Good morning, brave soldiers of the spreadsheets. Set yourself a calendar reminder to check in with your favorite tax person some time later this week, see how they’re doing. How are you doing?
In this news brief
Tax Day Used to Be Lit
History Channel (remember them?) wrote something interesting in honor of 4/15: How Tax Day Turned Into Party Night at the Post Office
No, really, it’s interesting I promise.
Paul Smith, a USPS spokesman who has worked for the service for more than 40 years, recalls massive lines of cars pulling up to his Philadelphia branch on Tax Day. Employees carried buckets, walking up to the cars to take customers’ forms to keep traffic moving and spirits high. “It was all just very, very festive,” he says.
Across the country, post offices became mini street fairs on April 15, the deadline for filing since 1955. In Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Smith recalls a “dunk the IRS agent” booth where taxpayers could throw balls to plunge a friendly revenue officer into a tank of water. A 1992 St. Petersburg Times article described a similar booth in Florida, with filers paying $1 to dunk off-duty IRS agents to raise money for charity “and allow a few taxpayers filing last-minute returns to vent their anger.”
What I’m gleaning from this is that Philadelphia knows how to party. I know I always have a good time every time I’m there. Not this good of a time though.
And then there was Playboy.
Smith remembers two women from the company showing up at his Philadelphia branch, hoping to offer massages to people in line to relieve Tax Day stress. “I said, ‘I don’t think the government is ready for a Postal Service-Playboy partnership,’” he told them. “‘However, legally, you would be permitted up to such a point,’” pointing to a map of the grounds. Hours later, a cable truck arrived and unveiled a sparkling pink Playboy booth. “You can’t make this stuff up,” he says.
I Should Have Gone to Trade School
The local news in Wichita made finance and accounting the theme for their job of the day, this is the job:
Not sure why they had to drag accounting into this. That’s a bank teller is it not?
Maryland Is the Latest State to Embrace 120 Hours Legislation
Looks like Maryland will soon have an additional CPA pathway of 120 hours education and 2 years of experience. Since MACPA did a ton of heavy lifting on getting this one through Annapolis I’ll let them tell it:
Maryland’s effort to add an additional pathway to CPA licensure has successfully crossed the finish line — with the MACPA providing critical support at every stop along the way.
House Bill 643, “Certified Public Accountants — Licensure — Qualifications,” moved out of the Senate’s Education, Energy, and the Environment Committee without opposition earlier this week and earned unanimous approval from the full Senate late Thursday. It had earned unanimous approval in the House in early March before crossing over to the Senate.
Sponsored by Dels. Kriselda Valderrama, Lily Qi, and William Wivell, the measure introduces a modernized licensure framework that preserves the existing 150-hour model while adding a new, experience-based pathway for CPA candidates.
The bill now awaits Gov. Wes Moore’s signature, after which it will take effect on Oct. 1, 2026.
PwC Korea Did an AI Thing
PwC in Korea is shipping its own AI solutions now:
Samil PwC, Korea’s largest accounting firm by revenue, is set to export an in-house artificial intelligence (AI) solution to an overseas PwC member firm, the company said Monday, marking a first for the domestic accounting industry.
The platform, called Control Testing Automation, uses AI to evaluate the effectiveness of corporate internal controls. Such assessments have traditionally depended on labor-intensive manual reviews, requiring substantial time and manpower. By automating repetitive testing tasks, the system is designed to streamline the process and improve efficiency.
In Korea, the solution is already available to companies under the name K-SOX AI.
Samil PwC said the platform has strong international potential because risk management and internal control standards operate as a common framework across industries and borders. The firm plans to offer it to overseas affiliates in a software-as-a-service format and use this rollout as a launchpad for wider global expansion.
PwC Australia’s Client Also Did a Thing But It Wasn’t Good
Elsewhere in PwC’s network, things aren’t so impressive. Reports Financial Review:
PwC, Viva red-faced after ASIC review forces $25m accounting rework
The corporate regulator has forced Viva Energy to book an extra $25 million in write-downs for the last financial year, embarrassing one of the country’s largest petrol station operators and its auditor, PwC.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission found Viva, which supplies about 25 per cent of the country’s fuel by distributing Shell-branded petrol, oil and lubricants through a network of 1300 service stations, had incorrectly calculated impairment values of its retail outlets.
To Infinity and Beyond (As Long As We Can Bill For It)
Deloitte got two more satellites into space:
Deloitte-2 and Deloitte-3, launched on March 29, 2026, from Vandenberg Space Force Base to expand Deloitte’s on-orbit footprint. The new satellites carry payloads designed to increase space data collection capacity and help meet clients’ growing needs for space-based data and insights.
Timely Financial Reporting Is For Chumps
The city of Ithaca, NY had some issues with reporting. Like basic reporting. Over several years.
City of Ithaca officials say operational deficiencies and delays led to the financial issues outlined in the New York State Comptroller’s Office’s newly released audit report.
In a 22-page report released March 27, the state audit found a lack of complete and timely monthly and annual financial reports dating back to 2020.
While city officials were able to maintain “generally accurate” transaction details, the audit found that more than 4,000 of the city’s transactions totaling about $10 million were recorded late, some by up to 282 days. Over $1 million in council-approved budget adjustments were not recorded at all, according to the report.
Ithaca lost its credit rating in 2024. That’ll happen when you don’t stay on top of this stuff.
K I’m done. Get in touch via email or text if you have something for me, be it a story, tip, or pithy observation. Find us on Xitter at @going_concern. Bye!