Their article, like all CPA Journal articles, is long and filled with tons of references. Since I know that sort of deep dive doesn’t do well here, I’m going to focus instead on a single paper referred to within and, more specifically, a single chart from that single paper.

The paper is Attracting Millennials: Legitimacy management and bottom-up socialization processes within accounting firms, authored by Sylvain Durocher, Merridee Bujaki and François Brouard and published in Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 2016, vol. 39, issue C, 1-24. You, like us, may have missed this one when it dropped ten years ago. They really should publish these things in convenient back-of-the-toilet reading basket form like grandma’s old Reader’s Digests, they might get some more eyeballs on them.

So as you can see, the researchers looked at accounting firm recruiting from the firms’ own websites, specifically the careers sections. And although the paper completely acknowledges that work-life balance and pay are critically important to millennials, what they found was that Big 4 and “Next 4” firms in Canada highlighted other factors a whole lot more.

CPA Journal made a chart but it was kind of dull and just screenshotting it seemed a little lazy so here’s ours below (theirs is the Exhibit 2 referenced in the article snip above). What it shows is how often these topics appeared on Big 4 career pages analyzed by the researchers, meaning “meaningful work experience” got a ton more lip service than the important ones like pay and work-life balance. And we wonder why interest in the profession has been waning.

Remember, this isn’t “32% of millennials care about meaningful work experience when considering which Big 4 firm to work for,” it’s “this is how frequently Big 4 firms (in Canada) mentioned these factors on their careers pages.”

I really wish there were some screenshots in the original paper, I would love to see how Big 4 firms in Canada addressed “quality of coworkers” in 2016. I’m sure what I’m imagining in my head is way funnier than what it actually looked like.

Naturally, this eagerness on the part of public accountants to share their salaries with each other because firms weren’t putting it out there then led to these communities becoming a virtual watercooler around which public accountants could discuss more than just money. Work-life balance. Expectations. Gossip. Perhaps this would have happened regardless of whether or not firms put salary info out there, who can say. But we do know that salary was the linchpin that united accountants across experience levels and service lines, and that part of that early eagerness to share this information amongst themselves sprung from frustration with the lack of salary transparency on the part of firms.

And you know what? The Powers That Be hate that they’re no longer in charge of the narrative. See also: Quote of the Day: ‘The Message Conveyed is That Firms Will Work You to Death with Minimal Pay Increases’

Maybe they should have just been upfront about it from the beginning.

The post That Time Researchers Discovered Accounting Firms Would Rather Die Than Publish Salaries appeared first on Going Concern.

Although there are no Information Technology positions currently listed on the IRS jobs website, Federal News Network is reporting that the nation’s tax collector plans to bring in some permanent tech employees. Soon.

The IRS tech shop is back in hiring mode, after losing more than 40% of its workforce under the Trump administration.

At an IRS IT all-hands meeting earlier this month, Chief Information Officer Kaschit Pandya told staff that his office plans to hire up to 175 additional technical employees.

FNN goes on to remind readers that 1,200 IRS IT people were shuffled into key filing season, frontline roles in December, a hopefully temporary stint after which who knows what will happen. One person inside the IRS made it sound pretty unlikely the temporary staff will get shuffled back to where they were hired to be:

Another individual familiar with the IRS staffing shakeup said employees on 120-day details are currently enrolled in eight hours of daily training for the next few months. These employees, the individual said, must remain on camera for the duration of these virtual training sessions, and if they turn off their cameras, they’ll get a message to turn them back on.

“This whole experience has been so gut-wrenching. We honestly don’t think they will stop at four months — because what’s the point of training someone for four months to not have them do the work they were trained for,” the individual said.

Information Technology has 7,135 people as of October 2025, down from 8,504 in October of 2024, according to the TIGTA readiness report released this past January [PDF].

There are, as of publication time, just six IRS positions listed on USAJobs: Law Clerk (Tax) – Honors Attorney Program (2026), Deputy Associate Chief Counsel (Guidance), Income Tax and Accounting Division, Chief Legislative and Regulatory Affairs, Operations Coordinator, and Accounts Management Field Director. If you are eager to run to the comment section and say AcKsHuALLLLyYY that’s five jobs you innumerate morons, you’ll note that the law clerk job is posted twice as one is GS-11 and the other is GS-12.

We’ll keep an eye on the IRS jobs site and let you know if we spot any roles popping up.

The post The IRS Is Supposedly Hiring Again appeared first on Going Concern.

We first saw this on Reddit a few days ago:

KPMG UK Audit layoffs
by u/Educational-West4131 in Big4

You may remember PwC UK doing a similar round of “voluntary” separations in 2023. Very similar, actually: PwC needed 600 people to leave and the firm blamed low attrition for the move. Here we are three years later and KPMG UK is making the same ask of hundreds of auditors.

Bloomberg had this to say in their story on Friday:

KPMG UK has told nearly 600 staffers in its audit business that their jobs are at risk, according to people familiar with the matter.

Impacted employees were informed that they could be laid off, subject to a redundancy consultation, according to a memo to staff seen by Bloomberg News. The company ultimately expects as many as 440 people will leave the business if the proposal goes ahead following that consultation process, according to one of the people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named discussing non-public information.

Said the firm in a statement to Bberg: “Current market conditions mean our attrition rates are very low within certain parts of our audit population, which is why we are proposing to right size those areas. This isn’t a decision we take lightly.”

KPMG UK’s total headcount is 16,739 as of October 2025. 600 people is about 6% of the audit workforce.

The post Layoff Watch ’26: The King’s KPMG Kindly Asks 600 Auditors to GTFO appeared first on Going Concern.

Well that was depressing. Sorry. Get in touch via email or text if you have a tip, a story, or just need to unload some sorrows. Be good, you.

The post Monday Morning Accounting News Brief: KPMG Asks Hundreds of People to Go; One Big Beautiful Bill Equals Billable Hours | 3.30.26 appeared first on Going Concern.

Know Something We Don’t?

EY sets aside record £188mn for fines and legal claims [Financial Times]
The figure is almost seven times the average amount that EY has set aside for claims annually since the firm began reporting the figures in 2002, according to FT analysis.

Careers

Gen Z will give up $5,000 in pay to log off at 5—but still expects a corner office [Fortune]
The average Gen Z professional today wants the freedom to log off at 5, and a C-suite title. At least, they do at the Big Blue of the Big 4: consulting giant KPMG. According to the professional firm’s Winter Intern Pulse Survey, Gen Z will sacrifice on average $5,000 of their salary to achieve a better work-life balance. At the same time, a staggering 92% expressed at least some interest in achieving a C-suite or senior executive role.

I quit my job at KPMG and moved to India to become a poet. I was sick of only getting to live life on weekends. [Business Insider]
Namrata Yadav has always loved creative writing and poetry. She said law school, research, and finally consulting at KPMG failed to bring her fulfillment. So she quit her job, moved back to India, and is now trying to establish herself as a spoken-word poet.

In a more automated world, how do CFOs think about succession planning? [CFO.com]
Without a robust pipeline of eager young workers, finance teams may one day find themselves with no one to take over their jobs. With all that in mind, CFO.com recently posed this question to several finance chiefs: At a time when entry-level jobs are being increasingly automated, how are you thinking about succession planning? Their answers reveal a range of strategies for a complex problem.

Technology

AI robots could cost $13,000 by 2035: Here’s what that means for CFOs [Fortune]
One tech trend on the rise is AI-enabled robotics. AI is no longer confined to dashboards and copilots. “Physical AI,” which is the convergence of AI with robotics, sensors, and real-world systems, marks a turning point. As Deloitte notes, intelligence is becoming “embodied” in factories, warehouses, and supply chains, where autonomous systems can optimize operations in real time. For example, BMW is testing humanoid robots to handle tasks that traditional industrial robots cannot perform, according to Deloitte. Meanwhile, the Bank of America Institute projects that the material costs of a humanoid robot could fall from $35,000 in 2025 to between $13,000 and $17,000 by 2035.

Australia Faces ‘Sliding Doors’ Moment on AI Push, Deloitte Says [Bloomberg]
Australia has a narrow window to position itself as a regional hub for artificial intelligence infrastructure, but risks falling behind unless investment and policy action accelerate, according to Deloitte Access Economics. “This is a sliding doors moment for Australia,” lead author John O’Mahony said Wednesday, estimating the country needs about A$52 billion ($36 billion) in digital infrastructure investment by 2030 to capture the opportunity.

EY study: Cybersecurity leaders investing in AI and agentic defenses to combat escalating AI-enabled threats [EY]
Cybersecurity leaders are at a critical crossroads as artificial intelligence (AI) redefines both the threat landscape and defensive capabilities, according to findings from the new EY Cybersecurity Roadmap Study of 500 senior corporate security leaders. The study uncovered that a staggering 96% of senior security leaders say AI-enabled cybersecurity attacks are a significant threat to their organization, with about half (48%) estimating that of all the cybersecurity incidents their organization had experienced in the past year, at least a quarter were enabled by AI.

Audit

KPMG allegedly misused Lendlease data to win audit work [Financial Review]
KPMG Australia has been accused of misusing confidential information from its client Lendlease to win external audit work for Westpac and Dexus, while allegedly failing to act on a whistleblower complaint.

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Funds’ 2025 and 2024 Financial Statements [US Government Accountability Office]
The GAO shares some good news about their recent FDIC audit:
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation insures over $10 trillion in deposits and protects your money if your FDIC-insured bank fails. We audit and issue opinions annually on financial statements of FDIC’s insurance funds and on related internal controls (e.g., processes to reasonably assure that transactions are properly authorized and recorded). We found the statements were reliable and controls over financial reporting were effective in 2025.

The post Friday Footnotes: EY Socks Away a Bunch of Money For Future Fines; Can You Leave at 5 and Still Make Partner? | 3.27.26 appeared first on Going Concern.

Here’s the press release:

The completion of this transaction enables the firm to accelerate its growth, with a continued focus on investing in talent, broadening the firm’s services and solutions, and rapidly advancing its investments in technology and AI initiatives—all directed at further enhancing our value to our clients.

“Our partnership with TowerBrook has been transformational in helping us add many talented colleagues to our firm and broaden the services and solutions we deliver to clients. As we look ahead, with TowerBrook’s continued support, we’re focused on continuing to evolve our firm by investing in our people, enhancing our capabilities, and leveraging innovation to meet the increasingly complex needs of our clients,” said Charly Weinstein, CEO of Eisner Advisory Group.

“We’re excited about the progress achieved alongside Charly and the management team and remain confident about the opportunity ahead as we continue to support EisnerAmper as it enters its next chapter,” commented Jonathan Bilzin, Managing Partner, Co-CEO at TowerBrook.

Walter Weil, Managing Director at TowerBrook, added: “While we’ve accomplished much in our first four-plus years, the long-term opportunity continues to be as robust as ever, and we’re excited to continue our partnership with EisnerAmper as we build toward our goal of creating an end-to-end conduit of professional services for our valued clients.”

For further reading on continuation vehicles here’s a Grant Thornton explanation.

The post The Top 20 Firm That Kicked Off PE Madness in 2021 and Its PE Firm Announce They’ll Keep Kickin’ It appeared first on Going Concern.

On Sunday, TMZ reported that Reacher star Alan Ritchson “beat the hell out of a neighbor” in the Nashville suburb of Brentwood over the weekend and, just for our entertainment, included grainy footage of the incident, seemingly shot from inside a neighbor’s house. Ritchson is the big dude doing the beating, Ronnie Taylor is the guy in a blue shirt on the ground.

It was Dexerto that uncovered Ronnie Taylor’s work history, which as of this moment shows he’s a “Senior Director – Google Cloud Alliance – Financial Services & Life Science” at KPMG since August of 2024. Before that he put in four years at Google, nine months at something called Wheels Up in NYC, and eight years in enterprise solutions at Bloomberg. So tech side guy, no need for Team CPA to take any Ls for this embarrassment.

According to TMZ, who spoke directly to the assbeating-on-the-lawn recipient, the beef started Saturday with Ritchson speeding through Taylor’s quiet Nashville suburb “at excessive speed” on his green crotch rocket Kawasaki. According to Taylor, the two gentlemen exchanged flipping off gestures and then apparently Ritchson came back through on Sunday with backup in the form of two kids. This is what Taylor originally claimed about what went down on Sunday:

Taylor says he asked Alan, “Can you f***ing stop this please,” which is when things allegedly turned physical.

Taylor says he went to the cops and reported that Alan punched him in the face and kicked him. Taylor claims Alan then fell off his bike, got back up, and tried to run him off.

There’s a video of Taylor explaining his side of the events (that, we’ll note, has been hit with a community note on X):

EXCLUSIVE: The guy "Reacher" star Alan Ritchson beat up on video is explaining how the fight started in the first place. pic.twitter.com/qNW2B4TaND

— TMZ (@TMZ) March 23, 2026

A follow-up article of TMZ’s includes video from Ritchson’s perspective that shows Taylor standing menacingly in the middle of the quiet street just asking to get decked and, of course, the actual decking.

The original TMZ article also included a picture of Taylor with the words “alleged victim” on it just so we’re clear on who got a big ole lump on his forehead from this.

Given Ritchson’s body cam footage, police have evidently decided not to charge anyone involved. Meanwhile, Ritchson posted this to Instagram:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Alan Ritchson (@alanritchson)

Sooooo…anyone work with this guy?

The post A KPMG Senior Director Got Beat Up By a Guy Who Stars in Reacher appeared first on Going Concern.

TLDR

• What’s happening: McAfee’s 2026 Tax Season Survey shows 1 in 4 Americans surveyed have fallen for some kind of tax scam and young people are particularly vulnerable
• Why it matters: 93% of the 161 million individual income tax returns processed by the IRS in fiscal year 2024 were filed electronically. With tax prep a predominantly online/electronic activity these days, scammers are constantly looking for ways to inject themselves into the process.
• Key takeaways: Tax scams can happen to anyone, even tax preparers themselves. Scam methods are constantly evolving.

McAfee has just released the results of their 2026 Tax Season Survey and not to use a played out early internet clickbait line but you won’t believe what they found!

When you think of the people most likely to be scammed you likely imagine boomers who hold their iPads two inches from their faces and you imagine this smugly if you are, like most readers of this website, a millennial or Gen Xer. We grew up on the internet and watched as scam methods first grew out of the Wild West of the WWW, surely we know better. It also follows that the younger generation would be even better than us at spotting scams because we assume young people who have been using tech since they could hold a phone are even more adept at navigating our digital world but you, middle-aged person reading this and slowly nodding your head in agreement right now, would be wrong.

According to the 3,008 Americans McAfee surveyed, almost 1 in 4 (23%) have fallen for some kind of tax scam. Worryingly, 42% of that group is 18-24-year-olds, so the youngest Gen Zers. Barely even started filing taxes and they’re already getting scammed.

McAfee doesn’t break down all the various tax scams people have fallen for in this report but it does mention a specific one that we don’t see discussed too often: fake EIN sites.

The way this one works is scammers set up an official-looking website and charge people to register for an EIN, something you get for free when you request it from the actual IRS directly. In some cases they’re semi-legit, just charging a few hundred bucks for it. In others, it’s a full identity scam. This is an example given by McAfee in their report:

Small business owners can request an EIN from the IRS here. Free. We’ve linked directly to the IRS.gov site at that link but just to be safe, we advise you double-check the address of the URL before putting in any personal information because that’s just safe internet practice.

Here’s a scary figure McAfee dropped: Between September 1, 2025, and February 19, 2026, McAfee Labs identified 1,468 malicious or suspicious tax-themed unique domains, an average of 43 new fake tax websites every day. One tip we have is to use a Whois search to research any domains before you enter any personal information on the site, even if you think it looks legit. If we look up IRS.gov, we see it was registered in 1997:

If you look up some of these scam IRS-like sites, they’re almost always recently registered in the last few months since they tend to get taken down constantly. You can report fake sites and scams directly to the IRS.

A few more key findings from McAfee’s survey before we wrap this up:

• 82% of Americans say they’re concerned about tax fraud this season.
• 67% say they’re seeing the same or more tax scam messages than last year.
• 40% say tax scam messages are more sophisticated than last year.
• 84% are concerned about AI making tax scams more realistic.
• Only 29% say they’re very confident they could spot a deepfake tax scam.

The unfortunate lesson here is that no one is safe. Stay skeptical, kids!

Tax Scams Hit Nearly 1 in 4 Adults. Spot the Red Flags [McAfee]

The post You’ll Never Guess Who’s Most Likely to Get Tax Scammed appeared first on Going Concern.

A Tax Associate Who Has No Idea What They’re Getting Into

While we’re on the topic of PwC, here’s someone who’s in for a brutal reality check:

Username checks out:

How do you get this far in the early stages of your career and not get earfuls from other people further along than you about how hard they work you? I’m gonna need you all to step up your game, you’re not being negative enough. We’ll do our part too, don’t worry.

Shouldn’t all this AI they’re forcing into everything make this go away already? Oh God what am I saying…the naivety is contagious!

KPMG Won’t Be Responsible For Skynet

KPMG talked to Business Insider about how they intend to not unleash Skynet. Here’s what they said:

Organizations are preparing to scale agentic systems enterprise-wide, but clients remain wary of agents, Sam Gloede, Trusted AI leader at KPMG, told Business Insider.

“One of the biggest concerns is probably how do you make sure that you allow them to have the autonomy to do the valuable things we need them to do, but to stop them from going wild or taking over.”

KPMG has created a multifaceted framework to protect against worst-case scenarios for both clients and its own employees, said Gloede.

“A robust set of controls is really important,” she said. Businesses need to clearly define what their agents are allowed to do and ensure monitoring systems can detect when they stray beyond those boundaries. Agents should only interact with the systems and data they strictly need, limiting the potential impact of errors, said Gloede.

These headers sure are something.

Am I not worried enough about this? This sounds like something I should be vaguely worried about happening.

Who Wants to Read About Gas Taxes

The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy wrote about gas prices and went deep on how gas taxes work if that’s something you’re interested in reading about.

And that’s it for this news brief. Email or text if you have a tip, story, or complaint/compliment and have a great week!

The post Monday Morning Accounting News Brief: One EYer Was Very Determined to Cheat; How Can You Not Know You Don’t Get Overtime? | 3.23.26 appeared first on Going Concern.

Compliance

Delve – Fake Compliance as a Service – Part I [Substack]
Substacker DeepDelver has done a deep dive on Delve, this is what they allege:
At its core, this article argues that Delve fakes compliance while creating the appearance of compliance without the underlying substance. Delve achieves its claim of being the fastest platform by producing fake evidence, generating auditor conclusions on behalf of certification mills that rubber stamp reports, and skipping major framework requirements while telling clients they have achieved 100% compliance. Their “US-based auditors” are Indian certification mills operating through empty US shells and mailbox agents. Auditors breach independence rules by signing off anyway, leaving companies unknowingly exposed to criminal liability under HIPAA and hefty fines under GDPR.

A tweet that dives into DeepDelver’s dive (OK we’ll stop with the illiteration now):

Delve, a YC-backed compliance startup that raised $32 million, has been accused of systematically faking SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, and GDPR compliance reports for hundreds of clients. According to a detailed Substack investigation by DeepDelver, a leaked Google spreadsheet… https://t.co/Aw0ol1mr0N pic.twitter.com/MeVfKjqCod

— Ryan (@ohryansbelt) March 19, 2026

Licensure

Idaho governor signs CPA licensing bill [CFO Dive]
Gov. Brad Little signed Idaho’s CPA pathways bill (HB 563) into law Wednesday, providing an alternative route that, beginning July 1, will allow aspiring certified public accountants to gain a license without completing 150 college credit hours.

Chartered Accountants paying thousands to ‘teach themselves’ revolt [Financial Review]
Provisional accountants making their way through the nine modules required to become chartered accountants are deeply unhappy with Chartered Accountants ANZ’s education programs. Candidates say the teaching for many modules is cursory and little formal assistance is offered when they get stuck. “For many subjects, formal teaching is minimal,” one student said. “Weekly ‘lectures’ often consist of short announcement videos lasting only a few minutes. Students are largely expected to work through textbooks independently and complete practice material – some of which appears to be years out of date.”

Technology

PwC partners who fail to embrace AI have no future at firm, US CEO warns [The Guardian]
Paul Griggs said senior staff who were not “paranoid about being AI-first” would probably be replaced by others who were ready to embrace the technology. “I don’t think anyone gets a free pass here. Anyone,” Griggs told the Financial Times. An employee who thinks they have the “opportunity to opt out” of AI is “not going to be here that long”, Griggs added.

Supermicro’s cofounder was just arrested for allegedly smuggling $2.5 billion in GPUs to China [Fortune]
According to a stunning release from the Department of Justice, an indictment was unsealed in Manhattan federal court on Thursday charging Liaw, 71, and two others with allegedly working in secret to divert billions in Supermicro AI servers to China in violation of U.S. export control laws. To keep the clandestine scheme from raising red flags with Supermicro’s compliance team, the defendants and the Southeast Asian company executives would fake documents and send false communications meant to show that the Southeast Asian company was the legitimate end buyer.

Big 4

World Bank Bars Three PwC Africa Units From Deals for Graft [Bloomberg]
The World Bank has barred PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP network affiliates in Mauritius, Kenya and Rwanda from providing professional services for projects it finances for 21 months. The units engaged in “collusive and fraudulent practices” as part of their work on the construction of a high-voltage electricity transmission line linking Kenya and Ethiopia, the Washington-based lender said in a statement on Wednesday.

Deloitte tax boss put forward as only candidate in UK leadership vote [Financial Times]
Darren Graves, who leads the tax and legal division for Deloitte’s north and south Europe region, was put forward this week as the sole candidate for partners to vote on, according to people familiar with the matter.

Audit

SEC Targets Auditing ‘Bad Actors’ With New Enforcement Team [Bloomberg]
In a federal jobs posting, the SEC’s enforcement division said it is seeking applications for a senior attorney and manager in its new “SOX Group” — a reference to the landmark Sarbanes-Oxley Act passed after the collapse of Enron Corp. The new unit will investigate and litigate matters involving potential violations of Sarbanes-Oxley auditing standards and provisions, according to the posting.

‘Blind trust is the opposite of oversight’: Audit shows alleged embezzlement, missing funds at Varnum Schools [StateImpact Oklahoma via KOSU]
Varnum Public Schools is under fire from State Auditor Cindy Byrd after a report released Thursday found check tampering, undocumented purchases and missing money from June 1, 2018 to June 30, 2022. “We had a particularly bad actor in this case, but the ultimate responsibility falls on the members of the school board,” Byrd said in a news release. “One of the fundamental duties of a school board is to keep an eye on the money. … Blind trust is the opposite of oversight.”

‘We don’t want any more Okolonas.’ State officials say their crackdown on schools with missing audits is working [Mississippi Today]
The number of school districts missing annual financial audits is going down, falling to 32 from 47 since the Mississippi Department of Education has drawn attention to this issue, according to Paula Vanderford, the agency’s chief accountability officer. She told the state Board of Education Thursday that 19 districts are behind on the most recent year’s audit, and another 13 are missing audits for both fiscal years 2024 and 2023. Most have a plan in place to become compliant, Vanderford said.

Private Equity

Accounting Firm Baker Tilly Is Spinning Off $5.8 Billion Wealth Management Arm Into Independent RIA [Barron’s]
Moss Adams Wealth Advisors, a division of Moss Adams, which joined Baker Tilly in a merger announced last April, is rebranding as Threadline Wealth for its launch as a stand-alone advisory firm, a move backed by the private equity shop Cynosure.

San Francisco accounting firm SD Mayer acquired by Dallas-based Springline Advisory [San Francisco Business Times] Founder and managing partner Steve Mayer, 71, said the firm has been working on succession planning for three or four years and decided it was time to team up with another firm. SD Mayer talked to 16 firms before deciding to be acquired by Springline. Springline is backed by growth-oriented private equity firm Trinity Hunt Partners.

Tax

Corporate America Finally Reveals (Some of) Its Tax Secrets [Wall Street Journal]
These nuggets come from investors’ clearest look yet at corporate taxes, thanks to detailed disclosures required by new accounting rules. The filings show how much large companies pay in cash taxes and which countries get those payments. The new rules standardize publicly traded companies’ explanations of why their effective tax rates diverge from the U.S.’s statutory 21% levy. In annual securities filings, companies now must provide more granular data about tax breaks and overseas operations.

City Council refunds University-linked contracting firm $159,947 for accounting error [The Cavalier Daily]
The Charlottesville Council authorized the tax refund to an anonymous contracting firm that has been “working on projects around U.Va.,” according to Commissioner of the Revenue Todd D. Divers. Divers said the unnamed firm mistakenly paid taxes to the City of Charlottesville for contracting done in Albemarle County. He explained that the mistake occurred because the firm is not based in the Charlottesville area and the distinction between City and county limits were unclear to the firm’s accountants.

Why you shouldn’t use ChatGPT to do your taxes [Mashable]
The fact that this even needs to be said smh
Around 30 percent of Americans say they will be use an AI tool, such as ChatGPT, to help prepare their taxes, according to a recent survey by McAfee. Another poll found that nearly half of Americans trust AI to give them tax advice. Those rates are higher among younger taxpayers — and men — according to surveys.

The post Friday Footnotes: PwC CEO Issues a Stern Threat to Luddite Partners; Compliance Startup Gets Slaughtered on Substack | 3.20.26 appeared first on Going Concern.

Tax preparers, we’re going to need y’all to step up your headshot game and get on this level:

We haven’t seen tax advertising this good since Mo Money Taxes in Memphis (though that one didn’t end so well).

The post Tax Prep But Make It Catchy appeared first on Going Concern.

Subject to SEC Approval, Companies and Corporations should no longer be forced to “Report” on a quarterly basis (Quarterly Reporting!), but rather to Report on a “Six (6) Month Basis.” This will save money, and allow managers to focus on properly running their companies. Did you ever hear the statement that, “China has a 50 to 100 year view on management of a company, whereas we run our companies on a quarterly basis???” Not good!!!

This is what we had to say about it at the time:

Then we promptly forgot about it because it didn’t seem like the kind of thing that would go anywhere. Oops.

Wall Street Journal reported this week that the SEC is working on a proposal to end quarterly reporting and we should expect to see it soon:

The Securities and Exchange Commission is preparing a proposal to eliminate the requirement to report earnings quarterly and instead give companies the option to share results twice a year, according to people familiar with the matter.

The regulator could publish the proposal as soon as next month, the people said. In preparation for the proposal, regulators have been talking to officials at the major exchanges to discuss how they may need to adjust their rules.

The Europeans have been doing this for a while now and it seems to work there so who knows. Next step is to await the proposal and see what kind of public comment comes in after that. For now, here’s a discussion PwC put out last year to get you caught up on the basics should you need it:

The post Oh So We’re Actually Going to Get Rid of Quarterly Reporting After All Huh appeared first on Going Concern.

Although it hasn’t yet been ratified nor publicized, sources have spilled beans to Financial Times and say Gary Wingrove is set to be KPMG’s next global CEO, replacing Bill Thomas who’s sat in the big seat since 2017. Made partner in 2000, Wingrove rose through the ranks to CEO of KPMG Australia in 2013 and eventually ending up global COO where he is today.

Let’s check out his bio on KPMG’s site, see if we spot any flags:

Gary Wingrove is the Chief Operating Officer of KPMG International, responsible for executing the firm’s Collective Strategy and overseeing the day-to-day operations of the global organization — helping shape the future of the firm across 143 countries and territories.

In this role, Gary leads operational integration through regional clustering, steers global investment portfolios and innovation programs, and oversees the expansion of the KPMG Delivery Network (KDN). He is also at the forefront of the firm’s digital transformation and AI adoption, and plays a pivotal role in guiding leadership transitions across the network.

So offshoring and AI, nice. We’d expect nothing less from whoever will be guiding the ship through the ass-end of the 2020s.

Said FT of what their source told them:

Wingrove had “been behind some of the most transformational aspects” of KPMG’s strategy in recent years, including closer integration and “multibillion-dollar investments in technology and AI”, according to a person familiar with the business.

The changes had helped KPMG to be the fastest-growing of the Big Four globally for the past two years, the person said, ahead of larger rivals Deloitte, EY and PwC. As leader of KPMG Australia, he oversaw a near-doubling of revenue, profits and headcount, the person added.

Supposedly Wingrove was up against KPMG UK big dog Jon Holt who you may remember from such hits as KPMGers Across the Pond Will Not Be Having a Happy Christmas, KPMG UK Partners Discover Layoffs Are the Secret to Record Payouts, and KPMG UK Partners Seem to Like This Jon Holt Guy. FT wrote that senior partners in the UK were so sure their guy would win that they’d already started setting up the internal fight for his chair. They “had begun jostling for position in anticipation of a vacancy, with a number of candidates being seriously considered until last week,” FT wrote of what they were told by a source.

The KPMG global council meets later this month, at which time a final decision will be made.

Update: Would you look at that, KPMG announced today (March 18) that Gary Wingrove has been elected as the next Global Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of KPMG International. He begins his four-year term on October 1.

The press release barely rehashes the biographical info we pulled from the KPMG website two weeks ago. Truly, barely.

Gary currently serves as Global Chief Operating Officer and is a member of the Global Management Team. In this role, he has helped shape and execute KPMG’s global strategy (known as KPMG’s Collective Strategy), leading major advances in operational integration, regional clustering, global investment alignment, alliance expansion, and the ongoing growth of the KPMG Delivery Network (KDN). He has also overseen the firm’s digital transformation and the adoption of AI‑enabled solutions across the global organisation.

Before becoming global COO, Gary served as CEO of KPMG Australia from 2013 to 2021, nearly doubling the firm’s revenue, profitability and headcount while reshaping its culture. His global experience underpins the strategic clarity, operational discipline and values‑led leadership he brings to the role.

Wow, that’s practically word-for-word what FT’s source said. How peculiar.

Now, anyone got the behind the scenes on this guy besides what’s been presented in press releases?

The post KPMG Picked an Aussie to Rule Over the Global Empire [UPDATED] appeared first on Going Concern.

Dang Italians and their art appreciation.

Here’s a video from last year’s exhibition. We trust you can figure out how to turn auto-translated subtitles on.

Rules etc here.

The post Deloitte Runs a Photo Competition?? appeared first on Going Concern.

PwC Celebrates 9 Consecutive Years of Not Screwing Up the Oscars

Kelly Phillips Erb wrote about the Oscar vote process for Forbes and, like most of us, won’t let PwC live down the massive 2017 blunder dubbed Envelopegate.

Before the first celebrity steps onto the red carpet for the 98th Academy Awards on March 15, 2026, and before a single envelope is opened on stage, the most important work of the Academy Awards has already been done—by the voters and the accountants.

Each year, the winners of the Oscars are counted, verified, and sealed by the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), which has overseen the Academy’s voting process since 1935 and has retained the job despite its infamous 2017 envelope mix-up. Thousands of members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences cast votes this year across 24 award categories (including a new one for Best Casting) and PwC is responsible for collecting, verifying, and tabulating those results before preparing the sealed envelopes used during the ceremony.

The Academy first turned to an outside firm in the 1930s because it wanted a neutral third party that it could rely on for both accuracy and confidentiality. Accounting firms were already trusted to audit financial statements, verify complex calculations, and safeguard sensitive client information. In many ways, the Oscar vote count is similar to a specialized assurance engagement: An independent firm verifies the numbers, uses multiple controls to confirm the results, and safeguards the integrity of the process until the outcome is announced publicly.

In case anyone forgot what happened in 2017 or wasn’t paying attention at the time: PwC Celebrates Seven Consecutive Years of Not Screwing Up the Oscars. TLDR Matt Damon doppelganger and then-partner Brian Cullinan handed off the wrong envelope and the wrong Best Picture winner was announced.

Whatever mistake you’ve made at work recently, just be glad it didn’t happen on TV in front of 20 million people.

This seems like a good place to stop. If you have a tip, story, or pithy observation about the state of the accounting profession you are, as always, welcome and encouraged to reach out via email or text anytime. Have yourself a great week, you.

The post Monday Morning Accounting News Brief: Someone Finally Realized We Need to Groom Potential Partners; PwC’s 9th Straight Year of Not Screwing Up the Oscars | 3.16.26 appeared first on Going Concern.

AI

KPMG has a new way of pushing staff to make breakthroughs using AI — handing out cash prizes [Business Insider]
The firm will award “outsized monetary awards” for the most “exciting ideas” that create value for clients or enable KPMG’s back office to operate more efficiently, said Fisher. Fisher declined to specify the exact dollar amounts, but he said that, in most cases, the cash prizes would be “materially larger than an end-of-year variable compensation award.”

An economist’s guide to taxing AI that replaces human labor [CT Insider (Opinion)]
All this rapid technological change is having impacts not simply on corporate bottom lines, these changes have the potential to transform human social interaction permanently and dramatically, in ways that even the industrial revolution of the 18th- and 19th centuries failed to do. Primary among these changes is the elimination of wide swaths of jobs Americans have taken for granted. This includes jobs in the professions such as accounting, finance, education, law, and even medicine. China and the United States militaries are envisioning a world where even human soldiers are not necessary when AI soldiers can do the job. We are not prepared for these changes.

Talent

More CEOs envision hiring than firing due to AI, CEO survey finds [Axios]
9% of CEOs plan to reduce their workforce because of AI investments this year, according to the 2026 KPMG U.S. CEO Outlook Pulse Survey. 55% expect to increase hiring in 2026 as a direct result of AI, while 36% expect no change.

Inside PwC Canada’s skills-based reset while keeping performance human [Human Resources Director]
In a sector racing to integrate AI, Boisvert recognized the importance of technological transformation — but she’s firm that skills, not technology, are the key to organizational change. “We are very clear that AI is here to empower humans, not replace them,” she says. “Technology gave us skill and insights, but judgment, trust, and accountability always sit with people.” With PwC, Chief People Officer Sonia Boisvert says she’s focused on building a skills-based organization. “Skills are becoming our foundations in hiring, development, and career progression,” she says. “We’re moving away from static roles and focusing instead on the skills people bring, how those skills evolve, and how they can be applied in different contexts — this creates more agility, inclusion, and opportunity for our people.”

PwC Australia shifts Assurance graduate intake to meet expected demand for diversified skills [PwC]
PwC Australia has announced it will broaden its Assurance graduate recruitment, aiming for 50% of its 2027 intake to come from non-accounting backgrounds. This decision is a response to two urgent challenges: a projected shortage of accounting talent and the rapidly changing demands brought on by AI and technological disruption.

Sad News

California family wants answers after loved one found dead in French Quarter [4WWL]
For a week now, friends and family members of Ameet Kapoor have been asking WWL Louisiana to tell his story. The 49-year-old tourist from the San Francisco area was last seen in the French Quarter in the early hours of Friday, March 6, and originally considered missing. The Orleans Parish Coroner’s Office later confirmed that he died. Kapoor’s family says he’s a partner with the accounting firm of Ernst and Young. His LinkedIn profile says he is an international tax/transfer pricing professional with 20 years of auditing and taxation experience in public accounting and government tax administration. His family describes him as a brilliant, warm, life of the party, who leaves behind a wife and young son. Friends say he’s a very well-known professional internationally and locally, in California.

Meanwhile, in the Middle East

Deloitte remains fully operational amid tensions with safety-first approach [Consultancy.me.com]
Deloitters in the Middle East are still hard at work despite, uh, regional disruptions since February 28.
Deloitte has now joined the list of companies providing such reassurances, stating that it “remains fully operational in the Middle East” and is “dedicated to supporting our communities and helping our clients navigate this difficult time.” “The safety of our people remains our highest priority as we monitor developments closely and act in line with relevant local guidance.”

PwC, Deloitte evacuate Dubai offices as regional tensions escalate – report [International Accounting Bulletin]
Major consultancies PwC and Deloitte have evacuated their offices in Dubai’s business districts amid escalating tensions in the region due to the ongoing conflict in Iran. The companies took the step after Iran warned it could strike economic and financial assets, Daily Sabah reported, citing AFP.

Gender Equality

Glass Ceiling Shattered? [CPA Journal]
By purely looking at the trends in the accounting profession, it appears that the glass ceiling initiative had a significant impact in terms of gender equity. In 1989, 4.1% of partners in the nation’s largest accounting firms were female. The AICPA’s 2021 Trends report stated that 39% of partners in accounting/finance functions of US CPA firms were female in 2020. This was further supported by the 2023 NYCPA-Rosenberg Survey that reported that the percentage of female partners in all size firms of the participating New York CPA firms in 2022 was 26%. These reports suggest that the accounting profession has positively benefited from the glass ceiling initiative, with the percentage of female partners increasing nearly tenfold on a national level over this 30-year period, increasing from 4.1% in 1989 to 39% in 2023.

News

Richard Kahn, Epstein’s accountant, tells Congress he didn’t know about abuse, saw no red flags in spending [CBS News] An accountant who worked closely with Jeffrey Epstein for more than a decade and serves as an executor of his estate told members of Congress on Wednesday that he “was not aware of the nature or extent of Epstein’s abuse of so many women until after Epstein’s death.” Richard Kahn was one of Epstein’s closest associates in his final years, managing his finances, investments and other minutiae, such as renovations on Epstein’s private Caribbean island. He was subpoenaed to appear before the House Oversight Committee, and testified behind closed doors that he did not socialize with Epstein. “Had I learned of any of his horrific behavior, I would have quit work immediately,” he said, according to his prepared opening statement, which was provided to CBS News.

Tax

New Washington tax law could affect Seahawks, Schneider says [ESPN]
Seattle Seahawks general manager John Schneider said he believes Washington state’s new income tax on high earners will eventually have a negative impact on the team’s ability to sign free agents. The Seahawks have been one of eight NFL teams that play in states with no income tax, along with the Las Vegas Raiders, Houston Texans, Dallas Cowboys, Tennessee Titans, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Miami Dolphins and Jacksonville Jaguars.

Mamdani Wants New York Estate Tax Threshold Cut 90% to $750,000 [Bloomberg]
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani wants to slash New York state’s estate tax exemption threshold by almost 90%, from a more than $7 million limit to $750,000, and raise the top estate tax rate from 16% to 50%. The proposal was included among nearly a dozen potential revenue-raising ideas Mamdani’s office circulated in a memo in recent weeks to state lawmakers negotiating the state budget.

IRS paper check changes trigger tax refund delays for more than 830,000 filers [CNBC]
House Ways and Means Committee Democrats this week sent a letter to Treasury Secretary and acting IRS Commissioner Scott Bessent, seeking answers about the more than 830,000 IRS notices sent to filers about refund delays for paper payment requests. “Having reviewed the IRS notice and called the IRS phone lines, we learned that there is no simple process for these taxpayers to request an immediate release of their refund by paper check without waiting at least 10 weeks,” wrote Reps. Danny Davis, D-Ill., and Terri Sewell, D-Al., who each serve as ranking subcommittee members.

Filing taxes is painful enough without worrying that your accountant is judging you [MarketWatch]
“A CPA has to normalize awkward topics,” said Kat Grier, an Atlanta-based certified financial planner at Merit Financial Advisors. “You have to ask open-ended questions and be vulnerable. That opens the door for them to be vulnerable back.” For instance, tax preparers might reveal how they used to measure their self-worth by how much they earned — and feel shame seeing their peers with nicer cars or bigger houses. This type of honesty can spur clients to confess their own hangups about wealth and money.

The post Friday Footnotes: PwC Aims to Hire Tons of Non-Accounting Talent Because Reasons; War or Not, Still Gotta Bill Those Hours | 3.13.26 appeared first on Going Concern.

Detectives in the county of Westmoreland have filed misdemeanor theft by deception charges against a woman who is accused of falsifying her timesheets at a local accounting firm.

On top of this, it sounds like she tried to keep the firm-issued laptop, though the DA says only “a piece of equipment belonging to the company.” Perhaps a red stapler.

We did find the accused on LinkedIn, where it says she worked as an accountant at the firm. As the firm wasn’t named in the report, we won’t do so either. It’s not difficult to find based on the info provided by the DA.

Keep you posted if this goes anywhere.

The post Ex-Accounting Firm Employee Arrested For Allegedly Inflating Her Hours appeared first on Going Concern.

Although IRS CEO Frank J. Bisignano said in the news release that the IRS uses the Dirty Dozen list “to flag emerging scams that taxpayers should watch out for,” many of these are recurring issues that continue to plague both taxpayer and tax collector alike. We’ll include 2025’s list at the bottom of this article so you can compare if you truly have nothing better to do with your time today.

And now, the 2026 Dirty Dozen list, as numbered by the IRS:

11. Spear-phishing and malware campaigns targeting tax professionals

The only Dirty Dozen item aimed specifically at tax practitioners, we’re sure all of you have been targets of this at some point. We even get emails from these scammers in our editor box. Here’s one we got last year:

That one was pretty basic and we can only tell it’s a scammer because who the hell would ask an accounting tabloid to do their taxes? Plus the email didn’t match the name. We’ve also gotten a bunch of these with attachments, those tend to come with more scammer tells than the above.

So be careful. They tend to pop up more after April 15 for some reason. Kind of funny to think about scammers having a schedule that recognizes tax preparers aren’t taking on new clients in the middle of filing season.

And that’s it for 2026! Be safe out there, everyone.

2025 Dirty Dozen

• Email phishing scams
• Bad social media advice
• IRS Individual Online Account help from scammers
• Fake charities
• False Fuel Tax Credit claims
• Credits for Sick Leave and Family Leave
• Bogus self-employment tax credit
• Improper household employment taxes
• The overstated withholding scam
• Misleading Offers in Compromise
• Ghost tax return preparers
• New client scams and spear phishing

The post The 2026 IRS Dirty Dozen: Even Tax Scamming Is Being Automated Now appeared first on Going Concern.

While increasing CPA bonuses is a step in the right direction (it’s been $5k for as far back as we can remember, so at least 20 years+), a year while working is a big ask. Would it be greedy to ask for a little extra time too?

If this had happened 10 years ago like it should have when the early “accountant shortage” concerns were in full swing we’d say EY’s competitors will be quick to announce CPA bonuses increases of their own but it’s 2026 so who even knows. They really should.

The post EY Is Now Paying a $10k CPA Bonus appeared first on Going Concern.

Gen Z men with degrees aren’t finding jobs any easier than their non-degreed male peers

Fortune went straight up doomer with their headline and added that this is “a sign that the higher education payoff is dead.” I don’t know about all that but it certainly isn’t good.

Gen Z is struggling to break into the entry-level job market—but young male college graduates may be hurting the most.

Data from the Federal Reserve indicates that the unemployment rate among recent college graduates is on the rise, at about 5.6%.

Although it remains lower than the 7.8% rate among all young workers between 22 and 27 years old, men with a college degree now have roughly the same unemployment rate as young men who didn’t go to college, according to an analysis of U.S. Current Population Survey data by the Financial Times.

Fortune went on to pull out this figure: Around 2010, “non-college-educated men experienced unemployment rates over 15%, whereas the rate among college graduates was closer to 7%.”

Seeing as I’m old and was here for 2008, I remember when accounting had an overall unemployment rate hovering around 3%. Something tells me if the economy hits another bottom like that we won’t be seeing similar numbers. Back then they didn’t send all the work overseas.

Grant Thornton and its deep private equity pockets supposedly want to acquire Grant Thornton Australia

So says Financial Review:

Grant Thornton Australia, the country’s eighth-largest accounting firm by revenue, is in advanced negotiations to sell the business to its American counterpart.

Street Talk understands Grant Thornton US, which is partly owned by New York’s New Mountain Capital, is in active due diligence to acquire the Australian operation.

GT Australia revenue was $270 million USD last year.

KPMG is picking up stakes and leaving its downtown Atlanta office

CoStar reports that KPMG is consolidating and downsizing in Atlanta:

One of the nation’s largest accounting firms is adding its name to a cohort of tenants ditching space in downtown Atlanta and relocating their offices elsewhere in and around the city.

KPMG signed a lease to consolidate its regional footprint at the Proscenium building at 1170 Peachtree St. in Midtown. The roughly 105,000-square-foot agreement with landlord Cousins Properties means the professional and accounting firm will uproot its longtime hub at Truist Plaza in the city’s central business district, where it occupies about 100,000 square feet, as well as its 22,000-square-foot office in Midtown’s One Atlantic Center.

While the relocation will ultimately result in a slight downsizing for KPMG’s Atlanta footprint, a spokesperson said the future office will be designed to accommodate more employees.

Their regional workforce is a little under 2,000 people.

Wow, Talk About Being Understaffed

Across the pond, a private credit “shadow bank” has collapsed and all sorts of things are coming out. The latest from Telegraph is that their accountant was a firm with just two people. It used to be three, which isn’t much better.

The “shadow bank” at the centre of an alleged fraud scandal rocking the City hired a tiny accountant with just two employees to work for its £2bn business, The Telegraph can reveal.

Market Financial Solutions (MFS), which collapsed last week amid allegations of fraud, listed Magus Chartered as its main accountants in its most recent annual report.

Magus’s own accounts show it had just two employees in 2025, down from three in 2024.

Read more about this situation from WSJ: How a British Mortgage Company Became Private Credit’s Latest Black Eye

Common Man vs Big 4 Firm Using AI

Up north, Chartered Professional Accountants Newfoundland and Labrador is investigating Deloitte’s use of AI commissioned government work and it’s due to this guy reading a story about it in the local paper and filing a complaint:

Writes The Independent:

A professional accounting watchdog has launched an investigation into Deloitte’s production of a $1.6-million healthcare report to the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador which contained AI-generated errors.

After reviewing a complaint from a resident of the province, Chartered Professional Accountants Newfoundland and Labrador (CPANL) has decided to investigate Deloitte’s use of artificial intelligence in the Health Human Resources Plan the global accounting and consulting firm created for the province as part of the government’s efforts to address the crisis in healthcare staffing.

This is actually amazing. This guy saw the story, got mad, and filed a complaint with the provincial accounting body to do something about it. The story continues:

In his complaint, Bruce said he has “substantial concerns” with Deloitte’s use of fabricated sources in the healthcare report, noting the firm had recently been caught in a similar scandal in Australia, in which Deloitte refunded a portion of public money it was paid to produce a report for the federal government.

Bruce says Deloitte appears to have used AI “in bad faith,” saying the firm was “not trying to find the best path forward” for the province’s healthcare staffing crisis. “They were trying to sell a particular path.”

The report cost taxpayers almost $1.6 million CAD.

Earlier story: Major N.L. healthcare report contains errors likely generated by A.I.

Prediction Markets, Taxes, and You

North Carolina State University tax professor Nathan Goldman discusses prediction markets and how they’re affecting state tax revenue in Forbes. I knew prediction markets had gotten out of hand when we had a tweet go viral the other week and people were placing bets on how many views it would get in 24 hours. That is not a joke.

His article covers both the implications for states and for taxpayers:

Despite the fact that sports betting companies and prediction market companies might face differential tax liabilities on the wagers placed, individual bettors still face a tax liability on them. However, this wedge grows when considering the differential tax treatment for sports bets and prediction markets.

For instance, winning sports bets are taxed as gross income, and the bettor can only deduct losing bets as an itemized deduction. As the majority of taxpayers do not itemize their deductions, many taxpayers must pay taxes on winning bets without deducting their losing bets. However, prediction markets offer a key tax advantage in that their wagers may be eligible for netting treatment under capital gains rules, depending on classification. This means that regardless of whether the bettor itemizes their deductions or not, the taxpayer can deduct their losses to the extent of their wins.

Worth a read if you’re into this stuff.

And that’s going to be it for this edition of the Monday news brief. Go out there and make it a good one. Email or text if you have a tip, story, or rant you think needs to be spread to the counting masses.

The post Monday Morning Accounting News Brief: Taxpayer Gets Mad at Deloitte’s AI Use, Does Something About It; KPMG to Consolidate in Atlanta | 3.9.26 appeared first on Going Concern.

For Women’s History Month

Women in Business 2026: The value of visibility [Grant Thornton]
The latest Women in Business research from Grant Thornton International Ltd. reinforces that mid-market firms maintaining or expanding gender equality initiatives are more likely to report revenue and employee growth. Yet representation at the top is moving in the opposite direction. Women now hold 31% of senior leadership roles in the U.S., down from 34% in 2025 and 35% in 2024.

Tech

AI Efficiency Gains Push Accounting Firms to Reimagine Pricing [Bloomberg Law]
Top US accounting firms are developing future pricing models for corporate clients as they pour billions of dollars into artificial intelligence tools that stand to slash billable hours with promised leaps in productivity. “Time’s becoming less and less of relevance,” PwC US Tax Leader Krishnan Chandrasekhar said.

Kraken becomes first crypto company to secure Fed master account access [CoinDesk]
Kraken has secured a Federal Reserve “master account,” giving its banking arm direct access to the Fed’s core payment systems and making it the first crypto firm to operate on the same rails as traditional financial institutions.

Crypto industry could get its long-awaited bill as soon as July, says longtime D.C. insider [Fortune]
It’s a tough slog to pass legislation ahead of U.S. midterm elections, and even more so for stand-alone bills like the so-called Clarity Act—a bill that sets out rules for crypto assets and services to become part of the financial mainstream.

Exclusive: Founded By 2 Brothers In Their 20s, YC-Backed Denki Raises $4.1M To Automate Financial Audits [Crunchbase]
Founded in 2025 by brothers Felipe Jin Li (24) and David Jin Li (20), San Francisco-based Denki aims to build “modern” infrastructure for financial audits, which verify that financial statements are accurate and controls are functioning. The startup wants to help replace manual, “evidence-heavy” processes with software automation that makes audits run more like code.

Context engineering in tax and accounting: The next level of AI workflows [Thomson Reuters]
Context engineering involves carefully organizing and managing all the information an AI model uses when generating a response. While prompt engineering focuses on asking the right questions or providing clear instructions, context engineering is about making sure the model has the right knowledge, tools, and background information before it starts working.

Audit

SEC Actions Against Accounting and Auditing Firms and PCAOB Enforcement Activity Fall to Multiyear Lows in 2025 [PR Newswire]
Accounting and auditing enforcement activity fell in 2025 at both the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), according to two new Cornerstone Research reports, SEC Accounting and Auditing Enforcement Activity—2025 Year in Review and PCAOB Enforcement Activity—2025 Year in Review.

State and Local

Kansas ‘lemonade stand law’ could boost kid businesses with tax, licensing exemptions [Kansas Reflector]
House Bill 2599 exempts minor-owned businesses from paying sales taxes on annual earnings up to $10,000, along with local taxes, licenses, permits and other government permissions.

Audit finds ‘errors and omissions’ in Connecticut government accounting reports from agencies [CT Insider]
Some state agencies overstated financial obligations — in one case by $185 million — and understated revenue earned during the prior fiscal year, a new state audit concluded. “Deficiencies in the state’s internal controls over financial reporting could adversely affect its ability to provide accurate financial information,” auditors wrote in their report.

NC State Auditor finds ‘severe weaknesses’ in Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools 2025 finances, according to new report [WXII12]
The report also highlights the district’s lack of “budget to actual” statements, which tracks how much money the district has spent on a monthly basis and how it aligns with the approved budget. Auditors also found that the district kept a substantial amount of money off its books. It recorded about $15 million for FY 2025 in September, months after the fiscal year ended. The district then backdated these expenditures.

Firm hired OTA director’s son after winning lucrative contract [The Oklahoman]
Records show that Poe & Associates, a firm being paid millions by the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority for its work on ACCESS Oklahoma, hired the son of the agency’s former director Tim Gatz shortly after the firm was chosen to oversee the $8.2 billion toll road expansion program.

Tax

IRS Dirty Dozen adds new capital gains scheme for 2026 [Journal of Accountancy]
The IRS has seen a rise in fabricated or inflated filings of Form 2439, Notice to Shareholder of Undistributed Long-Term Capital Gains, which allows shareholders of certain investment funds or real estate trusts to claim a refundable credit for taxes paid on undistributed capital gains. Identified schemes involve overstated or fabricated Form 2439 claims, including claims tied to organizations that are not legitimate investment funds or real estate trusts, the IRS said. The IRS said fake claims falsely linked to real, well-known organizations also are on the rise. The Form 2439 scam replaces a previous entry on fuel tax credit concerns.

Wisconsin study finds tax credit meant to help workers mostly helps big companies [PBS Wisconsin]
Researchers have wondered for decades whether the Work Opportunity Tax Credit pays off, but most states don’t offer the kind of records that would answer that question. Wisconsin does.

The post Friday Footnotes: Enforcement Wasn’t the Word of the Year For the SEC and PCAOB; | 3.6.26 appeared first on Going Concern.

According to them, the number of accounting firms worldwide that have private equity in the mix top more than 1,000. One thing we found especially interesting related to this:

177 “initial” or “direct” investments have facilitated 875 subsequent “indirect” or “roll-up” acquisitions for a total of 1,052 “impacted” accountancy firm transactions between 2015-2025.

So, the research explains, for every one direct private equity deal, there are at least seven indirect ones driven by PE. We expect this figure will be much higher once someone perfects the burgeoning AI-forward, roll-up practice model.

Private equity activity is at a flurry in the United States and England and active though less concentrated across Europe as well as Australia, Chile, India, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, and The Philippines. Only one African country appears on the IFAC world map of PE activity: Morocco.

The research notes that in North America, PE investment largely happens at bigger firms with audit practices but in Europe firms without audit practices are the ones getting outside investment.

Their paper includes a lot of stuff about ethics, challenges, and benefits that could be of interest to firm leaders entertaining private equity investment of their own, if that’s you you can access it here.

The post The Global Accounting Profession, Now Featuring 1,000+ PE-Backed Firms appeared first on Going Concern.

The post Upload All Your Tax Information to Grok, What Could Go Wrong? appeared first on Going Concern.

The AICPA Has a New Project

A Journal of Accountancy article asks a question we’ve been asking for a while now, and one that should have been asked years ago before the entry level work got handed off overseas: How will accountants learn new skills when AI does the work?

One of the first things Carl Mayes, CPA, said he did when he started his career as an auditor 20 years ago was to vouch: He examined transactions in a company’s accounting records and compared them to supporting documentary evidence, like invoices and receipts, to ensure they were genuine, accurate, and properly recorded.

Today, much of that time-consuming and repetitive work is being automated.

Commercially available AI-powered platforms for audit and advisory firms “have vouching tools that will do that for you and that is going to save so much time,” said Mayes, vice president—CPA Candidate Quality & Competency at the AICPA. These tools can accelerate vouching and related audit procedures if staff know what information to provide the tool, how it ties to audit assertions, and how to critically evaluate AI-generated work.

Mmm.

Well good news. The AICPA is going to look into it. Better late than never, as they say.

“We just launched an initiative called ‘Profession Ready,’” Mayes explained. “It’s a holistic initiative that is focused on the early-career skills gaps, with a look toward where the puck is going versus where it is today.”

At the heart of the initiative is a research project focused on the roles and required skills of early-career and aspiring CPAs, with an emphasis on identifying current gaps and anticipating future needs. Mayes expects findings to be finalized and shared in 2027.

We look forward to their findings.

Alright, that’s it for this news brief. As always, dear reader is encouraged to get in touch via email or text if you have a tip, a story, or any sort of general vent. Now go out there and make it a good week.

The post Monday Morning Accounting News Brief: The AICPA Looks at the Early Career; Senator Gets Mad at “Crooked” Tax Preparers | 3.2.26 appeared first on Going Concern.

Academia and Education

FSU auditing scholar ranks among world’s most prolific researchers [Florida State University News]
Florida State University accounting professor Nate Newton ranks No. 8 worldwide for the volume of archival audit research published over the past six years, placing him among the most prolific scholars in his field, according to Brigham Young University’s newly released 2025 accounting research rankings.

UT Receives Gift To Name Department of Accounting [University of Texas]
The University of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School of Business announced today that a foundational gift from accounting alumnus Jon Shulkin, BBA ’97, will name the Jonathan K. Shulkin Department of Accounting.

A degree is ‘not enough’ to get hired in consulting [Financial Review]
The advent of AI means a university degree is no longer the ticket it once was into the workplace, Accenture’s chief learning and research officer Majd Sakr says. “A university degree on its own is not enough. Now we are saying university degree – plus: how can you prove to us that you have the necessary ‘can-do’ approach in technology,” Sakr says. “What will be replaced are people who don’t speak AI. Those who fail to embrace this technological shift risk becoming obsolete.”

Strategies for Boosting Black Students’ Interest in Pursuing an Accounting Major [CPA Journal]
Despite efforts by professional organizations, the representation of Black CPAs as accountants remains disproportionately low.

People

Deloitte adds Mark Roman to Washington national tax practice [Consulting.us]
Mark Roman joins the Big Four accountancy after 20 years at the US House of Representatives, where he most recently served as staff director of the Committee on Ways and Means during the 118th and 119th Congresses. In the role, Roman directed development and negotiation of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

KPMG Taps New US Law Chief to Grow Services as Pushback Mounts [Bloomberg Tax]
KPMG LLP on Friday named a new US division leader who is tasked with integrating the firm’s growing legal services offerings with its corporate advisory work. Christian Athanasoulas, a Boston-based leader of the KPMG M&A tax practice who has been with the company for more than 25 years, takes over as head of KPMG US Legal Services. The firm a year ago gained approval to offer legal services in Arizona, making it the first Big Four accounting, tax, and consulting company to operate a US law firm.

How life changed for this CEO when private equity took over [Financial Review]
This regional airport operator talks about how she narrowly avoided being sentenced to a life in public accounting.
Her father was a partner at KPMG and his daughter assumed that would be her path too. “I always thought I’d be an accountant. I was lucky enough to get into EY, and that was it. I was going to become a partner. That was my life. I was set at 21 years of age,” recalls Evans. Only she wasn’t set at all.

Unsubstantiated Buzz

Polymarket Earnings Bets Trigger Insider Trading Rumors Linked To KPMG [GamingAmerica]
Key word here is RUMORS, the betting and crypto spaces are rife with ’em. Replies to the tweet linked in this article have some ideas.
The chatter started with posts claiming a small group of wallets repeatedly placed large bets on earnings outcomes right before official reports hit. The companies named in the thread include Home Depot, DoorDash, CarMax, Thor Industries, and StoneX. None of that is illegal by itself. People guess earnings every quarter, and some traders are genuinely good at it. What makes this one travel is the pattern traders say they are seeing: big positions, late entries, and a win rate that looks more like “already knew” than “strong model.” Not only that, but all of the companies mentioned are audited by the same firm, KPMG.

Big 4

Deloitte to consolidate EMEA network under unified €20bn practice [International Accounting Bulletin]
Deloitte has outlined plans for a major regional combination under a new Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) enterprise, bringing together member practices with combined revenues of €20bn. The new structure, called Deloitte EMEA, is scheduled to come into effect on 1 June 2026.

Deloitte shake-up of global structure set to trigger UK leadership race [Financial Times]
The shake-up of Deloitte’s network of national member firms will lead to the creation of a new structure across the region, which will encompass 132,000 staff and be led by long-standing UK senior partner Richard Houston.

2 top EY leaders explain why a lack of experience is a junior consultant’s big advantage in the age of AI [Business Insider]
“AI”
“If anything, as a young graduate, they’ve got more opportunity to change our organization,” Errol Gardner, global head of consulting at the Big Four firm EY, told Business Insider. Junior consultants have the native digital skills and the creativity necessary for the AI era, he said.

The post Friday Footnotes: Deloitte Consolidates; Wild Rumors Fly About KPMG Clients’ Earnings | 2.27.26 appeared first on Going Concern.

A tipster tells us:

Pretty much the entire TID [talent acquisition] team has been let go all the way up to senior managers. Some leadership roles have been dissolved in addition to at least half of the business recruiters, campus recruiting, and some nearshore assets. The entire Argentina US team is gone.

This group includes contractors, a tidbit that will be relevant in a second. It also includes EAs.

To get the point across that this was a total team wipe our tipster reiterates:

They wiped out the entire TID department from the top down.

They said this includes Talent Acquisition Sourcing Leader Jill Kiemele. Her LinkedIn still shows her as working at PwC so that’s an as-yet unconfirmed.

This thread on r/Big4 backs up our tipster’s info. Not even nearshore staff are safe?? What even are we doing?

Honestly, According_Pickle has the right idea.

We don’t have specific numbers, seeing some people say a few hundred?

Talent acquisition was informed last November to expect more cuts, nice how they made everyone sweat it out for a few months. At that time, a tipster shared what they’d heard about the next two years: “Current roadmap of ‘transformation’ as they are calling it is within the next 24 months. Will be relying heavily on contractors and third party labor to fill business needs. Significantly limiting recruiting efforts in this timeframe.”

This is what Firmwide Talent Acquisition & Development Leader Margaret Burke said in an email to all US Talent Acquisition in November, warning them that “transformation” (i.e. hella layoffs) were coming:

[Talent Team],

We’ve all seen how quickly technology continues to evolve, and how it’s reshaping the way we work. As part of our ongoing transformation, we’re introducing new tools and processes that help us focus more on high-value, strategic work while improving the experience for our candidates, stakeholders and teams.

One are we’ve received is interview scheduling, a process that has historically involved manual coordination and multiple hand-offs. Our new, technology-enabled interview Scheduling Hub will simplify scheduling, reduce friction, and allow interviews to be confirmed more quickly and accurately.

We also want to acknowledge that progress often brings change–and that change can have real impacts on people. As you heard from Tim Grady, Business Services is on a long-term transformation journey, Modernizing how we work, aligning more closely with changing firm needs and the evolution of our Lines of Service, and improving efficiency and sustainability. While the overarching goal of that journey is transformation and reinvestment, we made the difficult decision to move forward with a workforce reduction, which impacted some of our colleagues on the Interview Scheduling team. We’re deeply grateful for their contributions and for the foundation they helped build that allows us to take this next step forward.

For those of you in tax, audit, or consulting thinking “meh, it’s just talent people,” zoom out for a minute and think about it. The recruiting pipeline is critical to the business model, or at least it used to be back when firms were hungry for the warm bodies of accounting graduates. Slashing these roles signals that we’re in for even more pipeline deterioration ahead. It makes sense that in lean times firms go straight for the people who aren’t generating revenue but at some point you have to wonder who even is left to cut?

The ’20s really aren’t shaking out to be so roaring of a decade eh?

More discussion here from r/PwC:

Get in touch via email or text if you have more info or just need to vent. Tipsters are always anonymous.

The post Layoff Watch ’26: PwC Goes on a Rampage Across Talent Acquisition appeared first on Going Concern.

First up, Crowe Global. On February 17, Crowe announced another year of double-digit revenue growth to hit $6.5 billion USD (unaudited) in 2025. That’s 12 percent year-on-year growth in total with regional growth hitting two digits everywhere but North America: 21 percent in Europe, 19 percent in the Middle East, 16 percent in Asia Pacific, and 8 percent in North America.

Next up we have Forvis Mazars with combined revenue of $5.7 billion, year-over-year growth of about 11 percent. They break down percentage of revenue by service line thusly:

• Audit and Assurance: 45%
• Tax: 23%
• Advisory: 21%
• Outsourcing: 11%

In the press release, Forvis Mazars Global Network Board Chairman Hervé Hélias calls out that assurance figure in particular: “The rise of AI and digital platforms is creating a new need for independent oversight. Audit and assurance, which represents 45% of our business globally, had a particularly strong year, delivering double-digit growth. Looking ahead, the need for rigorous, independent assurance is only going to grow in this digital, regulatory, and sustainability-driven environment.”

Golf claps all around.

The post Two Global Mid-Tiers Aren’t Doing Too Shabby on Global Revenue and Growth These Days appeared first on Going Concern.

An AI OG, Suleyman co-founded DeepMind back in 2010 when he was just 26 years old. Google bought it for $650 million four years later and a few years after that, he found himself attending mandatory professional development training related to accusations of bullying staff. Wrote WSJ in 2021:

Google’s push to advance in AI through acquisition has also added to its management challenges. In a previously unreported move, Mustafa Suleyman, co-founder of Google’s London-based artificial-intelligence arm, DeepMind, was stripped in late 2019 of most management responsibilities after complaints that he bullied staff, according to people familiar with the matter.

DeepMind, which Google bought in 2014, hired an outside law firm to conduct an independent probe into the complaints. At the end of 2019, Mr. Suleyman was moved to a different executive role within the AI team at Google.

DeepMind and Google, in a joint statement, confirmed the investigation into Mr. Suleyman’s behavior and declined to say what it found. The statement said that as a result of the probe Mr. Suleyman “undertook professional development training to address areas of concern, which continues, and is not managing large teams.” The companies said that in Mr. Suleyman’s current Google role, as vice president of artificial-intelligence policy, “he makes valued contributions on AI policy and regulation.”

Someone let him know you can bully accountants with impunity, they like a little masochism as a treat. No need to lump them in with everyone who he thinks will be pushed out of their human jobs by 2028.

Look, we have no doubt jobs will be lost in the next 18 months but it’s not AI as in artificial intelligence taking them.

Mustafa Suleyman plots AI ‘self-sufficiency’ as Microsoft loosens OpenAI ties [Financial Times]

The post ICYMI: According to This AI CEO You Won’t Have to Go to Work in a Year appeared first on Going Concern.

You’re Gonna File That Audit, Dangit

The state of Wyoming is forcing a county to finish yet another late audit before it hands over sales tax money, a persistent issue across the country.

Campbell County employees are working to complete the fiscal year 2024-2025 audit, which was due at the end of 2025. And due to the delay, the state is withholding $3 million in sales tax from Campbell County until the audit is complete.

Earlier this year, Campbell County Commissioners approved the audit for fiscal year 2023-2024, which was due in December 2024. The audit for FY25 was due in December 2025.

The county hopes to have the FY25 audit complete by June 30. It will be the fourth straight audit that the county has turned in late.

The funny part is the county tried to get a break due to “staff turnover and a new financial management system” but the Department of Audit told them LOL no, get it together.

There’s only one comment on the article and its this:

And that’s gonna be a wrap for this Monday news brief. Give me a shout by email or text if you see a story, have a tip, or just want to exchange shower thoughts. Bye!

The post Monday Morning Accounting News Brief: Firm Scraps Failed 4-Day Workweek Experiment; Tariff Decision Makes Even More Work for Accountants | 2.23.26 appeared first on Going Concern.

The post Friday Footnotes: Deloitte Adds Up All the Rocket Launchers; Wait, So ERC Is Done For Real? | 2.20.26 appeared first on Going Concern.

But, and you knew from the headline there would be a but, more than 60 percent of those licenses went to international candidates.

While international CPA exam candidates could always travel to the United States to sit for the exam if qualified in a state that allowed non-residents to do so, proper international CPA exam testing is a relatively new phenomenon. True international testing that did not require candidates to visit the US launched in 2011 and as of today, qualified candidates can sit in the following countries:

• Bahrain
• Bermuda
• Brazil
• Egypt
• England
• Germany
• India
• Ireland
• Israel
• Japan
• Jordan
• Kuwait
• Lebanon
• Nepal
• Philippines
• Republic of Korea
• Saudi Arabia
• Scotland
• United Arab Emirates

Guess TPTB figured out that accountant shortage problem eh?

The post Should We Be Concerned That More Than Half of New CPA Licenses Issued in This State Last Year Went to International Candidates? appeared first on Going Concern.

For those who weren’t there, 2015 was very early. 2025 is early. The profession is in flux, the venture capitalists are throwing money at AI like it’s 1999, private equity is suddenly in the mix, and today’s tech rockstar could be tomorrow’s forgotten one hit wonder. It isn’t until the cash spigot gets turned off that the long-term winners will begin to emerge.

OK so they had the platform, the passion, even the capital. So what happened?

People often ask why or how a tech company, having raised significant amounts of capital from marquee investors, closes suddenly. In our case, it was a “perfect storm” of macro-economic shifts that arrived more swiftly than we could course-correct.

Over the years, we oscillated between Product Concept Fit, a term I coined internally, and Product Market Fit. As quickly as we iterated on our offering and saw early signs of traction, we were met with equally rapid market shifts. Our team and investors remained optimistic, as we were attempting to modernize one of the oldest and largest markets, leading as a trailblazer and innovator.

Then in late 2025, we faced a series of unexpected industry consolidation that significantly impacted our largest clients and, in turn, our revenue and planned growth. The speed and scale of these changes altered our financial outlook in a matter of weeks, ultimately leaving us without a sustainable path forward and requiring us to begin an orderly wind-down of the business.

We’ll refrain from making guesses as to which rapid industry shifts conspired to blow the house down for good and instead end here with this:

You are free to opine in the comments and forward this to those smug non-accountants on X who swear you’ll be out of a job any day now, not that it’ll stop them from all that insisting.

The post Another Early AI Accounting Startup Just Bit the Dust appeared first on Going Concern.

This story sounds like a joke but we assure you it is not. KPMG Australia has expanded KPMG’s storied cheating repertoire by being the first Big 4 firm to earn headlines about using AI to cheat on internal training. Not just any internal training but, in the case of an audit partner who will be paying out of their own pocket for their error, it was an internal test about AI. The test was open book, but “open book” doesn’t mean “upload the manual to AI” like the partner did.

Australian Financial Review reports:

More than two dozen KPMG Australia personnel have used artificial intelligence to cheat on internal exams since July, including a partner who will be fined more than $10,000 for using the technology in a training course about AI.

The big four accounting firm has upgraded its processes to detect AI cheating after putting in place policies and extra policing to tackle widespread cheating on internal tests between 2016 and 2020.

“Like most organisations, we have been grappling with the role and use of AI as it relates to internal training and testing. It’s a very hard thing to get on top of given how quickly society has embraced it,” said KPMG Australia CEO Andrew Yates to AFR.

“As soon as we introduced monitoring for AI in internal testing in 2024, we found instances of people using AI outside our policy. We followed with a significant firm-wide education campaign and have continued to introduce new technologies to block access to AI during testing.”

To KPMG’s credit, it was the firm that caught their people in the act and the caught partner who reported it to Chartered Accountants ANZ. The firm is fining the partner $10,000 (about $7k USD) while Chartered Accountants ANZ is still investigating so punishment from them could (probably will) follow. Average partner pay at KPMG Australia was $715,000 ($506k USD) for 2025.

Something else interesting from AFR’s report. The current rule is that firms only have to report this kind of stuff to regulators at the Australian Securities and Investments Commission if punished by a governing professional body. As mentioned above, Chartered Accountants ANZ hasn’t concluded an investigation so the firm wasn’t required to snitch on themselves to the ASIC. And yet, writes AFR:

KPMG maintains it voluntarily informed ASIC as part of its ongoing discussions with the regulator. However, in a response to queries from Greens senator Barbara Pocock, the regulator said KPMG had not “filed with ASIC a report about the instances of auditors cheating using AI” before the December Financial Review report.

That article led to ASIC contacting KPMG and the firm providing information on a voluntary basis including the new detail that a partner had been involved.

And they would have gotten away with it too if it weren’t for you meddling Financial Review reporters!

We suspect this is going to be a huge problem across firms in coming years so congrats to KPMG for blazing the trail.

The post KPMG Brings Cheating Into the AI Age By Using AI to Cheat on AI Exams appeared first on Going Concern.

That should tide you over until the week starts for real tomorrow. Hope you get to chill today and if not, just remember it could always be worse. Email or text anytime if you have a story or tip. OK bye.

The post Monday Morning Accounting News Brief: EYers Complain Pettily About a Colleague’s Gift; Accountants Grow Impatient About AI Threats | 2.16.26 appeared first on Going Concern.

Technology

Big Tech Accounting Creates a Blind Spot in the AI Boom [WSJ]
Just five big tech companies are projected to spend a total of $3 trillion on property and equipment over the next four years, and that rapid growth is making it harder to analyze their earnings. As capital expenditures have skyrocketed, controversies have occasionally flared over companies’ moves to extend the useful lives of the assets they are depreciating. Even a small adjustment to an asset’s useful life can now have a big impact on earnings. Meta Platforms said its $60.5 billion of earnings last year included a $2.6 billion boost from lengthening the estimates for the useful lives of its servers and network assets.

Law & Order

Italian tax police search Amazon in new tax probe [Reuters]
The Guardia di Finanza tax police also searched the homes of seven Amazon managers and the offices of auditing firm KPMG. The probe is a new strand of an investigation looking into whether Amazon had an undisclosed, permanent base in Italy from 2019 to 2024 and should therefore have paid more taxes in the country.

Edgio Execs Settle Investor Suit Over Accounting for $15 Million [Bloomberg Tax]
Three Edgio Inc. executives have agreed to pay $15 million to settle investor claims that the now-bankrupt technology company misrepresented its revenue, investors told a federal court.

Lawmakers seek to penalize DoD if it fails to pass a clean audit [Federal News Network]
The bill would also require DoD financial leaders to meet additional qualifications — future Pentagon and service-level comptroller nominees would all have to be certified public accountants (CPAs) with prior experience serving as chief financial officers of federal or state agencies that already passed a clean audit or of public companies that achieved a clean audit during their tenure.

Big 4

PwC UK applications jump 35% in graduate jobs drought [Financial Times] Big Four accounting firm says it has decided not to automate some junior work so staff can develop judgment.

Four partners leave EY after independence rule breach on Shell audit [Financial Times]
Four EY partners have left the firm after breaches of independence rules in its audit of Shell that resulted in the oil major stripping the accounting firm of a $66mn-a-year contract. The partners left the Big Four firm in December as it rushed to contain the fallout from the compliance failure.

Here are the biggest accounting firms in Greater Philadelphia [Philadelphia Business Journal]
Deloitte, PwC, EY, KPMG, and CBIZ are top five in that order.

State and Local

Kansas bill would give state employees 10% of savings from reported fraud, waste or abuse [Kansas Reflector]
Inspired by the corporate world, a Kansas state senator wants to provide a monetary incentive for state employees to report fraud, waste or abuse. He said he was inspired by his former employer, United Airlines, which had a similar program that gave an employee 10% of the savings if they identified a way for the company to save money.

Chattanooga accountant Jonathan Frost free on $10K bond after pleading guilty [Chattanooga Times Free Press]
While the magistrate judge accepted Frost’s plea of guilty to conspiracy to commit wire and tax fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering, a federal district judge still needs to accept the plea, Frost’s attorney, Lee Davis, said by text.

Macomb County man sentenced in $2.5 million fraud case [Click on Detroit]
According to authorities, Samer Kammo worked with his wife, Christina Anasi, and Rita Shaba to submit fraudulent PPP applications for several businesses. They misrepresented payroll information and falsely certified that the loan funds would be used for permissible business-related purposes.

FBI: Missouri man on the run in $220 million cattle fraud scheme [KCTV5]
The Federal Bureau of Investigation announced on Friday, Feb. 13, that agents are searching for Joshua R. Link, 32, of Stafford, Missouri. He is the only suspect still at large.

Audit of Downtown Partnership of Baltimore raises ‘potential fraud’ concerns [WBBF]
The auditor said the “possibility exists of financial statement errors or potential fraud occurring and not being detected.” This was due to what the audit described as a lack of timely account reconciliation in the 2024 fiscal year, which means DPOB wasn’t doing the proper checks to ensure it had accurate financial records.

The post Friday Footnotes: Italian Tax Cops Go Sniffing Around KPMG’s Office; Depreciation Is AI’s Latest Victim | 2.13.26 appeared first on Going Concern.

Clicking this…

…gets you this:

Hmm alright, let’s try that again with a different series of search terms. There it is!

EY announced today that EY Americas Assurance Financial Services Leader Joe Link has been appointed the new EY Americas Vice Chair – Assurance, effective April 1. He’s taking over for Dante D’Egidio who will be moving on up to US managing partner.

The resume and the obligatory complementary quote from a powerful colleague:

“I am honored to step into this role and lead the Assurance practice at a time when trust, transparency and technological transformation are reshaping expectations for our profession,” said the EY Americas Vice Chair – Assurance-elect. “I look forward to working with our talented teams to continue delivering audit quality, advancing innovation through the thoughtful adoption of AI and technology and supporting confidence in the capital markets and the clients we serve.”

Current official EY catchphrase “all in” appears exactly zero times in the press release. Guess they’re not going to spam that one everywhere like they did with building a better working world.

The post EY Is Bumping Up a Financial Services Leader to the Big Assurance Chair appeared first on Going Concern.

TLDR: They pulled people from other departments like human resources and, to a lesser extent, IT with no direct tax experience to answer phones and process returns. What could go wrong?

Well it looks like the IRS needs to shuffle a few more people around to the front lines according to the latest at GovExec:

The Internal Revenue Service is transferring another batch of employees to assist during tax filing season, renewing concerns among the workforce that staff highly specialized in fields not directly related to taxes are being thrust into roles for which they have no qualification.

It’s fine, right? Surely they’re just double-checking work that’s already been performed by experienced peo–

IRS management is placing employees into contact representative and tax examiner roles, though emails obtained by Government Executive stated they will not engage with taxpayers directly or answer phones. Employees will evaluate and research records to answer inquiries from individual taxpayers or analyze tax returns to help correct accounts, the agency told impacted staff.

“As planned in advance of the 2026 tax season, the IRS will be redeploying resources to Taxpayer Services,” Joseph Ziegler, a former whistleblower related to IRS’ handling of Hunter Biden’s taxes and who now serves as the agency’s chief of internal consulting, said in an email to employees. “We are grateful to our team for their service to America and for their support of our mission.”

“I am grateful for no longer sitting on my a– wasting taxpayer money for months, but this has the potential to be a disaster,” said an employee who used to be in IT and was shuffled into Taxpayer Services for a couple months to GovExec. And then there’s this quote: “It’s going to be hard for a lot of people,” the employee said. “Most of us are 50-plus and being asked to learn something quickly.” Trial by fire, eh?

According to TIGTA’s most recent readiness report [PDF], the IRS is down 18,979 employees from 2024 to 2025. However, if you look at the 2021 numbers, it’s a difference of just 36. For the “key filing season” peeps, they shed 8,302 overall from 2024 to 2025 but are up 424 from 2021; significantly, submission processing took a hit in 2025 compared to both 2024 and 2021.

Here’s the rub: they were supposed to hire 2,220 Submission Processing people for the 2026 filing season however as of December 30, only 50 people had been onboarded.

From that same TIGTA report:

Submission Processing management stated it can take between 60 and 80 days to train new employees, so they may not be ready to assist during the 2026 Filing Season. Submission Processing management stated that they plan to continue onboarding the remaining employees during the 2026 Filing Season.

Despite having direct hire authority for filing season positions, the IRS was delayed in posting these job announcements because of a new hiring process. The new process includes getting approvals to hire from the IRS’s Chief Executive Officer and the Department of the Treasury before announcements can be posted. Selections must also be approved by the IRS Chief Executive Officer and the Department of the Treasury before employment offers can be made. Although the Submission Processing function was able to announce open positions during the shutdown, they could not conduct in-person direct hiring events. However, the IRS was able to conduct an in-person hiring event in January 2026.

It’s a similar mess in Accounts Management though they managed to hire a lot more people. But…you knew there was gonna be a but:

The Accounts Management function generally handles taxpayer contacts through telephone and mail. It is also responsible for processing adjustments to tax accounts and certain amended tax returns. Accounts Management uses the same employees to answer the telephones and process its adjustments inventory. As a result, Accounts Management has to balance their resources during the filing season to ensure that they are meeting their telephone level of service goals while managing their paper inventory.

In August 2025, the Accounts Management function received approval to hire approximately 3,500 employees for the 2026 Filing Season, which was approximately four months later than the approval for the 2025 Filing Season. Accounts Management onboarded 2,300 (66 percent) employees in September 2025 through December 2025, including during the shutdown.

Accounts Management leadership stated that they would typically onboard new hires no later than August 31, 2025, to ensure that employees are fully trained and ready by January 1, 2026. Since approval was not received until August 2025, the Accounts Management function modified its training for new employees to allow as many new employees as possible to be ready to assist taxpayers during the filing season. For example, new hires are typically trained to answer individual telephone questions and individual amended tax return questions. Now, they are only being trained to screen calls, i.e., route them to the right assistor, and answer basic questions on refunds. Accounts Management leadership also plans to increase overtime usage throughout the fiscal year to mitigate any negative impact of their hiring shortfall. We plan to monitor IRS’s use of overtime and taxpayer service performance in upcoming reviews.

Oh good, that will be fun to read.

If you think this is a new problem the IRS is having please consult this June 2024 article: As Prophesied, the IRS Is Struggling to Hire All Those New Agents

The post The IRS Is Shuffling Even More Inexperienced People Into Key Filing Season Roles and Just Hoping For the Best appeared first on Going Concern.

KPMG, one of the world’s largest auditors of public and private companies, negotiated lower fees from its own accountant by arguing that AI will make it cheaper to do the work, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Big Four firm told its auditor, Grant Thornton UK, it should pass on cost savings from the rollout of AI and threatened to find a new accountant if it did not agree to a significant fee reduction, the people said.

As we told a tipster who sent this story to the tipline over the weekend, it’s funnier because it’s GT.

But wait! There’s more! According to FT, it was KPMG that told Grant Thornton they should be “using AI and other new technology to improve efficiency,” not necessarily that KPMG found out GT was using AI to save tons of hours of work and wanted a discount because of it. We’re not done. In what can only be described as an act requiring giant testicles the likes of which we did not expect KPMG to have, they told GT that “since Grant Thornton had been its accountant for several years, it knew the business well enough to do the work more quickly.” Per FT, KPMG paid 14% less in 2025 ($357,000) than they did in 2024 ($416,000).

GUYS. Did you not foresee this backfiring on you and your own audit business? Did the sound of clients making these same demands of you not reverberate across your skulls when you considered bringing this up to Grant Thornton? Do you not understand the Pandora’s box you’ve opened here?

Oh well. Clients, you know what you have to do.

The post KPMG Brings AI Talking Points to a Fee Negotiation, Inadvertently Opens a Pandora’s Box Filled With Stingy Clients appeared first on Going Concern.

Gonna wrap this up here because I’ve been told people don’t like long news briefs with a bunch of words in them. If you have a tip or story for us, reach out via email or text any time or hit us up on what used to be the bird app. Go get ’em, tiger.

The post Monday Morning Accounting News Brief: PwC Concentrates New Hires in a Handful of Offices; Accounting as STEM Bill Gains a New Fan | 2.9.26 appeared first on Going Concern.

Private Equity

How Private Equity Is Quietly Rewriting the Rules of Professions [ProMarket]
Writes John M. Barrios, Assistant Professor of Accounting at the Washington University in St Louis, Olin School of Business:
From an antitrust perspective, professional services present two blind spots. The first is labor. Antitrust enforcement has historically focused on product markets, but in professions, labor is the critical input. When a handful of firms dominate local labor markets for accountants, lawyers, or clinicians, they gain leverage not just over workers, but over the capacity of the industry itself. Comparing wage suppression in these markets to classic consumer price concerns highlights why labor deserves equal footing in antitrust analysis. For instance, while consumer prices might rise modestly, wage stagnation or decline can have a much larger impact on the well-being of professionals in the sector. This concern has been increasingly emphasized by the FTC and Department of Justice’s joint antitrust guidance on labor markets.

AI

KPMG pressed its auditor to pass on AI cost savings [Financial Times]
It gets funnier when you find out their auditor is Grant Thornton
The Big Four firm told its auditor, Grant Thornton UK, it should pass on cost savings from the rollout of AI and threatened to find a new accountant if it did not agree to a significant fee reduction, the people said.

Goldman Sachs taps Anthropic’s Claude to automate accounting, compliance roles [CNBC]
The bank has, for the past six months, been working with embedded Anthropic engineers to co-develop autonomous agents in at least two specific areas: accounting for trades and transactions, and client vetting and onboarding, according to Marco Argenti, Goldman’s chief information officer. The firm is “in the early stages” of developing agents based on Anthropic’s Claude model that will collapse the amount of time these essential functions take, Argenti said. He expects to launch the agents “soon,” though he declined to provide a specific date. “Think of it as a digital co-worker for many of the professions within the firm that are scaled, are complex and very process intensive,” he said.

Education

Senators Collins, Rosen Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Support Accounting Education [Senator Collins]
Why do we get a bad feeling about this?
“Mathematics and technology skills can help students unlock countless doors to high-paying, in-demand fields. One of those doors leads to the accounting profession, whose work plays a key role in providing capital markets with confidence and assurance in financial reporting,” said Senator Collins. “Our bipartisan bill would recognize accounting as a STEM subject and strengthen the pipeline of future accountants, who play a vital role in our financial system.”

Anderson School of Management launches experiential learning plan to grow accounting enrollment [University of New Mexico]
Anderson has developed a five-year plan with the objective of increasing the enrollment of undergraduate and graduate accounting students through opportunities outside of the classroom. Initiatives for the first-year focus on removing barriers to professional exposure by funding student attendance to conferences and competitions, hosting networking and recruitment events, and creating faculty stipends to support and oversee these efforts.

Rules and Regs

AICPA invites public input on attestation standard changes [The Accountant Online]
The Auditing Standards Board (ASB) will specifically seek input on sustainability-related information and other emerging assurance areas. The organisation has not yet fixed the length of the consultation, but the comment period will run for at least 120 days from the date of publication.

FASB revisits thorny goodwill accounting [CFO Dive]
Nearly four years after dropping a years-long project that would have changed goodwill accounting, the Financial Accounting Standards Board is revisiting the matter.

Accountant Ws

Toyota Just Swapped Its ‘Car Guy’ CEO For An Accountant [Carscoops]
Kenta Kon, often described as a numbers-focused executive, has been with Toyota since 1991. In an interview with Nikkei Asia, Kon said, “Since I handle accounting … I’m extremely particular about profits and numbers that enable solid investments to develop cars.”

Tax

‘Setting this agency up for failure’: Amid staffing crunch, IRS taps employees with no relevant experience to assist during filing season [Government Executive]
The Internal Revenue Service is asking seasoned employees without any direct tax experience to perform entry-level tasks of answering phones and processing tax returns, a step impacted staff call unprecedented as the agency scrambles to prepare for filing season. The reassigned workers, who are being detailed out on an involuntary basis, are coming from the IRS human resources and, potentially, the IT departments.

Delco Man Pleads To Tax Fraud After Lying To Accountant, IRS [Patch]
A pizza shop owner in Pennsylvania told his return preparer that Mimmo’s only had four employees, including himself. In reality it had approximately 25 employees.

The post Friday Footnotes: Bill Wants to Turn Accounting STEM; Goodwill is Back on the Agenda | 2.6.26 appeared first on Going Concern.

On Friday, the SEC announced a new crew will be running things at the PCAOB, including new chair and 40-year EY veteran (Jim) Logothetis and four board members. Francine McKenna’s Substack column The Dig here calls it “[SEC Chairman Paul] Atkins’ dramatic decision to select a fox to watch the henhouse.” And then she put the gang in photo collage form for maximum dramatic effect:

Hmm…none of these things are not like the other (reference).

SEC Chairman Paul Atkins is “confident” this bunch will get the job done, though it would be colossally stupid of his official statement to say anything but that. Imagine if we lived in a world where the chairman of the SEC could say what we’re all thinking.

“I am confident that this new Board will usher in a new day at the PCAOB—one of sensible, efficient oversight of auditors,” he said. “The newly appointed Chairman and Board members have already demonstrated a profound commitment to protecting investors and responsible use of such funds by accepting compensation much more in line with the ethos of public service. I look forward to working with this Board as it refocuses on the PCAOB’s core statutory mission—protecting investors and furthering the public interest in the preparation of informative, accurate, and independent audit reports.”

The PCAOB’s 2026 budget is $362.1 million, down from 2025’s budget of $399.7 million. On top of that, salaries for the chair and board members have been cut by 52% and 42%, respectively. Let’s hope these guys are in it for the love of the game.

Let’s see their resumes.

Demetrios (Jim) Logothetis, Chairman, will serve a term ending on October 24, 2030. Mr. Logothetis serves on the board of The Republic Bank of Chicago, where he chairs the audit committee, and on the advisory council of CrossCountry Consulting, a privately owned consultancy firm. In 2019, Jim retired from Ernst and Young (EY) after forty years with the firm, during which time he served as the lead partner for several of EY’s largest clients. He held a number of leadership roles with the firm, including Vice-Chair of Global Accounts, Managing Partner of the Midwest U.S assurance and advisory practices, and Chairman of the German Business Center in the United States. He also served as Senior Advisor in U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of the Assistant Secretary and Chief Financial Officer, where he led the Audit Coordination Committee for Ginnie Mae. He holds an M.B.A. degree in Accounting, Finance, and International Business from The University of Chicago Booth Graduate School of Business and a B.S. degree in Accountancy from De Paul University.

Mark Calabria will serve a term ending on Oct. 24, 2027. Mr. Calabria is currently an Associate Director and Chief Statistician with the U.S. Office of Management and Budget and a Senior Advisor to the Office of the Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. His prior service includes Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Assistant to the Vice President, Deputy Assistant Secretary with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and Senior Economist at the National Association of Realtors. He has a B.A and Ph.D. in Economics from George Mason University.

Kyle Hauptman will serve a term ending on Oct. 24, 2029. Mr. Hauptman is currently the Chairman of the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA). He was originally appointed by President Trump and confirmed by the Senate to serve as a Board Member in December 2020. He was elevated to Chairman of the NCUA in January 2025. He previously served on the Senate Banking Committee staff, as a staff director and as Economic Policy Counselor to a senator. He has also held positions at the American Enterprise Institute, Jefferies and Co., and Lehman Brothers. He holds an M.B.A. degree from Columbia Business School and a B.A. from University of California, Los Angeles.

Steven Laughton will serve a term ending on Oct. 24, 2026. Mr. Laughton is currently Board Counsel to PCAOB Board Member Christina Ho. Prior to joining the PCAOB in 2022, he spent more than thirty years with the U.S. Department of the Treasury. His roles at the Treasury Department included Senior Counsel to the General Counsel, where he helped establish the Paycheck Protection Program, and Assistant General Counsel, where he supervised more than 50 attorneys and staff and advised on a wide range of matters, including cybersecurity, consumer financial policy, disclosure, privacy, and advisory committees. He holds a B.A. in Political Science and French from Tufts University and a J.D. from Case Western Reserve University School of Law.

Anyone who worked with Mr. Logothetis at EY is welcome to reach out via email or text (tipsters are always anonymous) and share what that was like. Maybe we’re all being overly cynical and he will turn out to be great for the trust of capital markets.

The post ICYMI: 40-Year EY Veteran Picked to Chair the PCAOB appeared first on Going Concern.

Reports AFR:

KPMG Australia plans to outsource the work of three-quarters, or 200, of its 260 executive assistants to the Philippines as part of a cost-cutting push amid lower demand for its advisory services.

The firm held a series of briefings on Tuesday to outline the plan to partners and staff, noting that the move was still subject to consultation with the affected staff. The cuts represent about 2 per cent of its almost 9000-strong workforce.

How long are they going to use this “lower demand for advisory services” excuse?

In its last reported revenue, KPMG Australia said overall total revenue dropped about 3% from 2024 to 2025. Consulting did drop 18% so they’re not making it up but it just seems these firms should have figured something else out by now. Like mid-market Enterprise which jumped 13% for fiscal year 2025.

Related:

The post Another Big 4 Ditches Their Executive Assistants For Offshore Ones Instead appeared first on Going Concern.

TLDR: The proposed rule from the Department of Education, brought on by the OBBBA, eliminates Graduate PLUS loans and caps student loan borrowing to $20,500/year for graduate students (up to $100,000 in aggregate) and $50,000/year (up to $200,000 in aggregate) for students in professional degree programs. According to them, accounting degrees would not be classified as professional for purposes of this specific thing.

Some people breezed right past the student loan cap part and got quite incensed by the mere suggestion that accountants would fall into a bucket of “non-professionals” next to nurses, physical therapists, and educators, among others (see Reddit here and here). NASBA and the AICPA got involved and immediately began pounding out strongly worded letters to defend the profession from accusations of non-professionalness (which, again, was not what anyone was saying). A bit from NASBA’s:

The National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) strongly opposes the U.S. Department of Education’s implementation of new student-loan policies that reclassify accounting degrees as “non-professional.”

“Classifying accountants as anything other than professionals fundamentally misrepresents the critical work CPAs perform, work that is responsible for the integrity of the global financial systems on which businesses and individuals rely,” said NASBA President and CEO Daniel J. Dustin, CPA. “There’s a reason certified public accountancy has been a licensed profession in the United States since 1896.”

And the AICPA’s comments in December, from Journal of Accountancy:

The letter, sent Monday to Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, said that the Department of Education’s recent draft regulation would be detrimental to the profession.

“Excluding accounting would reduce graduate loan eligibility and related funding for students preparing to enter a licensed profession that safeguards financial transparency, compliance, and the public interest,” the letter said.

Some astute observers (read: some person in our comments) remarked that this could be an unintended consequence of the push to eliminate the 150 hour rule but that’s none of our business.

Anyway, some good news. The AICPA’s strongly worded letter worked, insofar as it got the Department of Education to explicitly say that they didn’t mean to imply accountants or anyone else on the non-professional list aren’t professional. From JofA:

A notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) clarified the Department of Education’s proposed definition of professional degrees for the purposes of graduate student loan limits.

Accounting is among a long list of degree programs — including nursing and engineering — that is not among the 11 fields of study proposed to be designated by the department as professional degree programs.

The NPRM, published Friday in the Federal Register, said, in part: “The department notes that the term ‘professional student’ as used in this [NPRM] is intended solely to distinguish those programs that we propose would be eligible for higher loan limits, as required by [H.R. 1, P.L. 119-21, commonly known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act]. The designation, or lack thereof, of a program as ‘professional’ does not reflect a value judgment by the department regarding whether a borrower graduating from the program is considered a ‘professional.’ This NPRM only interprets the phrase ‘professional student’ as used in the context of the loan limits established by [H.R. 1].”

“Accounting is a critical part of our nation’s economic infrastructure and is a profession that has contributed significantly to our economic growth,” Mark Koziel, CPA, CGMA, president and CEO of the AICPA, said in a statement. “We appreciate the Department of Education’s recognition of the broad definition and various aspects of the word ‘professional.’ As the rulemaking process moves forward, the AICPA will continue to review the proposal, and we look forward to providing our suggestions and insights.” And we look forward to reading them.

If it’s so critical to the economic infrastructure of the United States then why are you looking the other way as your member firms burn down the early career ladder for newly graduated accounting students and ship insane amounts of work overseas to India (or The Philippines or South America or whatever it is they’re doing these days)? Where’s the strongly worded letter about that?

The post The AICPA Gets the “Professional” Validation They Wanted, Early Career Pipeline Still on Fire appeared first on Going Concern.

For example, this town in Maine, just one of many late on their audits:

Municipal officials are working to straighten out the town’s finances as they try to get Skowhegan up to date on three years of pending audits.

Town Manager Nicholas Nadeau said there is no indication anything is wrong with the town’s books. But he said Skowhegan — like many Maine towns, counties and school districts — has fallen behind on its required annual financial audits, in large part due to the lack of certified public accountants who can do that work.

Skowhegan’s last audit was for the fiscal year ending June 2022, according to a database the Office of the State Auditor maintains. That audit was completed in May 2023.

A school district in Texas discovered a naughty employee hiding in its ranks and someone from their audit firm explained a bit about how this employee hid their tracks in a recent board meeting:

A former Fabens Independent School District employee was found to have used the district’s credit card to give themselves about $41,000 in cash advances over several months, which they spent at a local casino.

The former employee, who has not been named by the district, allegedly rerouted the credit card statement to their district email and doctored it to remove records of the charges, said Nathan White, a presenter from the governmental audit firm Singleton Clark, during a Jan. 21 board meeting.

White said the charges were made between September 2024 and June 2025.

No one likes getting audited, this is why it’s important anyway. According to the school district they discovered it before the audit but point stands.

Meanwhile, the city of Stockton in California is getting an audit going after the vice mayor brought up concerns about vacant financial positions in city government. This has been an issue affecting a lot of municipalities in the last few years, made worse by many municipalities struggling to get their audits done due to staff shortages on their end and a shortage of audit firms ready/willing to do the work:

In November 2025, Vice Mayor Jason Lee, who chairs the City Council’s Audit Committee, sent a formal letter to the State Controller’s Office requesting a comprehensive audit. Lee cited serious risks to fiscal stability, including prolonged vacancies in key financial roles such as chief financial officer, procurement director, auditor and budget officer.

He described the situation as “a bank with the back door left open and no one watching it,” pointing to alleged internal control breakdowns, unauthorized commitments of public funds, improper procurement practices, unapproved budget modifications, and hiring practices that deviated from established policies. There have also been established payroll errors.

The California State Controller’s office got to work checking things out on Thursday.

Is private equity’s voracious hunger for professional services calming down? Financial Times says maybe this recent failed deal could show that “the deal frenzy that has gripped professional services could be reaching its limits.” Or maybe no one wanted to pay £1 billion for a firm that sounds like a monoclonal antibody drug to treat Crohn’s, idk.

A sale of UK accounting firm Xeinadin has collapsed after its private equity owners failed to get their desired £1bn-plus price tag, signalling that investor appetite in professional services may be starting to wane.

UK buyout group Exponent, which invested in the business four years ago, failed to get bids for the top 20 accounting firm Xeinadin that matched its expected valuation, according to people familiar with the matter.

When we last wrote about Xeinadin, also in a weekly news brief, we found an EBITDA of about £60 million ($82 million USD) and a roll-up firm that was only created in 2019. Those details may matter if we’re talking about the bigger picture and private equity interest in professional services.

Those fancy new AI roll-up firms hoping to unload in a couple years should pay attention to what just happened here.

TIGTA found some taxpayers are owed pandemic relief, reports CNBC:

The IRS owes some taxpayers refunds after they were mistakenly left out of a pandemic-era IRS relief program, according to a new watchdog audit.

More than 2,100 taxpayers have had their tax accounts corrected after auditors found they were collectively eligible for an estimated $463,000, according to a recently released report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.

TIGTA’s audit found that 2,138 taxpayers, representing 2,248 tax accounts, should have been eligible for relief from so-called failure-to-pay penalties related to unpaid taxes for 2020 and 2021. The average penalty refund owed per account was $206, the watchdog said, although the exact amount depended on the specifics of the taxpayer’s situation.

TIGTA’s report in PDF here.

Those of you still paying off your student loans will want to read up on tax changes that could affect you. Capitol News Illinois writes:

For the first time in five years, certain forms of student loan forgiveness will be taxable following a change in federal tax policy this year.

This comes after a provision of the American Rescue Plan Act expired Dec. 31. That measure, signed into law in 2021 by former President Joe Biden, temporarily excluded student loan debt from federal income taxes.

And those tax implications could extend to Illinois state taxes as well unless lawmakers act.

President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” enacted last summer, did not make the student loan tax forgiveness provision permanent. As a result, student loans that are canceled or partially forgiven in 2026 and beyond will see taxes owed on those forgiven amounts, advocates said. These taxes could amount to as much as $10,000, depending on the borrower’s income.

MSN does this weird thing where they pull old articles and make it seem like it’s new, it’s quite annoying (always check the date when you read an MSN article. AOL does it too but who the hell gets their news from AOL). However, this morning it threw this article from a few months ago at me and we didn’t cover it when it came out so let’s do that now, shall we?

Accountants expect 20% staff cuts in next five years

A recent report by the Indiana CPA Society (INCPAS) reveals that 52% of accountants expect their firms to reduce headcount by 20% over the next five years.

The study, conducted by CPA Crossings and titled “Transforming Your Firm’s Business Model: Workforce Transformation and Talent Management Strategies,” surveyed 205 full-time professionals across public accounting firms in 31 US states, representing roles from staff accountant to partner.

The report highlights a significant shift in workforce expectations, with most respondents anticipating a reduced need for entry-level employees in the future.

This change is driven by technological advancements and a talent shortage, which are disrupting traditional business models in public accounting.

The conventional pyramid-shaped practice structure, reliant on a large pool of entry-level staff, is becoming unsustainable.

According to the findings, firms will need to prioritise hiring staff with technology and business skills who can start at an experienced level and deliver greater value to clients more quickly.

They done broke the pyramid, y’all!

From the executive summary of the report [PDF]:

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?

“Talent crunch.” Stop it. They go on to point to companies in manufacturing, health care, technology as success stories for this new paradigm. You know, industries that have been offshored and private equitized to death.

We’ve been asking what the plan is for training associates now that all their work has been sent off to India, guess we have our answer. No1curr! Why did they even bother with that talent shortage task force?

Did you hear seasonal hiring is out? The reasons given in this INSIDE Public Accounting article about it are solvable problems, like hiring in October and having a training regimen to teach your hired hand how things work before tax season.

Seasonal hiring was effective in an era when tax returns were simpler, workflows were slower, and review expectations were less rigorous.

In today’s environment, it introduces several structural weaknesses.

Hiring occurs after the problem is already visible

Firms often realize they are short-staffed in February or March. At that point, experienced seasonal talent is scarce, and there is limited time to train new hires to firm standards.

Temporary staff increase review effort
Seasonal preparers frequently lack deep familiarity with:

• firm-specific documentation standards
• reviewer expectations
• escalation protocols
• quality thresholds

This leads to additional clarification cycles, rework, and deeper review-offsetting the intended capacity gains.

Scrolling down, we get to the point:

Offshore talent is becoming infrastructure, not experimentation

Offshore tax professionals are no longer viewed as a short-term fix by many firms.

When deployed correctly, they function as:

• embedded team members
• consistent contributors across seasons
• specialists aligned to defined workflow stages
• The difference lies in structure.

When offshore professionals are treated as interchangeable labor, results vary. When they are deployed as dedicated seats with defined responsibility, they become part of the firm’s operational backbone.

Yeah so, the same thing you could have done with onshore seasonal talent but they cost more.

This is all beginning to feel like a bad infomercial. Firms create a problem (“the talent shortage”) by keeping salaries low, get superdramatic about it, in comes offshoring to solve it.

I think that’s enough for today. As always, my inbox is open. Email or text with tips, links, or field reports about what’s happening at your firm. Have a great week!

The post Monday Morning Accounting News Brief: This Doesn’t Bode Well For Accounting Graduate Hiring; Firm’s Failure to Secure Private Equity Could Be a Sign | 2.2.26 appeared first on Going Concern.

Strongly Worded Letters

AICPA Urges IRS to Release Contingency Plan Ahead of Government Shutdown [AICPA]
In a letter to the Agency, the AICPA highlighted the severe impact a failure to do so would have on the 2026 filing season. The letter notes that the IRS has only been forced to shut down once before during the April filing season at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and it caused significant harm to taxpayers, required extraordinary tax relief measures, and resulted in heightened IRS inventory levels that continue to this day. However, we have not experienced a lapse in appropriations during the April tax filing season. The letter notes that even the 2019 government shutdown – which ended immediately before the tax filing season began – placed significant strain on the entire tax system, including the inability to resolve automated IRS collection notices, unreliable online account access, disruptions to electronic tax payment services, difficulties processing critical tax documents, and backlogged IRS phone lines once the shutdown ceased.

Audit

City of Ithaca Hires Accounting Firm to Overhaul Financial Records for Late Audits [Ithaca Times]
After completing its 2021 financial audit in September 2025, city officials seek to fully address the backlog of outstanding audits. Moody’s Investors Service revoked Ithaca’s bond rating in April 2024 due to a “lack of sufficient information” related to the backlog.

Big 4

Veteran EY partner takes parting shot at ‘autocratic’ consultancy [The Times] Rather than riding off quietly into the sunset to pursue a career in film-making, a veteran partner of EY’s Australian arm has left with a parting broadside accusing the local leadership of the Big Four accountancy firm of being “autocratic”. In a farewell email to staff, Cameron Bird, who spent ten years as a partner in the infrastructure advisory team, said he could no longer tolerate “the direction the firm is taking” adding that the workplace environment had become dominated by a rigid, top-down culture.

KPMG’s UK partner pay tops EY and PwC for first time in a decade [Financial Times]
The business said on Wednesday its partners had received an average of £880,000 for the 12 months to September 2025, an 11 per cent increase on the previous year. The figure eclipses partner pay of £865,000 at PwC and £787,000 at EY in their most recent financial years, but remains lower than at Deloitte, where partners received an average of £1.05mn.

PwC’s chief AI officer isn’t impressed by how many agents you have [Business Insider]
Earlier this month, Bob Sternfels, the CEO of McKinsey & Company, made a surprising announcement. The firm, he said, had a workforce of over 60,000 people — 40,000 human employees and 25,000 AI agents. Dan Priest, the chief AI officer at PwC, told Business Insider that evaluating a firm’s AI use by the number of agents it has is not the best metric. “There was this emerging bragging right around the number of agents I had or I have in production,” he said. “I think that’s probably the wrong measure.”

Tax

New Census Migration Data Shows Americans Moving From High- to Low-Tax States [Americans for Tax Reform]
Some noteworthy trends stand out when comparing the states that gained the most new residents (as a percentage of state population) over the past year as a result of net domestic migration with those that lost the most residents.

New Dutch government plans ‘freedom tax’ to fund defense spending [Reuters]
The incoming Dutch government plans to add a surcharge to income and corporate taxes to generate around 5 billion euros ($6 billion) per year for increased defence spending, coalition parties said on Friday. To meet a target set by NATO countries last year, the government aims to increase defence spending to 2.8% of gross domestic product by 2030 and to 3.5% by 2035, compared with around 2% now.

Law & Order

Trump sues IRS and Treasury Department for $10 billion over leaked tax records [NBC News]
The lawsuit, filed Thursday at a federal courthouse in Miami, says Trump is suing in his personal capacity, not as president. The other plaintiffs include two of Trump’s sons — Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump — and the Trump Organization. “Defendants have caused Plaintiffs reputational and financial harm, public embarrassment, unfairly tarnished their business reputations, portrayed them in a false light, and negatively affected President Trump, and the other Plaintiffs’ public standing,” the complaint says.

Chattanooga accountant pleads guilty in federal court in $1.6M investment fraud case [WTVC]
Court records show Jonathan D. Frost entered a signed plea agreement on Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Chattanooga.

Earlier:

SEC fines ADM $40 million over accounting issues; DOJ drops criminal probe [Investigate Midwest]
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission fined Archer Daniels Midland $40 million after the agency found former high-ranking executives artificially inflated the value of one of its businesses. The fine, handed down on Jan. 27 as part of a settlement with the company, relates to ADM’s Nutrition business, which the company had touted as a significant moneymaker to investors. However, as the business failed to meet profit projections, ADM’s chief financial officer shifted funds from other company ventures into Nutrition so it “would appear to be … performing better than it was,” according to the SEC.

Survey Says

New Deloitte Survey: Corporate and Private Equity Leaders Anticipate Stronger M&A Activity in 2026, Along With Continued Volatility, Relative to 2025 [PR Newswire]
Ninety percent of PE and 80% of corporate respondents expect an increased number of deals their organization will do in 2026. Similarly, when asked about anticipated aggregate value for their deals in the next year, 87% of PE respondents and 81% of corporate respondents anticipate increases as well.

The post Friday Footnotes: Departing EY Partner Clowns Firm Leadership in His Farewell Email; PwC Doesn’t Care About Your AI Agents | 1.30.26 appeared first on Going Concern.

The order reads:

The continued use of paper-based payments by the Federal Government, including checks and money orders, flowing into and out of the United States General Fund, which might be thought of as America’s bank account, imposes unnecessary costs; delays; and risks of fraud, lost payments, theft, and inefficiencies. Mail theft complaints have increased substantially since the COVID-19 pandemic. Historically, Department of the Treasury checks are 16 times more likely to be reported lost or stolen, returned undeliverable, or altered than an electronic funds transfer (EFT). Maintaining the physical infrastructure and specialized technology for digitizing paper records cost the American taxpayer over $657 million in Fiscal Year 2024 alone.

This order promotes operational efficiency by mandating the transition to electronic payments for all Federal disbursements and receipts by digitizing payments to the extent permissible under applicable law (but not, for avoidance of doubt, to establish a Central Bank Digital Currency).

You’ve got to love when official government orders include a shout-out to widespread internet conspiracies.

The timing of the order — March 25 — led many people including well-informed tax practitioners to assume this was some kind of April Fool’s joke. See: Trump Ends the Tax Refund Check (note we purposely chose to publish that article on April 2nd to not add further confusion). The effective date of September 30, 2025 also caused a bit of panic as that gave just six months from the time the order was issued to the time it was expected to be fully in effect.

Now four months past the date on which checks were supposed to disappear forever, the IRS has issued quite a bit of guidance to help those who are still confused by how all of this works. We’ve included the entirety of FS-2026-02 below for your reading pleasure.

There’s a little something for everyone in here: taxpayers, businesses, vendors, interested third parties, the unbanked, tax preparers…

Have fun!

The post It Seems People Are Still Confused About How to Handle Our First Tax Season Without Checks appeared first on Going Concern.

Last week, we warned anyone scheduled to take the CPA exam that Prometric test center closures were inevitable as a massive snow and ice storm threatened to hit two-thirds of the country. The storm has come and gone and a quick check of Prometric’s closure site yesterday evening showed that 60 centers were still closed across the country as of Tuesday; as of publication time today, it’s down to a little more than a dozen. Yay, the country is healing. From the storm, that is.

In our article, we pointed out that January is a discipline testing window, one of only four months candidates can sit for TCP, BAR, or ISC for the entire year. Which meant closures could force some candidates to push their discipline testing out until the next chance in April.

Now for the good news.

As spotted via @NASBA tweet, they’ve had mercy on you all and opened up a few extra days of discipline testing:

Due to weather-related test center closures across several states, over 500 CPA Exam candidates scheduled to take a discipline between January 23 – 28, 2026, were displaced. Candidates who were scheduled to test at these centers and were impacted by closures are now able to… pic.twitter.com/PXt69FO1jS

— NASBA (@NASBA) January 28, 2026

Text:

Due to weather-related test center closures across several states, over 500 CPA Exam candidates scheduled to take a discipline between January 23 – 28, 2026, were displaced. Candidates who were scheduled to test at these centers and were impacted by closures are now able to reschedule their Exam appointment for February 1 – 3, 2026. There is capacity at all test centers, so impacted candidates should be able to reschedule on their own.

We’re sure some of you will find a way to be salty about this (not an icy sidewalk pun) but as far as we’re concerned, it’s something.

The post CPA Exam Discipline Testing Extended For Candidates Disrupted By the Snow Storm appeared first on Going Concern.

When you call the Paid Practitioner line with the IRS and they put you on hold, you should be able to talk to the other practitioners on hold.

— Sabrina the SALTy CPA (@IraGilligan) November 24, 2020

I realize some of you reading this weren’t alive for the good old days so let me, an old person who was, explain. In the ancient era before the internet we had only two options for human contact: going outside or the phone. The party line was a local or 800/900 number that you would call to get in a chat room of sorts with a bunch of people.

Much like current day, you’d get a wide range of people in the chat from weirdo proto-gooners to straight up lonely people just wanting to shoot the breeze with randos. Then your mom would eventually get the phone bill and yank your see-through neon phone right out of the wall. Good times.

I wasn’t alive for the “party lines” that existed before these so those of you older than me are encouraged to school these children in the comments.

The post Dear IRS, Give Us the Practitioner Party Line NOW appeared first on Going Concern.

Well, we should probably get to it.

Booz Allen Hamilton is in the Treasury doghouse, reports CNBC:

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday said he had cancelled all Treasury Department contracts with the consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton, one of whose employees leaked the tax records of President Donald Trump, and the billionaires Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, to media outlets.

Booz Allen Hamilton’s stock price dropped by 8% on the heels of the Treasury Department’s announcement.

The department said it currently has 31 separate contracts with Booz Allen Hamilton, totaling $4.8 million in annual spending and $21 million in total obligations.

“President Trump has entrusted his cabinet to root out waste, fraud, and abuse, and canceling these contracts is an essential step to increasing Americans’ trust in government,” Bessent said in a statement.

It’s surprising it took this long. You may recall one old Booz employee by the name of Edward Snowden, though this statement by Treasury today appears to be related to a different one.

EY global chief innovation officer Joe Depa tells Business Insider he can spot AI from a mile away:

Depa leads the Big Four firm’s global AI, data, and innovation strategy, and part of his job involves overseeing how employees integrate AI.

That vantage point has given Depa what he calls a “high sensitivity” for detecting AI-generated work. While he’s all in on the technology and doesn’t have set limits on how often employees should use it, he said AI should be used to amplify human creativity, not replace it. He said there are situations where “it’s too much AI,” and the person hasn’t “infused any of their own original thoughts.”

Alright so what’s the giveaway, Joe?

One of the most common is neutral and overly formal writing. He added that AI-generated writing may lack personal aspects, emotion, and humor.

The writing may also be too polished, with no shifts in pattern, structure, or flow. He said AI-generated writing tends to be generic or corporate-sounding, sometimes relying too heavily on buzzwords and descriptors.

Oh, you mean like YOUR FIRM DOES in literally every single press release you put out?

KPMG is embroiled in some nasty business with a (former?) First Nations client in Canada and the dispute resolution will not take place behind closed doors like KPMG wanted. We’ll let Globe and Mail tell it:

The Lutsel K’e Dene First Nation (LKDFN) in the Northwest Territories has cleared a major legal hurdle in its battle with accounting firm KPMG, which has been accused of helping an executive steal millions of dollars from the community.

KPMG had asked a judge to rule that the case be heard through private arbitration, which is the dispute resolution process laid out in the firm’s contract with the First Nation’s companies.

This earlier story explains what the suit is about: KPMG sued in B.C. over alleged $11M fraud in NWT.

PwC is allowed to work for Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund after a year on the sidelines:

Public Investment Fund has informed PwC that the restriction imposed in February 2025 has been lifted and invited the firm to start pitching for new work, according to people familiar with the matter.

The ban, which limited new advisory contracts from PIF and its subsidiary companies, had been a major blow to PwC, which cut about 60 partners and 1,500 staff across its Middle East operations as a result.

Hopefully they learned their lesson and won’t go trying to poach people again.

Uh oh. A firm owner/preparer is headed to the slammer for 10 years and it has nothing to do with taxes. Reports WDAM 7 of Mississippi:

The owner of a Jackson accounting firm was sentenced to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to fraud and bribery of a public official.

Verneshia Cody, owner/operator of TDK Accounting and Tax Services, was charged after submitting fraudulent documents to the Mississippi Department of Health to obtain funds through the MS COVID-19 Health Disparities Elimination Project.

An investigation found that Cody obtained grant funds improperly by use of fraudulent invoices, improper expense claims and counterfeit checks.

Looks like 10 years was the max she faced when she was arrested in November.

Led Zeppelin’s longtime accountant died just before the New Year:

Joan Hudson, the accountant who devotedly managed Led Zeppelin’s finances and business affairs for more than 50 years from the band’s heyday through to recent years, died on December 31 aged 87, LedZepNews has learned.

Hudson sold her London accountancy firm Joan Hudson & Co to SRLV in 2023, allowing her to finally retire after spending decades of her life managing the convoluted world of Led Zeppelin. News of Hudson’s death first emerged on the For Badgeholder’s Only email group earlier this week.

Hudson’s dedication to the members of Led Zeppelin continued until her death, with the accountant eschewing a public profile and never giving media interviews about her work. Her decades of service to Led Zeppelin means she was likely the band’s longest-serving employee.

Fortune was invited to the KPMG Lakehouse and clearly impressed by what they saw:

In January 2020, KPMG executives gathered in Orlando for a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Lakehouse, a sprawling, state-of-the-art learning and innovation center designed to be the firm’s cultural home. Just two months later, the world shuttered under the weight of a global pandemic.

While the timing appeared catastrophic—and many partners grumbled about how it was surely coming out of their compensation—the $450 million investment transformed into what leadership now describes as a strategic “accelerant” for the firm’s most ambitious pivot ever: the AI revolution. Today, Lakehouse is one of the firm’s major hubs for training a new generation of professionals to navigate a world where generative AI is no longer a peripheral tool but a core component of professional service.

Fortune was invited to sit in on a three-day session with 600 winter interns, chosen from a pool of 9,000 applicants, representing 146 schools, as the waves of talent from New Jersey to Utah to Texas celebrated leaving school by essentially going back to class again. Lakehouse had bits of flair located throughout, such as the KPMG-branded “GEN AI Invaders” arcade game, but the large, modern building feels like a blend of a state-of-the-art hotel, a KPMG office building and a learning center.

And sex club. You forgot sex club. We hear things, ya know.

That’s enough of that! Shoot me an email or text if you have a tip, have seen a story you think we should cover, or just have a pithy observation about the accounting profession you think should be shared with the world. Stay warm out there!

The post Monday Morning Accounting News Brief: Treasury Abruptly Yeets Booz Allen Hamilton Contracts; Rockstar Accountant Dies at 87 | 1.26.26 appeared first on Going Concern.

It’s Over, Ameribros

Deloitte to ramp up India operations with 50,000 new hires [International Accounting Bulletin]
Professional services company Deloitte plans to significantly expand its workforce in India by opening new locations in the country.

Big 4

Firms must invest in real people to gain from AI, EY’s Teigland says [Reuters]
Companies will not get productivity gains from artificial intelligence unless they invest in real people and redesign how work is done, Julie Teigland, EY’s global vice chair, told Reuters on Thursday. “There is no ROI if you’re not willing to change the job descriptions,” Teigland said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum, adding that companies need to adapt processes to capture AI’s benefits. She said AI’s labour impact will be “multi-generational,” changing entry-level positions and routine white-collar tasks, with employees needing to shift from “doing the task to supervising the task,” becoming “above the loop.”

Private Equity

Perspectives from the Profession: Rosenberg Associates Data: Independence vs. External Valuation: How PE Is Reshaping CPA Firm Buyouts [INSIDE Public Accounting]
As private equity (PE) continues to reshape the accounting profession, partners at firms that intend to remain independent are increasingly reexamining their internal buyout structures. A central question has emerged: should partner buyout multiples be adjusted to reflect the significantly higher valuations available through external sales to PE or other firms? For many partners, the answer carries meaningful implications, not only for firm strategy and long-term sustainability, but for the retirement value they have spent decades building.

pic.twitter.com/h391Kp0Gt2

— Going Concern (@going_concern) January 23, 2026

Careers

I’m a CPA with a masters. I just learned the new executive assistant at my job is making $10K more than me. How do I get a raise? [MarketWatch]
“We have compensation discussions coming up at work, and today I found out that one of the new executive assistants, who is 28 years old and started this week, makes more money than I do. Her role does not require any educational background. I’m 33, and my position required both a master’s degree and a CPA license. She started on Monday, and I’ve been here just over two years.”

CPAs Promote Accounting Careers at 66 NJ High Schools [NJBIA]
Through the NJCPA’s Career Awareness Program, 67 members visited high schools, often their alma maters, to discuss the many ways businesses and individuals rely on CPAs for financial guidance and business strategies. Discussions focus on various career trajectories available to CPAs and how data analytics and the latest technological trends play significant roles in shaping accounting functions today.

Tax

Trump floats idea to extend business tax break to homeowners [CNBC]
President Donald Trump on Wednesday floated the idea of allowing depreciation — a yearly income tax deduction to recover certain property costs over a set period of time — for personal residences. “The crazy thing is a person can’t get depreciation on a house, but when a corporation buys it, they get depreciation,” Trump said during an address at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “Okay, here’s something we’re gonna have to think about.”

Would California voters actually support a wealth tax on billionaires? [CalMatters]
In a sense, California has been taxing wealth since it became a state 175 years ago. Well into the 20th century, the state relied on taxing land and buildings which, in that agrarian period, were major forms of personal wealth. The state eventually imposed other taxes and by the 1930s, property taxes exclusively financed local services.

One Big Beautiful Bill Act Resources [CPA Journal]
Because the OBBBA will affect 2025 tax returns, CPAs will be looking for practical information on its impact. This column looks at three websites that provide some excellent, free resources: Wolters Kluwer, Thomson Reuters, and the Tax Foundation.

Will the OBBBA Tax Cuts Grow the US Economy? [Tax Foundation]
The US economy is on a tear lately, boosted by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s (OBBBA) income tax cuts signed into law in July but undercut by the administration’s erratic and punitive tariff policy. While the net effect is positive, it appears much of the economy’s surprising strength over the last year and in recent forecasts is coming from the boom in artificial intelligence (AI). Over the long run, OBBBA’s permanent extension of lower marginal tax rates on work, saving, and investment lays a solid foundation for stronger economic growth.

Consumer Alert: It’s Accrual World. When Searching for a Tax Preparer, Verify First, Hire Second [Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection]
This article is more for clients than our readers, we just thought it was a clever headline and want to commend the meme use within.
The Department of Consumer Protection (DCP) and the Department of Revenue Services (DRS) are warning the public about fraudulent tax professional scams that attempt to steal financial information. DCP oversees the State Board of Accountancy which offers licensure and training to Certified Public Accountants (CPAs). Last year, the agency received 58 tax-related complaints including complaints about individuals who practiced without a Firm Permit, improper tax filings, and professional misconduct.

New College Recruiting Pitch: Tax-Free NIL Earnings [National Conference of State Legislatures]
NIL—name, image and likeness—has revolutionized college sports and created new paydays for college athletes. But while the future remains uncertain amid questions about state laws, NCAA enforcement and federal intervention, there’s one reality everyone can count on: taxes. After years of lawsuits, state laws and NCAA rule changes, a $3 billion settlement has transformed student-athlete compensation, allowing direct payments to college athletes, some of whom make as much as $6.8 million annually, according to Sports Illustrated. But with those big checks come the possibility of big tax bills.

The post Friday Footnotes: Deloitte to Hire 50,000 More Indians; Regulator Accuses EY and PwC Execs, Two Private Equity Firms of Insider Naughtiness | 1.23.26 appeared first on Going Concern.

You should receive a notification if your test is canceled due to weather but we’re all smart enough to know you shouldn’t rely 100% on Prometric and NASBA to keep you in the loop, right? NASBA has some more info on canceled exam procedures here.

When I checked testing dates, I realized this is also a discipline testing month (one of four total for the year). Great. Discipline testing is open through the 31st of January and not again until April so yay for those of you who might miss out on TCP, BAR, or ISC due to snow.

Remember, your safety is more important than the exam. Don’t do something stupid like trek to the testing center on skis just because your NTS is expiring soon. NASBA’s official guidance is “If the test center is open, candidates need to make an effort to attend their appointments providing their safety and well-being are not at risk.” If your testing center remains open and you determine your well-being would be at risk if you were to venture out to test, follow these steps provided by NASBA:

If the site is open, but the candidate cannot attend due to safety/ travel concerns, outages etc., the candidate is required to contact NASBA via email at candidatecare@nasba.org and provide the following information:

1. Candidate’s name as it appears on the NTS
2. Name of section and section ID number printed on the NTS
3. Appointment date
4. Test Center location
5. A detailed outline of the circumstances which prevented attending the appointment
6. Documentation of the weather conditions in the affected area (attach a weather report or travel advisory)
7. Current NTS expiration date

You might want to make sure you have all your documents handy now just in case you don’t have power on test day and are still able to attend your exam. Especially those of you under Pepco’s jurisdiction (she said from experience).

Stay safe and warm, everyone!

Related:

The post This Snow Storm is Definitely Going to Screw Things Up For CPA Candidates appeared first on Going Concern.

Last year, King Charles even gave audit reform a very brief shout-out in his July King’s Speech:

Fast-forward to current year and audit reform is dead. Dead dead. Deader than Carillion. Reports FT:

The Department for Business and Trade said on Tuesday it had decided “not to proceed with the Audit Reform Bill following improvements in recent years, and to prevent significant new costs for large businesses” in the latest U-turn by ministers.

The DBT added it was instead “pressing ahead with modernising corporate reporting to reduce unnecessary burdens”.

One official said ministers believed audit quality had improved sufficiently since Carillion’s failure in 2018, arguing the bill was “not the best use of our legislative time” and did not align with the government’s broader push to cut regulatory red tape.

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS) quickly churned out a statement expressing their disappointment in the news.

“This morning’s announcement that the UK Audit and Corporate Governance Reform Bill has been scrapped is deeply frustrating,” said Gail Boag, CEO at ICAS. “The whole accountancy sector and even governments themselves have agreed for years on the need for audit and corporate governance reform.

“There was recognition that better corporate governance could not only support investor confidence and therefore business growth, but also that more must be done to protect the wider impacts of corporate collapse on the public. Failures such as Carillion, BHS, Patisserie Valerie and others saw job losses and pensions massively reduced in value, demonstrating why this bill is much needed. 

“There is no doubt that recent improvements and work across the sector and by the FRC have moved us on from where we were, and that the quality of audit and of corporate governance has improved. However, the issue of director accountability remains far from resolved, and there is an urgent need to clarify the scope of the FRC’s role and powers.”

No statement from the FRC yet but according to their 2026 goals published on January 14, these are the things they’ll be focusing on in the year ahead:

• underpinning investor confidence in UK plc
• reducing unnecessary burdens on business while maintaining high standards
• developing deep insight into the markets we oversee so our regulation is based on evidence and expertise
• identifying future trends and innovations to support the health of the markets we oversee
• supporting the skills and resilience of the professions we regulate

“The FRC today has changed significantly over the past decade and we welcome the confidence shown in our progress and approach,” said Richard Moriarty, Chief Executive of the FRC. “That said, we are not complacent, we recognise that we need to continue to evolve to ensure we remain fit for the future.”

See you in a couple years when the next big audit disaster hits.

The post Eight Years After Carillion Went Tits Up, Audit Reform is Dead appeared first on Going Concern.

Reports Fox35 Orlando:

“Women used to aspire to be doctors, nurses, journalists, and now they feel the only way they can get by is by selling their bodies to men in distant lands and I’m running to stop that,” Fishback said.

Fishback says the move would raise around $200 million a year. The republican candidate says he plans to put the money from those taxable funds towards the education system.

“If you are a man or woman selling your body on the internet, you can either have two options. The first of which, you can pay the state of Florida 50% so we can raise teacher pay, or you can quit doing that and do something morally rigorous,” Fishback said.

Fishback isn’t mincing words either, he straight up calls it a sin tax. Like in this clip:

Breaking News @j_fishback promises to impose a “Sin Tax” on Only Fans. pic.twitter.com/Yh0RF5dSOC

— Joel Webbon (@JoelWebbon) January 12, 2026

Fishback is currently engaged in an online beef with fellow Floridian and top OF earner Sophie Rain who claims she made $95 million on the platform last year alone (can we get some auditors in here please?):

Did you guys know OnlyFans is audited? Well, its parent company Fenix International Limited is. This is from its most recent filing with the UK government:

Get a load of these numbers (pun is absolutely intended):

Revenue of $1.413 billion would put it at #12 on the INSIDE Public Accounting Top 100 if it were an accounting firm, just below CLA ($2.045 bil) and above Plante Moran ($1.195 billion).

It’s doubtful this will go anywhere but it sure makes for interesting chatter.

The post Florida Man Proposes a 50% Tax on Feet Pics and Booty Shaking appeared first on Going Concern.

This will be a brief brief as we technically don’t have to work today and hopefully neither do you.

Forbes covers some academic research on public accounting leavers. Those darn academics will research anything, won’t they!

“Poor work-life balance is a primary factor influencing the decision to leave. Firms must offer genuine improvements if they want people to stay. Leavers are skeptical of empty promises for work-life balance improvements, so efforts to retain employees need to provide authentic, realistic solutions,” says co-author Nancy Harp from Clemson University.

The study finds that leavers often discuss their thoughts about leaving with others at the firm (e.g., co-workers, mentors, supervisors) and spend months thinking about leaving before making their decision. Stayers also report noticing several warning signs of leaving. Top warning signs include lower quality work and personality changes. Thus, firms have ample opportunities to intervene in most turnover cases.

Turnover experiences in public accounting and alumni’s decisions to “give back”

The IRS has confirmed that the $1,776 “Warrior Dividend” the government handed out to service members last month is tax-free.

In a press release posted today, the IRS confirmed the tax-free status of the dividend.

“The Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service today confirmed that supplemental basic allowance for housing payments made to members of the uniformed services in December 2025 are not to be included in income by those who received the payments; they are not taxable,” the statement reads.

According to the IRS, U.S. tax law excludes from gross income a “qualified military benefit.” The Warrior Dividend is just such a benefit and is therefore not taxable. Service members will keep all of the dividend to use as they see fit.

A Ponzi investigation is really racking up the billable hours at PwC, reports CBC News in Canada:

As fallout from the Greg Martel Ponzi scheme continues to inflict hardship for over 1,700 people who invested with the Victoria, B.C., fraudster, newly released documents show that the company appointed to manage Martel’s bankruptcy stands to bill over $12 million for untangling his web of deceit.

The estimate is contained in minutes of a meeting posted online by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the accounting firm appointed receiver and bankruptcy trustee of Martel and his Ponzi-vehicle My Mortgage Auction Corp. (MMAC). 

Of the estimated $12 million, PwC has only collected $892,490 to date for work it performed between April and July 2023, according to its website.

Another $6 million in fees is outstanding for invoices amassed between July 2023 and September 2025. Those relate to a mountain of work done to identify investors and their financial dealings with Martel, and to create a “funds flow analysis” from over 65,000 transaction records recovered from 33 unique Martel bank accounts and credit cards.

Huh, PwC really does have it published on their website.

India is starting to figure out they’re getting screwed. This could get interesting.

This is from “90-day notice period: Manager at Big Four firm calls long notice periods in Indian companies ‘painful’ and ‘toxic’,” published in Economic Times:

A manager at a leading accounting firm has criticised the 90-day notice period followed by many Indian companies, calling it “inefficient” and “toxic”, and saying it harms both employers and employees. The manager, who works as a software developer at a Big Four accounting firm, said the long notice period has made hiring an “absolute nightmare”.

In the post, the manager said a 90-day notice period is standard practice in India, unlike other major economies. He noted that in China, the maximum notice period allowed by law is 30 days, while in the US it is typically two weeks.
“In the US, you give two weeks. In China, 30 days is maximum by law. In India? We hold people hostage for a quarter of a year. It makes zero sense,” the manager said.

A three month notice period is pretty wack, we’ll give him that.

And here’s a related article about working conditions in India:

“It is not that simple to resign. Not everyone is privileged enough to walk away,” an audit trainee at a prestigious firm in Colombo told The Sunday Morning on condition of anonymity, describing the constraints faced by young trainees in some of Sri Lanka’s audit firms.

“Most of us come from ordinary families. We do not have the luxury of waiting for the perfect job. And every audit firm has the same culture. If we refuse to work under those conditions, how do we complete training for Chartered Accountancy (CA)?” a trainee lamented.

His comments come in the wake of the death of 27-year-old Chamith Darshana, a graduate of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura (USJ) from Galle, who had been employed at the local office of a major audit firm.

He reportedly died in a late-night motorcycle accident after returning from a stock count assignment. His friends allege that he had been working continuous late-night shifts for several days without adequate rest, meals, or safe transport arrangements – conditions many in the profession claim are all too common.

Look, we talk a lot of smack about offshoring but we have always had a lot of sympathy for the workers themselves. Exploitation is the name of this game, we know it well. And it sucks.

Online betting is down in Illinois after the state started taxing wagers.

New data from the Illinois Gaming Board shows sports betting in Illinois is down significantly. In September of last year, the state implemented a $0.25 tax on the first 20 million wagers at each sportsbook. After that, the tax increases to $0.50 per wager.

In response, the largest sportsbooks in the state, FanDuel and DraftKings, rolled out a flat $0.50 fee on customers, passing the tax to its players.

Comparing September 2024 to September 2025, there were five million fewer wagers placed in Illinois, which is a 15% decrease.

The president of the Sports Betting Alliance thinks those people are now using illegal sites. “Any bettor with any level of sophistication is really paying attention to their costs, right?” said Joe Maloney. “So, when you have the ability to have multiple competitive entrants in the legal regulated marketplace and then a myriad number of options in illegal or unregulated sites, you’re going to go for that best price.”

Yeah, well, we’re all kind of sick of being nickel and dimed to death. We’re going to need to change that phrase soon. Quartered and half-dollared, with inflation.

OK we’ll wrap things up here. Give us a shout via email or text if you have a tip, story, or comment and have a good week or else. Bye!

The post Monday Morning Accounting News Brief: What Makes People Leave Public Accounting; Indian Big 4 Manager Goes Off | 1.19.26 appeared first on Going Concern.

Would

Meet the Silver Fox Accountant Who Stole the Spotlight at the Golden Globes [Hollywood Reporter]
KPMG number cruncher Filippo Puglisi-Alibrandi looked right at home among the movie stars. Quipped one attendee, “I never knew accountants could be so hot. It’s like a younger Richard Gere and he can do your taxes.”

Tax

IRS Advisory Council report defends workers, criticizes budget and staff cuts [Journal of Accountancy]
The IRS Advisory Council’s (IRSAC’s) annual report included a strong defense of the agency and its employees and criticism of budget and staff cuts amidst passage of a massive bill with more than 100 tax law changes. “After an extraordinarily difficult year with a host of personnel reductions, budget rescissions, projects placed on hold, and changing leadership, most of the IRS employees who remain perform their jobs diligently and comply with their own personal tax responsibilities,” the report said. “IRS employees do difficult and often thankless work, and they deserve a voice that will stand up for them and remind the public and lawmakers of the important role they serve in funding our nation.”

New law provisions ahead of tax filing season; IRS could face funding cuts [DC News Now]
On Monday, the House passed a package of bills that includes a 9% cut to the IRS from its current spending level and reduces enforcement spending by $439 million. “The extra money for extra auditors and more sophisticated auditors would have allowed us to go after money, from large corporations, from high-wealth individuals,” said Rep. Glenn Ivey. “But it’s pretty clear historically that for I think it’s for every dollar you put into to pursue those kinds of tax, returns, you get nine back. So it’s a great return on investment for the taxpayers. And there’s no reason that working class Americans should have to pay to carry the weight of the other folks.”

BARCODE Efficiency Act Brings Overdue Modernization to the IRS [Americans for Tax Reform]
As the 2026 tax filing season approaches, millions of Americans, especially those who file on paper, will confront an IRS plagued by immense backlog, slow processing, and refund delays. The Barcode Automation for Revenue Collection to Organize Disbursement and Enhance (BARCODE) Efficiency Act (H.R. 6956) offers relief to a serious problem taxpayers have endured for far too long. Introduced by Rep. Rudy Yakym (R-Ind.) and Rep. Greg Schneider (D-Ill.), the BARCODE Efficiency Act focuses on a simple principle: filing on paper should not mean being saddled with slower service.

Voluntary Compliance and Self-Assessed Tax: Clarifying “Collected Proceeds” in Whistleblower Award Determinations [Current Federal Tax Developments]
The United States Tax Court, in its recent memorandum opinion Whistleblower 11099-13W v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2026-5, addressed a pivotal question for tax professionals regarding the definition of “collected proceeds” under Internal Revenue Code (I.R.C.) § 7623(b). The case centers on whether a whistleblower is entitled to an award when a taxpayer, allegedly prompted by an IRS investigation, voluntarily changes its accounting method and self-reports additional tax on original returns.

Florida governor candidate proposes ‘sin tax’ on OnlyFans creators [Fox35 Orlando]
“Women used to aspire to be doctors, nurses, journalists, and now they feel the only way they can get by is by selling their bodies to men in distant lands and I’m running to stop that,” Florida Republican gubernatorial candidate James Fishback said.

Well That Was Just Dumb

Former Utah IRS employee sentenced to prison for $2M fraud attempt [KJZZ]
Officials said Rodney Quinn Rupe, 47, moved over $2 million from ExxonMobil’s taxpayer account to the taxpayer account of a company he created, called Ex XO Exteriors Ltd. In his plea, he admitted to transferring the tax credits using interstate wires. “On September 18, 2023, Rupe transferred the tax credits so they would be applied to the 2019 tax year account for his company, knowing it would result in a refund check to Ex XO Exteriors Ltd.,” officials claimed.

Licensure

Governor Murphy Signs Bill Providing an Additional Pathway to CPA Licensure [NJCPA]
A bill to expand the options available for CPA licensure in New Jersey was signed on Jan. 12 by Governor Murphy. The New Jersey Society of Certified Public Accountants (NJCPA) worked with bill sponsors Assemblyman Sterley S. Stanley (D-18) and Senator Anthony Bucco (R-25) on this vital legislation that goes into effect Feb. 11, 2026.

Canada’s seven largest accounting firms to sign employees up with CPA Canada [The Globe and Mail]
Canada’s seven largest accounting firms will sign up their employees to join the national umbrella organization under a new membership model this spring. The move comes as individual accountants will be able to sign up directly with the Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada, or CPA Canada, as of April 1. In the past, they had to register through a provincial regulator. It’s a major shift for the accounting industry, which represents more than 220,000 CPAs.

Practice Perspective

The Autistic Accountant [CPA Journal]
Landi Morris, PhD, CPA talks about her experience as a late-diagnosed professional in a world built by and for neurotypicals
In many ways, the profession actually allowed me to thrive as an autistic individual. I enjoyed a career in public accounting working as a tax manager on nonprofit clients for a large public accounting firm. I was also fortunate to work with incredible neurotypical colleagues who gave me significant autonomy over my work, allowing me to perform my job at times and in ways that worked best for me. That said, many aspects of a career in public accounting were not conducive to my needs. My office’s open floorplan meant that sights and sounds spread like wildfire, which I found highly distressing. My phone conversations could be heard by my colleagues; for my high-masking self, this was terrifying. My performance as a neurotypical accountant was open to judgment!

Firm Watch

Cherry Bekaert acquires CPA outsourcing firm [Business North Carolina]
Raleigh-based accounting and advisory firm Cherry Bekaert acquired Tarsus, a 175-member firm that offers outsourced accounting, bookkeeping, strategic CFO services and data management. The acquisition took effect Dec. 31. Terms were not disclosed. Headquartered in Washington, DC, Tarsus has additional offices in California, Missouri, and Bangalore, India.

Ohio accounting firm under scrutiny over First Brands audit work [Financial Times]
Bober Markey Fedorovich, a small, two-office firm, is named in a court filing as having produced audit reports for two special purpose vehicles used by First Brands before its collapse in September, which shook US credit markets.

Accounting Firms RSM Signs Full-Floor Office Lease in Philadelphia [ConnectCRE]
RSM US LLP signed a long-term lease to occupy the entire 21st floor spanning 22,340 square feet. The firm is relocating its Philadelphia headquarters from 30 South 17th Street.

The post Friday Footnotes: The World Discovers Sexy Accountants Do Exist; Ex-IRS Employee Did Something Really, Really Dumb | 1.16.26 appeared first on Going Concern.

Details, as per the news release:

According to U.S. Attorney Hertzberg, the charges, and other information presented in court: Williams allegedly orchestrated a three-year scheme to fraudulently obtain funds from four separate emergency pandemic relief programs:

First, Williams submitted fraudulent applications to the SBA to obtain Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) in the names of businesses that were not operational.

Second, Williams submitted a fraudulent application for a Paycheck Protection Program loan, guaranteed by the SBA, for a business that was not operational.

Third, Williams obtained a position as a loan officer with the SBA, enabling her to use her insider access to wrongly approve applications to the EIDL Advance grant program. Williams then advertised on Instagram to recruit accomplices who, under her instructions, submitted fraudulent applications using the names of nonexistent or ineligible businesses. Williams, using her position at the SBA, improperly approved those applications in exchange for a share of the proceeds. Williams then encouraged her conspirators to recruit additional participants, promising them referral fees for every person brought into the scheme.

Fourth, Williams left the SBA and obtained a position as a tax examining technician at the IRS. Williams again advertised on social media to recruit accomplices who, under her instructions and with her assistance, submitted fraudulent tax documents to the IRS to claim payments under the Employee Retention Tax Credit program with Williams receiving a fee for each application.

In total, Williams submitted false claims for more than $3.5 million of pandemic emergency assistance funds intended to help struggling businesses.

Oh there it is: ERTC. You just knew it had to be in the mix. The press release doesn’t say how many payments make up that estimated $3.5 million in alleged fraud, only the total. Anyone find it strange that a single person was able to rubber stamp all these fraudulent applications? We know the programs lacked rigorous checks and balances (this is not alleged) but geez.

“Williams allegedly exploited her federal employment, stole millions of dollars from generous government programs, and brazenly recruited other participants through social media advertisements,” said U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg. “This prosecution is yet another example of this office’s commitment to hold accountable those who abused their government positions or stole from pandemic relief programs.”

Williams got hit with a federal charge of conspiracy to defraud the government. Given how rampant Covid relief fraud was, we expect the government to throw not just the book but the entire library at her just to make an example of her. For now, she is innocent until proven guilty.

The post IRS and SBA Employee Allegedly Ran Pandemic Fraud Ring Right Out in the Open on Instagram appeared first on Going Concern.

The refreshed brand centers on Account for Anything, a concept that underscores Aprio’s ability to bring together integrated, growth-oriented advisory services and help business leaders navigate complexity with clarity and confidence.

Account for Anything signals Aprio’s brand promise to clients, a commitment that whatever challenge, inflection point, or opportunity they face, Aprio connects the right professionals to provide a complete view of the business. It reflects Aprio’s role as the advisor that helps enterprise leaders, entrepreneurs, and private equity-backed companies move from uncertainty to informed action.

According to a US Patent and Trademark Office lookup, Aprio filed for the ACCOUNT FOR ANYTHING mark on November 6, 2025 and final approval is pending. There are two separate listings, one for the words only and one for a stylized version with orange text:

So, how do we feel about “Account for Anything”? It definitely could be worse, like when Ernst & Young reduced themselves down to EY, perhaps not realizing at the time that EY! was already taken by a manmeat smut magazine.

The post What Do We Think About Aprio’s New Catchphrase? appeared first on Going Concern.

From the PCAOB’s press release:

As described in further detail in the Firm and Zwick order, the Firm and Zwick, who served as the engagement partner, failed to comply with multiple PCAOB rules and standards in performing the Genie audit. Specifically:

• The Firm and Zwick failed to properly plan, identify, and assess the risks of material misstatement.
• The Firm and Zwick failed to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence to support the Firm’s opinion on internal control over financial reporting.
• The Firm and Zwick failed to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence as to Genie’s reported revenue and unbilled revenue.
• Zwick failed to properly supervise the work of the Firm’s engagement team members.
• The Firm and Zwick failed to prepare audit documentation pursuant to PCAOB standards.

And now, for the fun part:

As described in further detail in the Hoskow order, Hoskow, who was an audit manager at the Firm, violated PCAOB rules and standards by improperly adopting workpapers from Genie’s predecessor auditor as the Firm’s own. Specifically:

• Hoskow took the predecessor auditor’s workpapers, replaced the name of the predecessor auditor with “Zwick CPA,” updated the year under audit, and added workpaper sign-offs. [Emphasis ours]

Some more about that per Hoskow’s order [PDF]:

Shortly before the documentation completion date, Hoskow, who had access to the predecessor auditor’s work papers for the prior year audit, took those work papers, replaced the name of the predecessor auditor with “Zwick CPA,” updated the year under audit, and added work paper sign-offs.

Hoskow did so even when the documentation reflected events that had occurred in the prior year (2021), not the year under audit (2022). For example, in one ICFR work paper, Hoskow replaced the year “2021” with “2022,” so that the work paper reads: “In 2022, [Genie] changed their Tax Specialist to [Entity A] instead of [Entity B]. Further this year due to the UK being reported as discontinued operations, [Genie] noted that the complex provision calculation need expertise on UK tax laws and [Genie] outsourced UK provision and calculation to the 3rd party . . . .” However, both of the documented events—the change in Tax Specialists and the discontinuance of Genie’s UK operations—actually occurred in 2021, the year before the one the Firm was engaged to audit.

According to Genie’s 2021 annual report, the prior auditor was BDO USA.

Hoskow also “prepared various other significant workpapers that inappropriately included documentation related to other issuers – documentation that was inaccurate and irrelevant to Genie’s operations,” but that part isn’t nearly as funny as taking the prior auditors’ workpapers, crossing out their name, and putting their firm’s name instead.

Zwick’s PCAOB order [PDF] gets into the weeds on the controls testing (or lack thereof):

As noted above, the predecessor auditor identified a material weakness related to Genie’s income tax provision controls in the prior year. To attempt to remediate the material weakness, Genie created a new control, “Tax-15.” During the Genie Audit, however, the Firm failed to perform any design or operating-effectiveness testing over the Tax-15 control and other deficient tax controls in order to conclude whether the material weakness had been remediated as of December 31, 2022.

In addition, and as discussed further below, the Firm’s ICFR work papers assert that the Firm performed certain procedures that had not actually been performed.

In addition, with the exception of testing certain information technology (“IT”)-dependent manual controls related to revenue and purchases, Respondents failed to perform any procedures over the design or operating effectiveness of (a) Genie’s other IT-dependent manual controls; (b) its IT general controls (“ITGCs”); or (c) its entity-level controls.

Moreover, because Respondents failed to test Genie’s ITGCs, they could not rely on data and reports generated by Genie’s IT systems when evaluating the effectiveness of the revenue and purchase-related IT-dependent manual controls they did test. Nor did Respondents perform testing over the completeness and accuracy of data and reports used in the operation of Genie’s IT-dependent manual controls related to revenue and purchases. Therefore, the Firm’s testing of those IT-dependent manual controls also was not sufficient.

This audit sounds like a pain in the ass. No wonder they phoned it in.

For their crimes, Zwick the firm and Zwick the person are in time-out for three years, after which time the firm can reapply for PCAOB registration and Zwick can petition the Board to let him practice again. Hoskow is barred from being an associated person of a registered public accounting firm for two years. As part of their punishment, Zwick and Hoskow are also required to complete 40 hours of continuing professional education relating to PCAOB auditing standards.

Genie dismissed Zwick as auditor last year and went to CBIZ.

The post Audit Firm Runs Afoul of PCAOB Rules By Taking Same As Last Year Way Too Literally appeared first on Going Concern.

Federal Reserve chair and professional brrrrrrrer Jerome Powell got served by the DoJ. In a rare move, he quickly issued a hostage video video statement:

Text of statement here.

Journal of Accountancy gets deep about auditing in “5 imperatives for auditors from the PCAOB chair,” posted this morning:

“There is many a slip twixt the cup and the lip.”

At last month’s AICPA Conference on Current SEC and PCAOB Developments, George Botic continued his tradition of educating while entertaining fellow CPAs regarding the audit — this time in his role as acting chair of the PCAOB.

Botic quoted a proverb about the potential peril in the simple act of taking a sip of hot tea and applied it to the complicated act of getting an audit to the finish line.

“That narrow space between the cup and the lip,” Botic posited, “is where risks live and where vigilance matters.”

Botic then segued into spilling the tea on five imperatives for auditors in the new year.

The rest of the article is the five imperatives. Obviously.

The EPA threw the Biden administration under the bus, reports Bloomberg Law:

The EPA says its recent failure to get a clean bill of financial health from its watchdog offers further proof that the Biden administration was reckless and spent money wastefully.

The failed audit—the Environmental Protection Agency’s first in at least 25 years—could provide a predicate for Congress to shrink the EPA’s budget, which lawmakers are currently weighing and the Trump administration has requested. Agencies don’t typically suffer legal penalties for failing to make their books add up.

Things aren’t so great in the UK, BDO and KPMG make an appearance in Daily Mail:

Business confidence collapsed after the Budget and companies put the brakes on hiring – setting the scene for another bleak year for the economy, experts warned yesterday.

In a report that piles more pressure on beleaguered Chancellor Rachel Reeves, the accountancy group BDO said morale among firms fell to its lowest level in nearly five years last month.

A separate survey by accountants KPMG and the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) showed hiring slowed to a crawl at the end of 2025 as demand for staff ‘continued to weaken’.

REC chief executive Neil Carberry said: ‘Making this a better year for hiring will require a focus on building business confidence to invest.’

NJBIZ talked to local CPAs about clients taking risky tax positions. Their warnings apply to everyone, not just cannabis dispensaries with the testicular fortitude to take aggressive positions:

Walking the line between smart tax planning and waving a red flag in front of the Internal Revenue Service involves careful consideration, proper documentation and, sometimes, a professional legal opinion, say New Jersey CPAs. The wrong moves can trigger an audit or worse.

That’s what happened when a New Jersey cannabis dispensary wanted to take an unusually aggressive tax position, according to Seth Kamens, managing member of the CPA and advisory firm Kamens & Associates.

“At the time, federal law allowed cannabis businesses to deduct their cost of goods sold, but –unlike New Jersey – prohibited deductions for SG&A [sales, general, administrative], ordinary business expenses like salaries,” he explained. “The dispensary had $5 million in sales and $3 million in cost of goods sold and wanted to deduct an additional $1 million in other expenses.”

The stance taken by the company, which is no longer a client of his firm, was that federal law denying the additional deductions was not valid, Kamens added [a recent executive order signed by President Donald Trump that directs federal agencies to move to favorably reschedule cannabis under the Controlled Substances Act may change that]. “We couldn’t write a legal opinion ourselves, since we are not attorneys, so the client hired an attorney who researched the matter and wrote an opinion, which was submitted with the return, backing up the company’s position.”

Love how they specifically mention the dispo is no longer a client of the firm.

First PwC becomes the official firm of Formula 1 and changes their entire global brand around the partnership, now Deloitte and McLaren Racing are “deepening” their partnership:

McLaren Racing has announced a significant expansion of its long-standing high-performance partnership with Deloitte, broadening the collaboration across multiple racing programmes and reinforcing Deloitte’s role as a strategic transformation partner to the organisation.

As part of the expanded agreement, Deloitte becomes the official transformation partner across McLaren Racing’s global portfolio. The partnership will support McLaren’s Formula 1 team, Arrow McLaren in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, and McLaren’s forthcoming entry into the FIA World Endurance Championship from 2027.

In Nigeria, some drama is brewing between an audit firm and the government of Osun in the southwest part of the country. The government says the firm “deliberately misled it on number of ghost workers just to maximise profit.”

The Point reports:

The Osun State Government has denied allegations of alleged cover up of ghost workers’ indictment within the state public service by Sally Tibbot Limited, an audit firm, describing the press briefing by the company as a subtle blackmail to force a fraudulent staff audit report on the state.

The forensic audit firm, SALLY TIBBOT had accused the Osun State Government of inserting a total of 8,452 alleged ghost workers into the state’s payroll and paying them a sum of N13,716,914,129.28 annually.

The allegation was made by the Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the firm, Sa’adat Bakrin-Ottun, who spoke through the company’s legal counsel, Jiti Ogunye, at a press conference held at the Nigeria Union of Journalists Secretariat in Lagos on Friday.

Makes you appreciate all your boring audits where clients begrudgingly accept any findings and just pay their invoices, eh?

The PwC tax scandal continues to threaten billable hours. In “‘Unethical’ companies to be banned from govt contracts,” ACS discusses efforts to keep naughty firms away from contracts and a government agency totally against the idea:

A proposed plan to ban “unethical” private companies from winning government contracts for up to five years would have a major impact on tech work and “may jeopardise continuity of essential services”, the Digital Transformation Agency has warned.

Greens Senator Barbara Pocock last year introduced a private members’ bill to the Senate that would introduce a federal debarment regime for government contracts, meaning that companies may be banned for five years if they engage in “unethical conduct”.

Hey, five years will fly by before you know it.

In a submission to the Senate committee now investigating the bill, the government’s Digital Transformation Agency (DTA) raised concerns that such a scheme would come with “significant operational risks and unintended consequences”, particularly when it comes to IT work.

“In the digital market, where unique or highly specialised services are often supplied by a limited number of providers, a permanent exclusion of a supplier may jeopardise continuity of essential services and escalate costs and risks,” the DTA submission said.

“The dynamic nature of the technology sector – with frequent mergers, acquisitions and changes in subsidiary and reseller relationships – means that a blanket ban may inadvertently restrict access to critical or innovative capabilities that subsequently become available through previously debarred organisations.”

We’re pleased to see this one didn’t just get swept under the rug and forgotten about.

35-year-old Kenneth McLawhorn, a longtime KPMGer from South Jersey, has passed away. The local news has the details:

McLawhorn is survived by his wife, Andriana, whom he met while attending the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, his obituary reads. He spent 11 years working at KPMG, according to his obituary. His LinkedIn shows he was a consulting director operating out of Philadelphia.

Our condolences to his family, friends, and colleagues.

Here’s a long nerdy read for you from KPMG: Value Creation in Private Equity

Private equity (PE) has traditionally relied on picking the right investment to release value through business transformation post-deal.

PE returns have traditionally had a component of financial leverage, multiple arbitrage and value creation — usually considering a combination of all these factors whilst surfing a wave of low interest rates and natural market expansion.

As those factors seem to evolve and fade — base rates have normalized, dry powder tops US $1.0tn, and there is more than US $3.0tn backlog of unsold assets in the exit pipeline — it becomes clear that the industry will need to evolve into looking for more sophisticated ways of creating tangible value in ever increasingly disputed markets.

In this sector, data is power. Hedge funds turned quant a decade ago. Public-market active managers quickly followed with factor signals and alternative data. Yet most buy-out houses still prefer to trust a more traditional approach towards value creation, based on expert judgment and financial analysis.

We believe that as market tailwinds fade, operational alpha — built on stochastic modeling, outside-in signals and predictive intervention — will likely become a real source of competitive advantage and a systemic and repeatable investment edge. We believe that the next decade belongs to houses that can manufacture operational alpha – systematic EBITDA uplift, delivered quickly and at scale.

In this paper we set out a five-capability blueprint for value creation next-gen alpha and illustrate — with data and case studies — how leading General Partners (GPs) are now tilting their models to becoming the next-gen ‘quant PE house’.

That’s it for this particular news brief. Now go out there and have a wonderful week, you.

The post Monday Morning Accounting News Brief: Wait, WHO Got a DoJ Subpoena??; EPA Breaks a Long Clean Audit Streak | 1.12.26 appeared first on Going Concern.

Audit

UK accounting firms push regulator to end ‘name and shame’ practice [Financial Times]
The Big Four of Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC have discussed a co-ordinated effort to file complaints to the Financial Reporting Council over its policy of publicly announcing probes, along with mid-tier firms such as BDO, Grant Thornton and RSM, according to four people familiar with the matter. The push — which also included complaints by firms Forvis Mazars and Crowe, and the ICAEW and ACCA professional bodies — was sparked by a consultation published by the FRC in October and due to close on Friday.

Offshoring

Offshore U.S. CPA Firms new reality: Talent crisis, attrition, skyrocketing salaries [The Finance Story]
Leaders openly admit that employees in U.S. CPA firms in India earn well. Yet a growing number of professionals feel “they are being taken advantage of.” One leader says, “A lot of employees come to us every year saying, ‘I’ve done my market research and I’m underpaid.’” He continues, “They’re demanding 30–40% salary hikes and promotions every single year.”

Tax

IRS announces first day of 2026 filing season; online tools and resources help with tax filing [IRS]
The Internal Revenue Service announced Monday, January 26, 2026, as the opening of the nation’s 2026 filing season. This year, several new tax law provisions of the One, Big, Beautiful Bill become effective, which could impact federal taxes, credits and deductions. Taxpayers have until Wednesday, April 15, 2026, to file their 2025 tax returns and pay any tax due. The IRS expects to receive about 164 million individual income tax returns this year, with most taxpayers filing electronically.

Should sentient AI be forced to do our taxes? [Accounting Today] “The entire reason I left public accounting to co-found a tech company was because I was miserable doing manual reconciliations and knew there had to be a better way to live,” said FloQast CEO and co-founder Mike Whitemire. “The mission has always been to stop humans from suffering through that mind-numbing drudgery. If we create a sentient digital being, the absolute last thing I would want to do is inflict that same soul-crushing boredom on it! It would be incredibly hypocritical of me to liberate accountants only to enslave a sentient AI.”

How Big Is the ‘Typical’ Tax Firm? [CPA Journal]
What is the size of a “typical” tax firm? This question can be answered by analyzing two IRS datasets: the External Customer Data Store (ECDS) and the Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN)

New publication on accounting for uncertain tax positions [RSM]
We have recently published a new Financial Reporting Insights, Accounting for income taxes – Uncertain tax positions. This publication is intended to be used as a resource in understanding and analyzing the accounting for uncertainty in income taxes recognized in an entity’s financial statements. It describes the unit of account, recognition threshold and measurement attribute(s) of a tax position taken or expected to be taken in a tax return. It also addresses how to account for changes in judgment, interest and penalties, and the related disclosure requirements for uncertain tax positions.

Curbing Tax Deductions for Executive Pay is a Federal Tax Change States Should Get Behind [Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy]
On both the individual and corporate side of the ledger, states’ reliance on federal income definitions routinely leaves state revenues vulnerable to reductions in the federal tax base, and the 2025 Trump tax cut is chock full of these. But there are a few provisions in last summer’s tax law that could actually make budget-balancing a little bit easier for states if they follow suit. Among them is a helpful modification to a provision designed to penalize excessive CEO pay.

Career Advice

EY’s global chief innovation officer says adaptability is the ‘new job security.’ He does 3 things to stay current. [Business Insider]
With AI transforming so many jobs, EY’s Joe Depa says adaptability will be the “new job security” in 2026. “The ability to adapt and change is going to be the most important component,” said Depa, who oversees innovation at the Big Four consulting firm. The executive, who leads EY’s AI, data, and innovation strategies, told Business Insider that training and upskilling will be the factors that differentiate talent and organizations in the workforce.

The Job Market Sucks

A miserable year for workers [KPMG]
Payrolls rose by 50,000 jobs in December. Employment expanded by a mere 584,000 in 2025, its weakest annual pace since 2020 and the second weakest since the global financial crisis in 2009. A whopping 84% of those gains occurred in the first four months of the year. Since then, job gains have come to a virtual standstill.

People

Prager Metis Announces New Leadership Lori A Roth Named Chief Executive Officer Stuart H. Mayer Named Chief Operating Officer [Prager Metis]
As CEO, Lori will provide leadership and strategic planning to more than 100 partners and principals and 600 team members. Lori will also oversee the firm’s growth strategy and initiatives. She holds a key role in developing strategic goals and policies, monitoring performance, and driving business growth. Lori previously served as Global Managing Partner and Executive Committee member of Prager Metis.

EY appoints Hala Martin as San Francisco leader [Consulting.us]
Martin, who has been with the Big Four accountancy since 2000, succeeds Phillip Mazzie in the role. Mazzie moves on to serve as growth markets leader for the telecom, media, and technology (TMT) sector.

Frazier & Deeter Names Nine New Partners [Business Wire]
Frazier & Deeter (FD), a Top 50 professional services firm, is proud to announce the promotion of nine accomplished professionals to Partner: Sam Benham (GA), Alicia Chumley (GA), Joonas Degerman (TN), Kristi Epp (GA), Garrett Fox (GA), Dono Kabilova (GA), Austin Miller (NC), John Weiskittel (GA) and Chris Zotti (TN).

The post Friday Footnotes: Offshore Staff Figured Out They’re Underpaid; The IRS Has Set a Date For Filing Season 2026 | 1.9.26 appeared first on Going Concern.

Tax layoffs at Deloitte. Multiple senior managers at my office (East Coast) were laid off. Reason given was just business performance/cost.

Our tipster followed up to say people are feeling blindsided. “It was SMs that had a lot of work too so their teams are feeling very stressed,” they said.

There’s also been some buzz on Reddit:

Wonderful start to the year.

We’ll let you know if we can get numbers. If anyone wants to share more details or simply vent, you may email or text us anytime.

The post Layoff Watch ’26: Deloitte’s Cutting Tax People. Yes, in January appeared first on Going Concern.

Ready?

She asks what you do when you’re not working. Feels like a trick question coming from a Big 4 firm, doesn’t it?

As for how you respond, don’t come off too eager to sacrifice your free-time to the firm. Say “work is the only thing I care about” and you’re out.

“I don’t need you to tell me that you go out and you’re hiking every day or you’re out working in the community every single hour of the weekend,” Seals-Coffield says. [Ed. note: Telling PwC you spend every single hour of the weekend helping people in your community is a great way to not get the job.] “I’m okay if you tell me, like, you listen to audiobooks and you meditate or you love photography. I’m also okay with people saying — and this used to be the answer I would have told you if you asked me 15 years ago what I did outside of work — I would say I’m with my kids.”

The point is to give a sense of yourself as a “whole person,” which includes who you are outside of work, she says.

“The actual substance of what they’re doing doesn’t matter as much as their ability to sort of talk about something that they’re passionate about and that they care a lot about,” Seals-Coffield says. “I love to see that in people and hear that from people because I think that gives you another insight into their authentic self.”

In other words, have an answer that seems passionate but not so passionate that they’re worried they’ll have to compete with your passion. Got it, thank you.

The post PwC Wants to Know What You Do For Fun appeared first on Going Concern.

By the end of 2025, NASBA had updated the Uniform Accountancy Act (UAA) to allow for three pathways:

• Graduate Degree Pathway: Graduate degree in accounting + one (1) year of professional experience + passing the CPA Exam.
• Traditional 150-Hour Pathway: Bachelor’s degree in accounting + 30 additional semester credits (total 150 semester hours) + one (1) year of experience + passing the CPA Exam.
• New 120-Hour Pathway: Bachelor’s degree in accounting (120 semester hours) + two (2) years of professional experience + passing the CPA Exam.

You’ll note that state-level rules may differ from what’s laid out here because the CPA exam is mainly a test of fortitude and they have to test how committed you are to this by making it as annoying as possible (jk TPTB, we know you aren’t that evil. I think).

For anyone who may be confused about which states changed over to new pathway rules when the clock struck midnight on January 1, 2026, we’ve compiled a list. Several other states had earlier or later effective dates, like California, Indiana, and Illinois whose licensure changes don’t take effect until January of 2027, these are just the ones that took effect on January 1 of this year.

• Alaska
• Georgia
• Minnesota
• Montana
• New Mexico
• North Carolina
• Ohio
• Oregon
• Tennessee
• Virginia

If you are sitting for the CPA exam in the next couple years it’s imperative that you review the requirements in your state and find out if changes have happened or are expected to happen by the time you will seek licensure. As always, the exam itself is the only thing that is 100% uniform across jurisdictions and each jurisdiction may have different rules and regs. In normal times these rules tend to align across the board but we’re in a period of swift upheaval.

See what you started, Minnesota? Good job.

The post These Are the Ten States Where CPA Licensure Rules Changed on New Year’s Day appeared first on Going Concern.

As you can see from this Google Maps screenshot, they’re right along the Thames and neighbors with a PwC office.

Since 2003, EY has occupied 1 More London Place where about 8,000 people are currently stationed. They decided to stick around “due to its unique proposition, with a prime location and excellent transport links,” according to a press release.

“Extending the lease on this iconic building marks our continued investment in London and confidence in the capital as a place to do business,” said Anna Anthony, EY UK & Ireland Regional Managing Partner. “We are retaining a fantastic building, in a prime location, which will continue to provide a great place to work for our people.” Missed opportunity to say you’re ALL IN on London, Anna. Gotta jam that catchphrase in every chance you get.

The post EY Decided Not to Move From Its Global HQ in London appeared first on Going Concern.

CFO.com interviewed the CFO of FloQast who gave this quote:

I’m sorry to disappoint those of you who have been waiting to hear that AI has completely eliminated accounting. Better luck next year.

PwC wants in on crypto, reports Financial Times. Yes, in the year 2026.

PwC decided to “lean in” to cryptocurrency work after years of taking a more cautious stance, following the Trump administration’s embrace of digital assets, according to the US boss of the Big Four firm.

“The Genius Act and the regulatory rulemaking around stablecoin I expect will create more conviction around leaning into that product and that asset class,” Griggs said. “The tokenisation of things will certainly continue to evolve as well. PwC has to be in that ecosystem.”

Across the pond, a beleaguered client goes to bat for the auditors:

WH Smith has urged shareholders to back its auditors, PwC, despite the Big Four firm’s failure to identify a huge accounting error that rocked the company for much of last year.

The travel retailer is under investigation by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) after the discovery in August that profits at its key North American division had been significantly overstated for a number of years.

The UK audit regulator hasn’t decided yet whether or not to get up PwC’s ass about WH Smith’s issues. We’re all expecting a soft touch from the PCAOB this year, unsure if other regulators will follow suit or show their teeth.

Geez, PwC is really dominating all the headlines I’m finding this morning. Here on This is Money, it’s a PwC prediction that earned a whole story:

Artificial intelligence will add billions to the UK economy within the next six years as machines boost productivity, accountancy giant PwC has predicted.

Its economists estimated that AI would add around £2 billion in productivity gains to gross domestic product (GDP) this year, increasing to £7 billion by 2029 and £23 billion by 2032.

PwC predicted AI would contribute around one-tenth of the estimated 1.2 per cent rise in GDP this year, but by 2032 this will be 43 per cent.

Americans for Tax Reform coming in hot with a U-Haul report:

U-Haul released its annual Growth Index today which shows Americans continue to move away from high-tax states in favor of low-tax and no-income-tax states.

Three of the top four states attracting movers have no personal income tax: Texas, Florida, and Tennessee.

California is ranked dead last in the index and imposes the highest top personal income tax rate in the nation at 13.3%.

Related: When I was in Nashville last summer for the ACFE Global Fraud Conference my Uber driver was telling me how the population exploded there post-Covid. I think he said 400,000 people had moved there since 2020, I haven’t checked the data on that. And yes, many of those people were former Californians according to him. Just a silly little anecdote I thought was interesting.

In private equity news:

HIG Europe is selling Interpath, the former KPMG UK restructuring unit, to Bridgepoint at double the valuation it had acquired the business five years ago—marking the latest deal in a wave of PE investments in the professional services sector.

Bridgepoint is buying Interpath at a £800 million ($1.1 billion) valuation, the Financial Times reported. HIG helped to carve out KPMG’s restructuring arm at a £400 million valuation in 2021.

Kiplinger has featured another CPA in its My First Million series. This time it’s a semi-retired 68-year-old in San Francisco where $1 million is practically poverty level.

Here’s how he answered the question How did you make your first million?

Gradual enrichment over time. Self-employment was the key. The cash flow allowed me to support multiple pieces of real estate (owning two homes, buying rentals), invest small amounts in the stock market and fund retirement accounts.

The business kept growing, and the cash flows kept growing.

Two decades ago, I said to my father, “I am a millionaire.” His comment: “Isn’t everybody?”

Dude, this guy is hilarious:

United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania is looking for help preparing taxes, no experience required:

For those looking to give back in the New Year, the United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania is looking for about 450 volunteers to assist with its annual free tax preparation efforts.

Training is provided and anyone can be a volunteer, said Emily Schmidlapp, United Way’s manager of moving to financial stability.

Volunteers are needed for tax clinic sites in  Allegheny, Westmoreland, Fayette, Washington, and Greene counties.

 The Free Tax Prep Coalition is a group of 13 organizations led by United Way and Just Harvest, providing free tax filing assistance to local households making up to $70,000 per year.

“You don’t need any tax training or knowledge coming into this. Just Harvest provides excellent and comprehensive training to all of our volunteers. They get IRS certified and are really able to provide a high quality service,” Schmidlapp said.

A bill in Illinois seeks to make things easier on tiny municipalities:

A new law will ease auditing requirements on Illinois’ smallest local governments, sparing taxpayers the expense of preparing those investigations.

House Bill 1082 amends the Illinois municipal auditing law. This applies to communities with fewer than 1,000 residents.

Municipalities with less than 1,000 residents that do not own utilities or have bonded debt must file an annual financial report. Those that own utilities or have bonded debt must file a yearly financial report and an audit every four years.

On his website, chief sponsor State Rep. Gregg Johnson (D-East Moline) said: “Smaller communities face different budget pressures and require a different approach than big cities. I sponsored HB1082 to help small municipalities by cutting unnecessary and expensive auditing regulations by 75%.”

In Montana, people who’ve been ripped off by securities fraud get relief from the state, reports Daily Montanan:

The Office of State Auditor James Brown announced this week that the state is sending restitution checks to qualifying Montana citizens who have been the victim of securities-related fraud schemes.

More than $100,000 was returned to Montanans in 2025, a press release said. Montana is one of six states that provides restitution assistance to victims of investment fraud.

“When fraudsters and bad actors harm Montanans, we aggressively investigate them, we fully prosecute them, and we ensure they take a one-way trip to Deer Lodge,” Brown said in a press release. “The most rewarding parts of my job as State Auditor is locking up bad actors and helping Montanans rebuild their lives. There is no better time to do that than this holiday season.”

Let’s wrap this up here, that’s already a lot of news for the Monday after a long holiday break. May you have the best of weeks, gimme a shout if you need me via email or text anytime. Bye!

The post Monday Morning Accounting News Brief: Accounting Is Not Going Away (Sorry); Tax Preparers Wanted, No Experience Necessary | 1.5.26 appeared first on Going Concern.

Tax

Crypto users forced to share account details with tax officials [BBC]
People buying cryptocurrency in the UK now need to share their account details or face penalties, in changes that came into effect on 1 January. The move by the UK’s tax body is designed to ensure they pay all relevant tax on buying and selling crypto, including capital gains tax. HMRC will begin automatically collecting information on all users of cryptocurrency exchanges – which are effectively the industry’s banks – in a bid to start collecting tens of millions in unpaid tax.

Advocacy for state disaster tax relief [The Tax Adviser]
The AICPA State and Local Tax Technical Resource Panel (SALT TRP) has recently developed, and the AICPA Tax Executive Committee approved, a position paper that may be helpful for state CPA societies interested in advocating with their state tax authorities to allow at least one month after a federal extended disaster tax relief due date before requiring state tax returns to be filed and payments to be made.

Billionaire tax proposal sparks soul-searching for Californians [Los Angeles Times]
While the idea of a one-time tax on more than 200 people has a long way to go before getting onto the ballot and would need to be passed by voters in November, the tempest around it captures the zeitgeist of angst and anger at the core of California. Silicon Valley is minting new millionaires while millions of the state’s residents face the loss of healthcare coverage and struggle with inflation.

Uber rewrites contracts with drivers to avoid paying UK’s new ‘taxi tax’ [The Guardian]
Uber has swerved paying millions of pounds to the UK exchequer under Rachel Reeves’s new “taxi tax” after the ride-hailing app rewrote contracts with its drivers. In November, Reeves told the Commons the changes would end up “protecting around £700m of tax revenue each year”.

Audit

‘Independent audit’ of towering warehouses slammed as ‘tick-box exercise’ [Manchester Evening News]
Residents living in the shadow of four giant warehouses have slammed a council-approved probe into the controversial development as a “tick-box exercise”. Neighbours say the 350,000sq ft Astley Business Park site has caused them sleepless nights, months of disruption and even flooded gardens. Now, attention has turned to a promised “independent audit” of the authority’s planning decisions – intended to assess whether proper procedures were followed. Residents say they’ve discovered only one person has been appointed to carry out the audit – and he has just two weeks to do it.

Maryland audit: $32.5 million procurement system failed, raising oversight concerns [FOX45 Baltimore]
A new state audit is raising serious questions about how Maryland spends and oversees taxpayer dollars, finding tens of millions of dollars were wasted on a procurement system that auditors say didn’t work. The contract for the system was ultimately terminated, but auditors said the problems didn’t end there. Because of severe accounting and record-keeping issues left behind, the state hired an outside accounting firm for an additional $1.6 million to determine the actual balances on outstanding contracts.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick calls audit of Texas Southern University financials ‘deeply disturbing’ [Houston Public Media]
Texas Southern University has “significant” financial weaknesses, the result of whole departments bypassing established purchase guardrails and the university failing to enforce established contract and accounting procedures, a state audit released this week reveals. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick on Wednesday called the audit “beyond disturbing.” He added that his office, together with Gov. Greg Abbott and House Speaker Dustin Burrows, has ended any spending by TSU on contracts other than ongoing university expenses needed to keep the school open.

Burnout

How a CPA beat burnout after strokes, years of depression [Journal of Accountancy]
Do you feel tired most of the time and question why you became an accountant? Do you not care as much as you used to? Do you keep telling yourself: “I just have to power through for a little longer until I catch up.”? Are your neck and shoulders constantly tight? Are you eating much more or much less? Any of this sound familiar? If so, you may be suffering from chronic stress.

Opinion

Is accounting still a profession? [Financial Times]
Accounting is “absolutely a profession, full stop”. That was the view a US accountancy leader felt the need to declaim in indignation recently. Mark Koziel, president of the American Institute of Certified Professional Accountants, told an industry conference this month that accounting was built on integrity and rigorous standards, requiring a commitment to continuing education — “all the hallmarks of a true profession”.

Consulting

After UW-Madison demotes DEI leader, Deloitte recommends changes [The Cap Times]
UW-Madison paid Deloitte $395,000 to evaluate its financial and budgetary controls between March and July 2025, according to Mark Pitsch, a spokesperson for the broader UW system, which signed the contract with the firm.

Law & Order

Deloitte Dodges H-1B Worker’s Lawsuit Over Withdrawn Job Offer [Bloomberg Law]
A federal judge dismissed an immigrant worker’s lawsuit against Deloitte LLP over the withdrawal of a job offer, finding the law governing H-1B visas doesn’t include a private right of action. Anudeep Meka, a Texas resident and citizen of India, failed to establish viable claims related to immigration law, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, contract-related allegations, and other statutes, Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled Tuesday.

People

From CPA to “Mr. Swiftie,” and Everything in Between: The Unconventional Reinvention of MoCo Native Ray Castro [The MoCo Show]
Ray Castro’s life story is one that feels especially relatable in Montgomery County. He was a kid who grew up here, did everything “right” on paper, built a stable career, and then eventually realized stability alone wasn’t enough. Castro was born and raised in Montgomery County and graduated from Boston College in 1998. Like many high achievers, he followed a conventional path into the tax and accounting world, spending nearly two decades as a CPA. On the outside, it was a successful career with a steady paycheck. On the inside, it left him feeling unfulfilled and disconnected from any real sense of purpose.

Matt Goldin Named PCAOB Acting General Counsel [PCAOB]
Before being named Acting General Counsel, Mr. Goldin served as a Deputy General Counsel in OGC, advising the Board on PCAOB programs and operations and assisting with OGC’s management. Prior to joining the PCAOB in January 2016, Mr. Goldin worked in the general counsel’s office at a large asset manager, served in the Division of Investment Management at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and practiced corporate and securities law. Mr. Goldin holds a J.D. from Yale Law School, an M.Phil. in international relations from the University of Cambridge, and a B.A. in Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations from Yale College.

The post Friday Footnotes: Lawsuit Against Deloitte For Rescinded H1-B Job Offer Denied; Annoyed Town Residents Learn the True Meaning of Audit | 1.2.26 appeared first on Going Concern.

EY Janitorial Staff Are Protesting the Firm’s Shitty Treatment and Looming Layoffs

Hello, toilet pun.

Did you notice what’s missing from these handpicked stories? Articles specifically about layoffs! I hate those. They get a ton of views and it’s important news to publish but I HATE THEM. I hate knowing how many of you are stuck at a shitty firm, eating hours, going to bed late every night with a pit deep in your bowels knowing you have nothing to look forward to but another day of this shit.

On that note, I’m afraid 2026 will be full of more layoff stories. Private equity buys the rest of the top 30, offshoring hits 80%, “AI” gets shoved even harder than it already is. You know what, we’ll do predictions for 2026 in the next article. We’ll be running a quick survey for that but if you want to let me know your predictions early you can do so via email or text.

If you made it this far thanks for reading and Happy New Year!

The post Editor’s Picks: The Funniest, Dumbest, and Okayest News of 2025 appeared first on Going Concern.

See you tomorrow for the editor’s picks!

The post Layoffs, Canceled Snacks, and the Rapture: These Are the Most-Read Stories of 2025 appeared first on Going Concern.

Cybernews is reporting that a Russian ransomware group called Lynx claims to have gotten its hands on a whole mess of data belonging to CSA Tax & Advisory, a small firm in Haverhill, MA that just celebrated its 75th birthday a few months ago. The data allegedly includes clients’ full names, SSNs, and individual tax returns, among other bits of data clients probably don’t want floating around on the dark web.

The notice came up on December 26th on the gang’s leak site on the dark net, claiming it had exfiltrated the company’s and its clients’ data. This is a common tactic among ransomware gangs to coerce victims into paying a ransom, and it seems to be the case for Lynx as well. On its website, the gang claims to have a clear intention to avoid undue harm to organizations.

“Our operational model encourages dialogue and resolution rather than chaos and destruction,” it says.

How utterly professional of them.

Hopefully the firm doesn’t take a page from the Sax playbook and reports promptly if, in fact, a breach has occurred. It is as yet unconfirmed.

The post Hackers Set Out to Ruin Tax Season Early For One Old-Ass Firm appeared first on Going Concern.

Technology

Accounting firm took over a year to inform users of data breach [Cybernews]
Sax, a US-based accounting firm, suffered a data breach that exposed the personal information of nearly 250,000 individuals. However, the affected only learned about their fate 18 months later. The accounting firm suffered a data breach in late July 2024, noticing unauthorized activity in its systems a week later, according to the company’s data breach notice.

People

Nelson goes from secretary to business owner [The Clanton Advisor]
Tiffany Nelson, a Chilton County native and long-time employee of Hull & Russell, P.C., recently purchased the accounting agency and transitioned it to Nelson Accounting. The business milestone was celebrated with a ribbon-cutting ceremony hosted by the Chilton County Chamber of Commerce on Dec. 17. Nelson started working for Hull & Russell as a secretary directly after graduating from Chilton County High School at the age of 18. Janice Hull and Crystal Russell, the owners of Hull & Russell, became mentors and friends of Nelson over the years.

International

South Korea CPA apprenticeship placement shortage delays licencing-report [The Accountant Online]
Hundreds of South Koreans who passed this year’s Certified Public Accountant exam are unable to start their careers because there are not enough apprenticeship placements available for licence registration, reported Korea Herald. Data from the Korean Institute of Certified Public Accountants (KICPA) shows that out of 1,200 candidates who passed the CPA exam this year, 443 had not secured an apprenticeship by the end of October.

Former telecoms company accountant arrested for GY$153 million fraud [Demerara Waves]
A former accounting executive of a telecommunications company has been arrested in connection with a GY$153.9 million ($736k USD) fraud allegedly committed on that entity, the Guyana Police Force (GPF) said on Wednesday. Mr Baird says on his LinkedIn profile that he worked as Accounts Payable, Treasury and Tax Manager at GTT, now One Communications.

The Profession

Finding Solid Ground in an Era of Change [CPA Journal]
New York State Society of CPAs CEO Calvin Harris writes:
The students I meet with are globally aware, technologically fluent, and deeply motivated by purpose. They want careers that allow them to solve meaningful problems, not just check compliance boxes. To them, AI is not an innovation—it is a baseline tool. If we want them to see themselves in this profession, we must show them that accounting is not backward-looking and hidebound. It is about strategy, leadership, and leaning into today’s tools. At the same time, we must make clear that our historic values—integrity, independence, and stewardship—remain non-negotiable. Innovation and history are what can help keep our profession relevant and thriving.

Tax

Social Security, IRS will stay open while other federal workers enjoy an extended holiday [Maryland Matters]
SSA is looking for volunteers to work on Dec. 24 and 26; a former agency executive says it’s unusual for the agency to stay open these days

New USPS Rule & Your 2025 Mailed Charitable Donations [Doeren Mayhew]
Donors planning to mail charitable contributions before the end of 2025 will want to take note of a new U.S. Postal Service (USPS) rule that may affect your postmark date and this year’s tax deductions. Beginning Dec. 24, 2025, USPS will apply postmarks at regional processing centers, at which it could take a mailed donation several days to arrive. That means if you mail your donation in late December, it may not be postmarked until January 2026. Under IRS rules, your donation must be postmarked by Dec. 31, 2025, to qualify for a 2025 tax deduction.

IRS is Considering Updates to the Voluntary Disclosure Practice [JD Supra]
A request for public comment reveals the IRS is considering updates to the Voluntary Disclosure practice. The agency states its “commitment to improve its processes, and to further incentivize non-compliant taxpayers to come into compliance.”

Former IRS worker says months after retiring, she’s still waiting for money she’s owed [WCPO Cincinnati]
For 33 years, Donna Talbott worked for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), spending the majority of her years working remotely. “I absolutely loved my job,” Talbott said. “I helped taxpayers, I always said I worked for the good side.” However, Talbott said the past year has been hard for federal workers. That includes a lot of questions over job security, as some federal jobs face staff reductions amid restructuring.

The post Friday Footnotes: While You’re Cozy at Home, the IRS Is Working; From Secretary to Firm Owner | 12.26.25 appeared first on Going Concern.

Now, KPMG has completed their mandatory contrition period with the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM) just as BDO Netherlands has received a fine for their cheating issues. Reports NL Times:

Accounting and consultancy firm BDO has been fined 765,000 euros by the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM) over exam fraud. Employees shared answers or collaborated on exams, and the firm did not notice or prevent it.

The AFM had previously launched investigations into several accounting firms, including BDO. The regulator found that BDO lacked clear policies, procedures, and safeguards to guarantee the integrity of exams, and concluded that the firm failed in this responsibility.

BDO’s own investigation found that hundreds of employees engaged in exam fraud between 2018 and 2023. The exams included mandatory tests to ensure auditors maintained the necessary knowledge and skills for certification. Fraud took place across all levels of the firm.

Reminder here that when they say “exam fraud” they generally mean “overworked auditors sharing answers amongst themselves on internal training.” Ever since EY got hammered with a $100 million from the SEC the firms and the regulators who fine them have been extra sensitive about this thing that happens at pretty much every firm pretty much all the time. To be clear, the EY thing went above and beyond as they cheated on the ethics exam you take for CPA licensure and CPE, among the usual crime of slipping your colleague an answer sheet (or, in PwC Canada’s case, sharing drives with all the answers because they thought that was the kind of collaborative culture the firm hoped to cultivate in its people). Not to excuse this behavior, just putting it in context for anyone who hasn’t been required to squeeze WBLs into their busy schedule of billable hours and crying in the bathroom.

No word on whether or not the PCAOB will go after Dutch BDO for this too. Maybe.

The post BDO Netherlands Disciplined for Not Pretending Hard Enough That Internal Exams Matter appeared first on Going Concern.

Reynolds says that Finnegan, her eight-year-old golden retriever, is entirely dependent on her for food, shelter, medical care, training, transportation, and daily living. Finnegan has no independent income, resides exclusively with her, and has annual expenses exceeding $5,000. That means, Reynolds argues, that Finnegan satisfies every meaningful element of dependency recognized under section 152 of the Internal Revenue Code—except for being human. As a result, Reynolds has asked the court to determine whether pets can be recognized as non-human dependents under federal tax law.

According to the complaint, while dogs are legally classified as property, that does not fully reflect their role within families and households. Reynolds says that Finnegan’s care responsibilities mirror, and sometimes surpass, those of human dependents. Reynolds writes that “For all intents and purposes, Finnegan is like a daughter, and is definitely a ‘dependent’.”

Unlike a daughter, Reynolds can’t claim any tax credits for her role as head of the household pack. This, she says, is unfair to taxpayers who are beholden to children of the fur variety rather than the small human kind.

Reynolds claims this results in an arbitrary and unfair tax burden since taxpayers who provide financial support for human dependents get the benefit of tax breaks, while dog owners who provide similar levels of care receive none. This unequal treatment, she says, lacks a rational basis, especially considering the IRS’s own recognition that some animals—specifically, service dogs—may qualify for tax advantages. Reynolds argues that, from a financial standpoint, there is no real difference between service animals and companion animals.

Per American Veterinary Medical Foundation (AVMF) data, the total population of pet cats and dogs in the US is estimated to be 163.6 million, a 45% increase from 1996. Now imagine if all those taxpaying pet owners could claim a pet credit every year.

Look, this story makes for an amazing headline. According to Kelly’s deep dive on the technical aspects however, it’s unlikely this will get anywhere with the IRS. Reynolds must have known going into this that her salient arguments were unlikely to thaw the cold black heart of US tax code but at least she can say she tried.

“I commenced this case out of a labor-of-love as a dog owner and pup-mom to a golden retriever whom I esteem as my own daughter, having raised her by myself while my friends got married and had children,” she told Forbes in a statement. “She has been in daycare while I am at work, I have paid for her medical visits, hospital visits, food, shelter and all other facets attendant to dog ownership.”

Pets across America and the empty wallets of their owners salute you, Amanda.

The post Dog Mom Challenges the Tax Code on Behalf of All Financially Dependent Good Boys and Girls appeared first on Going Concern.

In a letter to Treasury Secretary and acting IRS Commissioner Scott Bessent obtained first by ABC News, the group of 17 senators, led by Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, and Angus King, a Maine independent who caucuses with Democrats, wrote that they have “serious concerns” the IRS is “not prepared” for the next tax season, and that taxpayers “may face delays and difficulties in filing returns and receiving refunds.”

Ya think?

Senator Warren went on to give ABC a statement about her statement:

“Donald Trump’s endless attacks on the IRS are good news for his billionaire buddies and giant tax prep companies, but bad news for Americans getting ready for filing season. Americans rely on the IRS to file their taxes and get their tax refunds quickly and easily, and I’m pressing for answers,” she wrote to ABC.

The IRS has stated Direct File will not be available for 2026 but it’s possible some kind of direct file program will eventually pop up in the future. F in the chat for all the potential clients who will be attempting to find a tax professional come January.

The post Senators Are Slightly Worried the IRS Is Not at All Prepared For the 2026 Filing Season appeared first on Going Concern.

The Profession

Professional Accounting Coalition Opposes Draft Regulation Excluding Accounting from Professional Degree Designation [INSIDE Public Accounting]
American Institute of CPAs (AICPA), along with eight other professional accounting organizations representing approximately 1.5 million accounting and finance professionals, has sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Education opposing a draft regulation that would exclude accounting programs from a professional degree designation.

Audit

Pentagon fails eighth audit, targets 2028 to pass, Pentagon says [Reuters]
For the eighth year in a row, the Pentagon has failed as annual audit, the Department of Defense said on Friday, continuing a pattern of financial accountability problems that have drawn bipartisan criticism and emerged as a campaign issue. “The Department cannot resolve decades of war, neglect of America’s defense industrial base, and soaring national debt through unchecked spending.” Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said in a statement released with the audit.

PCAOB to Cut Chair’s Pay by More Than Half Amid SEC Pressure [Wall Street Journal]
The salary of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board’s chair would fall 52% while other board members would see a 42% drop under the auditing watchdog’s budget plan for next year, following greater scrutiny of pay from the Securities and Exchange Commission. The PCAOB on Friday voted unanimously to approve its 2026 budget, which will now head to the SEC for a final signoff.

Reps. Contend OCC Let College Dropout Perform Utility Audits, Challenge Another $1.5B of Customer Charges with Supreme Court [State of Oklahoma House of Representatives]
An employee of the Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC) who is believed to have dropped out of college as a sophomore has been performing audits of utility companies collectively worth more than a billion dollars, a brief filed Thursday at the Oklahoma Supreme Court reveals. Reps. Tom Gann, R-Inola, Kevin West, R-Moore, and Rick West, R-Heavener, are challenging OCC orders approving some $1.5 billion of 2023 fuel and purchased power costs incurred by monopoly public utilities ONG, OG&E and PSO. Their brief asks the Court to overturn the OCC’s approval orders and require new, lawful fuel audits and prudence reviews by outside, independent auditors and experts, instead of the OCC’s Public Utility Division (PUD) staff.

Consulting

McKinsey Plots Thousands of Job Cuts in Slowdown for Consulting Industry [Bloomberg]
As McKinsey & Co. partners gathered in the consulting giant’s birthplace in late October, Bob Sternfels delivered a rallying cry. “We will kick some ass as we start our second century,” the firm’s top executive told the thousands of attendees. But away from the 100-year festivities in Chicago, McKinsey bosses have been conveying a more pragmatic message: It’s time to get leaner. The firm’s leadership has discussed with managers in non-client-facing departments the need to cut about 10% of headcount across their business, according to people with knowledge of the matter. That could amount to a few thousand job cuts that McKinsey would stagger over the next 18 to 24 months, the people said, asking not to be identified because the details are private.

From McKinsey to PwC, here’s how elite consulting firms are racing to hire engineers — and train everyone else in AI [Business Insider]
As firms shift from slide decks and advisory work to multi-year AI-driven transformation projects, the profile of the ideal consultant at firms like Boston Consulting Group, McKinsey, and PwC is changing. “Going to a client and purely proposing an army of consultants doesn’t really work anymore,” Gert De Geyter, a former AI lead at Deloitte US, told Business Insider.

Law & Order

Senators Press FBI Over Failure to Investigate Epstein’s Lawyer and Accountant [Wall Street Journal]
A group of Democratic senators is asking the Justice Department to explain why federal law enforcement never interviewed Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime lawyer or in-house accountant when they investigated his sex-trafficking scheme. Attorney Darren Indyke and accountant Richard Kahn were officers of Epstein entities that obscured transactions, arranged cash for Epstein, made payments to women and facilitated marriages between women that turned out to be shams, The Wall Street Journal recently reported.

Education

Major Gift Establishes Endowed Accounting Professorship at UW [University of Wyoming]
A gift from Scott and Anne Macdonald to the University of Wyoming establishes the Macdonald Professorship in Accounting, an endowed professorship that supports faculty excellence in the Department of Accounting and Finance. “I have always valued my education at UW and the foundation it gave me to have a successful career,” says Scott Macdonald, a telecommunications executive. “Accounting is the science of business, and now, more than ever, it is important to develop the next generation of accounting professionals to help lead our country here in the 21st century. Anne and I hope this professorship will contribute to that goal.”

Tax

Thomas Foods family sues EY, Hood Sweeney for $50m over tax bungle [The Advertiser]
One of Australia’s richest families has launched explosive legal action seeking close to $50m in damages from two major accounting firms over their role in a tax bungle that’s left the family facing a multimillion-dollar tax bill. Adelaide’s Thomas family, behind the $4bn Thomas Foods International meat empire, and corporate entities it controls, accuse global accounting giant EY and Adelaide-based firm Hood Sweeney of serious failures in the administration of several family trusts that triggered tax penalties of more than $13m. The family is contesting the ATO penalties in the federal court, but in the meantime is seeking damages of $25m from EY and $22m from Hood Sweeney.

Tax the Rich, Like Me [New York Times]
Mitt Romney writes for the NYT opinion pages:
Typically, Democrats insist on higher taxes, and Republicans insist on lower spending. But given the magnitude of our national debt as well as the proximity of the cliff, both are necessary. DOGE took a slash-and-burn approach to budget cutting and failed spectacularly. Europe demonstrates that exorbitant taxes without spending restraint crushes economic vitality and thus speeds how fast the cliff arrives. On the spending-cut front, only entitlement reform would make a meaningful difference, since programs such as Social Security and Medicare represent the majority of government outlays. No one countenances cutting benefits for current or near retirees. But Social Security and Medicare benefits for future retirees should be means-tested — need-based, that is to say — and the starting age for entitlement payments should be linked to American life expectancy. And on the tax front, it’s time for rich people like me to pay more.

States Can Create or Expand Refundable Credits by Taxing Wealth, Addressing Federal Conformity [Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy]
State budgets are getting tighter and will become increasingly strained by changes from federal tax and spending cuts. But that shouldn’t stop the progress on refundable credits. States can find new revenue that supports these and other spending priorities by disconnecting from parts of the new Trump tax law or by taxing wealth. Both the District of Columbia and Pennsylvania recently “decoupled” from key provisions of the Trump tax law while also creating and expanding refundable credits. D.C. will disconnect from 13 parts of the tax law, raising almost $600 million in revenue over the next four years. With this extra cash, the District will fund a new CTC of up to $1,000 per child and raise its existing EITC to 100 percent of the federal credit.

Tax Alert: Executive Action on Marijuana Scheduling and the Potential Sunset of IRC Section 280E [Current Federal Tax Developments]
A significant development in federal drug policy occurred on December 18, 2025, with the issuance of a new Executive Order prioritizing the rescheduling of marijuana. For CPAs with clients in the state-legal cannabis sector, this action signals a potential and expeditious end to the onerous tax burdens imposed by Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Section 280E. This article details the new Executive Order, reviews the proposed rule it addresses, and analyzes the technical tax implications regarding Schedule I status and the deductibility of business expenses.

Trump economist predicts ‘biggest refund cycle ever,’ massive checks ahead [FOX Business]
Practitioners, what say you?
A leading contender to become President Trump’s next Federal Reserve chair said the administration expects larger tax refunds and higher take-home pay next year, as many Americans continue to express concerns about affordability. “We are going to see the biggest refund cycle ever in the history of America, and people are going to get massive refund checks,” National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said in an interview on FOX Business’ “Varney & Co.” on Thursday. “We’re expecting just that part of it alone to be worth a couple-thousand-dollar refund … the numbers are striking.”

State Taxation of Data Centers [Tax Foundation]
This paper examines how states competing for data centers approach these different tax choices and how tax policy influences data center investment. It outlines the proper tax treatment of the industry, then offers a 12-state comparison of state and local data center taxation.

The post Friday Footnotes: McKinsey Readies For Layoffs; Tax the Rich, Says Rich Guy | 12.19.25 appeared first on Going Concern.

On December 16, NASBA received and processed the following scores from the AICPA: pic.twitter.com/odgBZrv2Ct

— NASBA (@NASBA) December 16, 2025

The core sections — AUD, FAR, and REG — in this batch are for exams taken between November 16th to December 8th. So in a period of about three weeks, CPA exam candidates sat for 10,528 sections (fun math: that averages out to 478 exam sections a day). That feels like a lot, doesn’t it? It’s 2,937 more exam sections than the prior score release period:

On November 25, NASBA received and processed the following scores from the AICPA: pic.twitter.com/iiUeOyAQVC

— NASBA (@NASBA) November 25, 2025

There’s a final set of 2025 scores left, the last stragglers up to December 31 should get their scores on or around January 13.

Way to end the year strong, future CPAs.

The post A Whole Lot of People Squeezed in One Last CPA Exam Section in 2025 appeared first on Going Concern.

New hires at PwC will be doing the roles that managers are doing within three years, because they will be overseeing AI performing routine, repetitive audit tasks, Jenn Kosar, AI assurance leader at PwC, told Business Insider in an interview.

“People are going to walk in the door almost instantaneously becoming reviewers and supervisors,” she said.

PwC, one of the “Big Four” accounting and consulting firms, is deploying AI to take over tasks like data gathering and processing. This is leaving entry-level employees free to focus on “more advanced and value-added work,” Kosar said.

“Three years from now, we will feel like the first years are functioning more like fourth years,” she said. “We will look back and say, ‘Okay, these young people feel more like the managers of my day.'”

RemindMe! 3 years.

Fast-forward a few months and The Times is reporting that PwC across the pond is struggling big-time to turn lockdown-damaged young people into consultants. Forget training them to be managers, they’re having to train them on the basics. The very, very basics.

PwC will give its graduates training in “resilience” to toughen them up for careers as management consultants.

The Big Four bean counter is hoping to improve the confidence of its recruits with a new approach designed to cultivate “human skills”, Phillippa O’Connor, the firm’s chief people officer, said.

“Quite often we are struck that the graduates that join us — who are meeting all the cognitive tests we’ve set — they don’t always have the resilience, they don’t always have the human skills that we want to deploy onto the client work we pass them towards,” she said.

“We’ve really doubled down, particularly [with] this year’s graduates, we’re doing a whole load of separate training in their first six months with us, really about resilience, really about some of those communication skills.

“There are real challenges for some of our young people in the context of a post-Covid environment. I can only be led to think that [the pandemic] has reduced some of that … resilience that they build through [education], because that’s really what they’ve been through before they join us.”

Oh, Phillippa. You guys already knew this was a serious issue affecting your future talent. See: PwC UK Interns to Undergo Intensive Training in the Ancient Art of Pointless Water Cooler Chitchat and PwC UK Has a Soft Spot For Students Who Got Wrecked By the Pandemic.

And another:

Maybe I’m getting old but I can’t help but feel bad for these kids getting thrown straight into the deep end. Their formative years were obliterated by lockdowns, they’re fighting for a shrinking number of entry level positions and can see with their own two eyes the mountains of work being sent overseas instead of being used to train them. They’re expected to adapt to the dogmatic environment of Big 4 but the rituals of yore meant to acclimate them to this are gone. No duh they’re struggling.

The post From ‘Think Like a Manager’ to ‘Please Make Eye Contact’: PwC Adjusts Expectations appeared first on Going Concern.

All revenues and growth rates have been restated on a continued operations basis, to exclude FY24 and FY25 revenues from businesses sold or from which KPMG exited during this period, including the divestment of RYDGE Conseil from KPMG France in June 2025. On a full basis, FY25 revenues are US$40.2 billion vs. FY24 revenues of US$38.4 billion.

Last year:

“Our results show that the multi-billion dollar investments we’ve made are driving sustainable growth across KPMG globally,” said Bill Thomas, KPMG International Global Chairman and CEO. “I am proud of our teams’ commitment to delivering high-quality services and making a positive impact for clients, people, and society. At a time of unprecedented change and volatility, KPMG’s combination of deep local presence and strong global connectivity means we are well positioned to support clients with highly complex, interconnected challenges — both now and into the future.”

As with last year’s revenue, Tax & Legal was the strongest of the service lines. We’ll let them tell it:

• Tax & Legal Services grew by 7.5%, driven by client demand for our AI-enabled managed service and transformation capability, and assisting clients in navigating global tax reform.
• Audit grew 6.0%, underpinned by continued investments in audit quality and transformative AI capabilities, and growing demand for assurance services.
• Advisory grew 2.9%, with continued demand for our managed services and rapid growth in the number of client projects delivered jointly with alliance partners this year.

Here’s revenue by service line (in USD billions) and growth. Shout-out to KPMG for including these tables in their revenue news releases so we don’t have to make tables by scratch:

Growth by region saw Americas up the most at 5.6% with Asia Pacific and EMA tied at 4.7% each. Not great, not awful.

The chart below shows regional performance (in USD billions) and growth:

KPMG ended their 2025 fiscal year with a worldwide headcount of 276,030, slightly up from 2024’s 275,288. And a breakdown by region that shows Americas and Asia Pacific shrunk.

And partners, directors, and others with an intriguing footnote at the bottom of the chart. Can you guess what it is?

The post KPMG Reports $39.8 Billion in Revenue for 2025 (With Several Asterisks) appeared first on Going Concern.

The UK audit regulator is looking into EY not rotating partners on the Shell audit, reports Reuters:

Britain’s Financial Reporting Council said on Monday it had opened an investigation into Ernst & Young’s audit of Shell’s 2024 financial statements over potential breaches of audit partner rotation rules.

Shell said in a July regulatory filing that it breached UK rules on audit partner rotation set by the Financial Reporting Council, which require listed companies to change the lead audit partner every five to seven years and impose cooling-off periods before they can return.

At the time, the company also said it would amend its 2023 and 2024 annual reports after auditor EY failed to comply with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rules on partner rotation, though its financial statements would remain unchanged.

Our earlier article:

I have a feeling Gene Marks’ recent article in The Guardian will not age well if offshoring keeps going the way it is:

When I was in college and didn’t know what to do with my life, my dad offered this career advice: be a certified public accountant. Why?

“Because,” he said. “People will always need their taxes done. They’ll always need financial advice. With a CPA license, you can always hang out a shingle and put food on the table.”

It was good advice, and it’s still relevant today. So relevant, it’s the same advice I gave to my kids when they reached the same age and were equally unsure about their futures. They don’t have to become CPAs (one did). But they should become professionals licensed by the state. It’s the best job security ever.

New Jersey is joining a coalition of 20 states in suing the Trump Administration over H1-B fees, said the state’s AG via press release:

H-1B visas allow U.S. employers to hire highly skilled foreign national workers in roles that require specialized skills, including as physicians, researchers, nurses, teachers, and other vital workers, to alleviate nationwide labor shortages.

“The Trump Administration’s illegal imposition of an exorbitant $100,000 fee on those seeking H-1B visas would cause significant pain for New Jerseyans, hurting our best-in-the-nation education system, reducing access to critical health care, and setting back cutting-edge medical and scientific research,” said Attorney General Platkin. “Because of this senseless and unlawful policy, our residents would see longer wait times in emergency rooms, lengthy delays for medical appointments, and more crowded classrooms. There is no rational or legal basis for this unlawful change, and we look forward to blocking this unlawful policy in court.”

An accounting firm in The Philippines has put out a plea to help find their missing bookkeeper who was supposed to get married yesterday:

On Sunday, December 14, Upcloud Accounting said their 30-year-old bookkeeper of more than six years, Sherra De Juan, has been missing since December 10. She was scheduled to get married on December 14 at around 4 p.m. in North Fairview, Quezon City.

“Sherra has been an integral part of Upcloud Accounting for more than six years. She is not only an exceptional professional and a true asset to our team, but also a person deeply loved by our clients and everyone she works with,” the firm said on Facebook.

“Her kindness, dedication, and warm presence have touched so many of us, and it is heartbreaking to face each day without her,” it added.

Companies are spending 93% on tech and only 7% on people, says Deloitte CTO Bill Briggs in this interview with Forbes:

In boardrooms around the globe, a specific anxiety is taking hold. It isn’t just the fear of robots taking jobs; it is the paralyzing worry of “buyer’s remorse” in a market moving at breakneck speed. According to Bill Briggs, Deloitte’s chief technology officer, as we move from AI experimentation to impact/value at scale, that fear is driving a lopsided investment strategy where companies are pouring 93% of their AI budget into technology and only 7% into the people expected to use it.

People surveyed by PwC had this to say about AI use at work and how it impacts certain aspects of their job:

Let’s give this smaller firm in Pennsylvania a little attention for their recent merger, and it’s not just because the firm being merged in shares an acronym with “Resting Bitch Face.”

Effective January 1, 2026, Ross Buehler Falk & Company, LLP (RBF) will be joining Brown Plus, adding 24 team members to the Firm.

“Joining Brown Plus allows us to expand our capacity to serve clients and deliver advisory services that will complement the services we already provide,” said Jeffrey Bleacher, Managing Partner at RBF. “When we decided on this merger, we knew that we wanted a Firm that shared our client service philosophy and had a great culture, which made choosing Brown Plus an easy decision for us. They are well-known in our community for caring for their clients and their people, which is what we want for the continued legacy of our Firm.”

Founded in 1985, RBF has been committed to providing clients with innovative solutions tailored to their business and financial goals while building long-term relationships based on personal attention and integrity. The Firm has strong roots in the Lancaster community and celebrated their 40th year in business this year.

Brown Plus is #202 on the INSIDE Public Accounting Top 200 with $26,172,205 in revenue.

And in bigger firm merger news, Baker Tilly announced today that Berkowitz Pollack Brant is joining their squad:

Advisory, tax and assurance firm Baker Tilly plans to acquire Berkowitz Pollack Brant Advisors + CPAs (Berkowitz Pollack Brant), one of Florida’s largest and most respected accounting and advisory firms. The planned acquisition will establish Baker Tilly’s presence in South Florida, one of the nation’s fastest-growing and most internationally connected markets, while deepening its reach along the East Coast and expanding specialized offerings for clients.

Upon completion of the transaction, Berkowitz Pollack Brant Chief Executive Officer Joseph L. Saka, CPA/PFS, will join Baker Tilly as managing principal – Florida.

Founded in 1980 and headquartered in Miami, Berkowitz Pollack Brant has earned a national reputation for its strength in real estate taxation and for advising high-net-worth individuals and families, both in the U.S. and abroad. Its multilingual team — fluent in nearly a dozen languages — will expand Baker Tilly’s ability to serve clients with cross-border needs.

The Tax Justice Network is asking for gift tax chaos around the world with a new petition to make Elon Musk the richest man in the world (in the Scroogist sense, that is):

A new global petition is seeking to make Elon Musk the “richest man in town” this Christmas by inviting him to gift 44% of the wealth he owns to the children of the world.1

This would be enough to buy every living child under the age of 18 a $90 gift card – all 2.4 billion of them – and stop more than 100 million children from going hungry this Christmas, while keeping Elon Musk the richest man alive, the Tax Justice Network says.

The petition states the signatories would also settle for a 2% wealth tax on the superrich.

Alex Cobham, chief executive at the Tax Justice Network, said: “We’re obviously poking a little fun here but the point is to show how extreme the concentration of wealth has become. Depending on where you are in the world, if you earn the average wage, you’d need to work anywhere from 20 times to a thousand times longer than humans have existed to earn as much wealth as Elon Musk has collected.

Seems like that’s a good place to end. If you have a tip or a story for us, reach me via email or text. Have a good week or else.

The post Monday Morning Accounting News Brief: EY Earns an Investigation For Falling to Rotate; Companies Spending on Tech, Not People | 12.15.25 appeared first on Going Concern.

CPE

FINAL REMINDER TO SUBMIT COMMENTS: NASBA and the AICPA released for public comment an exposure draft of proposed changes to the Statement on Standards for Continuing Professional Education (CPE) Programs (Standards) on September 17, 2025.

Interested parties are encouraged to…

— NASBA (@NASBA) December 11, 2025

Fraud

FedRAMP at the center of DoJ’s latest cyber fraud allegations [Federal News Network]
A former Accenture employee has been charged with allegedly misleading federal officials about the security of a cloud platform used by the Army and other agencies. In an indictment secured by the Justice Department this week, Danielle Hillmer was charged with multiple counts of fraud over allegations that she concealed a cloud platform’s noncompliance with security controls required by the General Services Administration’s Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP). DoJ’s press release on the indictment states GSA’s Office of the Inspector General has been involved in the investigation.

Walz announces fraud-prevention overhaul in Minnesota [St. Cloud Times]
Minnesota has drawn national attention for its struggles to prevent fraud. On Dec. 12, Gov. Tim Walz launched a new preventative effort to combat the issue. Walz announced a partnership with WayPoint, Inc., a Minnesota-based company that specializes in forensic accounting and financial investigations, according to a release.

$2.2M COVID relief fraud scheme: 10 Floridians among 11 indicted [FOX 13 Tampa Bay]
Prosecutors say the false loan applications listed companies that were barely functioning or completely inactive. The conspirators mentioned that they provided transportation, healthcare and food services to the fake small businesses. The group tried to make the SBA believe the small businesses were real by filing false tax returns, and by listing fake employees, fraudulent business revenue and costs, officials said.

Black Lives Matter leader in OK accused of misusing millions [USA Today]
A local Oklahoma Black Lives Matter leader was indicted by a federal grand jury for charges of wire fraud and embezzlement after accusations she used funds meant for social justice causes for her own personal benefit, authorities said. She is accused of using the funds on recreational travel to Jamaica and the Dominican Republic, food and groceries for herself and her children, retail shopping, a personal vehicle and six properties in Oklahoma City.

Tech Support Scammers Stole $85,000 From Him. His Bank Declined to Refund Him. [New York Times]
David Welles, a retired lawyer, had been struggling with his new iPad for hours when he tried to call tech support. But instead of dialing Microsoft to help him connect his email, the phone number he found on Google put him in touch with cybercriminals. The smooth talking scammer who answered called himself Alex and built a rapport with Mr. Welles, assuring him that he could resolve his tech headaches. Before too long, Mr. Welles downloaded remote access software, both on his iPhone and his laptop, allowing the scammer to burrow deep inside of his devices, where he stored his username and passwords on his hard drive. “A big mistake,” said Mr. Welles, who is 87. “All of a sudden, on the laptop, I could see it going blank, and little lights flashing around.”

Do Kwon Gets 15 Years in Prison for $40 Billion Terraform Fraud [Bloomberg]
Terraform Labs Pte. co-founder and onetime fugitive Do Kwon was sentenced to 15 years in prison for the fraud that led to the company’s $40 billion collapse in 2022 and triggered a series of cascading crises in the cryptocurrency world.

AI

Amazon Prime Video pulls AI-powered recaps after Fallout flub [The Verge]
Dunno about you but we’re excited for the next season of Fallout. Too bad Amazon totally bungled this pre-season hype.
The feature is supposed to use AI to analyze a show’s key plot points and sum it all in a bite-sized video, complete with an AI voiceover and clips from the series. But in its season one recap of Fallout, Prime Video incorrectly stated that one of The Ghoul’s (Walton Goggins) flashbacks is set in “1950s America” rather than the year 2077, as spotted earlier by Games Radar.

Deloitte CEO On 2026 AI Plans, Removing AI ‘Fear’ And AWS Partnership [CRN]
Deloitte Consulting CEO Jason Salzetti wants 2026 to be the year when people move away from the fear of AI and embrace its enormous opportunity, which is already driving huge productivity gains for Deloitte customers. “2026 will be the year where people really realize the value of humans in this AI equation,” said Salzetti.

KPMG International becomes first Big Four international entity to attain ISO 42001 certification for AI Management Systems [KPMG]
KPMG International announced today that it has achieved the ISO 42001:2023 certification, the world’s first international standard for AI Management Systems. KPMG International is the first of the Big Four’s international entities to receive this accolade, underscoring the firm’s global leadership in responsible, ethical, and trustworthy AI. This achievement builds on the momentum of ISO 42001 certifications already earned by KPMG member firms in Australia, Spain, India, and the USA.

Audit

Audit Board to Examine Quality Safeguards at PE-Backed Firms [Bloomberg Tax]
The US audit regulator will scrutinize safeguards meant to deliver effective audits as part of routine inspections of private equity-backed accounting firms, an agency official said Tuesday. Outside ownership introduces threats that could undermine auditor independence and weaken firm culture. Profit pressures could reduce audit team staffing and other resources, said Christine Gunia, inspections director for the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. Board staff will focus on those and other risks during inspections of firms that have cut PE deals and those considering such investments, Gunia said at an American Institute of CPAs conference in Washington.

Acting PCAOB chair defends embattled PCAOB [CFO Brew]
“I believe each of these pillars has been a watershed moment for investors in the capital markets. If we consider what life would be like with their absence, I strongly believe investors would be worse off,” acting chair George Botic, a CPA who’s been with the PCAOB since 2003, said.

UK’s FRC probes EY for unauthorised audit report issuance [International Accounting Bulletin]
The FRC underlined that starting an investigation should not be interpreted as confirmation of wrongdoing.

Tax

CA ANZ formally reprimands accountant who took 4 years to file client’s tax return [Accounting Times]
Last Wednesday (3 December), CA ANZ’s professional conduct committee issued a formal reprimand to a member for failing to lodge a client’s 2019 tax return for over four years. The CA ANZ member was the director of an accounting firm. The committee found that they failed to complete and lodge their client’s 2019 business tax return for almost five years, despite repeated requests. The return was lodged, eventually, in April 2024.

California IRC conformity update – CA 109 e-filing mandate, waiver guidelines, and NOL limitation decoupling [PwC]
Beginning with tax years starting on or after January 1, 2025, California mandates that exempt organizations subject to the unrelated business income tax electronically file Form 109, California Exempt Organization Business Income Tax Return. Organizations should take the necessary steps to comply with this electronic filing mandate.

The post Friday Footnotes: Fallout Flub Shows Us What Can Go Wrong With AI; PCAOB Takes a Look at PE | 12.12.25 appeared first on Going Concern.

Ready for a render? At least we think this is a render.

Here’s how the QBC website describes the digs:

1111 South Tryon is a best-in-class highrise trophy office tower that will deliver contemporary architecture with floor
plates [sic?] that meet the precise needs of tomorrow’s office space. This includes column-free, rectilinear lease spans with
ideal core-to-glass dimensions, landlord-provided privacy bathrooms, wellness rooms, and more. QBC also offers over 409
luxury rental residences and over 30,000 SF of dynamic retail space located on the ground level and level 10 connected
to the outdoor amenity space above the podium.

According to Axion, developers Riverside Investment & Development will be reducing the number of planned apartments in the development to make room for all the office space. EY’s neighbors will include Charlotte law firm Moore & Van Allen, California insurance company Pacific Life, and private equity firm Pamilco Capital.

EY has about 2,000 people working in Charlotte currently.

The post EY Inks a Deal For Two Floors in This Shiny Charlotte Building appeared first on Going Concern.

Federal News Network is reporting that open hardship requests have been abruptly closed without resolution:

The IRS is setting new limits on telework for employees who are facing a variety of temporary hardships.

The agency said in an internal memo Monday that hardship-based requests for full-time telework that employees submitted, but were still awaiting approval, will be “closed,” effective immediately.

The memo, obtained by Federal News Network, cites the Trump administration’s return-to-office mandate for federal employees as the reason for the policy change.

“As a result of return to office, the current hardship program process and approvals will be adjusted to ensure compliance,” the memo states.

The IRS currently allows for up to five telework days per calendar year. Per the federal Office of Personnel Management, telework is distinct from remote work in that telework refers to arrangements where the employee is expected to report to work both at an agency worksite and alternative worksite on a regular and recurring basis each pay period whereas remote work does not include this expectation. We’ve embedded the National Treasury Employees Union’s 2022 National Agreement, which includes specifics on telework policies, below for your reading pleasure (warning: it’s…a lot).

The Trump admin’s January return to in-person work order states specifically:

Heads of all departments and agencies in the executive branch of Government shall, as soon as practicable, take all necessary steps to terminate remote work arrangements and require employees to return to work in-person at their respective duty stations on a full-time basis, provided that the department and agency heads shall make exemptions they deem necessary.

According to some IRS employees who spoke to FNN, past telework accommodations have been granted for things like “employees facing domestic violence or employees who are immunocompromised following organ transplants.”

All’s not lost though. IRS employees can still apply for temporary telework arrangements lasting no longer than 90 days, with <30 day arrangements needing approval from the overlords of human capital and longer requests requiring approval from the chief operating officer (currently that’s Dottie Romo, you can find some discussion on her here).

Are you guys OK over there? This all sounds like a nightmare.

The post Good Luck Teleworking If You Still Work at the IRS appeared first on Going Concern.

This phenomenon led to observers of the profession (particularly the cynical ones) wondering if the lack of competition and choice in the market could impact audit for the worse but according to this recent working paper by Will Ciconte, assistant professor of finance at the University of Kansas and co-author Andrew Kitto of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, it may not be a bad thing after all. Keeping in mind of course that this is research and unlike shitposts you read on Reddit, should not be taken as absolute, indisputable fact. Also keeping in mind that the researchers’ data came from a sample from the PCAOB’s Annual Data Request (ADR) database that led to a panel dataset of all Big 4 engagements involving SEC issuers from 2008-2016 so we’re not talking about Armanino or CLA circa 2023.

The abstract:

This study investigates the relation between audit competition, audit quality, and auditor labor hours. Using proprietary data on auditor realization rates, we construct new measures of competition based on theory predicting that abnormal profits will quickly disappear when competition is high but persist over multiple periods when competition is low. We find consistent evidence of persistent abnormal profits among U.S. Big 4 engagements and that individual offices earn persistent abnormal returns suggesting that the market is not perfectly competitive. Examining the consequences of lower competition, we find that profit persistence is negatively related to audit hours and positively related to audit quality. Although we are cautious about inferring causality, our findings suggest that lower competition is associated with more efficient and effective audits.

“We don’t find any evidence that a lack of competition is problematic,” he said in this KU article. “It turns out that auditors who appear to be operating in less competitive markets are more efficient and more effective.”

Peep the article:

Their study focuses on profit persistence (i.e., profits are “sticky” over time). They find certain audit offices have abnormal profits and there does not seem to be enough competitive pressure to drive down those profits over time. This provides evidence supporting concerns expressed by the audit regulator that the audit market lacks competition.

“We interpret the evidence as suggesting auditors with persistent profits are just providing better audits,” he said.

For the main analysis, Ciconte and Kitto measure competition using regressions of abnormal profitability in the current year on abnormal profitability in the prior year. (Abnormal profitability refers to the difference between the profitability for a given audit engagement compared to all engagements in the same year.)

Ciconte said, “We use this measure to explore whether higher profit persistence, which we use as a measure for low competition, is related to auditor effort and quality. We test this by regressing auditor hours, financial statement restatements, PCAOB inspection findings and discretionary accruals on our competition measure.”

Any analysis of audit firm competition wouldn’t be complete without getting some quotes from the researchers on the four firms that together serve 49.7% percent of all SEC-registered companies and 89.5% of large accelerated filers. Don’t worry, they did that.

“For many of these companies, they can’t get an auditor that’s outside of the Big Four because there’s a need to invest in technology and knowledge and skills to serve the client,” Ciconte said.

“There’s this concern, ‘We only have these four firms that can serve this pool of clients. They don’t have an incentive to do a good job.’ We say, ‘Let’s see what competition looks like inside these markets. And then if we are detecting that there appears to be less competition, what are the implications for stakeholders?’”

Given that Ciconte found a lack of competition wasn’t problematic, then wouldn’t the audit quality be the same if a company were to switch to any of the other Big Four?

“Because these auditors are able to develop skill and expertise which they can then exploit, this creates a barrier so another firm can’t just come in and say, ‘Hey, you should come with us.’ Because switching off that auditor will be costly to the clients. The clients are willing to stick with them because they figured out a way to develop their processes, to get the right people in place to do good work and to get to a quality answer that is not replicable by a competitor,” he said.

We trust the comment section can offer their theories on the variety in audit quality across firms that are otherwise quite similar should they feel compelled to do so. Feel free to throw out any other observations or thoughts you may have floating around in your head after reading this paper.

Profit Persistence in the U.S. Audit Market was published in Journal of Accounting Research in November 2025.

The post Fewer Auditors in the Game, Perfectly Fine Audits? Sure, Why Not appeared first on Going Concern.

Andersen is for sure definitely imminently going public, reports Bloomberg:

Andersen Group Inc., the US arm of the professional services firm that succeeded the shuttered accounting giant Arthur Andersen, is seeking to raise $176 million in an initial public offering.

The company plans to market 11 million shares for $14 to $16 each, according to its filing Monday with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

The UK government wants to sniff out corrupt accountants (and lawyers, and bankers), announcing the plan this morning:

Corrupt insiders and criminal networks will be brought to justice by a strengthened specialist police unit and tougher safeguards across the public sector, as government unveils a landmark anti-corruption strategy.

Launching today, the new strategy sets out how the UK will shut out corrupt actors, disrupt dirty money and restore integrity in public life. It targets corrupt networks at home and abroad to strengthen national security while driving growth.

The National Crime Agency will be in on it:

Action to root out corruption in the UK will step up through a major expansion of the Domestic Corruption Unit (DCU) based in the City of London Police. Backed by £15 million in new funding, specialist officers will take on more investigations and support local forces to detect and disrupt bribery and money laundering networks nationwide – building on probes this year into corrupt actors across local councils, housing and financial services.

The strategy will target professional enablers – the corrupt lawyers, accountants and bankers – who help dirty money flow. By expanding the use of sanctions and scaling up the NCA’s capability and coordination, enablers will be hunted down and prosecuted for moving criminal profits.

PwC Canada is still on the audit deficiency train after receiving perfect scores in earlier years and getting busted sharing answers on internal training during those flawless years. The good news is that deficiency rate is down from the last inspection. Reports Canadian Accountant:

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board in the United States found deficiencies in almost half of the audits it inspected of PricewaterhouseCoopers in Canada. According to the latest inspection report from the PCAOB, the Canadian accounting firm lowered its deficiency rate from 63 to 43 per cent in two years, for the seven audits inspected by the US audit watchdog

Across the pond, non-Big 4 firms find themselves getting a bigger bite of the PIE audit market. Says ICAEW:

The UK audit market continues to diversify according to the Financial Reporting Council’s (FRC) latest Audit Market and Competition Update.

Non-Big Four audit firms were responsible for 40% of all public interest entity (PIE) audits in 2024, up 1% from 2023, and almost doubling since 2020, when their market share was 22%. That includes 13% of FTSE 350 audit engagements, which is relatively stable compared to the rest of the market.

A years-long fraud perpetrated by a 55-year-old payroll clerk at a small business reminds us of the golden rule: don’t have just a single person in charge of this stuff.

An account manager stole over £240,000 from the company she worked for while it was forced to make redundancies and struggled to make ends meet following the pandemic. Sharon Wathan, 55, of Lon-yr-helyg, Bridgend, has been jailed for the offences. Nigel Fryer, prosecuting, told Newport Crown Court how Wathan had worked for CMU Management for a substantial period of over 24 years. The court heard how she ran the payroll management and had sole responsibility over invoices.

This stuff really is Audit 101. Hello, Opportunity:

During sentencing, Judge Matthew Porter-Bryant said: “It started as an unsophisticated matter and simply spiralled. You in effect did not realise quite how large the fraud had grown. You persisted with it because you could get away with it, you persisted for a number of years. It may have been opportunistic at the beginning but it certainly wasn’t years later when you were caught.”

Wathan has been sentenced to two years and six months in prison.

The AICPA does some advocating on passthrough entities, Journal of Accountancy has the scoop:

The AICPA is seeking changes to tax reporting requirements for partnerships and S corporations, collectively known as passthrough entities (PTEs), including more notice for changes to those requirements and more time to respond.

The recommendations, made in a letter sent Thursday, encourage Treasury and the IRS “to adopt a proactive vetting process that promotes transparency, simplification, and coordination to ease the administrative burden of PTE reporting,” Michelle Zou, the AICPA’s senior manager–Tax Policy & Advocacy, said in a news release. “While these improvements would benefit all areas of tax, they are especially critical for PTEs, where the administrative challenges are particularly detrimental.”

Thomson Reuters’ 2025 State of the Corporate Tax Department report has dropped and the headline is that 58% of tax departments are underresourced (up from 51% in 2024). With pretty charts!

That’s all I have for you today. Stay warm out there, you.

The post Monday Morning Accounting News Brief: Andersen Prepares an IPO; UK Goes After Corrupt Accountants | 12.8.25 appeared first on Going Concern.

AI

Young job seekers most impacted by rising AI use in the workplace [Korea JoongAng Daily]
A partner at one of Korea’s top four accounting firms put it bluntly: “An AI can finish in one hour what would take three junior accountants eight hours to complete. The time saved using AI can be spent on other projects, and labor costs have dropped significantly.”

Partner responsible for Deloitte AI bungle reportedly leaving the firm [Accounting Times]
Eddie Senatore, ex-Deloitte partner and principal of Eddie Senatore Advisory, said high-profile scandals affecting large accounting firms had tipped the playing field towards smaller and mid-tier companies. “The PwC and Deloitte AI scandals have shattered the idea that bigger is better and may have led to questioning service standards,” he said. “Therefore, it is arguable that the barriers to entry for smaller players have lowered. Now boutique players have a compelling argument.”

Australian Lawmakers Question Deloitte and KPMG on AI Misuse [Bloomberg Tax]
Australia’s Department of Finance is asking questions related to Deloitte’s use of AI in government contract work, and about the technology’s role in exam cheating at KPMG, officials told senators during a set of hearings. The department is reviewing Deloitte Australia’s listing as an approved supplier for government contracts after numerous errors generated by AI were uncovered in an A$439,000 ($289,000) report for the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations, Deputy Secretary Tania Rishniw said during a Senate Economics Legislation Committee hearing Wednesday.

KPMG auditors caught using AI to cheat on tests [Financial Review]
It raises a broader question: given that test cheating is widely accepted as rampant at consulting firms (it’s hard to know if KPMG has had the most incidents, or just the misfortune to be publicly caught the most times), where else is this happening?

Advocacy

FICPA backs bills modernizing accountant licensure during ‘CPA Day at the Capitol’ [Florida Politics]
The Florida Institute of Certified Public Accountants drew more than 150 CPAs to Tallahassee this week for its annual CPA Day at the Capitol, marking the largest advocacy event in the organization’s history. FICPA was at the Capitol to support the Institute’s priority legislation for 2026, HB 333 by Rep. Omar Blanco and SB 364 by Sen. Joe Gruters, who is a CPA by trade.

Survey Says

Overall economic view slides, but CPAs feel better about their companies [Journal of Accountancy]
While optimism among business leaders about the U.S. economy continues to lag, confidence in their own companies increased in the fourth-quarter AICPA and CIMA Economic Outlook Survey. Just 28% of 241 CEOs, CFOs, controllers, and other CPA decision-makers surveyed in November said they were optimistic about the U.S. economy for the next 12 months, down from 34% the previous quarter and from 67% at this time a year ago. However, 41% were optimistic about their own companies, a rise from 37% in the third quarter but also lower than the fourth quarter of 2024 (53%).

Press Releases

Gray, Gray & Gray Reaffirms Commitment to Remaining Independent [Gray, Gray & Gray]
Gray, Gray & Gray, LLP, an accounting and business consulting firm based in Canton, MA, has issued a statement reaffirming its intention to remain independent amidst a growing trend of industry consolidation. “While many of our peers across the accounting industry have made the choice to be acquired or merge into a larger firm, we strongly believe that our independence provides enormous value for our clients and the talented professionals who comprise our team,” said James DeLeo, MBA, CPA/MST, the Leading Partner at Gray, Gray & Gray. “We answer directly to our clients, not a corporate board or distant office. We stand alone so our clients don’t have to.”

Audit

PCAOB imposes penalty on TPS Thayer for audit failures [International Accounting Bulletin]
The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) has issued a penalty against US accounting firm TPS Thayer for lapses during five audits involving two companies with main operations in China. PCAOB found that TPS Thayer did not sufficiently plan the five audits of these two companies or supervise a public accounting firm (Firm A), which is also in China.

Law & Order

Colby accountant sentenced to 4 years in prison for defrauding clients out of more than $400K [KWCH (Kansas)]
In October 2022, after defrauded cleints noticed discrepancies and confronted Quintin Flanigan, the Justice Department said he “took several actions to conceal his crimes, including removing Middle Finger Ranch from his personal account.” “The name of Mr. Flanagin’s fictitious ranch speaks for itself. After stabbing his family in the back, Flanagin lied to their faces. When the victims directly questioned him about accounting inconsistencies, he fabricated convoluted flowcharts and blamed third parties for the fraudulent checks,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan A. Kriegshauser in a U.S. Department of Justice news release announcing the sentencing. “In his hubris, Flanagin thought he could outsmart federal investigators and forensic accountants. He was wrong. My office will continue to use the full force of the federal government to prosecute financial crimes.”

Santander agrees to $26 million settlement in France tax fraud case [Reuters]
Spanish bank Santander has agreed to settle a tax fraud case opened in France in 2011 on with a payment of 22.5 million euros ($26.18 million), the Paris prosecutor said on Friday in a statement.

Authorities offer reward for tips on suspect’s hairstyle in Tulsa fraud investigation [KTUL]
Authorities are curious about the suspect’s hair, questioning whether it is a wig, dyed, or natural.

The post Friday Footnotes: KPMGers Bring Cheating Into the 2020s By Using AI; Deloitte Partner Graciously Slides Under the Bus | 12.05.25 appeared first on Going Concern.

Yes, ladies and gents, Accenture has allegedly slapped a new name on its 800,000 employees and it’s as dumb as you’d expect it to be. “Reinventors.”

Said The Guardian:

The consultancy’s chief executive, Julie Sweet, has already started referring to staff by the new label and the business is now pushing for the term to be used more widely.

The “reinventor” label came from a reorganisation across Accenture in June, which merged its strategy, consulting, creative, technology and operations divisions into a single unit called “Reinvention Services”.

Everyone but Accenture could have foreseen the reaction this would get, which is maybe why companies aren’t as eager to line their pockets in exchange for business advice these days. “The term itself seems like the lovechild of a thesaurus and a motivational poster in a WeWork lobby,” reads one LinkedIn post.

“What this company has been reinventing all along last decade is reinvent its workforce from high cost regions to low cost regions. Nothing more nothing less,” said this Reddit comment.

Do we think this will stick? Will Big 4 follow suit and give their PPT-wielding changemakers slick (stupid) names? Is there anyone out there who takes this seriously?

The post Accenture Tests How Far Corporate Renaming Can Go Before Clients Start Mocking You appeared first on Going Concern.

This means RSM’s equity partners are earning as much as some at the Big Four firms. EY equity partners this year took home an average of £787,000. PwC and Deloitte partners pocketed £862,000 and over £1mn respectively. KPMG, which is yet to report for its most recent financial year, handed its equity partners an average of £816,000 in the 12 months to September 2024.

RSM UK reported (unaudited) revenue of £594 million for 2025, up nearly 10% from prior year.

Record pay for RSM partners reaches levels earned at Big Four [Financial Times]

The post RSM Partners Finally Get to Feel What It’s Like to Be a Big 4 Bigshot appeared first on Going Concern.

According to the press release, accounting is a good place to start and will serve as the model for other industries should they pull this off:

OpenAI and Thrive Holdings are partnering to accelerate enterprise AI adoption.

Thrive Holdings invests in, acquires, and builds businesses that benefit from long-term, technology-driven transformation.

OpenAI and Thrive Holdings will work together to drive direct, scalable impact across core enterprise operations. The initial focus is accounting and IT services because these functions run high-volume, rules-driven, workflow-heavy processes where OpenAI’s platform can drive immediate benefits.

OpenAI will embed research, product, and engineering teams inside Thrive Holdings’ companies to boost speed, accuracy, and cost efficiency while strengthening service quality. The work will establish a repeatable model that can expand across other industries.

Forgive us if we don’t get overly excited about this prospect what with the profession’s entry level ladder having been burnt to a crisp in just the last few years, something like 70% of work being sent overseas, half the top 20 in the hands of private equity, and various other efforts to enshittify the accounting profession well under way. Anyway, obligatory press release quotes:

“AI is redefining how enterprises are built and deliver value for customers,” said Brad Lightcap, COO of OpenAI. “This partnership with Thrive Holdings is about demonstrating what’s possible when frontier AI research and deployment are rapidly deployed across entire organizations to revolutionize how businesses work and engage with customers. We hope this partnership serves as a model for how businesses and industries around the world can deeply partner with OpenAI.”

“We are excited to extend our partnership with OpenAI to embed their frontier models, products, and services into sectors we believe have tremendous potential to benefit from technological innovation and adoption,” said Joshua Kushner, CEO and founder of Thrive Capital and Thrive Holdings. “Historically, technology transformed industries from the outside in. We believe this paradigm shift will happen from the inside out as domain experts and practitioners use AI as a native tool to reshape their fields. The businesses we acquire represent the right reward systems for this evolution, bringing together industry expertise and real-world data that can help improve models on specific tasks and capabilities.”

TechCrunch explains more about the arrangement in less jargony language here: OpenAI’s investment into Thrive Holdings is its latest circular deal

The post OpenAI Gets Into the Accounting Biz appeared first on Going Concern.

A large UK firm talks to The Times about how it’s training up the next generation in “Young accountants will be sent to pull pints to learn people skills.”

If there is one thing that pulling pints and waiting tables is good for, it is building strong people skills. Now one of Britain’s largest accountancy firms wants to take lessons from the hospitality sector.

The boss of Azets, which has 64 offices across the UK and employs more than 4,000 people, is looking to work with hotel, pub and restaurant chains to offer secondments to trainee accountants.

“We’ve got some very early conversations ongoing with some national hospitality businesses. I just feel that hospitality is a fantastic move,” said Peter Gallanagh, the international firm’s UK chief executive.

“Historically, the focus was on financial accuracy and compliance. I’m not saying we lose any of that, but that’s now being done by AI and automation. We need to move towards a more front-end, front of house, hospitality-type relationship,” he said.

So I guess that’s what we’re doing now.

New York Times asks what counts as pornography for IRS purposes related to No Tax on Tips (heh) since pornography is excluded from the rule:

President Trump’s promise for “no tax on tips” has raised important practical questions for the Internal Revenue Service. What is the exact definition of a tip? Who typically receives them? Are photos of bare feet a type of pornography?

Then we get to the meat:

Tax professionals also wonder how a restriction on “pornographic activity” would actually work. The I.R.S. has not yet elaborated on which activities it would consider “pornographic.” It is unclear, for example, whether strippers could claim the tips deduction. There is plenty of activity that an accountant or tax lawyer could argue is merely titillating.

“Where’s the line?” said Katherine Studley, an accountant who counts many OnlyFans creators among her clients. “Just because you’re on OnlyFans, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s pornographic. You could have a cooking channel or a yoga channel.”

Oh man, this is going to get messy (not a pun I assure you):

Whether or not the I.R.S. tries to come up with its own definition of “pornographic activity,” enforcing the exclusion would most likely still involve auditing taxpayers who report tips from sources like OnlyFans. An I.R.S. agent would have to view a taxpayer’s content, decide if it was pornographic and then deny the deduction for tips, which is capped at $25,000.

Fort Worth Inc. profiles Whitley Penn CEO Nathen McEown. Here he explains his path to accounting:

McEown has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accounting from Texas Tech. A native of Rockwall, McEown went to college with an eye on computer science.

“That was the hot thing,” he says of computer science in the late 1990s. “I think it was the highest paying major at Tech. That’s how I picked my degree, which is a terrible way to pick your degree. I had no passion or interest in it, and soon as I started programming, I realized this wasn’t for me.”

His objective turned to doing something that offered job security.

“I decided I needed to go somewhere where there’s always going to be work,” he says. “And accounting was that. It definitely was the right option for me. Then I got into the industry and just fell in love with public accounting.”

FT tackles the topic of graduate salaries in “Top consultancies freeze starting salaries as AI threatens ‘pyramid’ model“:

Job offers sent by firms including McKinsey and Boston Consulting Group for 2026 show that pay for graduates is being held at the same level as this year, according to Management Consulted, which coaches students through the interview process, and people familiar with the offers.

“There are real productivity improvements from AI implementation inside firms,” said Namaan Mian, chief operating officer of Management Consulted, adding that the ability to wring more value from fewer junior employees “is putting downward pressure on salaries”.

EY asks an important question: Can AI be governed before it governs us?

In today’s data-driven economy, trust is the new currency. Organizations that embed responsibility into their AI models stay ahead of evolving regulations and make long-term impact. Findings of the 2025 EY Global Responsible AI Pulse survey of 975 C-suite leaders across the world, reveal that nearly every company in the survey has already suffered financial losses from AI-related incidents, with average damages conservatively topping US$4.4 million. With great power comes great responsibility. Today, that power belongs to AI. However, are we responsible enough to tame it to a point where it becomes a competitive advantage rather than a risk-inducing cost center?

OK I have to…

That’s a wrap for this, the first Monday morning news brief of December. Now go out there and count your little butt off, you.

The post Monday Morning Accounting News Brief: IRS Agents Gonna Be Sifting Through a Lot of Feet Pics; Making New Hires Fetch Beers Builds Character | 12.1.25 appeared first on Going Concern.

Escándalo!

How Christmas party cost senior partner his $850K job: ‘Wanted to sleep with her’ [New York Post]
Leonard Nicita was terminated from his role as a senior partner in the firm’s Transaction Tax team in November 2023, according to a decision from Justice David Mossop in the ACT Supreme Court last month. The first incident happened at a 2022 Christmas party which had a “Miami Vice” dress-up theme, and resulted in a female partner making a complaint to management, the decision said. During the party, as Nicita’s managing partner described it, he “made comments to the complainant to the effect that you thought she was beautiful, you wanted to sleep with her and, when the complainant said she was married, you noted that most of your affairs are with married women”.

Major N.L. healthcare report contains errors likely generated by A.I. [The Independent]
Authored by global consulting firm Deloitte and published by the Department of Health and Community Services in May, Newfoundland and Labrador’s Health Human Resources Plan contains at least four citations which do not, or appear not to, exist. The report cost the province nearly $1.6 million, according to documents obtained through an access to information request and published on blogger Matt Barter’s website.

State of the Profession

The Accounting Comeback [The CPA Journal]
Dale Goldstein, MBA, CISA has some things to say about how accounting is doing these days.

The Ghost of Enron

Nvidia’s ‘I’m Not Enron’ memo has people asking a lot of questions already answered by that memo [The Verge]
Over the weekend, a strange Substack post from what appears to be a CEO of a pet relocation company went very viral. This post — which to be clear, is bullshit — alleges that Nvidia is engaged in what “may become the largest accounting fraud in technology history.” That’s a load-bearing “may,” in the sense that there’s no credible reason to believe Nvidia is engaged in fraud at all. Apparently this spooked Nvidia, which — as first reported by Barron’s — has sent a note to analysts clarifying that it is not, in fact, Enron. That note, which The Verge has seen, addresses the specific allegations in that Substack, as well as claims by famed short seller Michael Burry that Nvidia’s accounting of stock-based compensation didn’t make sense. (According to Nvidia, Burry seems to have incorrectly added taxes on restricted stock units to get his numbers.)

Law & Order

Former Savannah School District Accountant sentenced for embezzlement [KQ2]
A Savannah, Missouri, man was sentenced in federal court Monday for embezzling funds from the Savannah R-III School District and his employees. Anthony S. Moon, 44, worked as the Savannah School District’s accountant. In addition, he was also the owner and president of Parker and Associates, LLC, a tax preparation and bookkeeping service company.

A Figment of the Protester’s Imagination: GAO Rejects EY’s Discussions Argument [JD Supra]
In Ernst & Young, LLP, B-423491.2 (Sept. 26, 2025), Ernst & Young (EY) protested the scope of corrective action taken by the Department of the Army following EY’s earlier protest of the Army’s award to Guidehouse for support of the Army Financial Improvement program. EY’s initial protest resulted in a voluntary corrective action, during which the agency announced it would reevaluate proposals and make a new award decision. However, during implementation of that corrective action, Guidehouse informed the Army that one of its proposed key personnel was no longer available. That development led the Army to open limited discussions focused on key personnel substitution, which in turn became the focus of EY’s follow-on protest.

AI

Uh-oh, accounting concerns circle the AI boom [SiliconANGLE]
As investors start to care about returns from all the spending on artificial intelligence, accounting is becoming a big topic of concern. In his Breaking Analysis this week, Dave Vellante makes the case that GPUs have plenty of legs, quelling most concerns that lengthening depreciation times are a red flag. That said, Meta is particularly, shall we say, creative, when it comes to accounting for, or not accounting for, its multibillion-dollar spending on data centers.

Fear of AI-driven job displacement nearly doubles in a year: KPMG [CFO Dive]
Fifty-two percent of U.S. workers now fear job displacement due to artificial intelligence — nearly double last year’s level, according to survey results released Monday by KPMG. “Workers are using AI to become more effective, but they don’t see how that effectiveness translates back to them,” Katie Dahler, human capital advisory leader at the Big Four accounting firm, said in a press release. “By reinvesting AI-driven productivity gains into the upskilling that employees are demanding, companies can prove they see their people as partners in transformation and build trust for the long term.”

The post Friday Footnotes: Deloitte Busted Using AI in Expensive Reports Again?; For the Last Time, Christmas Parties Aren’t For Hooking Up | 11.28.25 appeared first on Going Concern.

The National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) strongly opposes the U.S. Department of Education’s implementation of new student-loan policies that reclassify accounting degrees as “non-professional.”

“Classifying accountants as anything other than professionals fundamentally misrepresents the critical work CPAs perform, work that is responsible for the integrity of the global financial systems on which businesses and individuals rely,” said NASBA President and CEO Daniel J. Dustin, CPA. “There’s a reason certified public accountancy has been a licensed profession in the United States since 1896.”

The Department of Education change affects federal loan caps under the new Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP) that, beginning in July 2026, will reduce borrowing limits for accounting students to $20,500 per year, compared to $50,000 per year for degrees the Department now labels “professional.” A reduction in loan access may deter a broad range of students from entering the CPA profession at a time when the complexity of markets and businesses require a robust and educated workforce. NASBA maintains that federal policy must accurately reflect the realities of professional CPA licensure, as economic stability and protection of the public depend on a strong and well-regulated accounting profession.

This reclassification also departs sharply from established federal and state definitions, and excludes many other long-recognized licensed professions, including those responsible for public health and safety, such as nursing, architecture, education, and engineering.

NASBA will consult with the 55 U.S. accounting jurisdictions it represents—that license the more than 653,000 CPAs in the United States—and will engage policymakers to ensure accounting is restored to the professional degree category.

NASBA stands ready to work collaboratively with policymakers to address this issue and to support solutions that strengthen the profession and protect the public.

If you have an opinion on this topic you want to get off your chest please use the comment section on our original article: Accountants Inexplicably Deemed “Not Professional” Under OBBBA Student Loan Rules

The post NASBA Comments on That Big Beautiful ‘Not Professional’ News appeared first on Going Concern.

Smithers, fetch the tiny violins!

The growth of artificial intelligence (AI) may eventually lead to fewer entry-level graduates being hired, the boss of accountancy giant PwC has told the BBC. [Ed. note: “AI”]

However, global chairman Mohamed Kande said AI was not behind recent job cuts at the firm, adding that the company actually needed to hire hundreds of new AI engineers but was struggling to find them.

Not even two weeks ago it was widely reported that PwC US is gutting its creative department and undergoing “transformation” in talent acquisition, or “optimizing roles in wake of changing tools” as the firm told its people internally (all just jargon for “layoffs”). According to our tipsters, talent acquisition staff will be staying on through the holidays and exiting the firm at the beginning of the year.

But let’s go back to Mr. Kande and PwC’s global struggle to find people:

Every year, the company hires thousands of new graduates in entry-level positions – including 1,300 in the UK and 3,200 in the US last year – but it recently dropped long-term plans to continue increasing its headcount.

In 2021, PwC said it wanted to hire 100,000 people over the course of five years – but Mr Kande said this would no longer be possible.

“When we made the plans to hire that many people, the world looked very, very different,” he said.

“Now we have artificial intelligence. We want to hire, but I don’t know if it’s going to be the same level of people that we hire – it will be a different set of people.”

Last year, PwC cut more than 5,600 roles across its worldwide operation.

Well good luck with that. And we mean that in the pettiest, most passive-aggressive way possible.

The post Firm That’s Firing Talent Acquisition People Says It Can’t Find People to Hire appeared first on Going Concern.

New York is the latest state to make a non-150 hour CPA pathway law. Says CFO Dive:

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Friday signed into law state legislation (A7613B) that establishes an alternative route for candidates to obtain a certified public accountant license that doesn’t require 150 hours of college credit — typically the equivalent of five years of post-secondary education.

“The Governor has officially signed the 120-credit-hour CPA pathway into law, giving future CPAs an additional route to enter the profession,” Calvin Harris Jr., CEO of the New York State Society of CPAs wrote in a Friday Linkedin post. “This new pathway becomes effective one year from today — and represents one of the most significant pipeline reforms in a generation.”

That brings us to 24 states that have made alternate pathways official. MNCPA maintains a map of these jurisdictions here.

Break out the tiny violins, PwC can’t find the right AI talent. BBC writes:

The growth of artificial intelligence (AI) may eventually lead to fewer entry-level graduates being hired, the boss of accountancy giant PwC has told the BBC.

However, global chairman Mohamed Kande said AI was not behind recent job cuts at the firm, adding that the company actually needed to hire hundreds of new AI engineers but was struggling to find them.

Perhaps it’s those accounting firm salaries. Anyway:

Every year, the company hires thousands of new graduates in entry-level positions – including 1,300 in the UK and 3,200 in the US last year – but it recently dropped long-term plans to continue increasing its headcount.

In 2021, PwC said it wanted to hire 100,000 people over the course of five years – but Mr Kande said this would no longer be possible.

“When we made the plans to hire that many people, the world looked very, very different,” he said.

“Now we have artificial intelligence. We want to hire, but I don’t know if it’s going to be the same level of people that we hire – it will be a different set of people.”

Depressing. Also we all know what he means when he says “artificial intelligence” and it isn’t artificial intelligence.

A 42-year-old former newscaster is headed to prison for COVID relief fraud. A LOT of COVID relief fraud and a lot of prison. Said the DoJ:

A co-founder of a lender service provider was sentenced to 10 years in prison for participating in a scheme to fraudulently obtain over $63 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans guaranteed by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. The defendant was also ordered to pay over $63 million in restitution.

According to evidence presented at trial, Stephanie Hockridge, also known as Stephanie Reis, 42, of Rio Grande, Puerto Rico, and previously of Arizona, co-founded Blueacorn in April 2020, purportedly to assist small businesses and individuals in obtaining PPP loans. To get larger loans for certain PPP applicants, Hockridge and her co-conspirators fabricated documents, including payroll records, tax documentation and bank statements. Hockridge and her co-conspirators charged borrowers kickbacks based on a percentage of the funds received.

As part of the scheme, Hockridge and others offered a personalized service to their clients called “VIPPP” to help potential borrowers complete PPP loan applications. Hockridge recruited co-conspirators to work as VIPPP referral agents and coach borrowers on how to submit false PPP loan applications. To get more kickbacks from borrowers and a higher percentage of lender fees from the SBA, Hockridge and her co-conspirators submitted PPP loan applications that they knew contained materially false information. In total, Hockridge and her co-conspirators processed over $63 million in fraudulent PPP loans.

Meanwhile, a dozen people from New Jersey and Pennsylvania got picked up for ERC fraud. Wild they were doing this as recently as this year (allegedly):

A dozen people have been charged after allegedly working together to steal millions from a program created during the COVID pandemic meant to help businesses, according to the New Jersey District Attorney’s Office.

The people involved are accused of obtaining official documents of various businesses and then using those documents to steal checks and deposit the money into fake bank accounts that they opened in New Jersey and in Pennsylvania, officials said.

These crimes happened between March 2023 and March 2025, officials explained. Many of the stolen checks were issued through the Treasury Department’s Employee Retention Credit which was meant to help businesses keep their employees during COVID.

Those of you who enjoy law reads will want to check out this piece on Hunt v. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP from Morgan Lewis, it goes pretty deep in the weeds: Ninth Circuit Confirms Securities Act of 1933 Does Not Impose Strict Liability on Auditors

In their complaint, plaintiffs alleged the accounting firm was liable under Section 11 for purportedly actionable statements and omissions in Bloom’s registration statement regarding its accounting for MSAs because the audit opinion did not identify that Bloom should have classified the MSAs as capital leases instead of operating leases. The accounting firm moved to dismiss, and the District Court granted the motion. Rather than amend their complaint, plaintiffs appealed to the Ninth Circuit.

On appeal, plaintiffs did not challenge the District Court’s dismissal of their claim that the audit opinion itself was false or misleading apart from its certification of the financial statements. Put differently, plaintiffs did not deny that Bloom prepared its own financial statements or that the accounting firm neither prepared the statements nor repeated those statements in its opinion. Rather, plaintiffs argued that the accounting firm should be strictly liable under Section 11(a)(4) of the Securities Act for the misstatements in Bloom’s financial statements.

Workers across the world are feeling busier according to EY’s Work Reimagined Survey, Business Insider wrote it up:

If you’re feeling like your workload has increased in 2025, you’re not the only one.

A new EY survey of 15,000 workers found that nearly two-thirds of employees believe their workload has increased in the last 12 months.

AI isn’t directly to blame, but, as with most workplace trends today, it’s a big part of the story.

“Our research doesn’t show that AI is actually increasing workloads,” Kim Billeter, EY’s global people consulting leader, told Business Insider.

Journal of Accountancy discusses penalty relief:

The IRS will provide penalty relief to about 1 million taxpayers automatically starting next year, the national taxpayer advocate (NTA) said during a session at the AICPA National Tax Conference.

The IRS will offer first-time abatements (FTAs) to taxpayers who file their return late, provided they meet certain criteria, said NTA Erin Collins, who heads the Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS). Those criteria include having no unreversed penalties in the preceding three tax years, except estimated tax penalties.

“So, if someone files late after April 15, they will get a lovely letter from the IRS,” Collins said. “I haven’t seen it yet, but I suspect it’ll say something like, ‘Dear Erin Collins, thank you for filing your tax return, albeit late. Please don’t do it again, and we are nice enough to waive the penalty.’ I assume they’re going to be notifying the taxpayers and explaining things to them as to what the law is and what the rules are, to educate them so that they don’t have a challenge again.”

We’ll end this here, it’s a holiday week and there isn’t a ton going on. Now go out there and make it a great week. Happy Thanksgiving!

The post Monday Morning Accounting News Brief: New York Gets a New CPA Pathway; PwC Gives Up on Hiring 100k People | 11.24.25 appeared first on Going Concern.

CPA Licensure

Share Your Input on CPE Standards by Dec. 16 [NASBA]
NASBA and the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) have released an exposure draft of proposed revisions to the Statement on Standards for Continuing Professional Education (CPE) Programs and are inviting public comment through December 16, 2025.

Big 4

The Big Four are choosing profit over promotion [AccountancyAge]
New data reveals that the Big Four: Deloitte, PwC, EY, and KPMG have collectively promoted just 179 new partners for the 2025 cycle. This represents a five-year low, a sharp contraction from the post-pandemic optimism of 2022 when 276 new leaders were elevated. For the ambitious Director or Senior Manager reading this, the headline figures are sobering. But for the firms themselves, this is a calculated act of self-preservation. Faced with a “consulting crunch” and the uncertain spectre of AI, the Big Four are circling the wagons to protect their most sacred metric: Average Profit Per Partner (PEP).

Academic Research

Representation and Retention: New Study Explores Career Paths in Accounting [Bentley University]
As corporate America questions the future of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, new research from Bentley’s Rani Hoitash, John E. Rhodes Professor of Accounting, and Eric Krause, PhD ’25 offers clear evidence of why they matter. In a study published in The Accounting Review, Hoitash, Krause and their co-authors examine how gender, race and ethnicity shape careers in public accounting. Using employment data from LinkedIn, they analyzed the work histories of more than 100,000 auditors who began their careers in large U.S. firms. Their data captured not only when employees left, but also demographic details of the organizations they joined next — allowing them to draw a connection between workplace diversity and departure decisions.

News

Watch out for Big Law’s latest competitor: accountancy firms [Financial News]
Watch out for Big Law’s latest competitor: accountancy firms. For private equity funds that have poured into the accountancy sector, a key growth driver is now the expansion of their legal services.

Jeffrey Epstein’s accountant of 22 years raised alarm bells at JPMorgan. Now Congress wants answers. [Business Insider]
Congressional investigators interested in how Epstein made and spent his money — and whether banks ignored red flags that should have alerted them to sex-trafficking — now have Harry Beller in their crosshairs. In lawsuits involving Epstein, Beller comes across as something of a financial Forrest Gump — turning up repeatedly in the paper trail. He hasn’t been named as a defendant in any of the lawsuits, but his name crops up on incorporation papers for Epstein’s web of companies, on Ghislaine Maxwell’s tax forms, on checks, and on cash withdrawal records for Epstein’s bank accounts, which for years were held by JPMorgan Chase.

Ernst & Young Fails to Halt $250 Million Army Accounting Award [Bloomberg Law]
Guidehouse Inc. can move forward with a $250 million maximum value contract to provide the US Army with accounting, auditing solutions, and change management support services, the GAO said in a decision released Friday. Protester Ernst & Young LLP didn’t show that the Army conducted an improper corrective action, following an earlier protest, by not allowing bidders to make wholesale changes to their bids, the US Government Accountability Office said.

Sudbury Business Owner Pleaded Guilty To Paying Employee $1.6M Under The Table, USAO [Patch]
Charles D. Katz, 63, the owner of accounting firm CD Katz LLC and real estate firm Gebsco Realty Corporation, was charged with conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and two counts of loan fraud. Katz and an employee, who served as the Director of Corporate Services at his accounting firm and the CEO of his real estate firm, agreed that he would pay the employee off the books. This was so the employee would have tax-free income and that Katz would have lower employment taxes.

Tax

AICPA warns that merger of IRS offices would ‘confuse’ taxpayers [Journal of Accountancy]
The AICPA opposes the proposed merger of the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) and the Return Preparer Office (RPO) “because it would inappropriately consolidate credentialed and uncredentialed return preparers under OPR, create potential conflicts of interest, and divert resources from the primary role of OPR,” the AICPA wrote in the letter, dated Nov. 14.

Unpaid state taxes soar, and Nebraska auditor questions why [Nebraska Examiner]
The amount of state tax obligations Nebraska taxpayers have evaded has soared beyond $310 million, growing by 15% this past year, according to a letter released Monday by the Nebraska State Auditor. “Worse yet, they are being allowed to get away with it,” Auditor Mike Foley said in a statement. The “staggering” amount, according to Foley, is a cumulative result of unpaid corporate and individual income taxes, sales and use taxes, partnership income taxes and withholding taxes.

Audit

AI and the audit: Finance leaders strongly support forward-thinking firms [Journal of Accountancy]
When finance leaders go shopping for audit solutions, their preference for firms leaning into artificial intelligence (AI) and other advanced technologies is growing, right along with their trust. Nearly all (97%) of leaders said they are willing to pay more to partner with audit firms that leverage advanced technologies, according to BDO’s Audit Innovation Survey. The survey canvassed 210 senior finance leaders — predominantly CFOs and finance directors at public and private U.S. companies — and found that 81% have greater trust in audit firms that invest in and actively use advanced technology, an 18-percentage-point increase from the first survey a year ago.

OpenAI’s US auditor is Deloitte: report [Seeking Alpha]
On Wednesday, investor Michael Burry, who has taken to the social media X platform to express his concerns about the artificial intelligence spending boom, openly pondered which firm was auditing OpenAI’s books. “OpenAI is the linchpin here,” Burry wrote. “Can anyone name their auditor?”

The post Friday Footnotes: NASBA and AICPA Ask For Your 2¢ on CPE; Big 4 Put Profits Over More Partners | 11.21.25 appeared first on Going Concern.

In simple terms, it doesn’t affect you at all if you are done with school and, if still in school, it won’t affect you either unless you need to borrow more than $100,000 which no one out there should be doing for a MAcc. Nurse.org explains further:

The OBBA caps undergraduate loans and eliminates the GRAD PLUS program for graduate and professional students [Ed. note: effective July 1, 2026], while creating a new Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP). Under the new plan, only students pursuing a “professional” degree can borrow up to $50,000 annually. 

To clarify who can access that money as a professional student, the Department of Education categorized the following programs as professional: 

• Medicine
• Pharmacy
• Dentistry
• Optometry
• Law
• Veterinary medicine
• Osteopathic medicine
• Podiatry
• Chiropractic
• Theology
• Clinical psychology

According to NewsWeek, this is the full list of degrees that are not classed (no pun) as professional:

• Nursing
• Physician assistants
• Physical therapists
• Audiologists
• Architects
• Accountants
• Educators
• Social workers

At this point it’s unclear why accountants are even on this list and how this could impact accounting PhD students. This news just came out so we await clarity from the AICPA and will update this article accordingly.

The post Accountants Inexplicably Deemed “Not Professional” Under OBBBA Student Loan Rules appeared first on Going Concern.

PwC UK and Palantir Technologies Inc. put out a press release this week announcing “the expansion of their strategic alliance, underpinned by a multi-year, multi-million-pound investment by PwC.”

OK…doing what exactly?

The expansion represents a clear commitment by both organisations to work together as preferred UK partners, aligning strategy and resources to deliver advanced AI and data solutions for some of the world’s most complex challenges. Recognised as one of Palantir’s most significant professional services relationships, the alliance is built on trust, innovation and delivery at pace.

PwC UK and Palantir previously announced a collaboration to “accelerate operational transformation” in 2023.

When Deloitte announced their own hookup with Palantir over the summer, that announcement was equally stuffed with jargon and buzzwords: “Deloitte shares Palantir’s commitment to decisive action and a dedication to delivering meaningful, lasting results for commercial and government clients. Expanding our preferred relationship at this pivotal moment provides our clients with Palantir’s latest advances in AI, combined with Deloitte’s engineering scale and deep sector experience,” said Jason Girzadas, Deloitte US CEO.

Who said it better, Girzadas or PwC UK top dog Marco Amitrano? He said this in their press release: “This major investment reflects our confidence in scaling AI-led transformation to help organisations create lasting impact. Palantir has become a trusted and valued technology partner for PwC, with a shared focus on delivering meaningful outcomes for clients. Expanding our relationship reflects the success we’ve achieved together so far and the impact we can make across public and private sectors.

“Technology is fast becoming the architecture of stability – the infrastructure that allows organisations to navigate volatility, strengthen resilience and accelerate growth with confidence. By working with leading technology partners and deepening PwC’s own AI capability, we can continue to expand the art of the possible for clients and create new opportunities in data science, engineering and implementation.”

Yikes that was a lot.

On the other side of the partnership, Louis Mosley, Executive Vice President, UK and Europe at Palantir, said: “This next chapter of our strategic partnership combines Palantir’s powerful, proven AI technology with PwC’s expertise in strategy, delivery, and digital transformation. While changes to the way that the technology and consultancy sectors work together are creating more choice for Palantir, the decision to double down with PwC as our preferred delivery partner in the UK has been a simple one: It reflects shared values, deep collaboration and a track record of delivering transformational and sustained impact, at speed, across both the public and private sector.”

Further reading: Palantir CEO slams ‘parasitic’ critics calling the tech a surveillance tool: ‘Not only is patriotism right, patriotism will make you rich’

The post PwC Pairs Up With Palantir appeared first on Going Concern.

Get a load of this hot take on r/CPA:

Text:

Exam expiration – Hot Take?

This might be a hot take, but I don’t think a passed exam should ever expire. We’re required to take four separate exams, each of which is challenging on its own, so if you pass one, that accomplishment should stand. Idk, just seems like another thing we have to worry about on top of either working full time or working our life away in public accounting.

The whole thread is actually a pretty good read. Except this one that appears to be posted without the faintest hint of sarcasm:

Alright old timers, now’s your chance to rag on the children.

The post Kooky Idea of the Day: CPA Exam Sections Should Never Expire appeared first on Going Concern.

Most affected are the people who came over from a boutique digital solutions consulting studio EY bought in 2023 called Future Friendly. Little did they know the future would not be so friendly.

This quote from the press release announcing the deal on August 7, 2023 was so hopeful it’s almost sad to read now:

Anthony Robinson, EY Financial Services Consulting Leader, Oceania, said, “I am excited to welcome the team from Future Friendly to our Oceania practice and, in particular, to our growing business transformation team. This is another great example of our ongoing commitment to providing leading innovation, customer experience and digital design support to our clients, and will significantly enhance our footprint in the region. Our strategic ambition is to grow the practice across Oceania, and the calibre of the team at Future Friendly will assist us in achieving this ambition, as we work together to build a better working world.”

According to the firm’s most recent revenue announcement in August, EY Australia hit $2.72 billion for FY25, a nearly 3% drop from prior year.

We continue to receive limited reports of layoffs at other Big 4 firms, nothing material we can confirm. You can email or text with anonymous tips any time.

The post Layoff Watch ’25: The Future Wasn’t Friendly to the Team EY Bought in 2023 appeared first on Going Concern.

A New Jersey man whose lengthy prison sentence for fraud convictions was commuted by Donald Trump in 2021 is now headed back to federal prison for another fraud conviction.

The US district judge Michael Shipp, sitting in Trenton, handed down a 37-year sentence on Friday to Eliyahu “Eli” Weinstein, 51, of Lakewood, who is also known as Mike Konig. Shipp also ruled that Weinstein must pay $44,294,803 in restitution, which is due immediately, according to court documents.

Weinstein was convicted in March on charges he helped defraud dozens of investors out of $35m. Prosecutors have said Weinstein and others falsely promised investors access to deals involving scarce medical supplies, baby formula and first-aid kits supposedly destined for wartime Ukraine.

The first time Weinstein ended up in federal court was for a real estate Ponzi scheme for which he earned 22 years in prison. He was then sentenced to an additional 24 months in prison in December 2014 for defrauding investors in connection with the Facebook IPO and several additional real estate deals and laundering the proceeds of the scheme. Technically he received 135 months in prison from U.S. District Judge Joel A. Pisano, however 111 months of that was to be served concurrently with his previous sentence. He was on pretrial release when he committed the Facebook IPO scheme, the details of which are described in detail by the DoJ here.

After multiple pleas from rabbis who insisted Weinstein was a changed man, he was pardoned by Trump on his way out of office on January 19, 2021. Two years later he was arrested again and here we are.

Bets on what jailhouse scheme he’ll hatch this time? He’s got plenty of time to work on something good.

The post #FraudWeek Special: Man Pardoned For Fraud Going Back to Prison For Fraud appeared first on Going Concern.

Let’s lead with this:

At 32, a Malaysian man walked away from a well-paid multinational job, traded his suit and tie for a small stall, and started selling fried chicken in his hometown.

For years, he measured success in numbers: grades, salaries, and promotions.

He majored in accounting, scored top marks, and landed a starting salary of RM4,500 [$963.86 USD], nearly double what most graduates earned at the time.

But the reality was draining.

“Stuck in traffic every day, scolded by the boss over small matters until I had no dignity left, having to watch clients’ moods, and bringing work home on weekends. Gradually, I couldn’t even recognise myself,” he wrote, adding that even his mother noticed his declining health.

The turning point came after a colleague’s offhand remark:

“You studied so much, but in the end, you’re still just doing accounts for others.”

You know what happened next.

Good for him. Life’s too short to live that way if you don’t want to.

Here’s an accountant behaving badly from India:

A 27-year-old man was arrested for allegedly defaming a woman banker from the Rander area, that resulted in cancellation of her engagement. The accused, an accountant with a company in Sachin, allegedly created a fake Instagram account of the 25-year-old woman banker, who was his friend, and sent defamatory messages to her fiance.

“The accused did not want the woman to marry someone else. So, he created the fake Instagram ID to defame her, believing that if her engagement was broken, she would agree to marry him,” police officials said.

According to police, the accused used the fake profile to claim that the woman was a lesbian and of “bad character”. He also falsely alleged that his brother had earlier been engaged to her but had broken off the engagement. Disturbed by the messages, the woman’s fiance called off the engagement, prompting the her to lodge a complaint with Rander police.

Bloomberg Law/Tax/Whatever has a long-read for you this morning: High-Profile Frauds Renew the Spotlight on Audit Firm Failures

The red flags seemed bright.

Fake transaction documents handed to auditors. A bribe offered to convince an auditor to look the other way. A campaign by top partners to retain a client—a bank that would fail only weeks after getting a clean audit.

Those are among the allegations leveled in a lawsuit and a congressional report this year that have revived concerns about age-old problems for the audit industry: its inability, and lack of motivation, to identify and respond to headline-grabbing risks like fraud.

The whistleblower lawsuit by a former EY partner said the firm hasn’t closed the gaps exposed in 2020 by a cluster of accounting scandals involving its clients, including a $2 billion fraud by failed payments processor Wirecard.

And a great quote from Lynn Turner: “The auditors time and time again just will not take management to task,” said Lynn Turner, chief accountant of the Securities and Exchange Commission from 1998 to 2001.

In a somewhat related story, the former chairman of 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) said KPMG requested way too much damn documentation and Deloitte wasn’t nearly as nitpicky. You should note here that “1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal” has its own Wikipedia page.

Former 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) chairman Tan Sri Che Lodin Wok Kamaruddin said audit firm KPMG was unfair in requesting additional documents related to the company’s overseas investments.

The international audit firm refused to sign off on 1MDB’s 2013 financial statements after the latter failed to provide documents related to its US$2.3 billion investment in Brazen Sky Ltd in Hong Kong.

Testifying as a defence witness in Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s corruption trial for misappropriating billions of 1MDB funds, Che Lodin said KPMG’s refusal to sign off on the financial statements stemmed from a disagreement between parties regarding the process.

“First, there was a delay. Then, there was a misunderstanding about how it should be done.

“When we switched to Deloitte, they were happy to sign off on the financial statements.

“Perhaps KPMG had its own unique requirements according to its standards, but those were not necessarily standard requirements,” he said during cross-examination by deputy public prosecutor Kamal Baharin Omar today.

Deloitte’s former consulting leader is off to go head up US Soccer at an important time:

The US Soccer Federation tapped Deloitte executive Dan Helfrich as its first chief operating officer, a move to continue revamping its business ahead of a crucial period.

Helfrich, who recently served as chief executive officer of Deloitte Consulting, will oversee daily operations of the century-old organization, with a focus on improving business practices, according to a statement.

The federation is entering a significant stretch, with the US hosting the 2026 World Cup, the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics and the 2031 Women’s World Cup. Part of the organization’s mandate is to develop US talent and run the national teams. That means it will be facing even more pressure with major tournaments on US soil.

PwC Australia announces they’re upskilling their auditors. Given what’s happening at PwC in the US right now, our Aussie friends should be wary if they start throwing around the T word too much.

By upskilling our people to use the new platform, they’ll be able to spend less time on routine administrative tasks, and more time with working with clients to solve problems and add value. There are numerous ways we’re upskilling our people to use next generation audit:

• Digital Academies: Every new hire in our Assurance team participates in a compulsory Digital learning Academy, which includes modules about generative AI and how to use our AI tools most effectively.
• Digital Accelerators: This is our Australian network of over 50 PwC AI champions who champion the use of our AI tools and help our teams transform client engagements by embedding AI-thinking into every audit.
• Training to direct AI agents: We train our auditors to direct AI agents, not the other way around. We call this human-led approach “the human in the loop”. So we’ll continue to teach our auditors vital skills such as professional scepticism, critical thinking, and keeping client engagement front and centre.

Some wisdom from female accounting firm founders courtesy Accounting Times:

At the Women in Finance Summit on Friday (14 November), panellists and accountants Simone Palfreyman and Natalie Lennon shared lessons in entrepreneurship, overcoming challenges and building a fulfilling career for themselves and their employees.

Palfreyman explains her route to firm ownership and how it turned out for her:

Being her own boss allowed Palfreyman to only work school hours – including not working school holidays – and prioritise her family. Despite being told “you can’t do that,” Palfreyman said she ended up being so busy her books were closed and she had to hire a part-time accountant.

“It literally started as I wanted to be a mum, but I really didn’t want to give up my profession. So it was a way for me to succeed on both levels and also then provide a chance for other people to do the same,” Palfreyman said.

“So we’ve always had flexible work, working around childcare, school times and just giving people that chance to do both. You shouldn’t have to pick your career or your family.”

Remember kids, there’s more to life than the frantic public accounting grind.

A 28-year-old accountant from Ireland making €88,000 a year including bonus ($102k USD) explains how she spends her money and her time in this series from The Journal. It’s always interesting to me hearing how other people live.

Monthly expenses

Transport: €50 (I get the train to work and don’t own a car as I live close to the train station)

Rent: Mortgage is €1,000 each (my partner pays the other half)

Household bills: We both put in about €600 each month to cover all other bills including food

Phone bill: €7.99 with 48

Health insurance: Don’t have health insurance

Groceries: Covered in household bills above

Loan: I had to take out a €30,000 Revolut loan last year which I am trying to pay off as soon as possible. I pay €630 monthly, but have about €16,000 left at the moment. I am trying to pay this down as quick as possible as the interest is so high

Hair: €100 every six weeks

Nails: €50 every six weeks

OK that’s plenty for a Monday morning. Give me a shout if you need me and have the best of weeks, you.

The post Monday Morning Accounting News Brief: Frying Chicken > Accounting; Deloitte’s Former Consulting Leader Has a New Sporty Gig | 11.17.25 appeared first on Going Concern.

Audit

NOCLAR Has Only Been Put on Hold [CPA Journal]
The NOCLAR proposal is currently listed as a “Short-Term Standard Setting Project” on the PCAOB’S website (PCAOB, n.d., “Standard-Setting, Research, and Rulemaking Projects,” Accessed Aug. 27, 2025). It should be noted, however, that two of the PCAOB’s proposals aimed at increasing audit regulation, which had been submitted to the SEC for consideration in November 2024, “Firm Reporting” and “Firm and Engagement Metrics,” were formally withdrawn on February 11, 2025. The NOCLAR proposal was not withdrawn, however–it was only put on hold, where it remains at press time. This article will present a brief overview of the proposed NOCLAR standard and its potential impact on various aspects of the accounting profession—public and private practice, higher education, and the CPA Exam—should it be moved out of hibernation.

Analysis: Rudeness is hurting auditors’ ability to protect the public — here’s how [McMaster University]
You guys need to read this research, it’s amazing.
We found that auditors don’t experience incivility from time-to-time — they experience it a lot. Ninety per cent of auditors said they had encountered negative client behaviour at some point in their careers. Seventy-seven per cent said clients had rudely told them how to do their jobs or questioned their procedures. More than 60 per cent had their skills or abilities questioned and more than 50 per cent had been ignored or faced hostility when approaching a client. One-third reported being bullied — a more serious form of incivility — at some point in their career.

Navigating the ethics and regulation of AI in audit [AccountancyAge]
Beyond regulation, the ethical dimension of using AI in audit is paramount. Since AI models learn from historical data, they inherently risk perpetuating historical human biases.

Companies’ Internal Audit Teams Lack Resources, Survey Finds [Bloomberg Tax]
Corporate teams that assess risk management, internal controls, and governance procedures are being starved of resources in an era of “hypervolatility,” according to a new report. Spending on these internal auditors is falling or flat at a majority of companies, according the results of a survey that risk-management platform AuditBoard published Wednesday.

Tax

Inflation adjustments to retirement account limits issued for 2026 [Journal of Accountancy]
The IRS announced the 2026 benefit and contribution limits for qualified retirement plans, including contribution limits for Sec. 401(k) plans and individual retirement arrangements (IRAs) Thursday, increasing the limit for 401(k) plans by $1,000. Notice 2025-67 includes updates to dollar limits for a range of qualified retirement plans and accounts, including traditional and Roth IRAs.

Firm Watch

Accounting firm launches investment banking division [South Florida Business Journal]
Miami-based Kaufman Rossin launched Mary Street Capital, led by managing directors James Wolcott and Alex Rattner. The investment bank will target industries in manufacturing and industrials, health care, consumer products, business services, technology, media, telecommunications, and transportation and logistics.

Big 4

I made partner at Deloitte at 34, but quit after my body broke down. Success isn’t real if you don’t have your health. [Business Insider]
“Looking back, my superpower wasn’t that I was smarter than anyone else; it was that I could outwork almost anyone.”

EY survey reveals companies are missing out on up to 40% of AI productivity gains due to gaps in talent strategy [EY]
88% of employees use AI at work but primarily limited to basic tasks such as search and summarization according to the EY 2025 Work Reimagined Survey. 37% of surveyed employees worry that overreliance on AI could erode their skills and expertise. 64% of surveyed employees report a perceived increase in workloads over the past year, yet only 5% are maximizing AI to transform their work.

Consultants slash grad hiring by nearly half. But don’t blame AI [Financial Review]
Ctrl+F of this article doesn’t reveal the REAL reason (starts with off and ends in shoring), otherwise a good piece with some scary data.
At the big consulting firms, partners are clear about the reason for the drop in recruitment, and that’s the soft market for advisory services. “The reduction in graduates is more a reflection of market conditions than anything else – AI has had very little or no impact,” says one partner not authorised to speak about staff matters. “What it does is change the type of work they do, it changes the quality of the work they do. A lot of stuff in a big four firm still needs domain knowledge. As economic conditions improve, grad hiring will lift again.”

PwC’s Global Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey 2025 [PwC]
PwC’s Global Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey 2025 indicates AI’s impact is growing and that optimism about its potential greatly outweighs anxiety.

Local

Report shows scandal-plagued Ohio utility made $108M in errors. It wants customers to pay [Mahoning Matters]
As it was in the midst of financing a $61 million bribery scheme, Akron-based FirstEnergy also improperly claimed millions in construction expenses, according to a new report. The company classified lobbying and donations as construction expenses at the same time that it funded the bribery scandal, although it’s not clear if any of that money was paid in bribes. Now that $108 million in such errors have been found, the utility is asking Ohio regulators for permission to charge its customers for them. Otherwise, they’ll be billed to FirstEnergy shareholders — which prominently include the company’s own executives.

Baxter mayor encourages city to move forward after audit implicates former city employees [KCCI (Iowa)]
The mayor of Baxter is encouraging people in town to move forward after a state audit found three former city employees improperly spent $90,000. Specifically, he cited the controversy the audit caused in Mitchellville. One of Baxter’s former employees named in the audit, William Daggett, was serving as Mitchellville’s interim city administrator and police chief.

Florida DOGE audit results could be released soon, CFO Blaise Ingoglia says [WFLX]
The audit, conducted by the Florida Department of Financial Services, examined Palm Beach County’s financial records as part of a statewide initiative to identify wasteful government spending. “I think it’s quite shocking … over 10 jurisdictions so far that we reviewed, we found $1.5 billion … of excessive and wasteful spending,” Ingoglia said. “That is an exercise to show people that local governments do have the ability to cut their budgets and still fund our first responders.”

The post Friday Footnotes: Are Mean Clients Tanking Audit Quality?; Well F College Grads Wanting to Get Into Consulting I Guess | 11.14.25 appeared first on Going Concern.