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Uh-Oh
Australian agency mulled firing KPMG over data-handling rule breach, documents show [Reuters]
KPMG Australia breached a contract with the country’s biggest federal agency by transferring sensitive government material outside its secure environment, prompting officials to consider firing the firm, documents reviewed by Reuters show. The government incident in late 2025 involved Services Australia, which operates the country’s public health and welfare systems and handles data of most of the country’s population of 27 million.
Ban on KPMG doing government work extended until February 2027 [Financial Review]
The extension came as the Department of Finance released the final report of its review into KPMG’s governance and culture, which it commissioned in mid-June following whistleblower allegations that the professional services giant misused confidential client information and leveraged conflicted relationships to win work.
AI
90% of internal auditors now use AI [CFO Brew]
AI has fully embedded itself in internal audit: 90% of US internal audit leaders said their teams use the technology, in a survey from top-30 CPA firm Sikich. That’s up from 77% in 2024 and 37% in 2023.
Smaller accounting firms best positioned to adopt AI, professionals say [Ottawa Business Journal]
“I think the truth is that the business owner with a box of receipts isn’t really going to get anything from AI,” said Eric Saumure, co-founder of Ottawa’s Zenbooks. “Their books have to be up to date and, once a business is over that line, the benefits can compound. Below that, AI has nothing to work with. Everything has to be digitized and a lot of the time that’s the work that accountants and bookkeepers are actually doing.”
AI Agents Gain Authority Faster Than Organizations Can Audit Them [CDO Magazine]
AI agents are gaining authority to make decisions and take actions that previously required human approval, but many organizations still cannot fully see or audit what those systems do, according to new research from Illumio, a breach-containment platform. The report, Licensed to Act: How AI Autonomy Is Outrunning the Limits Placed on It, was released on October 21, and is based on a survey of 1,100 IT and security decision-makers across 10 markets. It found that 70% of respondents now delegate decisions or actions to AI that required human approval a year ago, including investigating threats, deploying code and changing access permissions.
Audit
Big Four firms call on SEC to soften PCAOB quality control standards [CFO Dive]
In comment letters filed at the SEC this month, KPMG, PwC, Deloitte and EY said the PCAOB amendments to “QC 1000, A Firm’s System of Quality Control” ease compliance burdens without undermining safeguards for investors.
Auditor: Only About 28% of RI Towns Filed Audits on Time [Uprise RI]
The Report on Statutory Compliance – Financial Reporting Requirements for Local Governmental Entities, Fiscal Year 2025, signed by Auditor General David A. Bergantino, reflects filing status as of Aug. 31, 2026.
Accountants fear £1.2bn hit from UK plan to exempt midsized groups from audits [Financial Times]
The proposals, announced last month, apply to groups with annual revenue of less than £54mn or 250 staff, bringing them in line with small companies with less than £15mn in sales or 50 employees, which are not required to have their financial statements independently checked.
Auditor registration hurdles for small firm accountants impede supply [Accountants Daily]
Kirk Davis Accounting principal and aspiring company auditor Kirk Davis aired his grievances over the arduous process accountants at smaller firms face to become Australian Securities and Investments Commission-registered company auditors (RCA) compared to those at the large accounting firms. This is despite auditors at the large firms like KPMG being engulfed in scandals relating to alleged audit misconduct and allegations of the mishandling of confidential client information, he pointed out. “I think ASIC is creating a monopoly where only the large firms can register. But at the same time, some of the large firms are in trouble for alleged unethical behaviour,” Davis said.
People
Deloitte UK plans up to 100 new Deal Transformation roles by 2030 [International Accounting Bulletin]
Deloitte has unveiled plans to create up to 100 Deal Transformation jobs in the UK as part of its efforts to expand its mergers and acquisitions (M&A) services outside London. The company currently has 100 employees working on M&A-related services in Manchester and Leeds.
‘I only have the explanation for where I’m going next’: Pastoral resident Robert ‘Bobby’ Weltner reflects on his path to faith [The Beacon]
After six years at KPMG, Robert “Bobby” Weltner quit the consulting field and entered the Notre Dame Seminary. He finds that people often assume the wrong reason why he decided to make the change. “Every once in a while, someone will hear that I used to be in consulting, and they’ll think, ‘Oh, yeah, you were escaping that soulless business world, weren’t you?’” Weltner said. “And the answer is no, that wasn’t why I left. It was just that I felt like God might be calling me to priesthood and religious life, and so I had to listen to that call and explore it.”
Firm Watch
Did California High-Speed Rail help a consulting giant “manipulate” its bid to win a lucrative contract? [CBS News]
When the California High-Speed Rail Authority awarded a $24 million contract to KPMG, newly obtained records indicate it knew the consulting giant intended to charge more than its unusually low bid for high-level positions. KPMG’s winning bid proposed an average hourly rate of roughly $200, but records reviewed by CBS California show its billed average rate was more than double that. KPMG did not deny the findings; instead, a spokesperson stressed that California High-Speed Rail had been aware of its plan.
Crowe launches shared ownership program for all employees [Crowe]
The broad-based employee ownership program was developed in collaboration with KKR, a leading global investment firm, following the August 2026 close of KKR’s equity investment in Crowe. CroweONE marks an early milestone in the strategic partnership between the two firms and their joint focus on investing in Crowe’s people.
EY Luxembourg signs rental agreement for offices currently occupied by PwC [Luxembourg Times]
The White office, as it is known, will function in addition to EY’s headquarters in Kirchberg. The consulting firm has moved several teams there, such as its AI development unit.
Etcetera
Accounting Firms Are Learning The Legal Business. Lawyers Need To Learn The Accounting. [Above the Law]
Accountants should give this one a read too, the lines are blurring as we speak.
Lawyers are trained to read contracts, statutes, court opinions, and complicated regulatory provisions. We can spend hours examining a single paragraph in an agreement, arguing about what a particular word means or whether a provision creates an obligation that someone didn’t anticipate. But ask a room full of accomplished trial lawyers to explain the financial structure of a modern management services organization, and I suspect the conversation would become considerably less confident. That concerns me, particularly as accounting firms, private equity investors, and management companies take a growing interest in the legal profession