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Careers
PwC’s US CEO says the people who get ahead do this when no one is watching [Business Insider]
Griggs said that the Benjamin Franklin quote, “Energy and persistence conquer all things,” sums up what it takes to climb the corporate ladder. That means putting in the work when no one is looking.
IRS says it needs top performers, even if they don’t all get the performance ratings they deserve [Government Executive]
The Office of Personnel Management in September directed agencies to limit top scores – an “outstanding” score of five, and an “exceeds fully successful” score of four – to no more than 40% of their General Schedule employees during this year’s performance review cycle. IRS employees have been told by management that a three – which equates to “fully successful” – is the default score many will receive. That preemptive messaging has led some IRS employees to question whether it is worth going above and beyond what’s expected of them.
AI
Anthropic Joins Top AI Companies Turning to EY to Vet Financials [Bloomberg Tax]
Out of the S&P 500, more than a third of tech companies hire EY as their auditor while less than a third rely on rival PwC LLP including Nvidia Corp., the world’s most valuable company, and chipmaker Broadcom Inc. Big Four peer Deloitte & Touche LLP audits Microsoft Corp.
AI in tax and audit: What firms must rethink about developing judgment, pricing & leadership [Thomson Reuters]
Jennifer Lee Wilson, co-founder of ConvergenceCoaching, cautions leaders from worrying that losing the mechanical, repetitive work or using AI as a thought-partner will cause talent to lose technical skill or ability. She adds that historically professionals who once added columns by hand, ran a ten-key at speed, or typed financial statements on a typewriter did not become less technical when Excel or automated accounting software replaced this work. The intelligence behind the skill evolved instead of disappearing all together.
Artificial Intelligence and the Ethics of Self-Study [CPA Journal]
The emergence of AI tools like ChatGPT has raised serious ethical questions about the integrity of qualified assessments in self-study CPE programs. While other authors have discussed the promise and areas of concern of AI on accounting education in general, this essay focuses specifically on the challenges AI poses to CPE self-study programs.
AI Tax Second Opinions Need a Record of What Changed and Why [Bloomberg Tax]
When a client brings an AI-generated second opinion on a draft tax return, the first question should be whether the AI tool and the accountant examined the same information, not which one is correct. Any artificial intelligence output should be treated as a request for changes that require evidence, not a corrected return.
Partners
EY defies consulting downturn to pay UK partners record £870,000 [Financial Times]
EY partners in the UK were paid a record £870,000 last year as the Big Four accounting firm defied a third consecutive year of falling revenues in its consulting division.
KPMG chiefs left with millions despite being docked $1.2m over scandal [Financial Review]
A whistleblower scandal cost KPMG Australia’s former chief executive Andrew Yates and ex-chairman Martin Sheppard more than $1.2 million in docked pay and bonuses following their mid-year resignations over the firm’s handling of the matter. Yet both men still secured multimillion-dollar departure packages, with Yates collecting $6.7 million in earnings and retirement payouts despite forfeiting almost $700,000 in pay, and Sheppard taking home $1.8 million after a $526,000 bonus cut.
Private Equity
Who’s Buying Accounting Firms, and What It Means for Yours [Advisory List]
In 2021, private equity made its first major investment in a top 20 U.S. accounting firm, when TowerBrook Capital Partners took a stake in EisnerAmper. Five years later, half of the 20 largest U.S. firms are owned or backed by private equity, and deal volume hit a record in 2025. Now it is buying the local firm down the street.
Tax
IRS CEO Bisignano donates to Trump Accounts in his childhood Brooklyn ZIP code [CNBC]
“My life was shaped by the people, schools, and neighborhoods in Marine Park, Mill Basin, Bergen Beach, and Flatlands,” Bisignano said in a statement. “This donation is an investment in the children of Brooklyn, giving them a boost in their personal wealth building journeys.”
Missouri marijuana businesses await IRS rules on promised federal tax relief [Missouri Independent]
Missouri marijuana businesses had reason to celebrate in April when the federal officials moved medical marijuana into a less restrictive category of controlled substances.
