This story was included in yesterday’s news brief however comments are closed on those by default and we felt readers may have something to say about this topic.

New York Times has published a guest essay penned by Sherron Watkins and Cynthia Cooper, TIME’s 2002 Persons of the Year and, most notably, the people who have given audit professors teaching material for the next several decades. Sherron was Vice President of Corporate Development at Enron while Cynthia was Vice President of Internal Audit at WorldCom. Both saw something and said something, kicking off a chain of events that led to the biggest corporate accounting scandal of the 21st century so far, bringing the Big 5 audit firms down to just four, and creating exceedingly large piles of SOX compliance work in need of doing ever since. You all know the story.

In “We Exposed Fraud at Enron and WorldCom. Don’t Let History Repeat Itself.” they write [any bold emphasis ours]:

More than two decades ago we blew the whistle at Enron and WorldCom, industry giants whose spectacular falls revealed two of the largest accounting fraud scandals in American history. We know the destruction that fraud causes. We lived through it. We witnessed how unchecked power, collusion at the highest levels and manipulated financial statements can bring down iconic companies, destabilize markets and vaporize billions of dollars and thousands of jobs overnight.

That’s why we are raising our voices now against a proposal by Republican lawmakers to eliminate the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, a watchdog that Congress created in the wake of those scandals to protect against accounting fraud and audit failure. The rollback of this hard-won safeguard would unleash additional risk into this highly uncertain economic environment and make the next corporate disaster more likely.

Don’t worry, ladies. The next scandal will involve private equity and/or offshoring and, if it still exists when it happens, the PCAOB will take action well after the damage is done. Mark our words.

The collapse of Enron and WorldCom exposed a broken system for verifying financial honesty. Before the P.C.A.O.B., accounting firms essentially policed themselves. That system failed in part because they often earned far more money selling advice to the same clients than they did from auditing. As a result, firms were sometimes incentivized to go easy on the auditing side — by reducing testing, lowering standards or putting more junior staff members on complex audits, for example — to secure their more lucrative consulting business. This conflict of interest, combined with auditing methods of the time that weren’t strong enough to uncover elaborate, high-level fraud schemes, created an environment that allowed enormous deceptions to go unnoticed.

Side note: NYT’s style guide for periods in acronyms is obnoxious. That is all.

The accounting oversight board ushered in rigorous inspections, enhanced enforcement and an improvement in audit quality that the profession badly needed. Successive Securities and Exchange Commission chairs from both parties have affirmed the board’s value as a vital post-crisis innovation: Thanks to its work, audits today are more consistent, more credible and more accountable, helping to uncover deficiencies that might otherwise fester. The board’s continued vigilance is crucial, as many of the systemic risks that necessitated its creation — such as the inherently conflicted relationship between auditors and their clients and the temptation of fraud — still endure. Every organization has room to improve, but any needed changes can be addressed within the current framework.

Their strongest argument is that the PCAOB’s independence from the SEC is “one of the board’s greatest strengths,” explaining to the layman how the SEC has a lot of non-audit business on its plate (“a sprawling agenda”) while the PCAOB “has one mission: ensuring high-quality audits.”

That laser focus is critical, and it’s only possible because of the board’s operational independence.

In the last few years, the PCAOB’s “laser focus” has been on answer sharing at audit firms in other countries. Their largest fine to date — $25 million — was given to KPMG Netherlands after they found out staff were sharing answer keys for internal training. They’ve levied several more against other international firms, most notably hitting PwC Canada despite the fact the firm scored flawless, zero deficiency PCAOB inspections during the period they were fined for. PwC Canada gets extra efficiency points from us for maintaining answers on shared drives. Great collaboration there, you guys.

The PCAOB’s most recent cheating fine was handed out to PwC Israel — the 10th firm to be sanctioned by the PCAOB for “improper answer sharing” since 2021 — who also had zero Part 1.A deficiencies (the serious kind) at the time their staff were passing around answers to mandatory internal learning so they could check those particular boxes and get back to checking the boxes that really matter.

According to Cornerstone Research’s 2024 enforcement review [PDF], the PCAOB has levied $94 million in total penalties since its inception, 38% of it ($35.7 million) last year alone. Again, the largest chunk of that has been against foreign firms and for sharing answers on open book tests and training.

Another point made by the whistleblowers in their op-ed is that closing shop on the PCAOB wouldn’t actually save taxpayer money as some have said because the PCAOB gets its money from public companies and broker-dealers. When the SEC approved their 2025 budget of $399.7 million late last year, they explained in a news release that the accounting support fee totals $374.9 million, of which $346.1 million will be assessed on public company issuers and $28.8 million will be assessed on registered broker-dealers. Indeed that’s valid and if anything, folding up the PCAOB would only add to the SEC’s budget.

Do we need independent audit enforcement? I don’t see many reasonable people making a valid argument that we don’t. What I do see is more than just gung-ho libertarians suggesting the regulator we have isn’t doing the job they were created for. See also this May 27 post from Bloomberg Tax: US Audit Board Urged to Reform as Congress Weighs Its Future.

Further reading from Going Concern:

• Senators Yell at the PCAOB Because BDO’s Auditing Sucks (October 2024)
• The PCAOB Made Its Own Quality Control Standard and It Took Only 22 Years (May 2024)
• Upcoming Inspection Report Deficiencies Are ‘Completely Unacceptable,’ Writes PCAOB Chair in Venomous Op-Ed (July 2023)

The post Enron and WorldCom Whistleblowers Plead Their Case to Save the PCAOB appeared first on Going Concern.

The post Top Remote Tax and Accounting Candidates of the Week | May 29, 2025 appeared first on Going Concern.

*In case it isn’t abundantly clear, she didn’t actually tell you to get CPA tattooed on your forehead as that would be ridiculous. Obviously.

Susan S. Coffey, CPA, CGMA, CEO–Public Accounting at the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants has penned a little something for Journal of Accountancy worth our full attention.

In “Display that CPA” she writes:

If you possess the skill, smarts, and persistence to become a licensed CPA, that should be something to celebrate and declare in your business dealings.

The CPA license is a powerful, proven differentiator — a mark of public trust, professional rigor, and long-term career value.

In every business area in which CPAs work, including consulting and advisory, maintaining your CPA license signals an elite level of accountability, competency, integrity, and objectivity.

When trust is scarce, these qualities aren’t just valuable — they’re essential.

The CPA grants the profession the ability to provide audit and attest services. In every other service area, we work with market permission. CPA licensure helped build that market permission. And that permission equates to tremendous value for us as individuals, for the businesses we work in and serve clients in, and for the CPA profession.

If you’re a time traveler from the past visiting the 2020s (hi!) you may be wondering why this is even a thing that needs to be said. Here you go:

Here’s what Sue had to say about it:

Over time, we’ve heard reports that some accounting firms, most recently those with private-equity backing, are recommending that partners and employees remove “CPA” from their public profiles. I think this is a mistake. It is a detriment to our value and public standing because it negates the hard work we’ve done to build trust and respect and earn recognition for the CPA.

As we pointed out the last time we discussed this hot trend sweeping public accounting, CPA erasure isn’t exactly a new phenomenon. Some firms have had this policy for years — going back decades even — but it is becoming more common at firms with PE in the mix and PE is in an awful lot of mix these days. More concerning, not only are firms telling staff to take CPA off their email signatures, there are reports they don’t want it on your LinkedIn profile either. At a time when interest in pursuing the CPA is at scary lows, the last thing the profession needs is to make that hard-earned credential an unutterable word. Why go through all that if you can’t flex it?

So she’s right you know. It’s nice to see someone at the top pass the message down to the serfs below.

Say it loud, say it proud, say it on your Tinder profile so you can get more tail.

The post AICPA Bigwig Says Go Ahead and Get ‘CPA’ Tattooed on Your Forehead, You Earned It appeared first on Going Concern.

Have you seen this article in The Telegraph today?

The headline gives away the gist of the 1,300 words that followed it but for funsies let’s summarize the main points, namely the three instances of “bullshit.” Note they use quotes around the word — presumably someone they spoke to specifically used that word to describe Big 4 consulting — but don’t attribute it to one source of the several they spoke to.

Working as an auditor at one of Britain’s top accounting firms was once among the most prestigious jobs in the City [Ed. note: the City means London].

In return for scrutinising the accounts of major companies to spot any potential fraud or irregularities, accountants were rewarded with good pay, long-term stability and steady progression.

But today, jobs at the leading firms are viewed differently. Instead, in the words of one former “big four” consultant, the roles are now about “making money from bulls–t by pretending to be an expert in front of large corporate clients”.

Why lead with auditors and immediately pivot to consulting? Why drag audit into this? Next…

“It’s just educated people making PowerPoint slides of nonsense for companies,” one former big four consultant says. “People would be working 13 hours a day to just stay slightly ahead of their clients.”

He says meetings could be painful. “We famously did one project on new laws facing the car industry. The whole time we were going: ‘What are we doing?’ We just really didn’t have a clue.

“In the final showdown meeting with the client, we were just rambling off laws, and the clients kept saying, ‘Oh yeah we know that one.’ We’d basically spent hours trying to do this project and the client kept telling us, ‘Oh yeah, we knew about that’.

“But there was this one really obscure law I’d found from Arizona,” the former consultant says. “I’d found it after hours of searching and we mentioned that one, and the client said, ‘Oh we haven’t heard about that one yet’.”

For those still in the industry, it is an increasingly rare occurrence. They say it is becoming more difficult for consultants to outsmart their clients, threatening to call time on the “bulls–t jobs” boom.

Well they’re correct the boom appears to be over. The most recent boom came about thanks to money printers around the world going brrrr when the events of early 2020 brought everything to a screeching halt and when that dried up, the work seemed to dry up just as quickly. Firms have been struggling for the last few years to get the billing engine fired up again and last year’s revenue reports across Big 4 all showed paltry growth, with the exception of Middle East work for firms with robust practices there. To the surprise of everyone, it was KPMG that came closest to hitting nearly double-digit growth in one service line (Tax and Legal at 9.9%, so close!) while everyone else reported low-to-mid single digits in all service lines across the board.

For at least two years in a row we’ve heard about slow demand in consulting, making us wonder if EY’s failed Project Everest split was actually some kind of curse that came about because leadership forgot to knock on wood when they were rubbing their palms together in anticipation of buckets of cash they’d make by separating consulting from audit. By the way, EY just delayed consulting start dates for the third year in a row.

Alright, here’s the last bullshit from Telegraph:

Insiders at the accountancy firms may agree that their ranks are filled with nonsense roles. But, for now at least, the big four are likely to keep the “bulls–t jobs” boom going for as long as possible.

Um. There’s no doubt Big 4 are trying to keep the overpriced PowerPoint slides scheme going, the “boom” is long gone. For now. There are plenty of billable hours to be generated (no pun) by “AI transformation,” something firms are well aware of and already on top of.

But whatever. See the rest for yourself here:

How a ‘bulls–t jobs’ boom captured the Big Four accountants [Telegraph]

The post So I Guess We’re Just Talking Mad Sh*t About Big 4 Consulting Now appeared first on Going Concern.

Consulting

Consultants are Taking Over the World’s Corner Offices [Bloomberg]
Leaders whose backgrounds fit the bill, increasingly, are coming from the ranks of professional services firms — and not just from McKinsey & Co., which has reliably churned out corporate chiefs for decades. What’s behind this shift? One catalyst is the move by the Big Four accounting firms beyond auditing into strategy and execution. As they’ve expanded their scope, these firms have snatched up more of the best and brightest undergrads and MBAs. Once there, they’re trained in technical know-how, problem-solving and softer skills, while acquiring expertise across entire industries rather than at just one company. And though consultants have a reputation for parachuting in to deliver a buzzword-laden strategic vision, they also stick around to do the hard work of installing new technology and processes to improve their clients’ business.

Private Equity

NY private equity drives ‘top 50’ accounting firm roll-up, based in Meridian [BoiseDev]
With money from a New York private equity firm, a raft of accounting firms across Idaho and the country have merged to form a mega firm. The new firm, using the name Sorren, combines more than a dozen accounting firms, including Meridian’s Harris CPAs, Boise-based Chigbrow Ryan Murata, and Medford-based KDP Advisors, which in 2021 purchased Garden City-based Whittaker & Associates.

Talent

A global talent leader at EY shares the 3 soft skills she looks for in job applicants [Business Insider]
Soft skills can be particularly useful for new graduates and young professionals who are starting their careers and working toward technical mastery in their fields. Wherever you are in your career, anyone who’s ever worked with other people probably knows the value of soft skills in navigating, well, human nature. Naudin ten Cate told Business Insider she looks for three soft skills in particular in job applicants.

Attention firms: If you’re hiring remote or hybrid talent, you’ll want to check out this week’s top candidates. Each one is pre-screened and hand-picked by Accountingfly for your perusal.

Audit

How to cultivate a healthy audit firm culture [Thomson Reuters] According to global research by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), 57% of those who rated their organizational culture as poor stated that they were actively or would soon be looking for another job. Among those employees in unfavorable workplace cultures, the top-cited reasons for leaving, according to SHRM’s The State of Global Workplace Culture in 2024, were: Poor management (54%); Unfair treatment (54%); Inadequate pay (54%); Lack of empathetic leadership (47%); Insufficient regard for employee well-being (47%).

Northeast Nebraska school misused more than $300,000, state auditor report shows [Nebraska Public Media]
Nebraska State Auditor Mike Foley said his office received a tip, which led to the discovery of almost 1,300 questionable credit card transactions. “We believe it was about $100,000 over a 13-month period where people were just going crazy with credit cards and abusing them and having expensive meals and travel and gaming systems and trips to the nail salon,” Foley said. “All kinds of things that you would never, never anticipate a public school district doing with tax dollars.”

She left a career in government auditing to advocate for farmers like her parents [MPR News]
Friendly Vang-Johnson’s parents were some of the first Hmong refugees to farm in Minnesota. Her father, Xang Vang, was a lieutenant in the Special Guerrilla Units, a secret army recruited by the CIA to fight for U.S. interests in Southeast Asia.

Audit finds $6.2 million in errors on NC community college’s financial statements [The News & Observer]
In its report published May 22, the Office of State Auditor detailed ineffective employee training and vague year-end procedures as the root of the problems. The errors for fiscal year 2024 include overstating money owed to the college and its assets after debt by about $945,000; understating construction in progress by about $763,000; and overstating tuition revenues and tuition and fees not yet paid by about $289,000. Unreliable data could lead to poor spending decisions, OSA said in the report.

Breaking stovepipes, not checking boxes: DoD’s audit challenge [Breaking Defense Opinion]
Secretary of the Navy John Phelan recently testified the Department of the Navy will achieve a clean audit under his leadership. If he intends to stay through this administration’s term, that pledge would sync up with the congressional requirement to deliver a clean audit by 2028. The pledge also demonstrates clear tone from the top, a consistent message that now extends across three administrations in a row. For many years, such clear messaging was considered critical to move the audit. And certainly, the Marines achieved two clean opinions in a row — the first for a military service — because commandants made the audit their priority. But the Marines’ experience also demonstrated that progress depends not just on leaders of the big organizations, like the services or DoD itself. It also requires the support of leaders from functional communities too.

State auditor’s office demands Winona submit backlog of audit reports or face penalties [WTVA]
Auditor Shad White’s office sent a certificate of noncompliance to the City of Winona on May 12, claiming the city violated state law. The law requires cities to submit annual audit reports to the state agency. White’s communications director, Jacob Walters, said the state agency last received Winona’s fiscal year 2021 report. Winona Mayor Aaron Dees said the city did not do this on purpose. He said the city is on its third clerk since 2021, and the lack of consistency played a role in the city’s failure to submit audit reports. He also said the city’s payroll system underwent updates during this time that caused challenges for the city.

Tax

How tax leaders can use geopolitical volatility to help shape policy [EY]
“A little uncertainty is good for everyone,” former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger once asserted, highlighting how maintaining a degree of unpredictability can help prevent complacency in international relations. But are there upsides to a lot of uncertainty? For tax leaders in financial services, the answer could be yes.

Announcements

KPMG LLP Names Next Management Committee [KPMG]
KPMG LLP, the U.S. audit, tax and advisory firm, today announced its next Management Committee, effective July 1, 2025. The next Management Committee includes: Vice Chair, AI & Digital Innovation, Steve Chase; Vice Chair, Advisory, Rob Fisher; Chief Operating Officer & Vice Chair, Kevin Jackson; General Counsel and Vice Chair, Legal, Risk Management & Compliance, Matt Miner; Vice Chair, Audit, Christian Peo; Vice Chair, Tax, Rema Serafi; Vice Chair, Clients & Markets, Melissa Taylor; Vice Chair, Talent & Culture, Sandy Torchia.

The post Friday Footnotes: Consultants Swarm the C-Suite; New York Money in Idaho Accounting Firms; Firm Culture, You Need It | 5.30.25 appeared first on Going Concern.

Well it’s June so you know what that means…actually no, wait. Up until last year, it meant that firms slap rainbows on their logos for 30 days but the rainbows were suspiciously absent last year, not only from the Middle East branches but everywhere. See: Yo, Where Are the Rainbows? published June 6, 2024. We expect more of the same this year and will be retiring this meme.

If you don’t mind, let us know if your firm is doing anything to recognize its LGBT staff this Pride month .

Alright, news.

Journal of Accountancy asked six CPAs how they’re using AI. I don’t know about you but I really appreciate articles like this filled with actual use cases and not just generalizations about how everyone should be using AI without much meat and potatoes.

Karl Spanbauer, CPA, controller at Capital Area Food Bank in DC, explains how his non-profit is using automation to handle its physical mail problem:

Drawing on his experience with Microsoft Power Automate and other software, Spanbauer built his own solution to scan, summarize, and respond to mail.

Here’s how it works:

• Staffers run all business-related mail through a scanner.
• The scanned file is automatically saved to a shared drive.
• An image analyzer extracts the text of the image.
• The text is analyzed by a secure large language model (LLM), which generates a summary.
• A ticket is opened in Jira, the team’s workflow system, which includes the summary and the original mail.
• The team tackles the tickets, responding to the mail as needed.

Spanbauer has added further automations to the system, making it easier to look up the status of scanned invoices and carry out other follow-up actions.

JofA then breaks it down even further:

• Degree of difficulty: Spanbauer relied on deep experience with Power Automate and other tools. The solution was quick to implement but was built on top of months of work to connect systems and data.
• Cost: The project didn’t bring any additional costs to implement; it relies on the team’s existing licenses.
• Payoff: The team now tackles the mail in 20-minute sprints for “Mail Mondays,” saving about four hours of total staff time per week.
• The takeaway: The project worked because Spanbauer already had a robust digital environment — he just needed a way to bring the postal mail into it. “AI can’t interact with a piece of paper sitting on my desk. I had to get that piece of mail into that ecosystem,” he said.

Cool piece, right? More like this please.

Here’s another good one from JofA for employers: How employers can hire the best accounting students

TLDR students want to hear about what sets you apart as a firm.

A Business Insider “As Told To” essay: I quit my job at EY after 13 years to launch my own business. Here are the 5 lessons I learned from my Big Four career. 13-year EY Joshua Lee, who graduated from UCLA with a major in business economics and a minor in accounting, had this to say about how he got there:

After my father passed away when I was young, Uncle Jack stepped in as a father figure. He worked at BDO Global and encouraged me to speak with consultants and shadow his colleagues so I could decide for myself if the Big Four path was right for me.

Let’s highlight this lesson he offered up. Call it a hunch, I feel like some of you need to read this today.

The 80/15/5 rule

Former senior partners at EY gave me this framework early on: 80% of people will love you, 15% are undecided, and 5% just won’t, no matter what you do or say. Focus on that 15% and try to win them over. Don’t forget to nurture the 80%. But stop losing sleep over the 5%.

It still affects me today. However, it’s gotten better as I get older, perhaps because I still care but don’t have as much time or energy to worry about what others think about me.

Here’s a good one from Thomson Reuters: Some tax, audit & accounting firms are rejecting private equity in favor of independence

Amid a dizzying flurry of mega-mergers and private equity acquisitions among tax, audit & accounting firms over the last few years, a growing number of firm leaders are publicly proclaiming their intention to decline any private equity capital infusion or purchase by a larger firm.

Managing Partner Tom Barry, for one, says maintaining the flexible, family-first culture at Los Angeles-based GHJ Advisors is just one reason to declare independence. “I think we all know that if we didn’t remain independent, we’d lose control of that,” Barry says. “That culture is going to be done on Day One, no matter what anyone tells you.”

Of course, that doesn’t mean it didn’t take some soul-searching to make the decision.

“We have people knocking on our door every day for acquisitions and private equity,” Barry explains. “You can’t just be blind to it. You still have to understand it and know what it is. I have a custodial responsibility to understand what the best options for the firm are. We sat down last year and went through financial modeling, what we have to do [to remain independent], what are ‘nice-to-haves,’ what are non-negotiables.”

We don’t trust any firm that says “we’re a family” unironically but it’s something.

A Hollywood firm with a $1.2 billion Registered Investment Advisor business is for sale, allegedly:

Singer Burke, a Los Angeles-area accounting and business management firm with a $1.2bn RIA arm, is pursuing a sale, according to sources with knowledge of the situation.

A source said Singer Burke has retained Dalphia Partners to serve as its financial advisor leading the sale effort. The company is looking to sell itself to a strategic wealth management acquirer, according to a source.

Various sources put Singer Burke’s revenue between $9 million and $17 million.

Vancouver’s Smythe is halfway back in the good graces of the Canadian PCAOB, reports Canadian Accountant:

Two years after prohibiting Smythe LLP from accepting new publicly traded audit clients, the Canadian Public Accountability Board is easing its restrictions on the Vancouver-based accounting firm. Instead of prohibiting the firm from accepting new reporting issuers, the Canadian audit watchdog’s restriction has been modified, and the firm is prohibited from accepting new high‐risk reporting issuers, including those resulting from initial public offerings, reverse takeovers or other transactions.

The move comes two months after the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board — the American equivalent of CPAB — found Smythe LLP had a 100 per cent deficiency rate in three 2023 audits the PCAOB inspected in 2024. The PCAOB, as reported by Canadian Accountant, also found Smythe non-compliant with rules related to communications with issuer audit committees and reporting.

PwC made some cuts in Hong Kong:

PricewaterhouseCoopers, or PwC, is said to have let go of around 50 partners in Hong Kong, with multiple departments having pay cuts of up to 30 percent, according to media reports. 

Some of the partners are leaving the accounting firm voluntarily, while others are being sacked, local media reported on Monday. 

PwC will focus its resources on the Technology, Media, and Telecommunications (TMT) sector in the future, the report said. Chinese tech giants Tencent and Alibaba are currently among PwC’s clients.

And in Korea, their measure of audit quality is up, as in getting better. The translation is a bit rough but you get the idea:

Last year, an average of 8.7 improvement issues in audits was recorded per accounting firm. Since the implementation of the registering system for auditors of listed companies in 2020, the number of identified issues has shown a consistent downward trend.

This year, reviews were conducted on a total of 14 accounting firms, including two major firms, Samjong KPMG and Deloitte Anjin. The identified issues averaged 6.0 for major accounting firms and 9.2 for others.

By element, there were an average of 2.2 issues in work performance, 1.9 in leadership responsibility, and 1.5 in ethical requirements and human resources.

Was that enough news for you? It was for me.

As always, dear reader is encouraged to email or text with any thoughts, tips, or news stories you think we’d like. Have a wonderful week, you.

The post Monday Morning Accounting News Brief: How CPAs Are Actually Using AI; Ex-Big 4 Guy on How to Navigate Worklationships | 6.2.25 appeared first on Going Concern.

Oh no, not this again!

This story is making the rounds today and it’s highly relevant to the audience not just because AI is being shoved down everyone’s throats including accountants’. You’ll see why in a minute. First, the quick story of what’s happening with Builder.ai:

The Natasha neural network turned out to be 700 Indian programmers

The startup BuilderAI offered to write any application, like in a constructor, by selecting the necessary functions.

In reality, customer requests were sent to the Indian office, where 700 Indians wrote code… pic.twitter.com/lYWipf63cp

— Bernhard Engelbrecht (@BernhardEngel_) May 29, 2025

Text:

The Natasha neural network turned out to be 700 Indian programmers

The startup BuilderAI offered to write any application, like in a constructor, by selecting the necessary functions.

In reality, customer requests were sent to the Indian office, where 700 Indians wrote code instead of AI.

With the help of this scam, the startup attracted $445 million in investments from major IT giants, including Microsoft, over eight years.

At the same time, the applications “written by AI” constantly glitched, the code was unreadable, the functions did not work — in general, everything was like real artificial intelligence.

After the deception was exposed, the startup officially went bankrupt

Builder.ai’s pitch on their website states that “AI assembles your app features like a LEGO set.”

More on how “Natasha” works here.

Now the relevant part. A couple days ago, Bloomberg published a piece with a pretty incendiary headline: Builder.ai Faked Business With Indian Firm VerSe to Inflate Sales, Sources Say

Builder.ai, the artificial intelligence startup that recently announced plans to declare bankruptcy, faked business with the Indian social-media startup VerSe Innovation for years to falsely inflate its sales, according to documents reviewed by Bloomberg and people with direct knowledge of the practice.

The two companies routinely billed one another for roughly the same amounts between 2021 and 2024, documents reviewed by Bloomberg show, as part of an alleged practice known as “round-tripping” that the people said Builder.ai used to inflate revenue figures it presented to investors. In many cases, products and services weren’t actually provided to either company for these payments, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential information.

VerSe Innovation co-founder Umang Bedi said the allegations of inflating revenues are “absolutely baseless and false.” Defamatory even. “We’re not the kind of company that is in the business of inflating revenues,” he said.

Amid accusations of financial statement malfeasance, VerSe brought Deloitte in for an audit in 2024. Deloitte flagged a lack of appropriate internal controls over the evaluation and selection of suppliers, approval of purchase orders and invoices, and payments. Despite the risk of material misstatement, Deloitte said the company’s consolidated financial statements presented as true and fair.

The US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York had already been sniffing around before Builder.ai went bust, requesting financial statements and details on accounting policies according to earlier Bloomberg reporting.

Wall Street Journal wrote about the company way back in 2019, when it went by Engineer.ai. In “AI Startup Boom Raises Questions of Exaggerated Tech Savvy” WSJ wrote:

Startup Engineer.ai says it uses artificial-intelligence technology to largely automate the development of mobile apps, but several current and former employees say the company exaggerates its AI capabilities to attract customers and investors.

Documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal and several people familiar with the company’s operations, including current and former staff, suggest Engineer.ai doesn’t use AI to assemble code for apps as it claims. They indicated that the company relies on human engineers in India and elsewhere to do most of that work, and that its AI claims are inflated even in light of the fake-it-’til-you-make-it mentality common among tech startups.

Those rumors didn’t deter Microsoft from investing in the company in 2023. Microsoft Corporate Vice President, Business Development Jon Tinter said at the time their collaboration with Builder.ai “is an extension of our mission to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.”

“We see Builder.ai creating an entirely new category that empowers everyone to be a developer and our new, deeper collaboration fuelled by Azure AI will bring the combined power of both companies to businesses around the world,” he was quoted as saying in a press release.

Something else to note: A design studio in Poland pointed out on LinkedIn that Builder.ai’s logo looks awfully familiar.

The lesson here? Public Enemy said it best. Those of us who were alive for the dot-com boom remember the overhyped internet darlings being showered in buckets of cash. We also remember only a handful lived up to the hype when all was said and done.

The post AI Startup That Went Bust Was Allegedly Actually Indians and May Have Inflated Revenue Too appeared first on Going Concern.

Well isn’t this something.

Announced by the firm yesterday, New Jersey-HQ’d Withum grabbed Pannell Kerr Forster of Texas, P.C. (PKF Texas), a union made official on June 1, 2025. PKF Texas’s 20 partners and approximately 160 staff will be official Withumiers but stay at their office in Houston, presumably to serve clients the Withum way with a Texas twist. PKF Texas is the 15th largest accounting firm in the state.

Here come the obligatory flowery quotes from the news release:

“We are very excited and eager to become part of the Withum team. Our promise has always been to build personal connections through forward-thinking expertise while working to help our clients reach their goals,” says Gary Voth, Director and Chairman of the Board of PKF Texas. Withum shares a similar mindset and entrepreneurial spirit.”

“Joining forces with Withum offers our valued clients and dedicated staff even greater opportunities to thrive and succeed. Our clients will now benefit from a larger platform of national and international resources, deeper technical expertise, and specialized knowledge,” adds Voth. “We share a commitment to the highest level of integrity, a flexible and innovative culture, and a dynamic approach to problem-solving. This allows us to seamlessly expand into new markets while maintaining our core values as we continue to service our clients under the Withum brand.”

In the press release we’re told Withum Managing Partner and CEO Pat Walsh, CPA is “equally thrilled” as the merger means not only a foothold in Texas but a turnkey entry into a solid energy and oil practice. According to a now-outdated listing on the PKF Global site, about 40% of PKF Texas revenues are derived from energy and energy related businesses.

“Uniting our firms enables us to grow a portfolio of energy and oilfield service businesses nationwide. A piece of our M&A strategy aims to build around existing capabilities to create a more holistic client service approach. Diversity in expertise, experience and culture strengthens our ability to serve our clients and attract talent. Having a presence in the Space City offers us fantastic growth opportunities, and we’re excited to be here,” he said.

Congratulations to the happy couple.

The post Withum Breaks Into a New Market By Snatching PKF Texas From PKF Global appeared first on Going Concern.

Headline reference for the younguns.

The last time we checked in on PwC China they were looking at laying off as much as half of their 2,000-person financial services audit business, a direct consequence of the Evergrande situation that’s haunted the firm since the property developer and former audit client collapsed in 2021.

To make matters worse, shortly after the layoff news hit Financial Times reported that PwC China lost as much as two-thirds of its revenue — about $77 million USD — from mainland-listed clients, again directly related to Evergrande and the drama that followed its dramatic end. PwC gave Evergrande a clean audit opinion two years before its collapse all while the company was inflating revenue by $80 billion.

Along with clients leaving, the firm has been under the thumb of Chinese regulators who clearly do not mess around. China’s Ministry of Finance imposed 116 million yuan ($16.35 million) in fines and “confiscation of illegal gains” on PwC Zhong Tian (PwC China) while the China Securities Regulatory Commission handed out their own fine of 325 million yuan ($45.8 million).

Anyway, today we’re here to check in on PwC partners. According to Bloomberg — who got their info from people familiar with the matter — ten more Hong Kong partners are set to leave which brings the total exiting partners to 30 in the last six months. Things are just slightly more significant in mainland China where almost 80 partners have dipped out since December.

Said Bberg:

Some of the partners are being let go because of business reasons while others are leaving voluntarily for early retirement or to join other firms, the people said, asking not be discussing confidential matters.

The exits underscore that the firm is also feeling the pain in Hong Kong from its China woes. PwC Hong Kong and China are legally separate partnerships, but operate in collaboration and effectively share the profit and loss of the business together, the people said.

All of this comes at a time when PwC’s global business could really use the money. For the 12 months ending 30 June 2024, PwC firms around the world reported record gross revenues of $55.4 billion USD, up from $53.1 billion for FY23. While the Middle East helped a lot to pump those numbers up, China and Australia (let’s not forget they have their own drama down under) really brought things down. “Some difficult market conditions in Asia Pacific meant revenues were down overall by 5.6%,” said PwC in its 2024 revenue announcement. “Demand was particularly slow in China where revenues fell, and in Australia economic and business headwinds, as well as the divestment of the firm’s government consulting business, contributed to a decline in revenue over last year.”

In March the Saudi Arabia sovereign wealth fund Public Investment Fund (PIF) elected to black ball PwC from consulting contracts through February 2026. While no one has the full details, PwC said it was due to a client matter, not a regulatory one. They can still take on audit work during this time.

It’s not looking good, PwC bros.

The post The Evergrande Debacle Keeps Giving PwC Big Trouble in Regular-Sized China appeared first on Going Concern.

h/t @GayBearRes for spreading this masterpiece around on X, that’s how we saw it anyway. @lifeatdeloitteus posted this reel on Insta the other day, tagging their #TogetherMakesProgress hashtag:

Insta text:

You don’t get to choose when business challenges present themselves. But you do get to choose the team that will help you overcome them. Our newest #TogetherMakesProgress TV commercial shows us just how true this is in life—and in business.

Let’s hope the Deloitte Dream Team didn’t have important off-hours plans of their own such as a child’s birthday, brunch with their spouse, or sitting around in their drawers playing Marvel Rivals. RIP dude in the bottom middle who was already at the office on the weekend.

The post Deloitte’s Latest Ad Promises Clients Their People Have No Life Whatsoever and Are Always Eager to Serve appeared first on Going Concern.

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Audit

Fraud culture was ‘pervasive’ at union, auditors say [BBC]
There was a “pervasive fraud environment” at one of the UK’s largest trade unions Unite, an auditors’ report obtained by the BBC has concluded. In a highly critical 35-page document, auditors BDO said in the 2021 financial year “dominant personalities and a weak control environment facilitated opportunities to commit fraud” at the union. The BDO report says there were “unusual relationships” between former senior staff and Unite’s customers and suppliers, as well as a culture that “did not challenge” financial transactions and “failed to ensure” appropriate financial reporting.

Audit partners increased pessimism over US economy [The Accountant Online]
More audit partners have expressed pessimism regarding the US economy, the survey of the US Center for Audit Quality (CAQ) said. The Spring 2025 Audit Partner Pulse Survey, now in its fourth year, captured audit partners’ perspectives on the future economic landscape, evolving business risks, and workforce trends. The percentage of audit partners expressing pessimism about the US economy has surged from 10% in Autumn 2024 to 44% currently, while optimism has dropped significantly from 38% to 15%.

Members of Congress Introduce Comprehensive U.S. Gold Audit Legislation [ACCESS Newswire via USA Today]
As U.S. debt soars and foreign central banks stockpile gold, four members of Congress today introduced a bill to require the first comprehensive audit of America’s gold reserves in decades. Sponsored by Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY), Troy Nehls (R-TX), Addison McDowell (R-NC), and Warren Davidson (R-OH), the Gold Reserve Transparency Act (H.R. 3795) would require a full assay, inventory, and audit of all United States gold holdings. Importantly, H.R. 3795 will also require full disclosure of all transactions involving America’s gold, including any purchases, sales, loans, pledges, leases, swaps, and other encumbrances, dating back 50 years. Such activities have not been publicly disclosed.

CARES Act update: Audit risks and compliance insights for 2025 [Nixon Peabody]
Contrary to earlier expectations that loans under the safe harbor’s $2 million ceiling would be largely exempt from scrutiny, our experience and review of recent actions shows that the SBA and its enforcement agencies like the Department of Justice are now requesting documentation for numerous Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans, regardless of amount. Some lenders have reported receiving far ranging requests for loan files, signaling a comprehensive review effort. This means that businesses, even those with small loan amounts, should be prepared for potential audits and possibly civil and/or criminal enforcement action and ensure thorough documentation.

Big Four firms race to develop audits for AI products [Financial Times]
Big Four accountancy firms are racing to create a new type of audit that verifies the effectiveness of artificial intelligence tools as they seek to profit from clients’ demand for proof that their AI systems work and are safe. Deloitte, EY and PwC told the Financial Times that they were preparing to launch AI assurance services as they hope to use reputations gained in financial audits to win work assessing whether AI systems, such as those in self-driving cars and cancer-detecting programmes, perform as intended.

Regulation

Top Federal Reserve official promises major overhaul of US bank regulation [Financial Times]
Michelle Bowman, who was confirmed by the Senate this week as the Fed’s vice-chair for supervision, used her debut speech to set out plans for a broad rethink of crucial regulations. Bowman, who has long been critical of stricter capital rules, said the regulations introduced after the financial crisis have been “pushing foundational banking activities out of the regulated banking system into the less regulated corners of the financial system”.

Consulting

Consulting Disruption Is Finally Here [Inc.]
Consulting has long followed a familiar formula. Deploy smart people. Charge high rates. Deliver strategy. Create slides. Bill for time. Upsell more work. But when AI can generate a strategic plan, analyze massive datasets, or synthesize market trends in seconds, the rules change. What clients will pay for, and how they expect to receive value, is being dramatically redefined. Gone are the days of the 100 slide PowerPoint that’s outdated the moment the final deliverable gets presented by the overstaffed consulting team.

India explores creation of home-grown Big Four consulting firms [International Accounting Bulletin]
The Indian government is considering the establishment of home-grown consulting firms to rival the Big Four—Deloitte, PwC, EY, and KPMG, reported Moneycontrol citing government sources. The move is reportedly a bid to lessen dependence on foreign advisory firms and foster global capabilities in the professional services sector.

U.S. consulting firm quits Gaza humanitarian aid effort amid criticism [Washington Post]
On Friday, a leading U.S. management consulting firm hired last fall to help design the program and run its business operations withdrew its team operating on the ground in Tel Aviv. A spokesperson for the firm, Boston Consulting Group (BCG), said the company had terminated its contract with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) and placed one of the senior partners leading the project on leave, pending an internal review.

Talent

Attention employers! If you’re hiring you’ll want to check out this week’s top remote accounting candidates. Browse prescreened, handpicked professionals for hire with no obligation.

Tax

I.R.S. Upheld a Biden Pledge: More Audits, but Only on the Wealthy [New York Times]
Daniel Werfel, the I.R.S. commissioner for the last two years of Mr. Biden’s term, said in an interview Wednesday that he had changed the agency’s mandate so that it could “ramp up” audits on certain types of returns, while keeping audit rates steady for most individuals. On average, audits of individuals with high incomes return substantially more money to the government, so proponents have argued they are the most effective way for the tax agency to collect more revenue.

IRS open-sources Direct File tax software amid political and industry pushback – here’s why [ZDNet]
Despite making users happy, Direct File has faced fierce opposition from the commercial tax preparation industry. In particular, Intuit, the maker of TurboTax, has long opposed the IRS offering free tax filing services. These companies do so because, as the National Taxpayers Union Foundation points out, “The average 1040 filer now faces $290 in out-of-pocket costs and spends 13 hours preparing a return. The compliance burden for Form 1040 for individual income taxes reached $144 billion, an all-time high.” For tax software companies and services, that’s a fortune.

The post Friday Footnotes: Consulting is Done For; Audit Partners Not Feeling Optimistic | 6.6.25 appeared first on Going Concern.

Hey, people. Got some news for you.

First, a Reuters story:

Crete Professionals Alliance, an accounting platform backed by Thrive Capital, plans to invest over $500 million to acquire U.S.-based accounting firms in the next two years, and equip them with OpenAI-powered artificial intelligence technology to boost efficiency, company executives told Reuters.

Now let’s check out this Futurism article that came across my news feed over the weekend: A Billionaire Is Buying Entire Businesses and Converting Them to Run With AI. It’s not about the same group, merely the same concept at play:

Private equity, or “termite capitalism,” as it’s been ironically called, is a sweeping term for a massive industry built around buying and flipping established companies. These businesses can be just about anything — municipal water utilities, chain restaurants, bottling plants, and even retirement homes.

The strategy is largely extractive. When someone flips an abandoned house, they’re theoretically making structural repairs and quality-of-life updates, in the hopes of selling for more than the cost of the whole project. At its worst, private equity does the opposite: taking over healthy companies, selling off their assets and laying off employees en masse — hence the “termite” moniker.

Now, venture capitalist and tech billionaire Elad Gil is doing something that sounds awfully similar — except that unlike the largely technophobic private equity space, according to a recent profile by TechCrunch, he’s been using his immense fortune to buy up companies and reshape them to run using AI.

The scheme looks like this: Gil, or a firm he backs, acquires a stable, white-collar business with a healthy cashflow, like a law firm or a marketing agency. Then, Gil “helps them scale through AI” — techno corpospeak for “lay off a bunch of workers and automate their labor with AI” — using the proceeds to buy other firms to add to the empire. Think Sam Bankman-Fried meets “The Blob,” and you’re not far off.

Were you wondering where former IRS commish Danny Werfel would end up after he resigned from the position in January? Wonder no more.

You can't make this up. Former IRS commissioner @danny_werfel is joining @alliantgroup
The same Alliant Group that the IRS raided when he was commissioner. https://t.co/1v2UOD0r0s pic.twitter.com/DsgZ2BkMWo

— davidleary (@davidleary) June 7, 2025

Coverage of the raid in 2022:

• The IRS Is Paying an Unwelcome Visit to Alliantgroup, Experts Weigh In On Feds’ Raid of the ‘Blue A’
• Former and Current Alliantgroup Employees Speak Out About ‘Evil, Toxic, Emotionally Damaging Company’

India is getting serious about creating its own mega firm to compete with Big 4. We’ve been telling you this for a while now so either it’s actually going to happen or they’re just going to keep talking about it. Either way, we’d love to see them try.

The Indian government is considering the establishment of home-grown consulting firms to rival the Big Four—Deloitte, PwC, EY, and KPMG, reported Moneycontrol citing government sources.

The move is reportedly a bid to lessen dependence on foreign advisory firms and foster global capabilities in the professional services sector.

Did you think they would be content doing all the grunt work for pennies on the dollar forever?

‘Ex-rivals’ Baker Tilly and Moss Adams CEOs tell Business Insider why they merged.

In a joint interview, the two CEOs of the merged firms told Business Insider that the move is mutually strategic and will help them navigate the challenges facing the mid-market.

“We just added a bunch of arrows into our quiver,” said Jeff Ferro, CEO of Baker Tilly.

And:

Combining firms also created strategic advances in geographic reach — Moss Adams is West Coast-focused, while Baker Tilly mostly covers the East, central, and has some international clients.

Then a whole bunch of stuff about how private equity will enable them to revolutionize the middle market or some such.

It’s a slow news day in Fairbanks, Alaska as the local paper celebrates this guy earning his CPA:

Jokes aside, I actually love when local papers do write-ups about residents getting their certifications. I dunno, it’s cute to me and must feel pretty good after busting your ass to get it.

In data breach news, an Aussie firm got got. Cyber Daily has the story:

The Blacklock ransomware gang, which previously operated under the moniker El Dorado, has listed Toowong-based accounting firm Ryan Harvie McEnery on its darknet leak site and is threatening to publish the company’s alleged data shortly.

According to the gang’s ransom note, it is entirely apolitical.

“Your files have been stolen from your network and encrypted with a strong algorithm,” the note said.

“We work for money and are not associated with politics. All you need to do is contact us and pay.”

Argentina could soon be an investing hotspot according to this PwC director who spoke to Reuters. Consulting work would undoubtedly follow.

Argentina’s mergers and acquisitions market could grow significantly in the coming years if President Javier Milei’s economic reforms continue, Juan Tripier, director of M&A and corporate finance at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Argentina, told Reuters.

Investors have shown renewed interest in Argentina following Milei’s measures, which include sharp reductions in inflation and public spending, a restored fiscal surplus, and relaxed foreign exchange controls.

“Two, three years ago you contacted an international company, an international investor, and Argentina was a bad word. That has changed since Milei became president,” Tripier said in an interview with Reuters in Buenos Aires.

Nebraska’s state auditor says his office is getting tons of calls from local citizens wanting him to look into municipal finances:

After Nebraska State Auditor Mike Foley issued a recent statement exposing alleged financial improprieties involving several local governments, he said his office faced a surge of callers requesting probes of their towns, too.

It’s a common response, Foley said, after news hits of a small-town investigation by the auditor.

“The phone starts ringing,” he said, repeating a common refrain: “‘Hey look at us. Look what’s happening in my village or county too.’”

While grateful for the interest, Foley said such complaints are “disconcerting” in that they could signal rising misuse of public resources in smaller public entities across Nebraska. He said the alerts also “distract” from one of his office’s other main tasks, bird-dogging the “mega agencies” of state government.

If only some kind of third-party auditor existed to audit these agencies, maybe like some kind of business of uniquely ethical people one could hire to come in and check finances out.

OK that’s all for now. Email or text if you have something interesting for us and have a great week!

The post Monday Morning Accounting News Brief: Former IRS Chief Goes to Work For Company Raided By the IRS; India Still Hoping to Be Big 5 | 6.9.25 appeared first on Going Concern.

Center For Audit Quality, the Kool-aid distributors responsible for the Accounting+ initiative that should not be confused with the VR game of the same name, have released their latest Audit Partner Pulse Survey for spring 2025 and oh boy. We shouldn’t be surprised to find out audit partners at the largest public company audit firms in the US aren’t feeling rosy about the future but we didn’t realize they’d be this dour.

To the question “Overall, how would you characterize your outlook regarding the US economy over the next 12 months?” the percentage of audit partners pessimistic about the future of the economy rose from 10% in 2024 to 44% while optimistic responses went from 38% to 15%. Are y’all OK?

You are free to use the comment section to discuss what happened between then and now to bring about this drastic change in view.

There’s another chart we’d like to share with you. On the subject of human capital, 54% of respondents say companies in their primary industry are reducing headcount. 45% of these companies are maintaining compensation while just 11% are increasing it. We want you to remember that the next time one of these companies runs to the news to cry about how they can’t find talent.

This chart covers all respondents across different industries:

CAQ has some cool interactive charts on their site you can play around with to get numbers on specific industries if you want to take a look. Check out the Government and Public Services one:

Literally off the charts. Related to the above, let’s throw in one more chart. CAQ asked the audit partners to what degree companies in their primary industry sector have been affected by the talent shortage (um…but they said…nevermind), 23% of respondents said not very much or not at all:

And here’s a YoY view going back two years:

Make what you will of those figures.

See more survey results and play around with the data from CAQ here.

The post More Than Half of Audit Firm Partners Say They’re Seeing Headcount Reductions in Their Industry Niche appeared first on Going Concern.

WSJ had some good scoop on PwC yesterday: the firm is shaking things up in consulting. The long and short of it:

PricewaterhouseCoopers is overhauling the structure of its U.S. advisory business and hiring for thousands of roles as it sees recovering demand for such services.

The firm told workers Tuesday it plans to expand its advisory divisions to eight from four to provide more industry-specific services to companies, effective July 1. It also will embed managed services—in which consultants operate part of a client’s business, such as information technology and human resources—in each of the divisions as opposed to keeping that group separate.

Last year around this time PwC announced they would be “aligning” their “organizational structure” firmwide (usually not a good sign, any kind of restructuring in a time of low demand is no bueno) and, presumably as part of this, ditched some words from leadership’s excessively long job titles. They trimmed their service lines down to three — Assurance, Tax and Advisory — “to better serve client needs, their buying patterns and the market.”

As explained by WSJ, PwC’s advisory business currently consists of these four areas: deals; cyber, risk and regulation; technology and business modernization; and managed services. Under the new structure, cyber will split into two: cyber privacy and tech risk; and overall risk and regulation. Tech transformation is the one getting the biggest makeover and will morph into five sections: front-office consulting (marketing and customer service are two examples given by WSJ); industry-specific strategy; supply chain; traditional finance and human resources; and cloud engineering and data analytics.

Deals will stay deals.

In the article we get some current numbers on advisory partners and employees in the US: about 36,000, 15,000 of which are in India. This is the important bit:

The firm said no layoffs are planned as part of the reorganization, and it is hiring for thousands of advisory roles, citing optimism around recovering demand for advisory services.

No info is given on how many of those roles will be onshore. Better keep a close eye on it and stay alert for increased performance plans.

Is consulting back? We, and PwC, will have to wait and see.

PwC Overhauls U.S. Advisory Arm, Boosts Hiring to Offer More Industry-Specific Services [WSJ]

The post PwC Is Shuffling Deck Chairs on the SS Advisory, Plans to Hire Rather Than Fire appeared first on Going Concern.

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For as long as this website has existed — 16 years next month, to be precise — and, frankly, going back many more decades before that, the public accounting model has functioned like an insatiable sausage grinder, demanding to be fed large quantities of fresh meat (accounting graduates) without caring too much about whether every bit of meat is superior in quality and taste. Unless we’re talking artisan sausages which we aren’t because we’re talking about public accounting.

Actually, it’s more like a hot dog factory. You can make some decent hot dogs out of meat scraps that would be horrifying to see on your plate by themselves. According to National Hot Dog & Sausage Council — surely a trustworthy source on hot dogs that couldn’t possibly have any bias — hot dogs consist of “specially selected meat trimmings of beef and/or pork” unless they are explicitly labeled as having “variety meats,” the example of variety meats being hearts according to them. OK but chicken hearts are kind of good ngl. Point being, hot dogs aren’t made of the premium stuff and it takes a lot of trimmings to make them.

Getting off track here. In the early years of public accounting hiring, it’s all about numbers. Sure, firms want to get their hands on high performers but given the nature of early grunt work they don’t necessarily need a bunch of them because at that point in one’s career it’s mainly about following directions and learning the ropes. Except now the grunt work is disappearing, handed off to automation and overseas staff who work for a third of the cost and half the complaining. We’ve been asking for a while now what will happen to new hires going forward, how they’re supposed to learn now that the tasks they used to learn on have been taken from their plates and I think we have our answer: It doesn’t matter.

Indiana CPA Society recently released a paper called “Transforming Your Firm’s Business Model: Workforce Transformation and Talent Management Strategies.” [PDF] You’d think it’s about culture or some such practice management buzzword and you’d sort of be right except the report calls out the drastic change underway at accounting firms in a way that tells us things are moving quickly. Let’s check out the executive summary:

Talent, technology, and other massive forces are affecting every professional services firm. The impact is upending business models and providing just as much opportunity as challenge. While no one has a crystal ball to predict the future of accounting, this research can help CPAs and accounting professionals make more informed and confident decisions about the future of their firms.

We surveyed hundreds of accounting professionals representing firms of all sizes from 31 states. From their responses and feedback, four key points stood out for firm leadership to consider.

1. Most respondents expect their firms to shrink in headcount by 20% or more in the next five years. How will accounting firms continue to see growth and profitability with smaller teams? This prediction alone seems to be enough to consider restructuring accounting firms now to prepare for the future.
2. This dramatic reduction, driven by technological advances and a talent crunch, will upend the pyramid practice structure that accounting firms have successfully leveraged for a century to sustain growth and profitability. An important driver to success in the future will be retaining the best performers within accounting firms. The pyramid practice structure was not designed for talent retention. In fact, it functions in an opposite way: filtering talent out. What other options are presenting themselves to firms that are willing to change?
3. To be successful in the future, accounting firms will need a new practice structure that accommodates and focuses on the “6 Ps” of Business Model Transformation: Precision hiring, Proactive retention, Practical technology implementation, Pricing expertise, Practice area expansion or focus, People acceleration
4. Other industries have success stories to tell. Companies in manufacturing, health care, technology, and other industries have all faced similar workforce challenges and have been able to reshape their professions. The key has been recruiting, retaining, reskilling, or upskilling parts of their staff as specialists through technology-based training and innovative and personalized professional development. These companies saw improvements in productivity, company growth, talent retention, employee engagement, client/customer satisfaction, and more.

They lose points for framing all of this through the lens of the profession’s self-induced talent shortage that firms and the thought leaders firms listen to are using as cover for salary stagnation, layoffs, and offshoring but we’ll give them a pass this time. A little further down the report says:

75% of accounting professionals believe their firms will need the same amount or more staff to meet client demand in the future. Simultaneously, more than half expect that their firms will be at least 20% smaller in the next five years. The math just doesn’t add up.

Doesn’t it though? Just make people work more. Hey I’m no mathlete, maybe that equation is beyond my underdeveloped left brain.

Let’s see this section and its accompanying Figure 2 to make the point I’m trying to make:

With an anticipated future focus on specialization, many of tomorrow’s staffing requirements shift from expansion to efficiency and specialty. In fact, 60% of our survey respondents anticipate reductions due to automation, with entry-level roles being most at risk (Figure 2). Accounting firms need to start looking at talent acquisition, talent retention, and workforce transformation in terms of “What kind of skills do we really need?” instead of “How many people do we need?” Firms expect to need more senior- to partner-level professionals, especially in tax and advisory. These staffing shift changes from traditional skills to specialized skills and from expansion to efficiency are why accounting firms need to rethink how they are structured.

OK but how do you get experienced professionals? No one pops out of college ready to do partner-level work. Up until recently, the above mentioned busy work trained the good meat for the upper levels and the “variety meats” went off to go be government hot dogs or something once they’d put their requisite couple years in public in. This analogy is falling apart, I really should let it go.

A Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants (PICPA) report released in February had similar data, so much so that we skipped the overly verbose Oniony headline we’d usually use and went with RIP Associate Work when we wrote about it. A screenshot from that report:

And now? Have we formulated a plan for what the next few years will look like? Did we think offshoring all the way through and prepare an alternative training ground for young talent? Or is the profession just flying by the seat of its Dockers and hoping this will all work out?

Either firms are being uncharacteristically reckless or they just aren’t worried about it because they’ve figured out some plan to eliminate most associates altogether and still get the upper levels of the ladder staffed.

Before I go, here’s a related post from 2021 for no reason: PwC Manager Believes Associates and Senior Associates Are Going the Way of the Dodo Bird

The post The Era of the Mediocre Hire Is Coming to an End As Firms Look to Slash Headcounts appeared first on Going Concern.

Ongoing Drama

Strong feelings on limiting the use of CPA [Journal of Accountancy]
I touched a nerve with my recent article, “Display That CPA.” Thousands of people read the article, and many went on to comment on social media or share thoughts with me through a poll. The response, sometimes heated, confirmed that this is an issue that employers and individual CPAs are wrestling with. I appreciated hearing from everyone.

Earlier: AICPA Bigwig Says Go Ahead and Get ‘CPA’ Tattooed on Your Forehead, You Earned It

Tax

HMRC’s Making Tax Digital project labelled ‘pointless’ by a major accountancy firm [This is Money]
Businesses and the self-employed will have a higher reporting burden, making His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs’s digital project ‘pointless’, a major accountancy firm has said. Blick Rothenberg said ‘Making Tax Digital’, which requires taxpayers to report quarterly rather than annually, would not lead to any additional revenue for HMRC. Fiona Fernie, a partner at Blick Rothenberg says: ‘This will not change their actual tax liabilities or the payment dates on which income tax has to be paid. Which begs the question, what is the point of MTD?’ HMRC has previously said that MTD is designed to make it easier for businesses to keep on top of their tax affairs.

Mexico Transfer Pricing Audit Revenue Boom Just Getting Started [Bloomberg Tax]
Mexico’s revenue from tech-fueled transfer pricing audits will continue to grow as the government focuses more on enforcement and keeps investing in new auditing tools, tax practitioners say.

Talent

Accounting firms becoming more reliant on overseas talent, survey finds [Accounting Times]
Barf at pinning this on the so-called accountant shortage. The jig is up, you guys, you can stop now.
Almost two-thirds (65 per cent) of accounting firms said that the Australian employment market is more reliant on overseas talent than it was five years ago, Robert Half has found. Only 11 per cent believed that the job market had become less reliant on international hiring. “Despite easing employment market conditions, the talent shortage persists in many sectors,” Nicole Gorton, director at Robert Half, said.

Attention, firms! If you’re hiring, you’ll want to check this week’s top remote accounting candidates from Accountingfly. No chaff, only wheat.

Underreaction of the Week

I am so goddamn sick of hearing about AI [r/deloitte]

Big 4

EY faces protest over cuts to cleaning staff [Financial News]
Cleaners have protested outside EY’s London Bridge base over cuts to their workforce and pay. “EY wants to make more profit from the back of these low-paid workers,” organisers said. “They make millions every year but they still want to cut the pay of the people who clean their toilets.”

It’s official: LEGO is a well-being purchase, according to Deloitte [Brick Fanatics]
“Knocking out a four-hour Lego build in under two hours is a great stress reliever!”

NCAA Player Pay Deal Asks Deloitte to Measure the Unmeasurable [Bloomberg Law]
A massive NCAA settlement with student-athletes involves a mechanism for limiting name, image and likeness deals to “fair market value,” which could prove difficult for even the world’s largest accounting firm to reliably measure. Deloitte’s model will estimate an acceptable range for each deal rather than a specific value. But it will still have to draw lines, potentially in gray areas, to determine what NIL deals constitute pay-for-play. “I think that’s a laudable goal. I don’t think it’s achievable,” said IP and sports attorney Mike Ingersoll of Womble Bond Dickinson.

Audit

P&O Ferries hires tiny four-person accounting firm to replace KPMG [The Guardian]
P&O Ferries has hired a tiny four-person auditing firm to replace the Big Four accountant that resigned from approving its annual accounts in March. The move appears to raise further questions over the governance and financial health of the company, which has attracted a string of negative headlines after its controversial sacking of 786 mainly British ferry workers in 2022 – whom it then replaced with low-cost agency staff from countries including India, the Philippines and Malaysia.

UK accounting watchdog fines KPMG $1.7 million for Carr’s Group audit breaches [Reuters]
KPMG and audit engagement partner Nick Plumb failed to ensure compliance with applicable independence requirements, the Financial Reporting Council said. “In this case, whilst the quality of the audit work performed by the two firms is not brought into question, the breaches were serious,” FRC Deputy Executive Counsel Jamie Symington said in a statement published on its website.

PCAOB Publishes Annual Report on Broker-Dealer Audits [PCAOB]
The PCAOB has released its “Annual Report on the Interim Inspection Program Related to Audits of Brokers and Dealers.” A separate publication – “Supplementary Information Related to Audits of Brokers and Dealers” – accompanies the annual report.

Firm Watch

Grant Thornton appoints new COO and CFO [Consulting.us]
Grant Thornton US has appointed Elliott Findlay as chief operating officer and Rick Surett as chief financial officer.

Tonneson + Co Joins Plante Moran [INSIDE Public Accounting]
Southfield, Mich.-based IPA 100 firm Plante Moran (FY23 net revenue of $1.01 billion) has announced that Boston-based accounting and advisory firm Tonneson + Co, will join the firm, effective July 1.

Police search Grant Thornton offices in Caritas investigation [Luxembourg Times]
Searches were “recently” carried out at the offices of the company, which acted as the auditing firm for the charity when the embezzlement of €61 million came to light, public broadcaster 100,7 reported on Thursday, citing sources. It is unclear what items, if any, were seized during the searches, and there is no suggestion the company is accused of any wrongdoing.

Cherry Bekaert Achieves Top 5 Hedge Fund Auditor Ranking Following Acquisition of Spicer Jeffries LLP [PR Newswire]
What a weird thing to brag about.
Cherry Bekaert is pleased to announce its inclusion on Hedge Fund Alert’s 2025 list of Top Hedge Fund Auditors. This distinguished list ranks the top CPA firms by the number of SEC-registered hedge funds audited. Following the recent acquisition of the business of Spicer Jeffries LLP, Cherry Bekaert is now ranked first among middle-market accounting firms.

Private Equity

Elliott Davis Announces Strategic Growth Investment from Flexpoint Ford [INSIDE Public Accounting]
As part of this new chapter, John Otten has been named CEO effective July 1. Otten, who has held several leadership roles over his 28-year tenure at Elliott Davis, succeeds Rick Davis, who led the firm for more than 18 years and will transition to an advisory role.

The post Friday Footnotes: EY Toilet Cleaners Protest Pay; People Feel Some Type of Way About CPA Limitations | 6.13.25 appeared first on Going Concern.

Hey. Got a little news for you.

Podcaster and observationalist David Leary has a prediction for the future of firms. The tweet:

HOT TAKE: AI isn’t going to save accounting firms; it is probably going to kill them.

When a VC firm invests $1 billion into OpenAI … they need a return …so now they are planning to spend $500 million to acquire accounting firms that they’ll make “use” (or should we say buy) OpenAI products.

This is similar to how PE was heavily involved in the shrimp industry …they needed a return on all that shrimp they owned …so they acquired Red Lobster, then forced them to buy and sell unlimited shrimp. This caused Red Lobster to have massive losses and declare bankruptcy.

This is also the same strategy Pepsi used to sell more Pepsi, they bought Taco Bell, KFC, Pizza Hut, and other fast food chains …and forced them to buy Pepsi. 43,000+ restaurants that do NOT serve Coca-Cola.

Ever been to one of those KFC/Taco Bell monster things?

What kind of hybrid monster will accounting firms be in the future?

To prove his point, he shared a link to this recent article making the rounds: Thrive-backed Crete to acquire accounting firms with $500M, boost growth using OpenAI tools. I’m pretty sure we already shared a link to the original Reuters article in a news brief, in case you missed that:

Crete Professionals Alliance, a fast-growing accounting platform backed by Thrive Capital, plans to spend over $500 million acquiring U.S.-based accounting firms over the next two years, according to an exclusive report from Reuters. The investment is part of a broader effort to bring traditional practices into the AI age with tools developed alongside OpenAI.

Crete PA is part of a broader trend where venture firms are buying up companies in older industries—like healthcare, property management, and now accounting—and layering tech on top. It’s a modern roll-up play, and Crete’s moving fast.

Founded in 2023, the company already generates over $300 million in annual revenue and includes more than 20 accounting firms under its umbrella. It has 900 employees spread across 17 offices, including international operations in Asia.

Crete Professional Alliance says this on their website: “Crete Professionals Alliance (“Crete PA”) is not a licensed CPA firm. Its subsidiary entities, which are not licensed CPA firms, provide tax, advisory, and other non-attest services to clients. Crete PA Network Firms practice in an alternative practice structure in accordance with the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct and applicable law, regulations, and professional standards. Crete PA does not provide services to clients.”

People are poo-pooing David in the replies, reminding him that audit firms can’t be majority owned by outside investors. While that may be true, we’ve been predicting for a while that any day now, some firm is going to get messy with their attest/non-attest silos and run afoul of independence rules.

Feel free to throw in your $0.02 on his thread.

Directly related to the above, Accounting Today‘s opinion pages published this: What PE means for the future of accounting.

Which says:

Focus on tech and efficiencies of scale

The reason this trend is so important to everyone in the industry right now is that the private equity firms entering this space are not trying to become accountants. They are looking for profitable exits. And they will do that by seizing on a critical inflection point in the industry that’s making it possible to scale accounting firms more rapidly than ever before by leveraging technology to deliver a much wider range of services at a much lower cost. So, whether your firm is interested in partnering with private equity or dead set on going it alone, the hyperscaling that’s happening throughout the industry will affect you one way or another.

…

Over time, this could reshape the industry’s market dynamics by creating the accounting firm equivalent of the Traveling Wilburys — supergroups capable of delivering a wide range of specialized services that smaller, more narrowly focused firms could never previously deliver. It could also put downward pressure on pricing as these larger, platform-style firms start finding economies of scale to deliver services more cost-effectively.

Traveling Wilburys huh. I’m sure many of you are going to have to Google that one.

Oh right, them.

The Times gave PwC UK top dog Marco Amitrano an enthusiastic handy in its Sunday edition:

What even is this article lede?

Marco Amitrano is demonstrating how to lose an election. The now-head of PwC UK fidgets in his seat, folds his arms, and sheepishly avoids my eye. “If you do this,” he says, “that is what they [the electorate] notice.”

As I go to ask a follow-up question, Amitrano interrupts with an “aha!” Oh dear. It seems I have inadvertently folded my arms nervously. “See what you did there,” he laughs triumphantly.

And this?

On the top floor of PwC’s vast corporate offices, an architectural feat that is literally hung above London’s Charing Cross station, the boss is reflecting on his first year at the helm. He is sporting his typical business-casual garb: a navy blazer, tailored by Thom Sweeney, on top of a thin jumper — no shirt and jeans. With his dark glasses, bald head and slight stubble, Amitrano looks like an accountant-rendered version of the US musician Moby.

Halfway through the article we finally arrive at the point:

Amitrano insists the worst of the restructuring is behind PwC. “The scale of the drama associated with last year — I wouldn’t expect that to repeat,” he says.

“When I see an organisation resetting or reshaping, including making redundancies, [I ask] what’s that about? Are they failing … or are they raising the game, changing the game?” He says his firm is in the latter camp.

Given all the cuts, Amitrano could be forgiven for feeling dour. But looking out on to the sweeping views of the capital, he is in a bullish mood. “We’re about to enter the golden age of the Big Four,” he says, excitedly.

Color us skeptical, we don’t believe this. Not after this happened just a year ago: PwC Forces People Out and Then Tells Them to Fib in Their Farewell Emails

In Singapore, we get details on a case involving money laundering, conflicts of interest, and ass-beating.

Wanting “quick cash”, a director of a company allowed others to control its bank account, which was later used to receive crime proceeds totalling nearly US$1.68 million (S$2.15 million).

In an unrelated incident, Alson Tong Shao Tian, 37, also rained blows on another man.

His company, Ambite, categorised by the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority as providing “management consultancy services and wholesale trade”, was fined $10,000 over a charge relating to money laundering.

The man was sentenced to one year, three months and two weeks in jail along with a $4,000 fine.

Haven’t seen much buzz around this new lawsuit: Deloitte Accused of Ignoring NFT Exchange Mark For AI Tech

Digital asset-exchange platform Zora Labs Inc. sued Deloitte Consulting LLP over its use of the “Zora” trademark for its new “digital workforce” AI platform.

Deloitte announced Zora AI in a press release on March 18 soon after launching Zora.ai, identical to plaintiffs’ domain Zora.co, according to the complaint filed Wednesday in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. But the accounting giant hasn’t filed a trademark application for “Zora,” which Zora Labs says it’s owned since March 2024.

Note: Zora is a client.

Merri C. Moken, the partner at law firm Brown Rudnick representing Zora Labs, had this to say:

“Zora is a client of Deloitte Tax, and was disappointed to see Deloitte Consulting adopt Zora’s mark without permission,” Moken said. “After making multiple attempts to resolve this matter amicably, Zora was ultimately left with no choice but to seek a restraining order to prevent further infringement and harm. We are confident the court will restrain Deloitte and find Deloitte liable.”

Jonathan Gandal, Managing Director, Reputation at Deloitte, said the suit is meritless and the firm intends to defend itself “vigorously.”

Surprised Nintendo hasn’t sued them too, we all know how litigious they are.

Docket report from Justia here.

We’ll do a deep dive on the Deloitte whitepaper featured in this Times of India article shortly:

India-based Global Capability Centres (GCCs) have emerged as strategic hubs for multinational companies to manage complex global tax operations, including corporate tax, indirect tax, transfer pricing, and litigation, according to a whitepaper released by Deloitte India.

“GCCs have become an integral part of the global tax ecosystem, providing organisations with a competitive edge in managing their tax functions,” the whitepaper noted.

Completely unrelated to this is an EY study:

According to an EY study titled ‘The First Firewall: Background checks as India Inc.’s frontline defense’, employment frauds have surged significantly over the last year. In cases of fraud, most offenders were experienced professionals: 96% in healthcare, 88% in financial services, and 79% in IT/ITeS had already spent a few years in the workforce.

Arpinder Singh, Global Markets and India Leader, Forensic and Integrity Services, EY said, “Employment fraud has been a longstanding menace in India. To tackle this, today, employee background checks have become a non-negotiable across sectors. As we rapidly adopt technology in the workplace, the risks associated with it are evolving equally fast. HR professionals are struggling to keep up with the changing landscape of hiring frauds in India.

KPMG lost in court and is still dealing with the aftermath of Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse:

Silicon Valley Bank Financial Group’s auditor KPMG LLP, along with its underwriters and a number of former executives and directors must continue to defend themselves in a proposed securities class action over the bank’s collapse.

The investors suing KPMG, underwriters including Goldman Sachs & Co., and others adequately alleged their claims under the Securities Act and the Securities Exchange Act, Judge Noël Wise said June 13 for the US District Court for the Northern District of California. Wise denied three separate requests for dismissal in her ruling.

That was plenty to chew on for a Monday morning, eh? Email or text if you have anything of note you think should be on our radar and have a great week!

The post Monday Morning Accounting News Brief: PwC Gets a Handy; Deloitte Client Sues the Firm For Yoinking Their Name | 6.16.25 appeared first on Going Concern.

Yes, we know EY’s tagline is now All In.

Announced on Thursday, the SEC’s next chief accountant — effective July 7 — will be Kurt Hohl, a former EY partner who put in four years in audit at Deloitte after graduation before jumping there in 1989. This won’t be his first rodeo at the SEC.

The CV, courtesy a press release:

Mr. Hohl most recently founded Corallium Advisors, which helps businesses navigate the complexities of auditing, regulatory compliance, risk management, and initial public offerings. Before that, he spent 26 years as a partner at Ernst & Young (EY) in a variety of roles. His final EY role was as global deputy vice-chair of EY’s Global Assurance Professional Practice. In that role he was responsible for the operation and oversight of the technical, regulatory, risk, and quality oversight functions of EY’s global professional practice organization — a team of more than 1,400 professionals. Mr. Hohl previously served at the SEC from 1989 to 1997, rising to Associate Chief Accountant in the Division of Corporation Finance. There he authored what became the Financial Reporting Manual, a primary guide for the SEC accounting staff and practitioners in the application of the federal securities laws. He began his professional career at Deloitte Haskins & Sells.

Mr. Hohl received a B.B.S. in accounting from James Madison University and is a certified public accountant in Virginia.

Guaranteed that guy will have a bulldog on his desk, those JMU people are zealous when it comes to their alma mater. Let’s give his long LinkedIn about section a look:

I am a firm believer that change is constant and adaptability is critical to success. My career has focused on anticipating and addressing emerging business trends and risks, continually evolving regulatory changes and organizational challenges with a strong global mindset. From my early professional start as the Associate Chief Accountant at the US Securities and Exchange to my latest role as EY’s Global Deputy Vice Chair – Professional Practice, I’ve gained over 39 years of technical accounting, audit, risk management, sustainability, financial reporting, public policy, and regulatory expertise. My role operates at the highest level of a $50B organization, operating in 150 countries, where I am trusted to identify critical issues and enable key decision-making during periods of unprecedented global change, uncertainty, and economic volatility.

My leadership approach is rooted in authenticity, collaboration, and pragmatism. I believe we are better together, and that success is fostered through cultivating diverse, high-performance teams and mentoring the next generation of leaders. Beyond work, I am a passionate amateur chef, historian, gardener, car enthusiast and collector with a deep commitment to continuous learning and expansion of knowledge.

For industry experience he lists:

• Consumer Products
• Energy & Utilities
• Financial Services
• Healthcare & Pharmaceuticals
• Industrials
• Media & Entertainment
• Real Estate
• Retail
• Technology
• Telecommunications
• Aerospace & Defense

“I’m pleased to come back to the SEC along with Chairman Atkins,” said Hohl in the obligatory press release quote. “This is a pivotal time for our capital markets, and I look forward to working with the dedicated public servants in the Office of the Chief Accountant to advance accounting and auditing policies that reinforce investor confidence, enhance transparency, and support innovation.”

With the chief accountant appointment sorted, Acting Chief Accountant Ryan Wolfe will go back to his role as Chief Accountant in the Division of Enforcement.

The post The Next Chief Accountant Will Be Building a Better Working World at the SEC appeared first on Going Concern.

Sports fans, specifically women’s golf fans, are going to be hearing and seeing the name KPMG an awful lot for the next week as the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship takes place at Fields Ranch East in Frisco, Texas from tomorrow until the 22nd.

This year’s purse is hitting a record $12 million, thanks in part to the professional services firm with its name slapped all over the tournament.

Reports Sports Business Journal:

KPMG is pumping more capital into women’s golf and will make this week’s KPMG Women’s PGA Championship purse its highest ever. At $12M, the purse will be tied for the highest (along with the U.S. Women’s Open) that women golfers will play for all year.

“KPMG has put so much into it, they really make sure we’re delivering,” said Jeff Price, the PGA of America’s chief commercial officer. “Everything that we’ve been able to do together is a testament to their commitment.”

KPMG Deputy Chair and COO Laura Newinski told NBC’s Golf Central yesterday morning that “just like KPMG serves our clients with excellence and integrity, we are really thrilled to be bringing excellence to the game of women’s golf and continue to do so over many years now.”

KPMG first became title sponsor of women’s PGA in 2015 and currently has a contract through 2028. The firm is also the Official Data and Analytics Advisor of the LPGA Tour.

When we say KPMG has its name slapped all over this tournament we mean it. Just look at the backdrop to yesterday’s press conference and KPMG CEO Paul Knopp sitting at the front of the leadership lineup:

The post KPMG Opens Up Its Wallet For Women’s Golf appeared first on Going Concern.

Grant Thornton Advisors — part of what used to be just Grant Thornton before private equity got into the mix and split the firm into attest and non-attest entities because they’re required to or the PCAOB will be up their asses — announced this week that they’ve made an agreement to “expand the multinational platform it formed in January with Grant Thornton Ireland” by adding Grant Thornton Switzerland/Liechtenstein (say that three times fast) and Grant Thornton in the Channel Islands (known as Grant Thornton Limited, Channel Islands) to their stable. As the press release explains, this is but a part of their ongoing global strategy:

Earlier this year, Grant Thornton Advisors announced transactions to join the platform with UAE, Luxembourg, the Cayman Islands and the Netherlands. Through this rapidly growing multinational platform, clients across three continents will have access to seamless and enhanced cross-border services, which are underpinned by investments in technology, people and quality.

Adding footprints in Switzerland, Liechtenstein and the Channel Islands strengthens the platform’s unified advisory and tax solutions, as well as its independent audit and assurance practices. It also creates a powerful network of professionals in European financial hubs — from Zurich and Geneva to Jersey and Guernsey, in addition to Bermuda, the Cayman Islands and UAE.

Oh, so they will be doing assurance too. Alright.

With the latest agreements, the Grant Thornton multinational platform will include approximately 13,500 professionals across nearly 60 offices stretching from the Americas across Europe to the Middle East.

Grant Thornton CEO Jim Peko, who thus far has yet to demonstrate he’s as DYNAMIC as certain predecessors, said this: “We are very pleased to have our colleagues in the Channel Islands, Switzerland and Liechtenstein join our differentiated and expanding platform. We’re building the world’s most talented team — delivering seamless offerings through an expanded footprint. The result: an unparalleled client experience and unmatched quality.”

Would you say Switzerland, Liechtenstein and the Channel Islands are your CHOSEN MARKETS? Say it, Jim. Say it for us, please.

The transactions are expected to close later this year assuming regulators don’t cockblock the union(s). Like the deal with GT Ireland announced earlier this year, this latest venture is backed by New Mountain Capital. And it’s New Mountain Capital that brings us the corniest, most over the top quote of the press release:

“The Grant Thornton platform is supercharging itself with the quality, talent and advanced technologies that clients need and want,” said Andre Moura and Nikhil Devulapalli, managing directors at New Mountain Capital. “The addition of these two firms — both well-respected in their markets and renowned for their finance expertise — will continue to elevate Grant Thornton’s world-class and wide-reaching financial services offering.”

Their chosen markets was RIGHT THERE. Don’t do this to us.

Earlier: Grant Thornton Merges With Grant Thornton (UPDATE)

The post Grant Thornton and Their PE Overlords Are Busy Assimilating More Grant Thorntons Into the Borg appeared first on Going Concern.

Audit

Auditors can prevent fraud just by tipping their hand [Phys.org]
University of Alabama Assistant Professor of Accounting Chez Sealy is co-author of a research study published in Contemporary Accounting Research that revealed auditors may be able to prevent financial fraud simply by signaling how they plan to conduct a strategic audit—without the need for extra costly procedures. The research explored how different audit strategies influence managers’ decisions to commit or conceal fraud.

DOD Will Pass Audit by 2028, Comptroller Confirms [US Department of Defense]
The Marine Corps has already passed a financial audit, and the Defense Department has until 2028 to do the same, the department’s comptroller said today during a hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee in Washington.

Max 60 tax audits per partner likely: ICAI [The Economic Times]
A partner of an accounting firm will be allowed to take up a maximum of 60 tax audits in a year from FY27, Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) president Charanjot Singh Nanda said. This would discourage a concentration of audit assignments with only a few senior partners at accounting firms and curb any anti-competitive conduct, he indicated.

Technology

Multiplier, founded by ex-Stripe exec, nabs $27.5M to fuel AI-powered accounting roll-ups [TechCrunch]
Multiplier is part of a growing trend: startups acquiring existing service businesses and scaling them with AI. The PE-style roll-up strategy has recently gained popularity among VCs, with investors such as General Catalyst, Elad Gil, Thrive, and Khosla Ventures backing startups that develop AI solutions and integrate them into existing people-focused companies. “Until AI existed, none of this was possible,” Lightspeed partner Justin Overdorff said.

The finance department need not fear AI. In fact, it can help it truly scale [Retail Banker International]
Writes Jorge Lluch:
The narrative around whether certain functions could simply be replaced by AI is omnipresent. But what I don’t believe is that the finance department will be consigned to that fate. In fact, I believe AI presents a huge opportunity for finance teams to scale and significantly increase their capabilities.

Funding granted for new research project on AI in Accounting education [Jönköping University]
This project explores how artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming accounting education by examining and comparing how universities in Mexico and Sweden are adapting their curricula, teaching methods, and skill development strategies. The aim is to identify best practices and address educational gaps to ensure that future accountants are well-equipped for an AI-driven profession. The findings will contribute to the modernization of business education and support universities and policymakers in aligning academic outcomes with the rapidly changing demands of the accounting industry.

Execs say workers have to adapt to AI, but workers are resisting [Morning Brew]
There’s a huge disconnect between the executives spamming your LinkedIn feeds with promises to go all-in on AI and the company leaders still fighting with the seventh-floor printer. Meanwhile, their employees are kinda just…doing whatever they want.

Practice

Accounting Firms Saw Gains in Profits and Clients Over the Past Year [CPA Practice Advisor]
Accounting firms in the U.S. have had a profitable last 12 months, due to adding new clients, technology, and service offerings, according to a new report from Xero. The U.S. State of the Industry report, which was released on June 9, includes the results of a survey in which 250 accountants and bookkeepers working in practices across the U.S. were polled. The results found that nearly three-quarters of accounting practices increased revenue (74%) and profits (73%) in the past year, and more than half (56%) added new clients as a result of enhanced operational efficiency and expanded service offerings.

People

Alumni Profile: Fred Sitzberger: From Fired to Flourishing – A Journey of Resilience and Generosity [University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee]
This guy sounds cool.
Fred Sitzberger’s story is anything but ordinary. A Lubar College of Business alumnus (’78, BBA, Accounting) and the president of Bultman Investment Management, Sitzberger has built a remarkable career by combining grit, humility, and a deep belief in human connection. Today, his success as a business leader and philanthropist reflects both his early challenges and his unwavering optimism. “I never wanted to be poor,” he says. “So what I am is a successful failure. I just never gave up.” Sitzberger’s path wasn’t linear. He flunked out of engineering, served in the Army, and eventually turned to accounting—because, in his words, “it was the hardest.” Along the way, he got fired five times in corporate roles. “I realized I needed to create my own position if I didn’t want to get fired again,” he says.

RSM names new Pittsburgh office managing partner [Pittsburgh Business Times]
Accounting giant appoints new managing partner for downtown Pittsburgh office that opened in 2021.

Private Equity

Private equity sits on $1 trillion amid uncertainties, M&A stalls, PwC says [Reuters]
Private equity firms are holding about $1 trillion in unsold assets, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) said on Wednesday — capital that, in a typical market environment, would have been returned to investors. High interest rates in the United States, President Donald Trump’s on-again, off-again approach to tariff policy, and geopolitical uncertainties have eroded company valuations and contributed to firms holding onto portfolio firms far longer than expected. “Patience is wearing a little bit thin” among limited partners (LP), said Kevin Desai, PwC U.S. deal platform leader.

Gen Z

Top EY Researcher Says These 3 Things Are Missing For Gen Z Workforce [Forbes]
The new EY Global Generations Report 2025, based on a survey of over 22,000 individuals across 22 countries, offers critical insights into the evolving ambitions and workplace expectations of Gen Z (those born between 1997-2007).

Talent Shortage

Tax, audit and accounting firms face tech push and talent shortages [The Slovak Spectator]
Who knew there’s an accountant shortage in Slovakia. It’s almost as if firms everywhere want an excuse to automate and outsource rather than increase salaries.
Unpredictable and frequent legislative changes, a lack of qualified professionals, brain drain, and pressure to integrate advanced technologies like AI, automation and cloud-based platforms are the main challenges facing tax advisory, auditing and accounting companies in Slovakia. These challenges are paired with a growing demand from clients for consultancy and strategic advisory services, reshaping firms’ roles towards more value-added, strategic partnership models. “We live in times when the only certainty is uncertainty, but it is precisely this that can teach us to be more agile,” said Valéria Morťaniková, a partner at Deloitte Slovensko’s Tax Advisory Department, adding that the standard form of consulting is on the decline.

The post Friday Footnotes: Auditors Can Prevent Fraud With Fibbing; AI Rollup Accounting Firms Are So Hot Right Now | 6.20.25 appeared first on Going Concern.

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The post Top Remote Tax and Accounting Candidates of the Week | June 19, 2025 appeared first on Going Concern.

Morning, y’all. I’m in Nashville this week for the ACFE Global Fraud Conference so please tell your firm leadership not to do anything exceptionally scandalous while my attention is divided ok? Thanks. If you’re also here come find me, I’ve got stickers.

Spotted PwC’s new Formula 1-inspired logo at the Atlanta airport on my way here:

Smh can't escape from reminders of work even at the airport.

How much do you reckon this fancy electronic ad cost them? pic.twitter.com/xIrSHSfBej

— Going Concern (@going_concern) June 22, 2025

Still waiting for an answer on how much this airport display cost them, brief research I did while waiting for my plane says A LOT.

OK, news!

As you may have heard, the PCAOB’s nervous sweating dried up a bit last week. Said Journal of Accountancy on Friday:

The Senate parliamentarian’s office ruled that a provision in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act to defund the PCAOB and transfer its activities to the SEC isn’t permissible.

What’s funny is this paragraph they added to the article:

AICPA leadership monitored the debate about the PCAOB’s future, showing general support for the role of the auditor in assuring public trust regardless of how supporting regulatory agencies are structured. In a statement dated April 28, AICPA President and CEO Mark Koziel, CPA, CGMA, said the organization supports “healthy oversight of accounting firms that audit listed companies” and is “committed to supporting the drivers of audit quality needed to keep the investing public safe and provide confidence in our capital markets.”

I don’t think we covered that statement when it came out in April so let’s get Mark Koziel’s quote down, do you mind? This is the entirety of it:

“The AICPA believes that healthy oversight of accounting firms that audit listed companies strengthens capital markets and protects the public interest. That oversight system involves multiple layers, including timely and transparent audit standard setting and rigorous inspections intended to drive effectiveness and expand knowledge and best practice. It also includes licensing, firm and engagement quality control requirements, and disciplinary activities at the state and federal levels.

“The AICPA continuously engages in activities to support ethical behavior and high-quality performance among CPAs serving the public interest and performing audits. The Auditing Standards Board sets audit standards for U.S. private companies, employee benefit plans, not-for-profit organizations and state and local governments, and attestation standards. Our initiatives include supporting the Center for Audit Quality’s work to promote high-quality audits of listed companies.

“The AICPA is committed to supporting the drivers of audit quality needed to keep the investing public safe and provide confidence in our capital markets. We stand ready to assist policymakers as they consider potential changes to the regulatory infrastructure overseeing public company auditing.”

Sounds to me like they aren’t fighting for the PCAOB at all. Tough. Is it wrong I kinda love this statement? Ultimately all that matters is protecting capital markets so we’re in agreement there.

POLITICO talks about that Big Beautiful Bill, specifically some tax stuff that came out over the weekend:

Tax legislation recently unveiled by Senate Republicans only costs $441 billion when tallied using a novel accounting method requested by the GOP.

The new estimate by the Joint Committee on Taxation, which was released late Saturday night, shows how Senate Republicans were able to slash the costs of sweeping tax legislation set to be included in the GOP’s sweeping megabill by using a “current policy baseline” — a never-before-used technique that wipes out the cost of extending existing tax cuts that are set to expire at year’s end.

The contrast with the traditional method of fiscal scoring, accounting for tax policy as currently enacted into law, is profound: Similar tax legislation that passed the House in May was estimated by JCT to cost $3.8 trillion under the old method.

In defending the revised baseline, Republicans have argued that extending current tax law shouldn’t be counted as adding to the deficit because the GOP is merely preventing huge tax increases on individuals and businesses around the country. But critics have derided the measure, asserting that it threatens to blow up long-standing budget rules and disguises the cost of the GOP’s marquee legislation.

My news apps were getting totally spammed by Accenture news over the weekend so you’re getting some too. Starting with this one from The Oregonian: Intel will outsource marketing to Accenture and AI, laying off many of its own workers

Intel notified its marketing employees this week that it plans to outsource many of their jobs to the consulting firm Accenture as new CEO Lip-Bu Tan works to slash costs and improve the chipmaker’s operations.

The company said it believes Accenture, using artificial intelligence, will do a better job connecting with customers. It says it will tell most marketing employees by July 11 whether it plans to lay them off.

We told you consulting firms are going to be all over this AI stuff. It’s big money for them to take it off the plates of companies, while they themselves are figuring it out internally.

The next one is from FT and applies to everyone, not just Accenture: Accenture says CEOs are postponing hiring consultants due to uncertainty. Wait, it actually applies mostly to Accenture because they needed something to explain the decline in new bookings:

A “significantly elevated” level of economic and geopolitical uncertainty is causing business leaders to hold off on hiring consultants for some new projects, according to the IT consulting and outsourcing group Accenture.

The company reported a slowdown in new business for the second quarter in a row, sending its shares 6.9 per cent lower by Friday’s closing bell in New York.

While the company beat earnings expectations, a 6 per cent decline in new bookings to $19.7bn for the three months to May 31 raised concerns over the longer-term growth outlook. Its consulting and managed services businesses both posted lower bookings compared with a year ago.

FT covers how their federal business is doing if you want to check that out. You likely don’t need to read an article to know it involves a toilet and an aggressively swirling motion.

OK, last one. Reuters: Accenture bookings drop eclipses upbeat revenue, unveils AI-focused revamp

AJ Bell analyst Dan Coatsworth said Accenture had already rattled investors in March with warnings on U.S. government spending, and the latest bookings decline adds to concerns that securing new business was also getting harder.

“Earnings grew, but the market is more focused on what’s ahead, not what’s just happened.”

To navigate the uncertainty, Accenture plans to focus on AI consulting with the creation of a new business unit called reinvention services, which would combine its AI offerings and be led by Manish Sharma, the head of its Americas business.

Weirdly, Accenture isn’t doing too bad all things considered. They’re expecting annual growth of 6-7%, higher than their earlier estimate that dipped as low as 5. Third quarter revenue was $17.7 billion, just a tick above analyst estimates. Perhaps our opinion is colored by looking at this through the lens of Big 4’s 2024 performance, they would have killed for 7% growth.

Across the pond a BBC morning show host is getting heat for bullying and PwC has been brought in to…do something, idk.

The editor of BBC Breakfast is taking an extended period of leave after allegations about his behaviour, according to BBC News.

Richard Frediani has been in charge of the morning show since 2019 and accepted a Bafta last month when BBC Breakfast: The Post Office Special scooped the news coverage award.

Media outlets reported that an internal investigation is being carried out following allegations of bullying.

BBC News reported that an HR adviser from consultancy firm PwC is also supporting the corporation as it looks into the culture of the morning TV show.

It’s not just him.

Naga Munchetty has been accused of bullying a junior colleague.

The BBC Breakfast presenter, 50, was also allegedly reprimanded for making a sex jibe on Radio 5 Live.

The series of claims about Munchetty were reported in The Sun following the announcement that Richard Frediani, the editor of BBC Breakfast and News at One, had taken a period of “extended leave” following allegations of bullying made against him by the Deadline website.

That Deadline article: ‘BBC Breakfast’ Boss Richard Frediani Faces Further Bullying Claims: “A Tyrant On The Shop Floor”

In Accountants Behaving Badly news we have this guy:

A Sydney accountant has been accused of facilitating money laundering and fraud on behalf of the Alameddine crime network, while one of his clients, an alleged leader of the network, has been charged with mortgage fraud.

Police allege [43-year-old George Jack Michael] facilitated money laundering and fraud on behalf of members of the Alameddine network, after the search warrant uncovered both physical and electronic financial records of alleged transactions. The search followed a more than three-year-long investigation into the accountant, first launched in December 2021.

The Alameddine network is so significant it has a Wikipedia page.

And then we have this lady in Arizona who’s off to the big house:

An accounting clerk who embezzled over $100,000 from an Arizona charity organization and a local business was sentenced to five years in prison on Thursday, authorities said.

In April, a jury found 38-year-old Prescott resident Sheena Holmes guilty of theft over $25,000 and theft over $100,000, according to the Yavapai County Attorney’s Office.

“Ms. Holmes stole from a local business that trusted her and also from a charity that helps the homeless and poor,” Yavapai County Attorney Dennis McGrane said in a press release [PDF]. “I want to be clear that criminals who choose to do this in Yavapai County will be vigorously prosecuted.”

Baker Tilly is acquiring an Alaska-based ERP company:

Baker Tilly has revealed plans to acquire Sockeye, a Sage Intacct partner that specialises in delivering technology-enabled finance, accounting, and project management solutions.

Baker Tilly’s press release has more about their latest acquisition:

Sockeye brings award-winning implementation experience and specialization across construction, real estate, not-for-profit organizations, oil and gas, and Alaska Native Corporations. This combination gives clients access to one of the most robust Sage Intacct teams in the market, offering faster implementations, more tailored solutions and deeper industry insight — especially for businesses navigating complex project cycles and financial reporting needs.

KPMG found that Canada is the most AI illiterate country (go Canucks!):

Canadians have among the lowest levels of training, literacy and trust in artificial intelligence systems in the world, new research from KPMG International and the University of Melbourne shows.

Trust, attitudes and use of artificial intelligence: A global study 2025 is the most comprehensive global study into the public’s trust, use and attitudes towards AI. The study surveyed over 48,000 people in 30 advanced economies and 17 emerging economies, including 1,025 people in Canada.

That’s all I have for this news brief. As always, you can reach me via email or text if you have a tip, have seen a relevant story we should be talking about, or just want to complain about whatever. Behave yourselves and have a good week!

The post Monday Morning Accounting News Brief: The Consulting Firm Going All In on AI; KPMG Finds Out Which Country Is Most AI Illiterate | 6.23.25 appeared first on Going Concern.

For all the tedious interpersonal politics, BS work-life balance, and client drama within Big 4 machinery we’ve been writing about since 2009, sometimes we forget that firms do, from time to time, offer useful guidance and insight on topics not directly related to professional services and their petty internal squabbles. Like the imminent death of the United States penny.

In case you haven’t heard, the Treasury announced in May that the penny’s two-hundred-ish year run will come to an end in 2026. Cue conspiracy theorists interpreting this as The Powers That Be shoving us toward digital-only currency as part of some nefarious scheme to…IDK. Control and track us or something. Spoiler: They’re already doing that.

Regardless of your belief or lack thereof in a New World Order, considerations will need to be made for what happens to all those spare single cents when a real world token no longer exists to represent them in transactions. You guys are accountants, you get it.

Here’s what PwC said in Phasing out the penny: Preparing for a currency shift without clear rules:

At the Streamlined Sales Tax Governing Board meeting held on May 21, 2025, US Treasury Department Assistant Secretary John York shared plans to discontinue penny production due to rising costs and declining utility. While this announcement signals a significant shift in US currency policy, it is important to note that there is no enacted federal legislation, nor published regulations, to adopt the change. A shortage of pennies in circulation is expected potentially by early 2026.

Guys, please don’t hoard pennies.

Now this is the important bit. As mentioned, it’s likely pennies will start drying up next year but for the moment there isn’t a solid plan or guidance in place. Maybe we’re just going to do this by the seat of our pants and figure it out later, that’ll totally work out, right?

The elimination of the penny introduces uncertainty into pricing approaches, consumer transactions, legal compliance, and, in particular, sales tax calculations. While it is assumed that cash transactions would be rounded to the nearest five cents, no rounding rule to accommodate the elimination of the penny has been adopted by a government body. Additionally, the perspectives of state regulators, the potential for legislative responses, and the stance of consumer protection agencies remain unclear. The absence of uniform direction may cause inconsistency in customer experience, sales tax compliance, and commerce practices. Notably, states currently only round to the penny, and there is no provision for rounding to the nickel at either the item or invoice level.

Our neighbors to the north nixed pennies way back in 2012 so if we need a rough outline on how to pull this off we can always copy Canada’s homework. Their government, much like ours, said pennies cost more to make than they were worth and so just stopped producing and distributing them. At the time, the Canadian government had this clarification: “The penny will retain its value indefinitely and can continue to be used in payments. However, as pennies are gradually withdrawn from circulation, price rounding on cash transactions will be required.” Non-cash payments were not affected.

Because Canadians are an extremely polite people who would totally never rip each other off, they didn’t worry too much about how the rounding would shake out:

Yeah, we Americans need to make sure we have something down on paper about this. Fair, consistent and transparent have multiple meanings depending on who you ask.

Anyway, this is the advice PwC has for businesses, tax authorities, and software providers:

Businesses, tax authorities, and software providers should begin internal planning and identify potential points of impact. Retailers, in particular, should assess how pricing, point-of-sale (POS) systems, and reconciliation procedures may need to be adapted for sales tax calculation, collection, and reporting, and whether rounding at the item or invoice level can be accommodated in jurisdictions where sales tax applies. In addition, retailers should evaluate system capabilities, customer experience implications, general ledger integrity, and historical reporting challenges. They also should monitor federal and state responses due to the current legal ambiguity.

While we’re here, here’s a fun read from the US Mint on the history of the penny. Godspeed little copper-plated zinc one, and thanks PwC for the reminder that no one’s figured out how exactly we’re going to do this yet, very comforting.

The post PwC Addresses the Imminent Death of the Penny appeared first on Going Concern.

I saw this story on Fox News of all places: Sponsors flee from National Association of Black Accountant recruiting event: report.

Fox grabbed their info from a Bloomberg newsletter published a few days ago that almost slipped past our radar: DEI Backlash Turns Recruiting Event Into Litmus Test. Bberg had this to say:

Does sponsoring an event for Black professionals count as DEI?

The annual gathering of the National Association of Black Accountants (NABA) is one of corporate America’s flagship diversity recruiting events. This year, it was also a litmus test of the impact of Donald Trump’s executive orders attacking what he calls “illegal DEI.”

By and large, the convention’s traditional backers showed up. For four days in June, signage from employers — Deloitte LLP, Wells Fargo & Co. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. among them — lined the halls of the swanky Aria Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, where 3,300 convention goers mingled and networked. Accounting giant PwC had more than 100 representatives in neon pink shirts with the slogan “Leadership. Business. Inclusion. You.” Even the Internal Revenue Service had a presence, with a booth wedged at the rear of the conference’s career expo.

But in the shadows, there were hints of unease.

It goes on to say that attendance at SOAR — “the all-inclusive, premier event for Talent, Innovation, and Culture,” per NABA — was down to about 3,300 this year from 4,000 in 2024. It’s hard to say definitively if that’s due to “anti-DEI” sentiment or simply how expensive everything is these days combined with firms tightening up the purse strings. Oftentimes one can get their firm to pay for conferences like these — we all know that — but one regional NABA chapter leader told Bloomberg his employer declined to pay for his entry to this year’s conference, on top of declining the opportunity to sponsor the event. “He turned to his chapter for help affording the $1,250 ticket and said he was considering looking for a new job,” wrote Simone Foxman in the newsletter.

Do it, my guy.

As for the sponsors NABA did get, Bloomberg had this to say about a familiar name:

Deloitte, the title sponsor, kept press out of the sessions it underwrote and declined to make featured panelist Lara Abrash, the chair of Deloitte US, available for interviews. And more than two dozen named sponsors from previous years, including American Express Co., Meta Platforms Inc. and Walt Disney Co., were missing from the list this time around.

We’ve grabbed the full sponsor list, posted in order as they appear on NABA’s expo website. You’ll spot many more familiar names from top to bottom with Big 4 leading the list:

2023’s conference had 72 sponsors listed while 2024 had 75. There were 41 organizations for 2025.

I’d love to hear from the peanut gallery if your firm or industry employer has cut down on conference expenses this year. Give me a shout and let me know. Anonymously, of course.

The post NABA’s Convention Had an ‘Uneasy’ Vibe This Year appeared first on Going Concern.

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The post Top Remote Tax and Accounting Candidates of the Week | June 26, 2025 appeared first on Going Concern.

To date, the largest fine levied by the PCAOB against a registered audit firm was 2024’s $25 million extracted from the pockets of KPMG Netherlands for widespread answer-sharing. In recent years the PCAOB has made it their mission to crack down on this thing that happens at literally every firm because something something capital markets (nevermind that many of the firms fined for this so far boasted flawless PCAOB inspections with zero deficiencies at the time the answer-sharing was taking place within their firm) and the latest batch of fines announced yesterday proves just how serious they are about it.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) today announced three settled disciplinary orders sanctioning Deloitte Accountants B.V.(PDF) (“Deloitte Netherlands”), PricewaterhouseCoopers Accountants N.V.(PDF) (“PwC Netherlands”), and EY Accountants B.V.(PDF) (“EY Netherlands”) for violations of PCAOB rules and quality control standards relating to the firms’ internal training programs and monitoring of their systems of quality control.

The PCAOB found that, over a five-year period, all three firms failed to adequately prevent or detect extensive improper answer sharing on mandatory tests for training intended to develop the competencies and professional integrity of their personnel.

The PCAOB and the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM) conducted parallel investigations, and the AFM has separately imposed intensive supervision measures aimed at preventing recurrences.

The fines against Deloitte Netherlands, EY Netherlands, and PwC Netherlands total $8.5 million in freedom bucks; Deloitte and PwC will be paying $3 million each while EY’s fine was $2.5 million.

“As we have stated previously, investors must be able to trust that all audit professionals are acting with integrity, and few things damage trust like impaired ethics,” said Robert E. Rice, Director of the PCAOB’s Division of Enforcement and Investigations, in the press release. “Our investigations of these three firms revealed that their quality control systems failed to evaluate appropriately and monitor the risk of improper answer sharing among their personnel, including after the firms learned of extensive answer sharing in at least one other major audit firm. We remain committed to our statutory mission of protecting investors and improving audit quality, and we will hold firms accountable when they fail to comply with PCAOB quality control standards.”

Looking at the individual orders there’s nothing new or remarkable here that hasn’t already been explained in the dozen other cheating fines the PCAOB has slapped firms with in recent years so we’ll just breeze through them. Deloitte’s:

From at least 2018 to 2022, Deloitte Netherlands violated PCAOB rules and quality control standards related to integrity and personnel management by failing to establish appropriate policies and procedures for administering and overseeing internal training tests. Those quality control failures prevented the Firm from identifying that, during the relevant period, hundreds of Firm personnel were involved in improper answer sharing—either by providing access to test questions or answers, or by receiving such access without reporting it—in connection with online tests for mandatory internal training courses. These courses related to a variety of topics, including U.S. auditing standards, U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”), and professional ethics. Firm personnel engaged in the answer sharing through a variety of unauthorized methods, including sending or receiving answers through electronic communications and taking tests jointly. The majority of the professionals who engaged in improper answer sharing performed work for the Firm’s Audit & Assurance practice.

PwC’s has the same paragraph and explains in detail how the firm’s quality control procedures weren’t sufficient to stop this behavior:

In June 2019, PwC Netherlands became aware of substantial answer sharing at a U.S. member firm of the KPMG International Limited network of firms, through that firm’s settlement of an enforcement action brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission. Even after learning of that misconduct, PwC Netherlands did not appropriately evaluate and address the risk of improper answer sharing among its personnel.

Starting in August 2020, the Firm added specific language to some of its training tests warning against answer sharing in connection with the tests, but this warning language had still not been included in all of the Firm’s mandatory audit and compliance trainings as of the end of 2022. Additionally, it was not until mid-2022 that the Firm supplemented the training test warnings with broader messaging to its personnel, such as through firmwide postings, specifying that improper answer sharing was prohibited.

Reminder that the 1,200 people at PwC Canada who got caught cheating in 2022 believed that maintaining shared drives full of internal training test answers was the kind of “collaborative culture” PwC encourages them to have with their colleagues.

According to the PCAOB order, the “improper answer sharing” at PwC Netherlands included a number of partners, directors, and leaders.

For example, a Firm partner stepped down from a PwC Netherlands’ senior leadership role after the Firm discovered that the partner and another colleague had met together while taking a mandatory test. None of these individuals reported their misconduct to appropriate parties at the Firm before the Firm became the subject of a regulatory investigation in 2023.

EY’s order tells us they were a bit more aggressive with the warnings, even sending out firmwide emails in 2022 to remind everyone that sharing answers is a no-no. Maybe that’s why their fine was the smallest.

Although in June 2020 the Firm started adding mandatory attestations to its training tests warning against answer sharing in connection with the tests, the Firm did not include these attestations in all of the Firm’s mandatory audit and compliance training known to have tests until mid-2021.

It was not until December 2022 that the Firm engaged in messaging to all of its personnel through firmwide emails or postings specifying that improper answer sharing was prohibited.

Each firm’s order mentions that the firms were extraordinarily cooperative in the PCAOB’s investigation and had they not been, they would have been slapped with way bigger fines. This is what they said about EY’s cooperation specifically:

The Board also took into account the Firm’s extraordinary cooperation in this matter. Specifically, the Firm provided substantial assistance to the PCAOB’s investigation by conducting, and providing to the PCAOB the results of, an extensive internal investigation into improper answer sharing among its personnel. As part of the internal investigation, the Firm collected and analyzed a voluminous amount of electronic data using an expansive array of search parameters. Additionally, the Firm applied optical character recognition to millions of electronic records of hundreds of individuals to optimize the review process. The Firm also interviewed hundreds of Firm personnel, encouraged self-reporting by individuals, and met frequently, on a regular basis, with the PCAOB to provide comprehensive, detailed reports and to receive feedback on the ongoing internal investigation.

Additionally, since the answer sharing misconduct occurred, the Firm has implemented remedial and corrective measures aimed at ending improper answer sharing at the Firm. Among other actions, the Firm implemented an annual confirmation for personnel to certify that they have complied with the Firm’s policies, which now include an explicit ban on improper answer sharing. The Firm also increased messaging and training among its personnel to communicate that improper answer sharing is prohibited. The Firm also required some personnel to reperform trainings. Additionally, the Firm disciplined Firm personnel who were found to have engaged in improper answer sharing.

Absent this extraordinary cooperation, the civil money penalty imposed would have been significantly larger, and the Board may have imposed additional sanctions.

If our math is right (and it may not be because no one around here can count), this makes 13 big firms fined for “improper answer sharing” since 2021 with the one before this being PwC Israel in February.

Do ya feel safer now, capital markets?

The post The PCAOB Made a Triple Sweep of Big 4 Cheaters in the Netherlands appeared first on Going Concern.

That’s according to this article in FT anyway:

Accountancy firms courting private equity were falling prey to “Fomo”, MHA chief executive Rakesh Shaunak told the Financial Times. “Everybody wants to be part of that feeding frenzy . . . I think IPO is the right option.”

Shaunak said public accounting firms had more strategic freedom than those owned by private equity, where options might be constrained by a high debt load and a focus on boosting profit so investors can exit after a few years.

MHA “didn’t want to be totally motivated by [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation]”, he said. “With the IPO, with the range of investors you have, you don’t have that singular pressure.”

With yearly revenue around £500 million, top 15 UK firm MHA hit the London Stock Exchange in April, debuting at a market cap of approximately £271 million ($371 million USD).

FT’s article begins with a quick history lesson, that of RSM Tenon. A member of RSM Global, RSM Tenon was the result of merging Tenon Group with RSM Bentley Jennison and was listed on the FTSE Small Cap Index across the pond in 2009. At the time it was practically unheard of for an accounting firm to not be owned by partners and, as FT says, its failure in 2013 “marked the failure of the profession’s decade-long experiment with the public markets.”

With all the recent talks about investors buying up accounting firms to create AI-powered rollup firms, RSM Tenon’s short history may be doomed to repeat when some of those roll-ups inevitably fail. From RSM Tenon’s Wikipedia entry:

It was formed as a “consolidator”, inviting existing small local accountancy partnerships to join it and become part of a national company.

It acquired five firms in April 2001 for £60 million, making it the 15th largest and the first PLC in the United Kingdom league table of accountancy firms. In practice, the company found it difficult to integrate these businesses, and its share price dropped to 6.25p in 2003, following the dot-com bubble. [Ed. note: We’ve been saying for a while now that the AI hype is feeling an awful lot like the dot com bubble to those of us old enough to remember it, remember we said that five years from now when the frenzy dies down.]

When Tenon was launched, financial audit could not be carried out by a PLC, so the auditors from the predecessor firms formed an associated partnership known as Blueprint Audit. The rules requiring strict separation were relaxed in March 2005.Tenon’s public image was characterised by Accountancy Age magazine in April 2010, as “quirky but recognisable entrepreneurial based branding”.

In 2017, four years after the firm fell into insolvency, PwC and a senior partner were fined millions by the Financial Reporting Council for “extensive” misconduct related to FY 2011 audit of RSM Tenon Group plc. The year before that former RSM Tenon CEO Andy Raynor was also fined and hand-slapped for conduct that “fell significantly short of the standards reasonably to be expected of a member of the ICAEW in relation to the approval of the financial statements of RSM Tenon and failed to act in accordance with the fundamental principle of professional competence and due care contained in the Code.”

Baker Tilly bought what was left of the firm in 2013.

But it’s a new decade and we’ve learned so much from the past, right? Surely we will not make the same mistakes by jumping head first into big money deals and tech-powered practices taped together by finance bros just because there’s so much cash being thrown at firms right now. Nope, not this profession.

The post Move Over Private Equity, the IPO Rush Is Here (Maybe) appeared first on Going Concern.

Audit

Big accounting firms fail to track AI impact on audit quality, says regulator [Financial Times]
The Financial Reporting Council on Thursday published its first AI guide alongside a review of the way firms were using automated tools and technology, which found “no formal monitoring performed by the firms to quantify the audit quality impact of using” them. The watchdog found that audit teams in the Big Four firms — Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC — as well as BDO and Forvis Mazars were increasingly using this technology to perform risk assessments and obtain evidence.

OMB seeks ‘strategic reset’ of financial statement audits [Federal News Network]
“Audits were once a tool for accountability and improvement. Now they have become, in many places, rote exercises that do not ensure sound financial management and instead contribute to the $36 trillion of debt the federal government currently carries. While some agencies use audit findings to strengthen internal controls, others receive clean audit opinions for years despite squandering hundreds of millions of dollars in wasted, improper payments,” OMB director Russ Vought wrote in the memo issued internally on Monday. “In short, audits are not working as intended. Independent reviews and oversight bodies have highlighted that we are spending heavily on audits, but still failing to prevent large-scale fraud, waste and abuse.”

Japan’s Big Four Hire to Meet New Sustainability Audit Mandate [Bloomberg Tax]
The Big Four accounting firms’ Japanese affiliates are staffing up in anticipation of new sustainability disclosure and assurance requirements that are still nearly two years off, but they face hiring challenges including uncertainty over the details of the mandate and a limited pool of qualified CPAs.

New audit flags more than $200,000 in spending by former LAFD union president [Los Angeles Times]
The parent organization of the Los Angeles Fire Department’s labor union has doubled down on allegations that the union’s top official failed to properly document hundreds of thousands of dollars in credit card transactions. The International Assn. of Fire Fighters, which oversees the United Firefighters of Los Angeles City, suspended President Freddy Escobar and two other union officials last month over “serious problems” with missing receipts identified in a wide-ranging audit going back to 2018.

IRS Spending Cuts Jeopardize Partnership Audits [CBIZ]
IRS budget uncertainty offers no carte blanche, as partnership scrutiny clearly remains top priority for the IRS. Instead, it creates a window to tighten controls before scrutiny resumes.

Technology

A.I. Is Homogenizing Our Thoughts [The New Yorker]
A.I. is a technology of averages: large language models are trained to spot patterns across vast tracts of data; the answers they produce tend toward consensus, both in the quality of the writing, which is often riddled with clichés and banalities, and in the calibre of the ideas. Other, older technologies have aided and perhaps enfeebled writers, of course—one could say the same about, say, SparkNotes or a computer keyboard. But with A.I. we’re so thoroughly able to outsource our thinking that it makes us more average, too.

AI valuations are verging on the unhinged [The Economist]
Vibe coding, or the ability to spin up a piece of software using generative artificial intelligence (AI) rather than old-school programming skills, is all the rage in Silicon Valley. But it has a step-sibling. Call it vibe valuing. This is the ability of venture capitalists to conjure up vast valuations for AI startups with scant regard for old-school spreadsheet measures.

Grant Thornton releases first Digital Transformation survey [Business Wire]
According to the survey, just 27% of respondents report that their technology is fully aligned with their business objectives.

Talent

Attention firms! If you’re looking to add to your remote or hybrid team you’ll want to check out Accountingfly’s top remote accounting candidates of the week. These audit, tax, and accounting professionals are hand-picked from Accountingfly’s deep bench of talent for hire for their superior skills, tech stacks, and experience.

CFOs

Google Nabs Oracle’s Cloud CFO to Lead Cloud Finance [Bloomberg]
Alphabet Inc. has plucked its new cloud finance chief from Oracle Corp., deepening a potential rivalry in the industry. Kobi Bar-Nathan became the chief financial officer of Google Cloud this month, according to his LinkedIn profile. Previously, he held a similar role at Oracle, and prior to that a cloud finance role at Microsoft Corp.

Failed insurer’s CFO held personally liable with million plus fine [Insurance Business Mag]
The case is the first time a New Zealand court has imposed personal liability on a chief financial officer as an accessory to a company’s breach of continuous disclosure obligations. Industry observers suggest the decision will likely resonate beyond New Zealand, especially in jurisdictions such as the UK, where regulators have increasingly emphasised individual accountability within senior management.

Florida A&M University’s CFO blasted by state board over systemic audit failures [CFO.com]
Rebecca Brown, the CFO of Florida A&M University, was on the receiving end of harsh remarks from the state’s Board of Governors last week after audit findings revealed multiple delayed reconciliations, poor internal controls and the continuation of financial issues the state university system has failed to address for over a decade.

Analysis

United States Economic Forecast [Deloitte]
Since our last forecast was published in March, we have continued to see a relatively rapid change in economic policies. We recognize that the policy environment remains very fluid, so none of our scenario forecasts are meant to be a precise estimate of where the US economy ends up in the future. Instead, we have developed three scenarios to provide a guide as to where the economy might go from here based on explicit assumptions. Our baseline forecast incorporates assumptions that reflect our best guess of how different economic policies will evolve. Our downside and upside scenarios reflect plausible outcomes for the US economy should our assumptions prove to be overly optimistic or pessimistic, respectively.1

The post Friday Footnotes: OMB Says Audits Aren’t Working As Intended; Deloitte Predicts Our Economic Future | 6.27.25 appeared first on Going Concern.

Good morning, capital markets servants! I trust everyone had a good weekend and is all charged up for another exciting week of…whatever it is you do. Here’s some news.

PwC says clients want a break on prices since the firm is bragging about making big technological leaps in efficiency, according to Bloomberg:

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, one of the world’s largest professional advisory firms, has cut prices for some services as clients raised the fact that the consultancy is using artificial intelligence to complete its work quicker.

“Clients would hear us talking about using AI and and say, ‘We want our fair share of those efficiencies,’” PwC Chief AI Officer Dan Priest said in an interview with Bloomberg News. “We certainly, as appropriate, give our clients the pricing benefit of the efficiencies we’re achieving.”

Dan Priest was a bit evasive in the interview:

Priest declined to provide further details on PwC’s pricing, saying that the firm’s broad approach is to “align AI-driven gains with client benefit, whether that’s in efficiency, timeliness, quality or cost.” He estimated, however, that tech consulting firms have improved the efficiency of the systems integration business by roughly 30% with AI.

I think we can safely assume clients aren’t getting a 30% discount.

Meanwhile, at PwC UK:

PwC is planning to cut about 175 junior auditors in the UK and has told other staff that pay rises will be lower this year, as the Big Four firm grapples with tougher market conditions.

PwC told some 270 audit associates last week that they were part of a compulsory redundancy round, according to people familiar with the matter, with one saying headcount in the division was too high partly because of a lack of junior staff leaving voluntarily.

Is turnover really still that low? They’ve been saying that for at least two years now. We know people are sticking around due to a shortage of good opportunities to jump to but it’s not like post-Big 4 jobs are that hard to come by even in this market.

FT added that PwC staff, all 25,000 of them, were told they’re getting a 2.5% raise this year, down from 3% last year. The The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) in the UK rose by 3.4% in the 12 months to May 2025.

Two more states have embraced alternate pathways to the CPA, bringing the total to almost two dozen.

State lawmakers in Pennsylvania and Delaware each voted on Thursday to pass their respective CPA pathways legislation, joining a growing number of states enacting new laws to provide alternative routes to obtaining a certified public accounting license and ease the accounting shortage.

New York passed similar legislation two weeks ago while Florida’s bill has stalled, most likely because it’s attached to more controversial legislation.

Australian Financial Review says partner numbers are down at down under Big 4 firms. The numbers are kinda scary actually.

The big four consulting partnerships have shrunk for a second consecutive year, as leaders seek to offset lower demand for advisory services to maintain average partner profits.

Australian partner numbers across Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC are down 15 per cent, or 500, to almost 2900 partners in the two years since the 2023 peak.

In that time, almost 850 partners have departed the big four, with less than half being replaced. That is an extraordinary number, given the time and effort it takes to break into the lucrative partnership rank.

PwC lost the most at more than 300 followed by 200 from Deloitte, 170 from KPMG, and 100 from EY.

EY paid The Guardian to run this “article”: ‘We have lots of opportunities’: how women working in tech are empowered by role models at EY.

When Julie McGourty was speaking at a tech conference recently she noticed something different about the room. “It was very nice to look out at the audience and see that the vast majority of them were female,” says the EY director, cybersecurity. “That’s something I’ve never seen at any conference I’ve been to in the last 20 years – when the audiences were always mostly male – so it was really inspiring to see that shift.”

EY is leading that shift, thanks to its strategic focus on empowering women in their careers. McGourty’s been in cyber for 20 years and at previous companies she was often the only woman in a team, but this isn’t the case at EY, where women are “very much empowered”, as shown by the large number of female partners it holds.

This part is funny considering EY laid off a ton of IT people earlier this year:

McGourty says she relishes the “independence and autonomy” she’s given to manage her time and her working week. “I think this is why people here are so energised and why we enjoy the culture,” she adds. “EY wants to find good people and make sure they stay.”

EY wants to encourage that retention because “they realise that having that knowledge and expertise and being able to take that to the next client is good for the individual, but it’s also good for EY. It’s very much a place that likes to encourage people to stay by developing them and giving them an opportunity.”

At least it’s clearly labeled as a paid ad unlike certain other Big 4 fluff pieces we’ve seen floating around lately.

The above “article” is one of several EY paid Guardian to run, we’ll see if we can find them all.

Thomson Reuters has published a guide to the GENIUS Act for tax and accounting professionals that covers new regulatory requirements and tax considerations.

In case you missed it when Business Insider published an interview with Deloitte US head of talent David Rizzo in 2023, Forbes has followed up two years later with a rehash of how to get hired at Deloitte.

For the Business Insider interview, David Rizzo said that the top three (3) things he looks for in Deloitte job candidates are:

1. The right kind of technical and behavioral skills. He wants to know what you do and how effectively you work to deliver organizational and team results.
2. How you communicate your experiences and whether those experiences validate and demonstrate your ability to adapt to a changing environment, solve complex challenges and deliver results.
3. A good fit between the job candidate and the company culture, team and values. Rizzo said that he specifically looks for curiosity in candidates and wants to bring on talent that is team-focused and purpose-driven.

Speaking of Deloitte, this snazzy Toyota GR Supra painted in Deloitte green won a race in Malaysia over the weekend:

I know absolutely nothing about racing so all you get is a picture.

Federal News Network spoke to GAO’s Jay McTigue about digital identity verification at the IRS. TLDR They’ve made some progress, there’s much more to be done.

He said:

Back in the 20-teens, the Treasury was losing money to identity thieves who would file fraudulent tax returns claiming to be someone they were not. And this was prevalent across government. OMB and the National Institute of Standards and Technology put forward various guidance and requirements for federal agencies to strengthen protections over private citizens’ information that they were collecting. And there were other initiatives to make government services more available online. What we found at IRS, dating back to about 10 years ago, they began looking for ways to accomplish those goals of allowing taxpayers to access services, but also not to make it too easy so that fraudsters and others with ill intent could take advantage of the easy access via digital portals. And so, IRS started a program called SADI, Secure Access Digital Interface, to build new protocols and technology to allow access but build in security from the start. And what we found is that IRS, as they were standing up this platform, procured services from a third-party credential service provider called ID.me. This was around 2020 and maybe a little bit before then, and as we’re all aware, that also coincided with the start of the pandemic and various relief measures that Congress and the administration were trying to get out to citizens and taxpayers to help them weather the pandemic. And one of those initiatives was advanced payment of the child tax credit so families could access the credit — which they would qualify for once they file their tax return, but the advanced payment would make it available much sooner and provide financial relief for families. In order to do this, IRS quickly stood up SADI with the help of ID.me and actually allowed the program to be launched as Congress specified in the summer of 2020, and they were able to leverage an existing contract that the Treasury Department had with ID.me to procure these services very quickly. At the start, IRS has seen tremendous improvements in terms of the performance of taxpayers and its processes allowing taxpayers to get through and access the service. Before they moved to this new platform and ID.me, the number of taxpayers or the percentage of taxpayers who were able to authenticate was in the range of 30% to 40%, and this was the old password-based and out-of-wallet questions that people would — you know, IRS would ask taxpayers calling in and many people could not remember. I have trouble remembering how many different addresses or what banks I’ve used in the past. And with the new ID.me and facial recognition technology using biometrics, the pass rate immediately jumped to the 70% range and has continued to go upward to the 80% percent range. So taxpayers are able to get in, and IRS is protecting the Treasury as well as taxpayers’ private information.

Video if you’re not into huge blocks of text:

Grant Thornton profiled a senior manager in tax who can bench 365 pounds on a career page.

That’s all for me on this fine Monday morning. As always, dear reader is encouraged to email or text with any comments, tips, or links to stories we should be talking about. Have a good one, you.

The post Monday Morning Accounting News Brief: PwC Clients Ask For an AI Discount; Big 4 Firms Losing Hundreds of Partners | 6.30.25 appeared first on Going Concern.

This story was mentioned in the Monday Morning Accounting News Brief, published every Monday before noon. We felt it deserves its own post as well.

Last week Bloomberg ran a story about how PwC “has cut prices for some services as clients raised the fact that the consultancy is using artificial intelligence to complete its work quicker.” In other words, clients saw PwC bragging about how AI is eliminating human billable hours and wanted their cut. This according to scoop they got directly from the source:

“Clients would hear us talking about using AI and and say, ‘We want our fair share of those efficiencies,’” PwC Chief AI Officer Dan Priest said in an interview with Bloomberg News. “We certainly, as appropriate, give our clients the pricing benefit of the efficiencies we’re achieving.”

Which and how many clients? And how much have they cut their fees? Your guess is as good as ours. If you are as cynical as we are and know firms as well as we do, your answers are “a couple” and “very little.” Mr. Priest didn’t feel like telling Bloomberg any specifics and added:

He noted, however, that AI-associated price cuts have “plateaued” because the firm’s use of the technology is also improving the quality of its services. “We’re trying to focus more on the value creation,” he said. “There’s a value to that intelligence.”

Priest declined to provide further details on PwC’s pricing, saying that the firm’s broad approach is to “align AI-driven gains with client benefit, whether that’s in efficiency, timeliness, quality or cost.”

Ah so clients want a discount because AI is taking work off the humans’ plates and the firm is getting good at explaining how there’s way more to their fees than time.

We don’t have a number on just how many hours PwC is saving with AI but we do have a figure volunteered up by EY’s Vice Chair of Tax last year to get an idea how it’s working for a single service line at a competing firm. Marna Ricker said to Microsoft that AI is helping her people save up to 14 hours a week by summarizing information, identifying anomalies, and highlighting key themes.

Note to clients: If you’re asking for AI discounts you should go ahead and ask for offshoring discounts too. That’s where their real money savings is.

The post Big 4 Firm Discovers That Bragging About AI Efficiencies Leads Clients to Expect a Discount appeared first on Going Concern.

Reported by Financial Times, PwC UK is cutting about 175 audit associates from the roster “as the Big 4 firm grapples with tougher market conditions.” We thought it was consulting that was having this problem? It’s not like companies can choose to skip audits like they can consulting work. Feels like BS but what do we know.

FT adds:

PwC told some 270 audit associates last week that they were part of a compulsory redundancy round, according to people familiar with the matter, with one saying headcount in the division was too high partly because of a lack of junior staff leaving voluntarily.

Well that’s nice, make an extra hundred people freak out thinking they could be among the people leaving the firm in August. And does anyone else think firms keep using this “attrition is too high low” line because they’re eager to replace exiting staff with offshore staff and not because normal attrition is actually too high low based on historical numbers firms have always baked in to their operating models?

According to FT sources but not confirmed by PwC (they declined to comment), non-Brits working for PwC on visas are on the chopping block. Just recently the UK government raised the baseline minimum salary to be sponsored for a Skilled Worker visa from £38,700 to £41,700 ($57k USD).

In addition, PwC UK staff firmwide were told they’re getting a 2.5% raise this year. Firms are really going out of their way to communicate how little they give a fuck about you in 2025.

The post Layoff Watch ’25: The King’s PwC Shows Some Auditors the Door appeared first on Going Concern.

The last time we covered the Microsoft Work Trend Index report was two years ago when they crunched Microsoft 365 data and discovered that Teams is the biggest productivity killer at work. In case you missed that article and don’t want to click through to read it, here are the highlights:

• Sixty-eight percent of people say they don’t have enough uninterrupted focus time during the workday. And 62% of survey respondents say they struggle with too much time spent searching for information in their workday. Across the Microsoft 365 apps, the average employee spends 57% of their time communicating (in meetings, email, and chat) and 43% creating (in documents, spreadsheets, and presentations).1 The heaviest email users (top 25%) spend 8.8 hours a week on email, and the heaviest meeting users (top 25%) spend 7.5 hours a week in meetings. And this global average includes frontline workers— for knowledge workers, who rely even more on digital communication, the share of the week taken up by emails and meetings is even greater. [Ed. note: “knowledge workers” is you guys]

• Take meetings, for example. People report that the number one productivity disruptor is inefficient meetings, followed closely by having too many meetings at number three. Most people say it’s difficult to brainstorm in a virtual meeting (58%) or catch up if they joined a meeting late (57%), that next steps at the end of a meeting are unclear (55%), and that it’s hard to summarize what happens (56%).

As it did with most everything else, the pandemic made the burden of meetings even worse. Since February 2020, people are in three times more Teams meetings and calls per week (192%).

Coming back to current year, for the 2025 report they chose a disturbing tagline: The Infinite Workday. You’ll see why in a second.

The figures Microsoft shares in the report are “based on trillions of globally aggregated and anonymized Microsoft 365 productivity signals.” In other words, data derived from traffic zipping through their servers. If anyone has a massive pile of data from which to make conclusions about the working world it’s the overlords of 365. Here’s what they found:

They go on to break down the data by time of day, starting with the asscrack of dawn and the morning hours that follow it:

The workday often begins before a lot of people are out of bed. By 6 am, many Microsoft 365 users are scanning overflowing inboxes in hopes of getting ahead. Our telemetry data shows: 

• 40% of people who are online at 6 am are reviewing email for the day’s priorities.
• The average worker receives 117 emails daily—most of them skimmed in under 60 seconds.
• Mass emails with 20+ recipients are up 7% in the past year, while one-on-one threads are on the decline (-5%).

By 8 am, Microsoft Teams overtakes email as the dominant communication channel, shifting the day into high gear.

• The average worker receives 153 Teams messages per weekday.
• Messages per person are up 6% YOY globally—more than 20% in regions like Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, and over 15% in the UK and South Korea.

By midday, it’s meetings, meetings, meetings:

The most valuable hours of the workday are often ruled by someone else’s agenda. Half (50%) of all meetings take place between 9–11 am and 1–3 pm—precisely when, as research shows, many people have a natural productivity spike in their day, due to their circadian rhythms. But our data reveals that we fill this time with meetings, leaving little room for deep focus. Tuesdays now carry the heaviest meeting load (23%), while Fridays taper to just 16%. Instead of deep work, these prime hours are spent cycling through a carousel of calls.

OK at least tell us things calm down by evening. Please tell us that.

The shift to the triple peak day that started during the pandemic is no longer a trend—for many, it’s the norm. Today’s workday stretches well into the evening. Our telemetry data shows that meetings after 8 pm are up 16% year over year, with global and flexible teams accounting for much of the increase. And it’s not just meetings: the average employee now sends or receives more than 50 messages outside of core business hours, and by 10 pm, nearly a third (29%) of active workers dive back into their inboxes, pointing to a steady rise in after-hours activity.

[F]or some, this pressure spills into the weekend—making Sunday feel like just another Monday:  

• Our telemetry data shows a notable bump in weekend email usage. Nearly 20% of employees actively working on the weekend are checking their email before noon on Saturday and Sunday—waking up to work, even on typical days off. And over 5% are back in email on Sunday evenings (6 pm and later)—the Sunday scaries are real and measurable. 
• And while email patterns mimic the workweek, other apps tell a different story: over the weekend, usage of WXP overtakes Teams messages as employees finally carve out time for uninterrupted focus work. 

I’m a Mac/Chromebook gal and we use Slack/Google Workspace here so, not having used Windows since I ran my last machine over with a forklift some years ago, I had to Google WXP. All I’m getting is Windows XP and there’s no way (RIP the best Windows OS of our adult lives) so if someone can please let me know what that is I’d greatly appreciate it.

Anyway, the figures for late nights and weekends seem terrible on the surface but, as Microsoft points out, could be due at least in part to remote and hybrid workers catching up to make up for missing out on regular workday hours due to personal commitments. Or they’re just so bombarded by meetings, Teams messages, and obnoxious huge email chains with 20+ people CC’d that evenings and weekends are the only time they can get any actual work done.

It appears to be the latter. 1 in 3 employees surveyed as part of the report say the pace of work over the past five years makes it impossible to keep up.

You see now why they picked “infinite workday” as the theme of this year’s report?

Breaking down the infinite workday [Microsoft]

The post Microsoft 365 Users Are Inexplicably Abusing Reply All in 2025, Sitting Through Too Many Meetings appeared first on Going Concern.

We think this was first spotted by Financial Times so h/t to them.

Gigantic UK-based energy company Shell announced yesterday it will be updating its 2023 and 2024 Form 20-Fs “due to EY non-compliance with audit partner rotation rules” after EY UK told them they’d discovered a small audit partner rotation issue for those years.

Said the news release put out by Shell:

On July 1, 2025, EY, Shell plc’s independent registered public accounting firm, advised the Audit and Risk Committee of the Board that its US opinions on Shell plc’s previously issued audited consolidated financial statements and effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting (jointly the “previously issued financial statements”) for the years ended and as of December 31, 2023 and 2024 (the “applicable years”), respectively, should no longer be relied upon. After a review, EY concluded that it was not in compliance with the SEC’s auditor independence rules for the audits of the applicable years.

EY has determined that the partner who led the audit for the applicable years had exceeded the period allowed under SEC audit partner rotation rules and hence was not eligible to serve as lead engagement partner for those audits.

EY subsequently assigned a different partner to perform the role of lead audit partner with respect to the audits and concluded that no changes to the previously issued financial statements for the applicable years are necessary. EY has also concluded that the appropriate remediation has been completed, and it is capable of exercising objective and impartial judgment with respect to the US audit opinions included in the amended Form 20-Fs for the applicable years to be filed with the SEC.

OK so EY found out the engagement partner had been sticking around on this client for too long — too long being more than five years per SEC rules — and informed the client’s audit and risk committee at which point Shell put out this press release. If there’s anything audit committees and investors love it’s hearing the words “previously auditing financial statements and effectiveness of internal control over financial reports should no longer be relied upon.” Really inspires confidence in those financial statements Shell worked so hard to keep neat and tidy.

The UK has similar audit partners rotation rules and, as expected, their regulator will be looking into this. In another failure to rotate case, EY was fined £500,000 by the Financial Reporting Council in April for exceeding the maximum ten year engagement period for audits of a Public Interest Entity (PIE) without renewal via a qualifying public tender on another client, Stirling Water Seafield Finance. EY audited SWSF from the financial year ended December 31, 2009 until its resignation as auditor in April of 2021. Said FRC Deputy Executive Counsel Jamie Symington about that one: “Mandatory firm rotation is a clear requirement for auditors underpinned by company law and the FRC’s Revised Ethical Standard. It is an integral legal safeguard to provide assurance that auditors are demonstrably independent which supports trust and confidence in UK corporate reporting and audit. In this case, there were significant failings in relation to mandatory firm rotation requirements at both the engagement and firm level during the continuance stage, which led to EY carrying out audit work despite being ineligible.”

“EY UK deeply regrets this occurred and has remediated the matter. There has been no change to the financial information previously prepared by Shell plc, for the applicable years, and EY UK is providing updated, unqualified, SEC audit opinions,” said the firm in a statement to FT. “We are committed to the highest standards of audit quality and will continue to take any necessary steps to ensure these standards are upheld.”

FT said EY’s fee for 2024 alone was $66 million. First contracted with EY for all their audit needs in 2016, Shell had been planning to retain EY for another ten years, subject to shareholder approval at the company’s 2026 annual meeting, but we suspect there may be a different outcome after this.

Get in there KPMG, now’s your chance.

The post EY Gets Caught Up in Independence Violations Because Audit Partner Rotation Is For Chumps appeared first on Going Concern.

Happy 4th, everyone! Please try to not blow any fingers off should you be celebrating with fiery crackery explody things this weekend and go easy on the burgers OK? Enjoy this brief, completely unorganized Footnotes if you need some weekend reading. Comments are normally closed on Footnotes as a rule however we’ve left them open this time so feel free to air any grievances and/or opine on any of the articles below.

Although it’s a holiday weekend you can still reach out via email or text if you’ve got something to share with us, our shitposting processing center is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Generative AI: the risk of cognitive atrophy [Polytechnique Insights]
The widespread use of the internet and social media has already weakened our relationship with knowledge. Of course, these tools have tremendous applications in terms of access to information. But contrary to what they claim, they are less about democratising knowledge than creating a generalised illusion of knowledge. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that they are driving intellectual, emotional and moral mediocrity on a global scale. Intellectual because they encourage overconsumption of content without any real critical analysis; emotional because they create an ever-deepening dependence on stimulation and entertainment; and moral because we have fallen into passive acceptance of algorithmic decisions.

Accounting’s talent shortage is undeniable—50% of industry leaders say it takes 60 days or more to fill jobs [Fortune]
A recent survey from accounting and finance talent outsourcing firm Personiv found that about nine in 10 finance leaders (87%) acknowledged a shortage exists, a rate that’s been on a steady upward climb from 63% back in 2020.

“A suitcase and a dream:” Maz Mwansa’s journey from English accountant to American football [Panthers.com]
He had a perfectly secure and hard-earned job with a good accounting firm. But once he learned about the NFL and that he might have a chance, even this slimmest one, his mind was made up. That’s what he wanted out of life. And now, he has that shot. That sounds like the American dream, never mind that it’s held by a guy who never played so much as high school football, since he grew up an ocean away from America. Of course, when you’re Panthers outside linebacker Mapalo Mwansa — call him Maz — and you grew up in Peterborough, England, never having an American football context, none of that matters. The dream is all that’s on his mind right now.

This Charlotte accountant prioritizes aiding immigrants. ‘We all want to be here.’ [Charlotte Observer]
At 12 years old, Lester Selby was walking to the kitchen in his home in Georgetown, Guyana, in search of a late-night glass of water, when he stumbled upon his older cousin holding a wad of cash. “I was like, ‘Wow, how come you have so much money,’ ” Selby recalled. His cousin said he earned it from his job as an accountant. In that moment, Selby set his sights on becoming just that.

Senator Hutchinson Applauds Passage and Signing of CPA Licensure Reform Bill [Pennsylvania Senate Republicans]
Senator Scott Hutchinson (R-21) today announced that his legislation to strengthen Pennsylvania’s accounting profession and address the growing shortage of certified public accountants (CPAs) has officially been signed into law as Act 27 of 2025. Senate Bill 719 passed unanimously in the House of Representatives on June 26 following a unanimous vote in the Senate and was signed by Governor Shapiro on June 30. “This legislation represents a critical step forward for Pennsylvania’s workforce and economy,” said Senator Hutchinson. “With fewer individuals entering the accounting profession and a significant portion of CPAs nearing retirement age, our state was in urgent need of reform. I’m proud that Act 27 will help reverse that trend by modernizing licensure requirements while maintaining the integrity and rigor of the profession.”

With Accounting Gimmick, Republicans Upend Senate Norms [New York Times]
Senate Republicans on Monday set a precedent that upended how the costs of tax cuts could be counted in federal budgeting, voting in favor of an accounting gimmick that erodes one of Washington’s last bulwarks against unchecked deficits. With a simple majority vote on Monday, Republicans declared that their new accounting method was valid. The chamber voted 53-47 to disregard a Democratic challenge to Republicans’ view of how the cost of tax cuts should be assessed.

The AI Backlash Keeps Growing Stronger [WIRED]
Before Duolingo wiped its videos from TikTok and Instagram in mid-May, social media engagement was one of the language-learning app’s most recognizable qualities. Its green owl mascot had gone viral multiple times and was well known to younger users—a success story other marketers envied. But, when news got out that Duolingo was making the switch to become an “AI-first” company, planning to replace contractors who work on tasks generative AI could automate, public perception of the brand soured. Young people started posting on social media about how they were outraged at Duolingo as they performatively deleted the app—even if it meant losing the precious streak awards they earned through continued, daily usage. The comments on Duolingo’s TikTok posts in the days after the announcement were filled with rage, primarily focused on a single aspect: workers being replaced with automation.

UHY Enters Ohio Market [INSIDE Public Accounting]
Farmington Hills, Mich.-based IPA 100 firm UHY LLP (FY23 net revenue of $346.6 million) has announced its expansion into the Ohio market with the addition of Cincinnati-based firm Flynn & Company. MP Richard T. Flynn will bring his team to UHY and transition to the firm’s first Cincinnati office.

Withum Announces its 2025 New Partner Class [INSIDE Public Accounting]
Fifteen team members were admitted as partners in Withum offices nationwide and join the dynamic corporate leadership team at the firm

The tax, audit & accounting firm mergers that work are the ones that start years in advance [Thomson Reuters]
In 2000, the 100th largest firm reported $6.5 million in revenue. By 2024, that number had jumped to $53.2 million, according to Accounting Today. In fact, half the Top 300 tax, audit & accounting firms have merged with others over the last decade.

Senate Bill Offers Interest Deduction for Buyers of American-Made Cars [New York Times]
According to the available legislative text, the tax break would apply to only some new cars, and most buyers would see far less than the $10,000 maximum deduction. The provisions are limited to new vehicle made or finally assembled in the United States, as part of President Trump’s push to bolster domestic manufacturing. The potential benefit comes as another one is set to be taken away: The G.O.P. bill would almost immediately end tax credits for electric cars.

Everything we know about how Wall Street giants are adopting AI, from JPMorgan to Blackstone [Business Insider]
Banks, hedge funds, asset managers, and private equity firms have been eager to use generative AI to boost productivity and reduce grunt work for workers. Since OpenAI introduced ChatGPT, finance firms have moved from pockets of experimentation to scaling these generative AI tools companywide. Such tech advancements have been met with a mix of enthusiasm and cynicism.

The post Friday Footnotes: America Day Weekend Reading | 7.4.25 appeared first on Going Concern.

Happy Monday! I’ve gathered a little news for you to start your week.

Hot off the Journal of Accountancy presses this morning, the AICPA has asked the government to delay a September 30 deadline to eliminate paper checks “to and from America’s bank account.”

Treasury should extend the time frame for mandating the end of paper checks for federal disbursements or at least set rules that make the transition easier for taxpayers, the AICPA said in a letter about Executive Order 14247, Modernizing Payments to and From America’s Bank Accounts.

While the AICPA supports the transition to electronic payments for federal disbursements and receipts, it believes challenges exist that will make it difficult to meet the Sept. 30 deadline without some changes.

“For many years, the AICPA has advocated for and supported the modernization of the IRS and its payment systems; although this executive order is a step in the right direction, there are many considerations before implementing changes, which means updated processes and carefully tailored rules will need to be developed,” Daniel Hauffe, J.D., AICPA senior manager–Tax Policy & Advocacy, said in a news release. “The AICPA’s recommendations allow for the modernization of the IRS’s tax payment systems while mitigating the impact of the administrative burden on taxpayers, tax practitioners, and the IRS that could be caused by this executive order.”

The executive order mandating the end of paper-based payments was issued on March 25.

Business Insider ran this headline on Friday: EY exec: ‘This idea of up-skilling the entire workforce to use AI, I think it’s kind of silly’. The interview-style article with consulting CTO Jason Noel is basically an ad for EY’s AI expertise but here’s what he said about upskilling:

Q: What’s the value of up-skilling here? How much do employees need to learn about AI?

A: They just know that they have a screen and an application that says, “Here’s how much stuff you have now of this,” and “Here’s how many you have coming inbound,” maybe. They don’t need to know how the technology works. This idea of up-skilling the entire workforce to use AI — I think it’s kind of silly.

This Deloitte CFO survey has some sad news to share on the first Monday following Independence Day, we’re not #1 in foreign investment attractiveness:

The UK has overtaken the United States and Japan as a more attractive country to invest in, according to executives at some of Britain’s biggest businesses.

Despite volatile markets and concern about the public finances, business directors have turned more bullish on the UK as a country to invest in and have a bigger appetite for risk, according to Deloitte’s latest survey of chief financial officers.

The closely watched quarterly survey, which canvasses opinion from the finance chiefs of 61 of Britain’s biggest companies, found that executives viewed the UK and India as the most attractive destination when it came to investment, with a net balance of 13 per cent of respondents describing Britain as very or somewhat attractive.

“These results reveal a shift in sentiment with the UK now viewed as a leading global investment destination,” said Richard Houston, senior partner and chief executive of Deloitte UK. “This renewed confidence, coupled with a rise in risk appetite, is welcome and underscores the considerable investment potential the UK offers.”

Crain’s Cleveland explains how EY leaving their fancy old building downtown A) was a big downgrade for them and B) has messed up the entire downtown commercial real estate market:

In November 2023, EY left what was then known as EY Tower in the Flats, a sparkling 23-story, glass-curtained jewel built at an undisclosed cost with the accounting firm as its initial marquee tenant. Real estate professionals say it’s the sort of “highly amenitized” Class A building that is most in demand among choice tenants.

That move was cost- and needs-driven, but still surprising, said Terry Coyne, executive vice chairman of Newmark in Cleveland.

“What surprised me about the EY deal was they went from a Class A building with a lot of amenities, to a building off the beaten path with no amenities at North Point,” Coyne said. “It’s almost like a suburban building. It has good parking and a very competitive lease rate. But if you wanted a building with good amenities that’s going to attract your employees, North Point was not a good choice.”

Yeah they don’t care about Cleveland, they’re focusing on the real estate that matters thousands of miles away.

The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer of Georgia has done an interesting deep dive on the rot within the city government’s finance department and how a certain event in 2020 concealed it for years:

This year, former Columbus city manager Isaiah Hugley was fired. There have been two arrests related to criminal charges from an investigation into the city’s finance department, and outside attorneys have been hired as the threat of a racial discrimination lawsuit looms.

A 118-page administrative report from the Muscogee County Sheriff’s Office, filled with transcripts of interviews with city officials, local activists and whistleblowers details allegations of toxic work environments, potential cover-ups and pressure to present misleading results to the Columbus Council. Columbus got to this point through a years-long ordeal involving business tax issues.

Several years of strain within the finance department allow the saga to be traced back to July 25, 2023.

Read the rest if you’re into it.

The Government Accountability Office discovered a little billing issue related to non-government space launches:

As the Defense Department ramps up national security space launches, it could soon start collecting millions more dollars from commercial launch providers — including two with significant operations in north Alabama.

A recently released audit from the Government Accountability Office found U.S. Space Force has failed to fully bill commercial launch providers, including SpaceX, Blue Origin and United Launch Alliance, for their use of federal launch facilities. Existing legislation prevents Space Force – the main Pentagon arm involved in procuring launch services – from fully recouping indirect costs associated with these launches, auditors found.

GAO report here: National Security Space Launch: Increased Commercial Use of Ranges Underscores Need for Improved Cost Recovery

Nearly three-quarters of professional services firms in Australia expect good or better growth, reports Accounting Times:

Professional services firms expected a better growth outlook than other small to medium enterprises (SMEs), NAB found. Over the coming financial year, 71 per cent of professional services firms expected “very good” or “good” revenue growth, compared to just 55 per cent of all SMEs.

A majority (79 per cent) of professional services firms planned to grow through hiring, retaining and training staff.

A smaller proportion (36 per cent) planned to acquire new businesses, 33 per cent planned to invest in new technology or systems, while 17 per cent planned to launch new products or services.

Accounting firms said they were focused on fostering staff development to ensure retention as the labour market remained tight.

If you’d like to check out the whole report you can do so from NAB here.

That’s enough of that. Email or text if you’ve got something for us and have a wonderful week, you.

The post Monday Morning Accounting News Brief: AI Upskilling is Silly, Says EY CTO; AICPA Pleads For a Paper Check Extension | 7.7.25 appeared first on Going Concern.

In an exclusive story published yesterday, New York Post recognizes the absolute badassery of Coast Guard rescue swimmer and former KPMGer Scott Ruskan, the young man from New Jersey who risked his life in Texas in order to save many, many more:

A Coast Guard rescue swimmer is already being hailed as an “American hero” after his very first mission — helping to save the lives of 165 Texas flash flood victims.

“This is what it’s all about, right? Like, this is why we do the job,” said Scott Ruskan, 26, a New Jersey native and former KPMG accountant, to The Post after his work in central Texas.

“This is why we take those risks all time. This is why like Coast Guard men and women are risking their lives every day,” said Petty Officer Ruskan, who was in charge of triage at Camp Mystic, the Christian girls’ summer camp that saw some of the worst of the flooding.

The post KPMG Alum Hailed As a Hero After He Helps Save 165 Lives in Texas Flood appeared first on Going Concern.

According to a recent Resume Builder survey that tapped 1,342 US managers with direct reports to find out how many of them are using AI to determine who gets promoted and fired, 6 in 10 of these managers “rely on” AI to make decisions about their underlings.

The key findings before we get deep into the muck:

• A majority of these managers use AI to determine raises (78%), promotions (77%), layoffs (66%), and even terminations (64%)
• More than 1 in 5 frequently let AI make final decisions without human input
• Two-thirds of managers using AI to manage employees haven’t received any formal AI training
• Nearly half of managers were tasked with assessing if AI can replace their reports

Of the 65% of respondents who use AI tools at work, 94% are using them to determine what to do with their underlings. What exactly are these managers using AI to do when it comes to personnel?

• 97% use it to create training materials
• 94% to build employee development plans
• 91% to assess performance
• 88% to draft performance improvement plans (PIPs)
• 78% to determine raises
• 77% to determine promotions
• 66% to determine layoffs
• 64% to determine terminations

The numbers look quite different when you pull back from only the managers using these tools but you see assessing performance and creating PIPs are quite popular as people management tasks being offloaded to AI all the time or often.

As for the tools themselves, ChatGPT is getting the most use as robot HR with 53% of the managers using it to perform the tasks listed above. Coming in second is Copilot with 29% and bringing up the rear is Gemini with 16%.

Here’s the part we should be worried about (unless you’re someone who thinks machines are better than humans at decisions like these as they’re not so bogged down with emotions and petty office politics):

Among managers who use AI to help manage their teams, a majority (71%) express confidence in AI’s ability to make fair and unbiased decisions about employees.

A notable share of managers let AI operate with limited oversight. More than 20% say they allow AI to make decisions without human input either all the time (5%) or often (16%), while another 24% sometimes do. However, nearly all managers say they are willing to step in if they disagree with an AI-driven recommendation.

And this part:

Only one-third (32%) of managers using AI to manage people say they’ve received formal training on ethically using AI in managing people, while 43% have received informal guidance. Nearly one in four (24%) say they’ve received no training at all.

“It’s essential not to lose the ‘people’ in people management,” said Stacie Haller, chief career advisor at Resume Builder, of the survey results. “While AI can support data-driven insights, it lacks context, empathy, and judgment. AI outcomes reflect the data it’s given, which can be flawed, biased, or manipulated. Organizations have a responsibility to implement AI ethically to avoid legal liability, protect their culture, and maintain trust among employees.”

“Organizations must provide proper training and clear guidelines around AI, or they risk unfair decisions and erosion of employee trust,” she said.

The post ChatGPT Is Doing Performance Reviews and Deciding Layoffs Now appeared first on Going Concern.

Here at Going Concern we love academic research, even the kind that makes your eyes start watering with its tedious and unforgiving nerdiness. Today we’ve found one for you that’s a bit less dorky and more interesting, or so we hope. And I’m not just saying that because it’s about people with uncommon first names of which I am one (trust I’ll find a way to make this about me at some point in this article regardless).

According to a recent paper in Contemporary Accounting Research, auditors with “uncommon” names are more likely to allow bending of audit standards. That’s not to say these engagement partners are outright committing audit sins, to be clear.

First, the abstract:

We examine whether audit partner individualism reduces earnings comparability in the United States. We argue that individualistic audit partners are more likely to deviate from internal working rules and allow clients more flexibility in making accounting choices, consequently decreasing their clients’ earnings comparability. Using a novel partner-level measure of individualism, we find that within individual Big 4 audit firms, earnings are less comparable between a company audited by an individualistic partner and a company audited by a non-individualistic partner, relative to a pair of companies that are each audited by a non-individualistic partner. Our inferences are robust to a changes analysis, a falsification test, and a propensity score matching procedure. We also find that the effect of partner individualism is less salient when the audit firm is under more stringent regulatory monitoring and when clients are more important, but more salient when individualistic partners are more confident about being different. Further analyses suggest that our main inferences are robust to controlling for differences in partners’ cultural backgrounds and using client-pairs audited by the same audit partner. Collectively, our study provides novel evidence on the role of auditor individualism in earnings comparability.

TLDR: They crunched the data and determined audit partners who didn’t go to school with a dozen people who also have their name tend to be more “individualistic.”

Phys.org discusses the paper titled “Does audit partner individualism reduce client earnings comparability?” authored by Young Hoon Kim, assistant professor of accounting at the Donald G. Costello College of Business at George Mason University and co-authored by Yinghua Li of Arizona State University and Dechun Wang of Texas A&M University:

The researchers analyzed filings from 2,829 publicly traded companies over the period 2016–2020. They classified the first names of the associated audit partners as either common or uncommon, depending on whether the names were among the 50 most frequent first names by gender as per the Social Security Administration database.

Comparing filings from otherwise similar companies, the researchers concluded that financial reports audited by uncommonly named auditors exhibited up to 8.3% more deviation than those done by their commonly named counterparts.

Phys.org continues:

Why is this issue worth looking into? Kim highlights that earnings comparability—that is to say, consistent application of reporting standards across filings—is generally seen as a good thing for market efficiency. That rule of thumb could lead one to conclude that individualistic auditors, including those with non-standard first names, are a liability for the Big 4. But the reality is much more complicated, Kim says.

“In many cases, better comparability is a good thing. But truthful representation is more important. And we do not find that individualistic auditors produce low-quality outcomes.”

He also references another study that found auditors with a history of speeding tickets “were more aggressive in auditing and therefore quality deteriorated.” I think he means this one that found clients of partners with prior legal infractions exhibit a higher likelihood of material misstatements revealed through subsequent restatements, greater propensity to misstate based on the F-score, more instances of “missed” material weaknesses, and less timely loss recognition, while also paying lower audit fees.

To better understand the names the researchers consider common I headed to the Social Security database and arbitrarily picked 1975 to get a list of the top 20 most popular baby names that year as 50 seems like a good age to check. Feel free to check yourself using any year you like.

By comparison, my name ranked 170 the year I was born. It peaked in popularity in 1983 with 2,078 total births, 0.116 percent of all female births in the United States that year. So that totally explains why I can count the number of Adriennes I’ve met over my lifetime on one hand.

What does this mean for capital markets when all the Jaxxons and Ayshleighs born last decade are old enough to be engagement partners?

The post Researchers Determine That Big 4 Audit Partners Not Named Michael or Jennifer Are More Likely to Bend the Rules appeared first on Going Concern.

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It’s official, BDO USA national managing principal of tax Matthew K. Becker will be moving on up to the big chair effective July 1, 2026 when current CEO Wayne Berson vacates the seat after 14 years.

The press release is…something. We’ll spare you the excessive self-fellating paragraphs and stick to the small parts that directly reference Becker’s history at the firm:

As national managing principal of tax, Becker leads the strategy and operations of BDO USA’s tax practice, which has more than doubled in size since 2019. He joined BDO in 2002, became a tax partner in 2005, and assumed the role of national managing principal in 2019. He has held a series of progressive leadership positions throughout his career including five years as chair of BDO USA’s Board of Directors where he oversaw the firm’s governance and strategic direction. As a longstanding member of the executive leadership team, he has been a pivotal voice in the most consequential decisions impacting the firm’s future, from the establishment of BDO’s employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) to key expansions and strategic partnerships. Becker’s impressive accomplishments, holistic understanding of the firm and its opportunities, and unwavering character position him to sustain BDO’s culture and growth trajectory while managing the complexities of a rapidly changing industry.

According to his firm profile, when he’s not grinding for BDO’s tax practice Matt is part of various community organizations including roles on the Boards of Directors of John Ball Zoo, The Right Place, Junior Achievement of the Michigan Great Lakes, Literacy Center of West Michigan, and Indian Trails Camp.

Mr. Becker has had a few brief mentions on this website in recent years, the first we could find was from 2022 when an internal email explained how the firm would be “optimizing” tax and assurance regions and regional MPs for tax would be reporting to Becker.

Congrats to Mr. Becker and bonus congrats to Becker CPA Review for all the free name association advertising you’ll be getting for the next who knows how many years.

The post BDO Will Have a New CEO Next Year appeared first on Going Concern.

Public Accounting Trends

Data Reveals The CPA License Is Losing Ground [INSIDE Public Accounting]
The CPA credential remains a cornerstone of the profession, but new data indicate its prominence is steadily declining. Between 2020 and 2024, the average percentage of staff holding CPA licenses across all firms dropped from 56.0 percent to 48.4 percent. This decline has occurred across all firm sizes, suggesting a systemic shift in both hiring practices and credentialing trends. Larger firms, which tend to offer a broader array of advisory and consulting services, report even lower CPA ratios, with only 41.5 percent of staff holding licenses in 2024.

CPA society leader Johnson sanguine about future of profession [ROI-NJ]
Aiysha Johnson, executive director at the New Jersey Society of CPAs and the first Black woman to lead the state CPA society, is optimistic about the future of the profession. Johnson said accounting firms are being more aggressive and strategic in attracting prospective accountants.

Talent

Attention, firms! If you’re hiring for remote and/or hybrid roles you’ll want to be sure to check out Accountingfly’s top candidates of the week. They’re hand-picked for their skills, tech stacks, certifications, and general all-around awesomeness.

Firm Watch

CohnReznick acquires Piascik Certified Public Accountants [Consulting.us]
The deal will expand CohnReznick’s presence in the Mid-Atlantic region, adding a Richmond office to its eight locations across Metro DC, Baltimore, Charlotte, and South Florida. Steve Piascik will join CohnReznick as office managing partner for Richmond while Ryan Losi will join as a partner in the international tax practice.

Grant Thornton US and UK compete for German sister firm [Financial Times]
The competition underlines a new dynamic between the firms following their recent injection of private capital. Grant Thornton’s US arm has been on an acquisition spree after selling a majority stake to a consortium led by New Mountain Capital last year, in what was the biggest private equity takeover of an accounting firm.

Law & Order

Credit Fund’s Collapse Leads to $1 Billion Lawsuit Against EY [Bloomberg]
Bridging Finance Inc.’s receiver is suing Ernst & Young LLP for C$1.4 billion ($1 billion), alleging the auditor failed to detect fraud and misstatements that contributed to the Toronto private lender’s collapse. In a claim filed with Ontario’s Superior Court last month, PricewaterhouseCoopers alleged that EY issued unqualified opinions on Bridging’s books from 2014 to 2020 despite red flags, including inflated asset values and hidden defaults.

N.Y. state auditor whose job is to uncover financial fraud accused of financial fraud himself [CBS News New York]
A state auditor whose job was, in part, to uncover financial fraud is now accused of committing financial fraud himself. Tobias Otieno, 41, is charged with grand larceny as a public corruption crime. Otieno worked for the New York state comptroller. He’s accused of stealing $408,000 from the Town of Wallkill. “It’s appalling and it’s hard to express the level of outrage from the comptroller and all members of this office at this absolutely abhorrent and rogue behavior by a staff member,” said Nelson Sheingold, chief counsel to state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli.

Audit

UK’s FRC probes Deloitte and Azets over fintech Stenn audits [International Accounting Bulletin]
Stenn entered administration in December 2024, following lender concerns over suspicious transactions. The focus of the probe is on the audits conducted between 2017 and 2023, a period during which Deloitte succeeded Azets as the auditor for the 2023 financial year.

Auditors Fail in Role of Safeguarding Carbon Offsets: Study [Bloomberg Law]
Auditors are failing in their role as third-party guarantors of the quality of carbon offsets, according to new academic research. In a paper published Thursday in Science, an international peer-reviewed journal, Cary Coglianese, a law and political science professor at University of Pennsylvania, and Cynthia Giles, a former senior advisor at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, conclude that auditors selected and paid by the companies they inspect can’t affirm the credibility of the projects they assess. This is largely due to “economic incentives and an unconscious bias to make findings that work to their client’s advantage,” the authors wrote. “It is hard to see how auditors could maintain their livelihoods if they were to disapprove” the amount of junk credits that have been identified in the market, they wrote.

Technology

Abacus raises $6.6M to bring AI assistants to accounting firms [silicon ANGLE] “The idea for Abacus came from our own CPA issuing us a ‘7216 consent form’, essentially telling us that the bulk of our tax prep work was going to be offshored,” said Chief Technology Officer Brandon Sugarman. “This sparked a curiosity in the industry and eventually led to our first paying customer.”

Leaders will soon be managing AI agents – these are the skills they’ll need, according to experts [World Economic Forum]
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said in October 2024 that he hopes the company will one day employ 50,000 people, working with 100 million agents. “AIs will recruit other AIs to solve problems. AIs will be in Slack channels with each other, and with humans,” Huang said. “We’ll just be one large employee base, if you will – some of them are digital and AI, and some of them are biological.”

Financial Reporting

Non-US firms are shrewd accounting standards shoppers [CFO Dive]
“This research shows that accounting regime selection is not merely a matter of regulatory compliance,” the lead researcher Dr. Heylel-li Biton of the Hebrew University Business School said in a July 2 release on the findings that were published in The International Journal of Accounting. “It reflects calculated decisions by firms to align their financial reporting with operational goals and cost structures.”

Tax

AICPA: Guidance needed on catch-up contributions under Roth mandate [Journal of Accountancy]
The AICPA requested additional guidance from Treasury and the IRS on catch-up contributions that are designated as Roth contributions in Section 603 of the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (Division T of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, P.L. 117-328). “Post-SECURE 2.0, employers and plan administrators will need clear guidance to ensure compliance of the law regarding Roth-mandated catch-up contributions,” said Kristin Esposito, director–Tax Policy & Advocacy at the AICPA. “Our recommendations to the regulations proposed by Treasury and the IRS, if adopted, will make it easier for plan administrators to implement the law.”

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act [Tax Foundation]
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) is now law. Any comprehensive tax legislation is going to have its wrinkles, and the One Big Beautiful Bill is no different. We have previously published estimates of the budgetary, economic, and distributional effects of the House legislation and the Senate legislation, but the final version has plenty of good, bad, and ugly to cover as well.

The post Friday Footnotes: CPAs Disappearing From CPA Firms; Grant Thornton Tries to Win Grant Thornton | 7.11.25 appeared first on Going Concern.

Good morning, people! Got a little news for you.

Great just what we need, religious leaders spewing political hot takes:

The IRS’s green light for churches to speak about political campaigns and candidates without losing their tax-exempt status opens the door to new legal tests of two of the strongest Constitutional protections: Free speech and religious liberty.

Churches that want to push the bounds of political speech now have more assurance that they won’t lose their tax-exempt status, which allows them to largely avoid taxes and for donors to receive tax deductions. They also may test how far they can endorse a politician without attracting IRS enforcement.

“It will be interesting to see who starts pushing the limits and how,” said Raul Gastesi, partner at Gastesi Lopez Mestre & Cobiella. “And it will get tricky when you talk about religious freedom, those are highly protected rights.”

Journal of Accountancy with some fresh good news this morning:

Legislation passed by Congress will allow the IRS to grant tax relief when a governor declares either a disaster or state emergency rather than waiting for a federal disaster declaration, which may happen weeks after the state acts.

The Senate on Thursday passed H.R. 517, the Filing Relief for Natural Disasters Act, which passed the House in April. It now goes to President Donald Trump for his signature.

“The passage of this important legislation is a major win for taxpayers and tax practitioners across the country,” AICPA President and CEO Mark Koziel, CPA, CGMA, said in a statement. “When taxpayers are impacted by a disaster, the stress, anxiety, and emotional toll can be overwhelming — these people should be afforded every opportunity to meet their tax obligations without additional hardship. We applaud the actions taken by members of Congress to set aside political ideology and unanimously support taxpayers by providing disaster victims timely relief.”

Canadian Accountant on why it’s important for firms to file timely Form 3s with the PCAOB, because they’ll getcha if you don’t:

Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton LLP took too long to report that it was the under the scrutiny of a Canadian regulator, according to a statement two days ago from the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board in the United States. The American audit watchdog issued a discipline order stating that it had censured the firm, imposed a $30,000 civil money penalty, and would require RCGT to comply with its reporting policies and procedures.

“Failures to document required audit work or to make required disclosures on time undermine trust in the audit and prevent investors and others from accessing important information,” said PCAOB Chair Erica Y. Williams, in a press release that also singled out an American accounting firm based in Marietta, Georgia: Goldman & Company, CPA’s, P.C.

Good news everyone, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff thinks people are just being paranoid when it comes to white collar job losses due to AI:

Marc Benioff said that while artificial intelligence is drastically reshaping Salesforce, it doesn’t mean that it will wipe out white-collar workers.

“That isn’t how I see AI,” Benioff, Salesforce’s CEO, told Atlantic CEO Nicholas Thompson during a recent onstage interview at the 2025 AI for Good Global Summit. “Maybe they have AI, I don’t have. But in the AI I have, it’s not going to be some huge mass layoff of white-collar workers, it is a radical augmentation of the workforce.”

Benioff’s broader view of AI contrasts with how other in tech view the next decade. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, who was not mentioned directly during Benioff’s appearance, has said AI may eliminate half of entry-level, white-collar jobs within the next five years.

People need to get past this type of general “fear,” Benioff said.

Relevant Gizmodo article from a few weeks ago: Salesforce CEO Claims Half of the Company’s Work Is Now Done by AI

IRS customer service agent and president of the union that represents the many, many IRS employees working out of Kansas City speaks to the local NPR affiliate about the “psychological warfare” of layoffs and explains how things are going (or not going) at her workplace lately:

Shannon Ellis works in customer service at the agency and serves as the president of National Treasury Employees Union Chapter 66, which represents IRS workers in the area.

In an interview with KCUR, Ellis said the IRS has not told her union how many workers have left — either through firings or voluntary departures.

Earlier this year, agencies offered deferred resignations to federal employees — a choice between resigning their jobs on a specific date, or potentially being subject to layoffs in the future. Ellis likened the federal government’s threats of layoffs to a game show where no one wins.

“Here behind door number one, you can do this, or you can wait to see what happens behind door number two,” she said. “It’s like a psychological war.”

Ellis said that the communication from management has been inconsistent and confusing, and that workers were depressed and afraid for their livelihoods and their careers — echoing concerns KCUR has heard from other Kansas City federal union leaders.

Some workers, Ellis said, are even suicidal, and the union is trying to help them access mental health services.

Halliburton has a new CAO and gives us her CV in the press release:

Effective July 16, 2025, Stephanie Holzhauser will assume the role of senior vice president and chief accounting officer. She replaces Charles Geer Jr. who is departing for an executive role at another company.

Holzhauser began her career at Halliburton as an intern before joining the company as an associate accountant in 2004. Throughout her tenure, she held various roles of increasing responsibility in external reporting, technical accounting along with both the Completion and Production and Drilling and Evaluation divisions and most recently was the vice president of operations finance encompassing the hemispheres, divisions and financial planning and analysis teams. She holds a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in accounting from Louisiana State University.

Deloitte won HR Team of the Year and Best Recruitment Strategy at the Employee Happiness Awards UAE in Dubai:

“We are honoured to have received these awards, which reflect our dedication to enhancing the employee experience at Deloitte as well as our unwavering commitment to our inclusive policies,” said Rana Ghandour Salhab, Managing Partner for People & Purpose at Deloitte in the Middle East.

And that’s all for this slow Monday news brief. My inbox is open should you have grievances, observations, or a tip: email or text. Have a good week and try to stay out of trouble OK?

The post Monday Morning Accounting News Brief: Form 3 Claims Another Victim; Deloitte Wins HR Awards | 7.14.25 appeared first on Going Concern.

Just weeks after the profession got in a tizzy about private equity-owned firms telling staff to remove CPA from their email signatures and, in some cases, LinkedIn profiles, INSIDE Public Accounting has dropped figures on the average number of staff with CPAs at the hundreds of public accounting firms that report their data to IPA. Ready?

Between 2020 and 2024, the average percentage of staff holding CPA licenses across all firms dropped from 56.0 percent to 48.4 percent. This decline has occurred across all firm sizes, suggesting a systemic shift in both hiring practices and credentialing trends. Larger firms, which tend to offer a broader array of advisory and consulting services, report even lower CPA ratios, with only 41.5 percent of staff holding licenses in 2024.

Before we grab the pitchforks (they’re still cooling off from the last round of outrage, let’s give them a break), as IPA points out it’s worth recognizing that many firms have greatly expanded their offerings to areas that don’t necessarily require a CPA, like CAS. There’s an argument to be made about how the success of these offerings could be built on the trustworthiness and expertise of CPA holders providing these services but we don’t need to get into that today. If we want to be generous we could also suggest that part of this is firms adapting to declining CPA numbers and finding other ways to get their billable hours.

This trend is nothing new. Way back in 2019, the AICPA Trends report released that year stated that 31% of new hires at public accounting firms were non-accounting graduates, an increase of 11 percentage points from 2016 to 2018. By 2021, that number had increased to 42.7%. Unfortunately we aren’t able to say if that trend continued as the AICPA stated in its 2023 report that they were unable to accurately project the number of graduates hired into public accounting in 2021 “due to a limited response rate from public accounting firms.” If we had to spitball, we’d guess the number of non-accounting graduates hired at public accounting firms in recent years has easily topped half or more. Probably even higher than that in the two years since AI became the only thing anyone talks about.

Imagine trying to tell someone from the 90s that by the 2020s less than half of staff at CPA firms will be CPAs oh and also private equity and venture capital will be climbing all over themselves to get a piece of the business. They’d think you’re nuts.

The post CPA Firms Are No Longer Full of CPAs appeared first on Going Concern.

Announced yesterday, PCAOB Chair Erica Y. Williams, who just got appointed to a second five-year term last year and was supposed to keep the PCAOB’s big seat warm until October 2029, will be leaving the PCAOB on July 22.

Short on recognition specific to Williams and more about how great the PCAOB is now, the press release is full of PCAOB greatest hits under her tenure such as:

• Securing complete access to inspect and investigate firms headquartered in China for the first time in history and bringing record enforcement actions against China-based firms.
• Launching a concentrated effort to improve audit quality that helped lead to significant improvements in deficiency rates across audit firms.
• Increasing transparency in inspection reports and getting those reports out nearly a year sooner so that investors, audit committees, and others have access to valuable information more quickly.
• Taking more formal actions to modernize standards and rules than any Board since the PCAOB was created, finalizing seven projects, covering 24 rules and standards.
• Delivering record-setting sanctions, sending a clear message that there will be strong consequences for anyone who puts investors at risk. [Ed. note: The big sanctions in recent years have been for “cheating,” in other words audit staff sharing answers to internal training, often at the same time as their firm was getting perfect, zero-deficiency scores on PCAOB inspections.]
• Partnering with staff to make the PCAOB a better place to work, leading to a 30-percentage point increase in the number of PCAOB staff who say they would recommend the PCAOB as a great place to work.
• Reimagining stakeholder outreach, reconstituting the Investor Advisory Group and the Standards and Emerging Issues Advisory Group and creating the first-ever standalone Office of the Investor Advocate.
• Awarding the highest amount of merit-based scholarships to accounting students in PCAOB history.

Not mentioned in the press release is what Wall Street Journal reported: she left at the behest of Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Paul Atkins. They don’t have much more info than that, sure it’ll come out at some point.

The post Erica Williams Bids Adieu to the PCAOB appeared first on Going Concern.

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$28.7 billion. That’s the amount of money that’s been poured into CPA firms in the last six years per this amazing CPA Trendlines research. To put this number into perspective, it’s more than Deloitte’s 2010 revenue of $26.57 billion and only about $10 billion shy of KPMG’s 2024 global revenue of $38.4 billion.

In this post, CPA Trendlines lists the major deals — more than 53 transactions from 2020 to now, 24 of those happening last year alone — and tells us firms are getting valuations of up to 15 times EBITDA so no wonder they’re making these deals left and right.

To date, private equity has a capital foothold in 10 of the top 30 accounting firms in the US and is projected to make that figure more than half by the end of this year.

Check out the rest of the details here.

The post At This Rate PE Will Have Invested More Money in CPA Firms Than KPMG Makes in a Year appeared first on Going Concern.

Private Equity

Private equity is coming for accounting firms. Some fear a ‘reckoning’ [Boston Business Journal]
Private-equity ownership can be a mixed bag. While they invest money and resources, PE firms look for profits in relatively short timeframes, often achieved through cost-cutting. Here in Massachusetts, the collapse last year of Steward Health Care has been widely blamed on its ties to PE.

Audit

Automated auditors: could AI undermine financial reporting? [Raconteur]
“Without clear metrics, it is difficult to know the extent to which AI is improving the quality of audits, increasing efficiency or just adding complexity,” says Akber Datoo, chief executive of D2 Legal Technology, a data and governance consultancy that works with financial institutions. “Paradoxically, AI can turn the audit into a black box,” he adds.

BDO’s audit work strongly criticised by UK regulator [Financial Times]
The FRC said only 50 per cent of the BDO audits that it inspected in its latest annual review required “no more than limited improvement”, a better performance than last year. Then, just 38 per cent of BDO’s audits were ranked as satisfactory. But the regulator said the most recent BDO audit work it scrutinised fell “significantly short of expectations”, adding: “BDO must urgently and robustly reassess how to improve its audit quality.”

Want Government Efficiency? Restore Medicaid – and Audit the Pentagon [National Priorities Project]
In November 2025, it is expected that the Pentagon will fail its annual audit due to “significant fraud exposure”. From 2017 to 2024, the Pentagon confirmed that there is $10.8 billion in confirmed fraud, with a notable case in 2023 when the Department confirmed spending $51,000 on a trash can. The GAO has submitted hundreds of recommendations to the Pentagon to improve its tracking and documentation process for decades. The DoD has merely responded by stating that “leadership commitment” is in progress.

Rand Paul introduces bill to audit the Federal Reserve [Washington Examiner]
Paul’s bill, the Federal Reserve Transparency Act, would require a complete audit of all of the Federal Reserve’s operational activities and mandate an enhancement of its decision-making through increased congressional oversight. The Comptroller General of the United States would complete the audit and include an inspection of “the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and of Federal Reserve banks,” according to the bill. The bill stipulates that the audit must be completed less than “12 months after the date of enactment” of Paul’s legislative proposal.

Local Happenings

Auditor orders $675K in Indianola tax dollars withheld due to audit delinquency [The Enterprise-Tocsin (Mississippi)]
Fallout from the City of Indianola’s audit delinquency continues as the city was notified this month that the office of the state auditor has ordered that various local taxes be witheld from the city until it is in compliance with its audits. The total amount to be witheld is $675,000. The city’s last completed audit was for fiscal year 2018, which was finalized last year.

Hampton County forensic audit details financial mismanagement, ‘waste and abuse’ of public money [Bluffton Today (South Carolina)]
After more than three years of alleged financial scandals and concerned citizen outrage, an independent forensic audit has been conducted on Hampton County’s finances, and the results are neither positive nor surprising for many taxpayers. In the wake of the recent controversies and outcries which resulted in the state-mandated forensic audit, and after an April 2024 bidding process, the Hampton County Council selected accounting firm Eide Bailly LLP to conduct the audit, and the auditing firm was approved and formally engaged by the South Carolina Office of the State Auditor for that task on Aug. 1, 2024.

Missouri auditor says treasurer put $35 million into wrong state fund [Missouri Independent]
Missouri State Treasurer Vivek Malek improperly deposited almost $35 million in interest on a fund for improving Interstate 70 instead of putting it in the general revenue fund, State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick said in a report issued Tuesday. The audit separately found that Malek’s office failed to conduct annual audits of the MOScholars tuition assistance program as required by law, the report stated.

Talent

We interrupt your regularly scheduled Footnotes to let you know that if your firm is hiring, you’ll want to check out Accountingfly’s top remote accounting candidates of the week. These are hand-picked tax, audit, and accounting professionals with all kinds of experience sure to meet your needs. Here they are:

Firm Watch

Doeren Mayhew expands to lakeshore market in deal for Grand Haven CPA firm [Crain’s]
The Troy-based Doeren Mayhew closed last month on the acquisition of Draper Bialik & Co. CPAs PLLC. The firm continues to operate out of its offices near downtown Grand Haven under the Doeren Mayhew brand name. The deal was Doeren Mayhew’s third in West Michigan in the last year.

Tax

The Risk of California FTB Audits is Increasing [JD Supra]
Did you know that the number of California FTB audits is increasing when compared to the trend of IRS audits in 2025? The California Franchise Tax Board, or FTB, has recently invested in advanced data processing systems and AI applications. This, combined with streamlined information sharing with the IRS, Employment Development Department (EDD), other federal and state agencies, as well as international tax agencies and Foreign Financial Institutions (FFIs), exposes businesses and individuals who reside in or conduct business within California to a higher risk of audit than they might face with the IRS.

Activists try to preserve IRS’s Direct File now that Trump has ended it [Washington Post]
“It’s no longer a question of ‘Can this be done, and can this be done well?’” said Gabriel Zucker, one of four people who have formed a group at the nonprofit Economic Security Project to keep preparing Direct File for future administrations to use. “It’s just a question of: Do we want to do it?”

Billy Long will be sworn in as IRS commissioner, taking over an agency he once sought to close [KSHB]
“In my first 90 days I plan to ask you, my employee partners, to help me develop a new culture here,” Long wrote in a message to IRS employees. “I’m big on culture, and I’m anxious to develop one that makes your lives and the taxpayers’ lives better.” While in Congress, where he served from 2011 to 2023, the Republican sponsored legislation to get rid of the IRS. A former auctioneer and real estate broker, Long has no background in tax administration.

Deloitte Tax Acquires Assets of Trust Processing Solutions, a Leading Fiduciary Tax Services Provider [PR Newswire]
The Deloitte Tax ITG and former TPS employees will form one unified team, offering fiduciary tax services, as well as charitable, individual, gift, estate and information reporting tax services.

Law & Order

Ghana Court to Start Hearing $450 Million Claim Against Deloitte [Bloomberg]
A Ghanaian court will hear arguments in a suit brought by DramOil and Trading Ltd. that challenges a Deloitte & Touche audit report and seeks $450 million in damages from the accounting firm. A commercial court in 2015 contracted Deloitte to audit the books and payments between DramOil and Vihama Energy Co. following a trading dispute between the two Accra-based oil-trading companies. The post-judgement audit was to determine how much Vihama owes DramOil. Deloitte in 2019 concluded the company doesn’t owe DramOil, resulting in $188 million in losses for the firm that has taken the accounting specialist to court.

Lenexa tax preparer sentenced to prison for false income tax returns [KCTV]
Sixty-one-year-old Hophine Bwosinde pled guilty to one count of aiding and assisting in fraud and false statements, according to federal court documents shared Friday by the U.S. Department of Justice. Bwosinde was sentenced to three years in prison for filing false income tax returns for his clients. Those false income tax filings led to losses that exceeded $1.5 million for the Internal Revenue Service.

The post Friday Footnotes: Is AI Actually Improving Audits?; Activists Try to Save Direct File | 7.18.25 appeared first on Going Concern.