Jan 24
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (“SNAP”) is being closely watched with high-tech audit tools. The SNAP program is commonly referred to as the food stamp program. The program began in 1939 in order to assist low income Americans during the Great Depression. The program was overhauled in 1964, 1977 and more currently in 1990s. In …
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2012/01/government-entity-uses-high-tech-audit-tools/
Jan 19
A creditor-friendly, minority view comes from a First Circuit District Court. If this rationale catches on, this could have a significant impact on bankruptcy preference litigation. Generally speaking, a “preference” under Section 547 of the Bankruptcy Code is a payment of an old (or “antecedent”) debt. The Bankruptcy Code allows a bankrupt company to recover …
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2012/01/possible-double-counting-%e2%80%9cnew-value%e2%80%9d-in-bankruptcy-preference-actions/
Jan 16
The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) has made a nuanced policy shift toward its fraud investigation settlements. Previously the SEC allowed companies to settle fraud charges by paying a fine without admitting wrongdoing. This practice has received widespread criticism despite SEC claims that it encouraged settlement and avoided expensive litigation. Going forward, the SEC will no longer allow defendants to say …
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2012/01/sec-changes-it-policy-on-fraud-settlement-language-somewhat/
Dec 30
With the holidays upon us, it is interesting to note that many Americans do not take all their annual vacation. The following statistics were reported in various conducted: The average American worker earns 14 days of vacation but will only take 12 of them (Expedia survey) The average American employee leaves 6.2 days of paid …
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2011/12/americans-unused-vacation-time-can-hurt-both-employees-and-employers/
Dec 28
The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (“PCAOB”) recently released its 2010 inspection report on Ernst & Young (“E&Y”). Upon review of 62 audits and one assignment where E&Y had a role but was not the primary auditor, the PCAOB concluded that there were problems with 13. Certain problems were of such significance that they constituted …
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2011/12/pcaob-finding-more-and-more-audit-failures/
Dec 20
This week, PWC released their Global Economic Crime Survey [Click here to see the actual survey]. No company is immune from fraud risk. Significant motivators of fraud are economic pressure, rationalization and opportunity (often described as the “Fraud Triangle”). Although the study reports that account fraud has dropped to 16% compared to 24% in 2009, …
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2011/12/fraud-on-the-rise-in-u-s-companies/
Nov 14
MF Global customers had their accounts frozen after the October 31, 2011 bankruptcy filing. The freezing occurred because, shortly after the bankruptcy filing, MF Global reported that over $600 million of what should have been client-segregated funds were missing. Like the 2008 failures of Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, and Merrill Lynch, MF Global fell shockingly …
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2011/11/the-plot-thickens-%e2%80%93-theft-at-mf-global/
Oct 31
The Office of the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Justice just issued its revised audit report 11-43 regarding conference spending. Last month, this report received substantial press attention. The revision is explained as follows: This revised report supersedes the original version of the Office of the Inspector General’s (OIG) report, “Audit of Department …
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2011/10/16-muffins-were-never-the-full-story/
Oct 31
On Friday, the White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley said that they appointed Mr. Herb Allison to investigate the Department of Energy loans that included Solyndra. Mr. Allison is a former president of Merrill Lynch and former chief executive of the insurance company TIAA-CREF. He led Fannie Mae when it was forced into a …
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2011/10/wrong-solyndra-participants-are-being-investigated/
Oct 20
On October 9, 2011, Governor Brown signed into law Senate Bill 459 regarding independent contractors. The law significantly increases the risks and penalties for misclassifying workers as independent contractors by imposing significant penalties on employers found to have engaged in a misclassification, as well as on non-lawyer advisors (like accountants) who advise an employer to …
Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2011/10/california-passes-tough-independent-contractor-law/
