Asia and other parts of the world. “Capacity building has been an increased focus for us over the past four or five years, to strengthen the profession in areas where it is still emerging and to actually establish the profession in countries where there’s really not a formal profession of any kind,” said IFAC CFO Russell Guthrie during an interview Tuesday.

Sharp declines in crude drag U.S. stocks lower, ahead of jobs report
Investing.com
U.S. stocks were mixed on Thursday, ahead of the release of a critical monthly jobs report, as crude futures plunged to near two-month lows dragging down equities on the major indices. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 22.74 or 0.13% to 17,895.88, while the S&P 500 Composite index dropped 1.83 or 0.09% to 2,097.90, erasing some gains from the Post-Brexit rally.

Treasury to Auction $125 Billion in Debt
Wall Street Journal
The Treasury Department plans to sell $125 billion in securities next week. Details of the auctions, all with minimum denominations of $100: $32 billion in six-month bills, dated July 14, 2016, and maturing Jan. 12, 2017.