Accounting and Financial News Stories

More Retailers to Stay Closed on Thanksgiving
CPA Practice Advisor
The Black Friday creep that had retailers opening on the day before -- Thanksgiving -- seems to be swinging in the other direction. Already this year, dozens of retailers have announced that they will be closed on Thanksgiving. The list of chains grows daily and already includes DSW, Lowe's, Nordstrom, PetSmart and Pier 1 Imports. The backlash began in the past year or two among some consumers who objected to retailers encroaching on a day that most regard as a time to be with friends and family.

Is Wall Street worth the tax breaks?
Crain’s New York Business
Two years ago, Mayor Bill de Blasio was tested by Wall Street. Bank of New York Mellon was selling its lower Manhattan tower and entertaining an offer to move its headquarters and 850 employees to New Jersey, which was offering generous tax breaks. To his credit, the mayor refused to play a game of tax-break chicken and BNY Mellon ultimately decided to stay downtown. But de Blasio is sure to be tested by Wall Street again in the years to come as cost-conscious banks export more jobs across the Hudson, or farther afield to Salt Lake City, Jacksonville, Fla., and elsewhere.

Is High-Deductible Health Insurance Worth the Risk?
New York Times
As companies push workers to pay more for their medical care, millions of employees are facing a tough decision, choosing between high premiums and high deductibles. The choice is this: Pay more every month for peace of mind later, or pay less and run the risk of having higher out-of-pocket costs down the line. And increasingly, people are doing the math and deciding that the risk is worth it — leaving them responsible for thousands of dollars in medical bills and forcing them to make hard decisions about whether some care is worth it.

Scarred by Brexit, Some Foreign Funds Avoid U.S. Stocks Ahead of Election
Wall Street Journal
Some foreign investors are ignoring polls predicting a Hillary Clinton election win and staying out of U.S. equities, even as they believe that this result would be better for markets. That caution has been shaped by the referendum on Brexit, when polls and bookies predicted the British would vote to stay in the European Union and markets tanked when they chose to leave. Some foreign fund managers say they believe that a Donald Trump victory will hurt markets, given what they say is a lack of clarity in the Republican nominee’s policies and his anti-trade rhetoric.

New Video Game Helps With CPA Exam Review Prep
CPA Practice Advisor
A new interactive game, “Accounting for Empires,” gives CPA applicants a supplementary study tool as part of Becker’s CPA Exam Review course. Becker Professional Education is a provider of professional education and a part of DeVry Education Group. Available through Apple and Android app stores for use on smart phones and tablets, the game uses correct answers to multiple-choice questions and task-based simulations to allow users to “build” and enhance their empire by earning gold and knowledge in hopes of amassing the ultimate CPA empire, and ultimately passing the exam.

Feds probe big banks for interest rate swap rigging
New York Post
Federal regulators are probing Wall Street banks for rigging the $33 trillion interest rate swaps market. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is “conducting an investigation into the trading and clearing” of the instruments at several investment banks, according to a regulatory filing by Citigroup. Interest rate swaps are a liquid derivative used by banks to manage how much interest they pay to borrowers. Citi, run by Chief Executive Michael Corbat, said it’s cooperating with the probe.

PwC Audit Partner Charged in Audits of VC Fund
Accounting Today
The Securities and Exchange Commission has initiated proceedings against an audit partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers accusing him of not doing enough to audit a venture capital fund whose manager was stealing money. Investment adviser G. Steven Burrill settled a case in March with the SEC that found he spent money he took from his VC fund, Burrill Life Sciences Capital Fund III, to keep his other businesses afloat, travel on family vacations and pay other unauthorized personal expenses.

J.P. Morgan Withheld Payment From Tech Client, Lawsuit Alleges
Wall Street Journal
J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. allegedly withheld a $12 million payment to Good Technology Inc. last year, worsening a cash shortage that forced the mobile-security company into a sale brokered by the bank, according to newly public claims in a continuing legal dispute. The new details allege that the bank, in its capacity as a customer of Good Technology, hastened the company’s demise, even while the bank was advising it on a sale. The allegations were unsealed Friday as part of a continuing lawsuit in Delaware court.