Ernst & Young gets settlement deal of the decade
E&Y just settled the Lehman Brothers class action against them for $99 million. It made little news. The 2008 Lehman Brothers bankruptcy was at least partially caused by accounting malfeasance....
View ArticleUpdate your buy-sell agreement as part of your end-of-year duties
Buy-sell agreements are an important business continuity tool that can assist a business in difficult transition times. Usually, the buy-sell agreement either contains a formula, or requires an annual...
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Use an independent service to help protect against California’s new $10,000...
Employees have protection as whistleblowers from a wide variety of federal and state laws. Effective January 1, 2014, California added SB 486 to this list of legal protections. The new California law...
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An example of a proper expert exclusion under Daubert
In an unpublished opinion in re: Craig Moore vs. International Paint, L.L.C., (No. 13-30281, November 15, 2013) the Fifth Circuit upheld the District Court’s exclusion of an expert witness and the...
View ArticleEstate tax penalty occurs because of a lack of a professional appraisal
In Estate of Helen P. Richmond et al. vs. vs. Commissioner T.C. Memo. 2014-26, February 11, 2014, the Tax Court addressed reasonably straightforward estate tax valuation questions in a reasonably...
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Severance payments remain FICA taxable
On March 25, the U.S Supreme Court ruled in favor of the IRS over whether certain severance compensation is subject to payroll taxes. My prior blog post on this Sixth Circuit case is here. The Supreme...
View ArticleDisgorgement remedy potentially broadened by Second Circuit
In a sharply-divided 2-1 vote, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals found that a civil disgorgement amount can exceed the profit that the defendant received. Although the case facts and Opinion directly...
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Dodd-Frank Whistleblowers must file their complaint with the SEC
In a disappointing ruling, the Fifth Circuit concluded in Asadi v. G.E. Energy (No. 12-20522) that a whistleblower who does not file a complaint with the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) is not a...
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Most SEC Whistleblowers are Waiting, Probably for Good Reason
In a report required by Dodd-Frank, the Securities Exchange Commission issued its 2013 (fiscal year ended September 30) annual report. This is second full year report, thus allowing easy comparisons. A...
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Goodwill accounting simplified for private businesses
Last week, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) approved two exceptions in Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) for private companies. Proponents of simplified accounting rules...
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