Hey. Put down the fun size candy bar and read some news.
In this news brief
Far Be It From the SEC to Hinder Technological Innovation
The SEC has its eyes on AI company disclosures, reports Reuters:
The US Securities and Exchange Commission is examining artificial intelligence companies’ corporate disclosures as investor worries mount over a potential AI bubble that may have been fueled by circular deals, the agency’s enforcement director told Reuters on Friday.
Big Tech stocks sold off this week as companies disclosed they are burning through cash to fuel their AI expansion at a time when interest rates are rising, raising questions about the sustainability of AI spending.
David Woodcock, who became SEC enforcement director in May, said the agency does not want to stand in the way of tech innovation, but that it is the agency’s job to ensure issuers are giving investors the full picture on potential risks.
“Our principal concern is that people are making accurate disclosures about material information so that investors know what they’re getting into,” Woodcock said in an interview. “Enforcement is a very necessary piece of making sure people are doing that.”
Glad to know they’re on it. It’s not gonna stop the freight train barreling toward a Wile E. Coyote painted wall but still
GT + CBIZ 4Ever
Grant Thornton announced this morning they’ve officially acquired CBIZ, CBIZ announced they’ve been acquired by Grant Thornton. If you read our article last week about shareholders approving the thing, you already knew today’s the day.
Grant Thornton Advisors LLC (together with its affiliates, “Grant Thornton Advisors”), New Mountain Capital and CBIZ, Inc. (“CBIZ”) today announced that Grant Thornton Advisors completed its acquisition of CBIZ with an enterprise value of $5 billion.
The combination creates the fifth-largest U.S. provider of professional services, tax and advisory offerings, with more than $5 billion in annual domestic revenue. It also marks the completion of the largest transaction of its kind in more than 25 years.
Congratulations to the happy couple. We’re still curious if Marcum procedures will persist past this acquisition or if the GT Borg will make CBIZ fully assimilate. Guessing it’s the latter.
KPMG Gets Some Heat For Seeking Foreigners
Are there no seniors in Toronto?
KPMG is trying to hire 15 foreign accountants in downtown Toronto at $80,000+ each. In four days, Mark Carney will let corporations hire high wage occupations from abroad without even trying to hire a Canadian first. Toronto’s unemployment rate is sitting at 7% with youth unemployment at 17%. KPMG should be hiring and training Canadians, not getting a free pass to bypass local workers.
— Costas Menegakis MP (@CostasMenegakis) October 30, 2026
More Kuts at KPMG
Speaking of KPMG, let’s check in with Financial Review: KPMG to cut up to 400 more roles as government ban bites
KPMG Australia is preparing to axe up to 400 staff by the end of November as fallout continues from its document misuse scandal and an extended ban on bidding for new federal contracts, lifting total redundancies to nine per cent of the firm’s workforce.
The cuts – dubbed “the reset” internally – will mainly hit the firm’s consulting and the internal-facing business services divisions. The consulting division, led by Brad Miller, suffered a revenue drop of at least a third since July.
Hey So How Exactly Are You Using AI, Asking For a Friend
Journal of Accountancy has published another article about how CPAs are using AI, talking to actual CPAs to get real specifics on how AI is helping them audit:
Wells CPA, an 11-person firm that primarily serves not-for-profits, uses AI to review client financial statements, board minutes, policy manuals, and other documents to identify possible risks and plan the audit.
“AI can go through and do all of those [initial document review] processes … in a matter of two or three hours,” said Donald Wells, CPA, the firm’s president and owner. “If we had a midlevel staff person doing it, we might take a week.”
This bit was interesting, demonstrating an emerging issue that not everyone is thinking hard about:
Wells noted that this use of AI requires staff to check the accuracy of the AI’s work and determine if it reached the right conclusions in identifying risks that need to be assessed.
That can prove a challenge for some staff, especially younger staff, who may be less knowledgeable or less confident in their knowledge. “[They] tend to say, ‘Hey, AI said this is a risk, therefore it’s a risk,’” Wells said. “I’m like, ‘No, we have to think it through.’”
It’s the question plaguing those responsible for training up the next generation: how do you teach judgment in the absence of repetition?
PwC Boss Thinks WFH Was a Mistake
PwC UK big boss Marco Amitrano is not a fan of work from home:
Chief executive Marco Amitrano told The Times that policies introduced after the pandemic had “good intentions” but had also had negative consequences.
He said: “Covid didn’t help and in this country in particular, post-Covid, some of the policies that the public sector — or the private sector — implemented focused on wellbeing, all with good intention, but like everything with good intention, has had some adverse consequences.
“Work from home, the focus on mental health and wellbeing, and giving almost the ‘non-effective’ diagnosis of it or saying ‘do you know what, if you feel bad today, just go home’ rather than ‘let me help you’… most employers today would look back and say it was the right thing for us to do, but maybe we should have put some clearer parameters around it.”
He also thinks there are too many NEETs. Just the fact they got him to comment on NEETs is amazing:
Speaking about the number of young people who are Neet, he said: “You have to recognise that success… is not reducing it to zero, because there are different reasons why someone might be in a position that you call Neet. But… it’s got to a point where it’s too high.”
Alright, let’s end this here because we all have things to do today. Email or text if you have a tip or story for us, we’d love to hear from you. Bye!