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cat and sunflowers

Monday Morning Accounting News Brief: Big 4 Consulting Salaries; Accounting For Dummies; PwC Boomerangs | 3.27.23

They just had to use this picture, didn’t they? Alright, here are some other headlines for ya. Deloitte, Accenture, McKinsey: Who Are The Top Consulting Firms For B-School Students? The world’s largest accounting and professional services firms in terms of revenue and workforce, these prestigious firms are renowned for offering high salaries with a generous […]

Trump performance art in NYC

Whitley Penn Finds Out New Yorkers Do Not F*** Around

On March 20, New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a motion to compel (aka “gonna need the court to make someone do something thx”) Whitley Penn to hand over documents and communications relating to her civil fraud case against their client Donald Trump, three of his adult children, and the Trump Organization. Whitley Penn […]

TIL EY Has Commoditized Space

Is there any limit to the robust and ever-growing suite of services offered by professional services firms? Apparently not. As we’ll learn in a sec, not even the sky is the limit. It was less than a year ago that EY put $3 million Aussie bucks into a space business in partnership with Swinburne University […]

someone asleep at their desk wearing a VR headset

ChatGPT Isn’t Terminator for Accountants…Yet

Ed. note: the following is a guest post by Jack Castonguay, PhD, CPA, who has not yet been replaced by ChatGPT as far as we know. Or has he? Was ChatGPT sent to us from the future to rescue the industry from the pipeline crisis by filling open accounting jobs with cyborgs and sentient machines? […]

nuclear blast

WTF Happened at SVB and Should KPMG Auditors Have Seen It Coming?

While the general investing public is asking “where were the auditors?” in regards to the recent collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, the banks’ auditors are insisting that, having exercised requisite due professional care, their unqualified opinions were based on the information available to them at the time and as such, the firm […]

PwC Has a Fancy New AI Tool to Law Around With

Today is the day that PwC ushered in a new era for professional services: a global partnership with AI startup Harvey, offering PwC’s legal professionals “exclusive access” (that is, they are the only Big 4 firm who has it) to the platform. It’s a shame we had to scroll all the way to the bottom […]

cat in a window with a cup of coffee

Monday Morning Accounting News Brief: PwC Didn’t Screw Up the Oscars; Deloitte India Doubles in Size; ‘Sham Audits’ | 3.13.23

Hello and Happy Monday! Here’s some stuff going on in our little corner of the world. A former Deloitte partner is suing Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. for disability benefits, saying he’s unable to return to his “highly-demanding” position because of multiple mental health conditions: The lawsuit, filed Thursday in the US District Court for the […]

sad black dog

Friday Footnotes: KPMG Client’s Spectacular Failure; PwC Gets Defensive; Kids Doing Taxes | 3.10.23

Some things are happening today. Bank Fail Friday is back! What does Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse mean for the financial system? [The Economist] Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly. That is how Silicon Valley Bank (svb), the 16th-largest lender in America, with about $200bn in assets, went bust. Its financial position deteriorated over several years. But […]

magazine letter cutouts of use your voice

Why NASBA Can Be a Bully and What CPAs Can Do About It

By Sharon Lassar, PhD, CPA (Florida) John J. Gilbert Professor and Director of the School of Accountancy, University of Denver Going Concern previously reported on bits of an interview with Ken Bishop, President and CEO of NASBA, published in Journal of Accountancy. A cut out in the article includes this quote, “Should any state or […]

EY building

The EY Split is Falling TF Apart

Ever since “Project Everest” was announced last year there have been delays, complaints, and constant reassurance from leadership that things are going forward as planned, depending on market conditions. Only a week ago Global Managing Partner Andy Baldwin told Bloomberg Radio that a few details needed to be hammered out — specifically how legal liability […]

$700,000+ Overclaim by Alliantgroup Client Shows Value of §179D Expertise

The United States Tax Court recently ruled that Edwards Engineering could only deduct $304,640 of the $1,037,237 it claimed under Section 179D for the installation of energy efficient commercial building property (EECBP) it performed at a Veterans Affairs hospital in 2013. Q: Edwards Engineering is a client of what tax consulting firm, a popular subject […]

"top secret" file folder

PwC UK Fined £7.5 Million For Faking Evidence and Other Such Terrible Auditing of a Government Contractor

The Financial Reporting Council has fined PwC £7.5 million ($8.9 million USD) for work related to Babcock, a multinational corporation headquartered in the UK providing, among other things, engineering services. Babcock conducts most of its business with the government, particularly the Ministry of Defence (don’t @ us, that’s how they spell it across the pond). […]

an empty classroom

Actual Kids Are Working at EY Now

Just the other day we were talking about initiatives around the profession to ease the burden of the 150 hour requirement for CPA licensure that tie together education and work experience, like work-for-credit programs or 5th year education partnerships between firms and universities. Today, we’ve learned of another education-experience partnership: a high school in North […]

happy shiba

Friday Footnotes: KPMG’s ESG Conflict; PwC Fails to Deliver; FASB Turns Attention to AI | 3.3.23

Big 4 How auditing giant KPMG became a global sustainability leader while serving companies accused of forest destruction [International Consortium of Investigative Journalists] The firm vouched for an Indonesian company with a supply chain beset by deforestation allegations and a project in Canada that led to an Indigenous forest’s “death by a thousand cuts”. ‘Happy […]

a welcome to Virginia sign

Survey Says: Virginia Accountant Salaries By Experience Level

Skipping the smart-ass headline for this one and getting right to it: Virginia Society of CPAs surveyed a total of 84 public firms, 17 solo practitioners, 133 accountants in corporate/industry, and 48 in government/nonprofit for the 2022 VSCPA Compensation & Benefits Survey and here are the results: Virginia Accounting Salaries Mean Median Accountant I: 0-1.9 […]

CBIZ and MHM debut new logos

CBIZ and MHM Get a Makeover

CBIZ and MHM have finally ditched the ‘1999 amateur golf team’ logos and transported themselves into current day with a fresh new look to celebrate stellar performance and dynamic client service. Of course there are a pair of press releases to mark the occasion, here is MHM’s: Mayer Hoffman McCann P.C. (“MHM”) has updated its […]

typewriter and lamp on desk in sepia tones

The Accountant Shortage Has Finally Been Figured Out. You’re Not Underpaid, You’re Bored!

Ed. note: if you’re visiting from r/accounting, thanks for actually reading the article. Love ya. Another day, another article purporting to offer the solution to the precipitous drop in accounting talent over the past several years that doesn’t involve paying people more. “Young people” have been blamed for talent shortages long before an actual shortage […]

business guy raging

OK Now They Are Just Trolling With These ‘Newest Workplace Trend’ Buzz Phrases

Ever since professor Anthony Klotz coined the term “The Great Resignation” in 2021 we have been inundated with more and increasingly nonsensical workplace trends bouncing around the business rags. Quiet quitting, quiet hiring, bare minimum Mondays, ‘tang ping,‘ (‘lying flat’ in Mandarin Chinese), and now we have “rage applying” which we’ll get to in a […]

orange cat in embarrassed pose

Monday Morning Accounting News Brief: EY Embarrasses Itself (Again); Archaic IRS Tech; Partners Battle It Out | 2.27.23

In Australia, EY is still bungling this one up: EY accidentally leaked the personal details of current and former employees while trying to launch a massive review into the firm’s workplace culture. The Big 4 Accounting firm announced the independent review following the tragic death of EY worker Aishwarya Venkatachalam, 27, who fell to her […]

US currency in little shopping carts

Friday Footnotes: Eff You, Pay Me; KPMG is Reading Your Thoughts; EY Adds Meme Coins to Blockchain Tech | 2.24.23

Talent The new math in recruiting at accounting firms [Puget Sound Business Journal] You have to scroll way too far down in this article to see a mention of salary. Shocking. When they’re not striving for the pinnacle of their sports, internationally famous mountaineer Jimmy Chin and teenage tennis phenom Coco Gauff are promoting accounting […]

Beijing statue

China Tells Its State-Owned Orgs Don’t Use Big 4 Audit Firms

Some time last year PCAOB inspectors visited China and while details of their visit were kept somewhat quiet from both sides, we were told that the inspectors gained unprecedented access to Chinese audit work. This event did not come about because China suddenly warmed to the PCAOB, rather Congress urged their cooperation along with the […]

question marks on brown background

We Asked Twitter What’s the Second Most Important Issue in the Accounting Profession Right Now, Here’s What They Said

Bored of writing and talking about the dire accountant shortage and the consequences it could have on the entire financial system as we know it, the other day I tweeted a question to find out what else folks think is plaguing accounting. Thanks to everyone who chimed in, I know sometimes Twitter feels like shouting […]

SAP building

Fans of Punit Renjen Will Be Happy to Hear the Former Deloitte Global CEO Has Landed a Sweet Board Chairman Gig

This morning, SAP announced that it has picked former King of Deloitte Punit Renjen as designated supervisory board chairman. You’ll remember he was liberated from Deloitte last fall after many years and many billions of dollars together with the firm. Deloitte US CEO Joe Ucuzoglu succeeded Renjen as Deloitte Global CEO at that time and […]

EY Hong Kong Consultant Alleges Sexual Assault, Bullying, and Ghislaine Maxwelling By Her Superiors in This Detailed Account

Late last week, South China Morning Post reported that a consultant at EY Hong Kong has accused Steven Xiong, Head of Greater China Business Consulting, of sexually harassing and assaulting her and another colleague at a karaoke bar. It appears the accuser, Nicole Wang, has written a detailed account of the incident in which she […]

relaxed dog

Monday Morning Accounting News Brief: EY’s New Harassment Case; Who’s Happy in Consulting; Bare Minimum Monday | 2.20.23

Since it’s Monday and all, let’s start with this: ‘Bare Minimum Monday’ is the latest workplace trend hitting productivity We’ll write this one up later: Accounting firm Ernst & Young launches probe into sexual harassment claim filed by Hong Kong employee after allegation goes viral online [South China Morning Post] Employee says she and her […]

euro coins falling

Mazars Is Growing YUGE

Mazars released its global financial results this week and as is tradition, there is a press release celebrating it. Mazars, the international audit, tax and advisory firm, today releases its global financial results for the 2021/2022 financial year, highlighting double-digit year-on-year growth of 16.4%, reaching €2.45bn in fee income. The increase in revenue comprises strong […]

KPMG metaverse meeting space arms out

Layoff Watch ’23: KPMG Let Some Advisory People Go Today

Article photo from a scathing review of KPMG’s metaverse space Alright folks, the moment we’ve been saying wasn’t going to happen to us now has: layoffs are here. Bet you feel dumb for saying firms won’t be laying anyone off because they don’t have enough people to lay off eh? I know I do. We’ve […]

dog running

Friday Footnotes: Florida Man’s Tax Problem; Accountants Are Walking Out; BDO Assures on Tether | 2.10.23

Talent As tax season approaches, accounting firms are short on staff [Marketplace] Oh hey! Planning ahead: How these employers will grow and retain talent this year [Silicon Republic] When it comes to engaging with talent, PwC recently launched its people value proposition, which aims to give employees flexibility with how they work and help them […]

a stress ball going through busy season

4 Ways PBC Management Makes Busy Season Less Sucky

For CPAs, accountants, and auditors, busy season sucks. The stress can take a serious toll on your personal life, your relationships, and even your health. That’s because it’s hard to find time for things like diet, exercise, and those pesky “other people in your life” when you’re busy reconciling the list of outstanding client requests […]

dog sleeping in sun

Monday Morning Accounting News Brief: Auditor Demand; EYer Not Coming in on Monday; Reentering the Workforce | 2.6.23

Good morning and Happy Monday! Here’s some news to start the week and give you something to talk about around the virtual watercooler. Auditing is the most “in demand” finance career right now according to a new study from CMC Markets, an online trading platform, which analysed monthly Google searches using Ahrefs for jobs within […]

a kid in business attire working on a laptop

If You Let 23-Year-Olds Sign Off on Audits, You’re Gonna Have a Bad Time

On January 24, short seller Hindenburg Research dropped a report called Adani Group: How The World’s 3rd Richest Man Is Pulling The Largest Con In Corporate History, in which Hindenburg accuses Indian conglomerate Adani Group of engaging in “a brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme over the course of decades,” among other things. A […]

Which Firm Had the Most IPO Audit Clients In Q4 2022?

The fourth quarter of 2022 didn’t miraculously save what was a terrible year for initial public offerings. There were 20 IPOs during the last quarter of the year which raised a combined total of $1.9 billion, according to a new analysis from Audit Analytics. That is down significantly from Q4 of 2021, when 265 companies […]

Turns Out Cohen & Company Auditors Are Human After All

Breaking news: Cohen & Company made a mistake on one of its audits inspected by the PCAOB. Big deal, you’re probably thinking, audit firms screw up all the time—some more than others. (We’re looking at you, BDO USA.) But Cohen & Company had perfect auditing report cards from the PCAOB for 2018, 2019, and 2020. […]

SobelCo logo from CliftonLarsonAllen

CliftonLarsonAllen Just Gained 200 People

Image via CliftonLarsonAllen CLA has merged with New Jersey’s SobelCo (a firm we’ve heard only good things about) and produced the obligatory press release about the union. Shout out to Allan Koltin, the prenuptial counselor of accounting firm marriages, who helped with the deal. News release: Today, CLA (CliftonLarsonAllen LLP), the eighth largest accounting firm […]

a "you're hired" handshake

Advice on How to Get Hired at EY From the Vice Chair of Talent

Insider has published an ‘as-told-to- essay from EY Americas Vice Chair — Talent Ginnie Carlier in which she offers insight on what the firm is looking for from prospective hires. One takeaway: add a “personal purpose statement” to your résumé if it doesn’t already have one. This is not a bland objective — those have […]

Your Naughty IRS Employee of the Day

Deena Vang Lee of Fresno, CA, was indicted in April 2019 and charged with wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, aiding and assisting in the preparation and presentation of false and fraudulent tax returns, and making and subscribing false and fraudulent tax returns. She was accused of preparing family and friends’ returns for a fee that […]

runners at a race

Here’s How People Did on the CPA Exam in 2022

The AICPA has released Q4 CPA exam pass rates which means we have a cumulative score for all of 2022 YIPPEE. As we did not discuss pass rates at all last year, let’s take a look at the whole chart and see how CPA exam candidates performed in 2022: Section Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Cumulative […]

sleeping dog

Monday Morning Accounting News Brief: ESG Compliance Heats Up; Deloitte Disclosures; AI Says It Isn’t a Threat | 1.30.23

Deloitte & Touche LLP partners and staffers failed to make financial disclosures required to ensure the independence of their audit work, according to new details from the firm’s 2018 PCAOB inspection. [Bloomberg Tax] Britain’s accounting watchdog said on Monday it will monitor whether auditors were making spot checks on their compliance with environmental, social and […]

candles

An Audit Associate at KPMG’s NYC Office Has Died

Ed. note: an earlier version of this article used male pronouns based on the information available at the time. We have been informed the associate was female, confirmed this information with the NYPD, and have updated pronouns in this article. We have also removed a link to a dubious outside source. I debated even posting […]

cat in a fishbowl with money

Friday Footnotes: Higher Salaries Lead to Higher Fees; EY Auditors Quit; Senator Rags on Greedy Accounting Firms | 1.27.23

Big 4 EY auditors escape potential Wirecard sanctions after leaving profession [Financial Times] Germany’s audit watchdog closed investigations against four current and former EY auditors involved in inspecting collapsed payments firm Wirecard after they handed back their professional licences and left the profession earlier this month. Under German law, Apas can only probe and sanction […]

closeup of racetrack finish line

If This Person Can Pass the CPA Exam, So Can You

I was cleaning out pics on my phone and was reminded of something I saw on Reddit a few weeks back: a screenshot of someone’s many, many, MANY CPA exam attempts over twelve years. Most people would have given up around the tenth attempt but this person persisted. And persisted. And persisted. So if you […]