China’s richest man, an electronics tycoon worth more than £4 billion, has disappeared, amid reports that he is under investigation for alleged insider trading.

Huang Guangyu, 39, who turned a single street stall selling radios and watches into China’s largest electrical appliance chain, has not been heard of for several days, according to his company. Mr Huang vanished last Wednesday and the absence of information about his fate highlights the opacity of China’s justice system and the secrecy with which the …

(from left) Timothy Geithner, treasury secretary;

Christina Romer, chair of his Council of Economic Advisers;

Lawrence Summers, National Economic Council director;

Melody C. Barnes, Director of the Domestic Policy Council

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It seems retailers, banks and insurance companies may end up gaining more than their consumers from yesterday’s VAT cut announced in the pre-Budget report, tax experts said.The cut in VAT from 17.5% to 15% was one of the centrepieces in Chancellor Alistair Darling’s statement, a £12bn boost for the British economy aimed at reviving consumer spending.

But Richard Baxter, head of indirect taxes at Alvarez & Marsal Taxand, said: ‘The fiscal stimulus but it remains to be seen how it will …

NBC News reports Obama will nominate: Tim Geithner.

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Ernst & Young ‘recklessly disregarded’ the true state of Lehman Brothers’ finances in a bid to protect its continued fees, claims San Mateo County Investment Pool, a Californian county suing E&Y for its role in the biggest corporate bankruptcy in US history.

The local government investment pool took a $150m hit when Lehman failed, has named the accountancy giant and a gaggle Lehman executives in a lawsuit filed last week.

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Bill enjoys writing haiku as a release from the pressures of the bankruptcy law world.  In keeping with the tradition of the great zen bankruptcy masters, please feel free to add to the chain by writing your own haiku in the comments section below.

****************

To write all weekend

But convey nothing. ‘Tis my

Disclosure statement

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Jock Lennox, who lost to Mark Otty in the race to become Ernst & Young chairman in 2005, has announced his retirement from the Big Four firm.

Lennox, who was 49 when he ran for the chairmanship, has already lined up a role as a non-exec role at Oxford Instruments.

The retirement will begin at the end of March 2009

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Deutsche Bank AG has been named in an unsealed indictment against a lawyer trained in accounting, as the unnamed foreign bank reportedly playing a key role in a fraudulent tax shelter.

Federal prosecutors in the US have indicted John Ohle, having accused him of advertising questionable tax shelters with spurious names such as that of ‘The Simpsons’ lead character; Homer, thus helping wealthy Americans avoid paying tax in excess of $103m (£68.5m) in taxes.

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One day in microeconomics, the professor was writing up the typical “underlying assumptions” in preparation to explain a new model. I turned to my friend and asked, “What would Economics be without assumptions?” He thought for a moment, then replied, “Accounting.”

An Indian Accountant’s Theory of Reincarnation – if you are a good accountant, virtuous accountant, then you are reborn as an engineer. But if you are evil, wicked accountant, you are reborn as a psychologist.

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