The bright side for Phil Mickelson blowing the U.S. Open again is that he pays far less in taxes. [Forbes]

Vancouver’s Breakwater to Join Grant Thornton LLP [NP]

The Marketplace Fairness Act is back in the news again, as The Hill reports that some Republicans -- Texas Senator Ted Cruz to be precise -- are saying that a generational gap is largely the reason that younger GOP Senators opposed the bill. Never mind that four out of the five oldest GOP Senators voted against the MFA.

And if that wasn't bad enough, the report caught this little gem from Congressman Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) who just couldn't seem to help himself from going full-on Alex Jones:

“I don’t trust the taxing authorities that we have in this country,” DeSantis said. “And if I don’t trust Lois Lerner and the federal Internal Revenue Service, why on Earth would I want to subject Florida businesses to revenue collectors in California or Illinois?”

Deloitte has agreed to a $10 million fine and a one-year ban from advising banks chartered in New York as part of a settlement with state officials, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo‘s administration announced on Tuesday. The move, a stunning blow to the consulting arm of the accounting giant, stemmed from what state authorities called “misconduct, violations of law, and lack of autonomy” during its work for Standard Chartered, a British bank accused of illicitly transferring billions of dollars on behalf of Iran. Although the bank hired Deloitte to spot suspicious money transfers routed through its New York branches, state authorities said, the consultant instead helped the bank escape regulatory scrutiny.

Late yesterday, Scott London appeared in court to be arraigned on charges of securities fraud and afterwards he gave an interview to CNBC.

In that interview ScoLo reiterated his statement that he had never passed material non-public information to a golfing buddy -- or anyone else for that matter -- prior to this incident.

"I had a clean record," he told Jane Wells. London also claims that he didn't know that his watch guy, Bryan Shaw, was making so much money on his trades; he just figured it was a couple hundred grand not over a million.

And then in true auditor fashion, London orally itemized the kickbacks he received from Shaw, coming up with a figure of about $70,000. Apparently he's turned everything over, although the jewelry was in his car.

Perhaps most importantly, when asked about the future, Scottie admits that he's been thinking about that:

London could face 20 years in prison, but he is hoping his guilty plea will lead to leniency. With two kids bound for college, he said he's saved some money but will need to eventually go back to work. "I'm only 50," he said, "I'll wait on tables, I'll do whatever it takes." 

Given the circumstances, I'd say this is a good option for SL, although there are a number of questions that immediately come to mind:

• Does Scott go high-end with a place like Morton's or will he be forced to slum it at Applebee's? If the latter, what kind of flair can we expect?
• What is his relevant experience? If he's never done service industry work before, he'll be bussing tables for a least a couple months.
• Should former KPMG colleagues be seated in Scott's section and he's forced to wait on them, how does he handle getting stiffed with a snide note on the check -- "Here's a tip: Don't trade client info for Springsteen tickets!"? Take the high road? Or does he confront them in the parking lot, telling them that ordering two turkey clubs, WATER, and no appetizers or dessert is just plain chintzy, even by KPMG standards? 

These questions and others are worth discussing. Let's get this London comeback underway.

Former KPMG Partner Scott London: I Got About $70,000 in Kickbacks [CNBC]
"I know I betrayed them," London said in an exclusive interview with CNBC outside of court. London did not deny any of the charges that federal authorities have laid out against him. But he insisted this is the only time in his career he ever broke the law. "I had a clean record," he said. London said he believes the case began after he talked about work during "discussions at dinner and so forth" with his former friend and golfing buddy Bryan Shaw. "I might say something casual about a certain client, and the individual may have traded on that, unbeknownst to me." Later, he did become aware Shaw was trading on his tips, and London said he provided more information, eventually accepting $50,000 in cash, jewelry and a Rolex watch in exchange, which he said totaled about $70,000.

Why Citi wants to rack up U.S. taxes [Reuters]
The bank is not feeling generous — it is just looking to use up $55 billion of tax credits and deductions, known as deferred tax assets, as of the end of March.

Finra Regulator Resigns After 1993 Bingo Fraud Is Leaked [Bloomberg]
A top official for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority resigned after the agency was informed he was indicted for felony theft and charitable bingo fraud in 1993, the year he joined the agency. Mitchell C. Atkins, a senior vice president who managed Finra’s work in 11 states, quit after spending 20 years with the brokerage industry self-regulator and its predecessor. A Wisconsin broker who was the target of enforcement actions overseen by Atkins wrote Finra about the indictment on May 21. 

Brookfield accounting firm Kolb+Co. to merge into Rockford, Ill.-based Sikich [MJS]
Welcome to Wisconsin, Sikich.

Wash. DUI suspect hands cops a beer, claims to be gov't assassin [KATU]
Arriving at the scene, officers spotted the man walking out of the store toward his car with a can of beer in his hand. Several witnesses told police they had seen the man drive into the parking lot and became concerned when they saw how drunk he appeared to be. But when officers asked the man for his driver's license, he said he didn't have to cooperate in any way and then handed the officers the can of beer, Lowery said. He said officers were somewhat surprised by that.

Here's the opening paragraph from a press release released by Stein Mart today:

Stein Mart, Inc. (Nasdaq:SMRT) today announced that in connection with a review of the Company's auditor relationship, on June 6, 2013, a request for proposal was sent to several national accounting firms, including PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC). On June 11, 2013, PwC informed the Company that it was declining to stand for re-election at the Company's Annual Meeting of Shareholders and that, accordingly, the auditor-client relationship between PwC and the Company was terminated as of that date. 

During the fiscal years ended February 2, 2013 and January 28, 2012 and through June 11, 2013, the Company had reportable events related to material weaknesses in the Company’s internal control over financial reporting. The material weaknesses identified in the Form 10-Ks and Form 10-Q related to the control environment for the level of information and communication between the finance department and other department functions and the Company not having designed effective controls related to 1)( i) the finance department monitoring and evaluating the appropriate accounting for markdowns, and (ii) the finance and merchandising departments effectively communicating so that the finance department could develop appropriate accounting policies relative to markdowns, 2) financial management adequately validating the assertions made by real estate operations management regarding the future value of leasehold improvements made by the Company, 3) financial management effectively communicating with human resources personnel to fully understand the Company’s vacation policy, 4) the indirect cost capitalization adjustment in interim periods, 5) (i) information technology personnel effectively communicating the nature of certain software expenditures to the finance department resulting in the amortization of software costs over an improper period and (ii) financial management effectively communicating with information technology personnel to timely identify and remove retired software assets from the accounting records, 6) the IT department effectively communicating system incidents to the appropriate personnel, 7) the appropriate identification of errors in and the review of credit card receivable reconciliations by management, and 8) the review of the reconciliation of the retail stock ledger (RSL) and Perpetual System inventory balances.