Deloitte Survey Finds Zoomers Are 3x More Likely to Fall For Scams Than Boomers So Why Don’t More of Them Work at Deloitte
Buried in the fourth annual Connected Consumer survey announced Wednesday by Deloitte is a concerning figure: Gen Zs were more than twice as likely as boomers to have their social media account hacked (17% vs. 8%) and three times more likely than boomers to fall for an online scam (16% vs. 5%). Can we please […]
EY’s Work on This One Bank Project Was So Bad They Had to Refund the Client
Apologies in advance to that one guy in the comments who always accuses us of being mean to EY for no reason. Not our fault they end up in the headlines for stuff worth making fun of. It appears the ever talkative “people familiar with the matter” blabbed recently to Financial Times about an EY […]
Look What PwC Made the Australian Government Have to Do
The Australian government released exposure draft legislation yesterday in response to “the PwC matter” and the funniest part is the special email they made to receive comments: [email protected]. Not ConsultingReponse or Sept23TaxReform, specifically PwCResponse. In four separate exposure drafts that amend the Taxation Administration Act 1953 (TAA) and/or the Tax Agent Services Act 2009 (TASA), […]
Deloitte University Is Getting Bigger Because God Forbid KPMG Have the Superior Brainwashing Compound
Dallas Morning News reported yesterday that groundbreaking on a “massive expansion” of the already massive Deloitte University campus in Westlake, Texas will begin in January. Deloitte’s been wanting to expand for a while but was waiting on Tarrant County commissioners to approve more than $5 million in tax breaks. “We certainly appreciate the great corporate […]
EY Survey: Gen Z Is Broke, Anxious, and Extremely Worried About Everything. We Can’t Blame Them
EY put out a press release on the results of its 2023 Gen Z Segmentation study yesterday and it’s not good. Less than a third (31%) of those born between 1997 and 2007 surveyed feel financially secure, more than half (52%) said they are very or extremely worried about not having enough money. Mind you […]
PwC Canada Totally Blew Their Perfect Score on PCAOB Inspections This Time Around
A few days ago the paper-pushers at the PCAOB released 15 new inspection reports and three expanded reports for the following firms: Inspection reports De Visser Gray LLP (Canada) Ernst & Young Limited Corp. (Panama) Frost, PLLC Harbourside CPA LLP (Canada) Keith K Zhen CPA Maggart & Associates, P.C Miller Wachman LLP PBMares, LLP PKF […]
EY Narrowly Missed Hitting $50 Billion in Revenue for the First Time
As we all know, EY had a tough year. Mostly due to their own choices, choices that led to the professional services equivalent of a wet fart. Despite the proposed audit and consulting split falling apart and leaving a $500 million dollar hole in the firm’s pocket, they still had “one of the most successful […]
Layoff Watch ’23: Deloitte UK Cuts More Than 800 People Because Business is Slow and People Aren’t Quitting
Reported earlier today by Financial News, Deloitte UK is cutting approximately 3 percent of its workforce or more than 800 people. The cuts are concentrated in consulting, financial advisory, and risk advisory though a few audit and business services folks also got the axe. FN cites slowing demand in the second half of the year […]
PwC Is Suddenly Scared of Making Money
First reported by Financial Times on Sunday, it seems PwC is now overly cognizant of conflicts of interest, even just the perceived ones. PwC is planning to give up tens of millions of dollars of consulting work for its US audit clients to reduce the risk of conflicts of interest, challenging its rival Big Four firms […]
According to Deloitte, Partners Crowdsurfing in Mosh Pits is Not a Party
Deloitte Australia’s 1,000 or so partners gathered in Adelaide at the end of August and according to Sydney Morning Herald reporting ahead of the totally-business-and-not-pleasure gathering, it was absolutely in no way whatsoever a party. Per Deloitte themselves. Consulting giant Deloitte is holding a big partner bash from Thursday, flying in more than 1000 partners and […]
Deloitte Global Smashed Revenue Records Again
Deloitte reported global revenue today and no one will be surprised to hear that it once again broke a record: $64.9 billion for the 2023 fiscal year ended May 31, 2023. That’s a 14.9% increase from Deloitte’s 2022 revenue, not quite as big a jump as the 19.6% increase between 2021 ($50.2 billion) and 2022 […]
150 Hour Rule: Let’s Keep Arguing About What Color the Drapes Should Be While the House is Burning Down
Amanda Iacone at Bloomberg Tax has written the accounting niche’s 1,735th article about the accountant shortage and this time, as is often the case, the focus is 150 hours. Rather, how dueling factions within the profession are fighting for and against keeping it as the only option to CPA licensure. Let’s note here quickly that many of […]
Who’s Putting Roofies in the Drinks at KPMG In-Office Get Togethers?
This post is not a joke about partners slipping Moloko into the Kool-Aid, someone is actually spiking drinks at KPMG New Zealand. The most disturbing part, putting aside the roofies which are plenty disturbing themselves, is that this likely happened on KPMG premises. For two months in a row, “grubby little cowards” have drugged drinks […]
PwC UK Partners Will Not Be Celebrating Record-Breaking Million Dollar Payouts This Year
Last year, 950 PwC UK equity partners were treated to record-breaking £1 million pound ($1.2 million) payouts, effortlessly beating the 2020 high of £868,000 and quite a leap from £765,000 in 2019. Sadly for them they won’t be cruising right past a million this year. Reports The Guardian: More than 1,000 partners at the UK division […]
EY UK to Everyone Who Works at EY UK: ‘Go F*ck Yourselves’
When the TPG Capital story “leaked” on Monday, it seemed awfully suspicious that a letter of that caliber would even make its way out into the world unless, you know, someone at a professional services firm with a bruised ego wanted to stir up some interest for a consulting business spin-off. Not saying there’s a […]
Let’s Check Out Deloitte UK’s New ‘Future of Work’ Office
*pic not of the actual office, those are at the bottom Deloitte UK has officially announced its new ‘future of work’ office in Edinburgh, Scotland, ‘future of work’ in scare quotes being their choice not ours. The new digs are 16,383 sq ft of space at 9 Haymarket Square, a new, mixed-use development that includes […]
EY Split is Back on the Menu, Boys (UPDATE)
Financial Times reported yesterday that TPG Capital — “a leader in the alternative asset space” — approached EY to discuss the possibility of the PE firm getting a piece of the firm’s consulting business through their own version of a split: TPG outlined its plan for a debt-and-equity deal to separate the consulting arm from […]
PwC Audit Client Gets Added to the List of Companies That Have to Send Out Letters to Customers About a Data Breach
Puerto Rico’s largest bank filed a data breach notification with the Maine Attorney General on August 14 related to the MOVEit ransomware attack that has so far snagged Deloitte, EY, and PwC. For once KPMG is thrilled to be excluded from the Big 4. EY client Bank of America sent a similar notice to its […]
Sorry EY Australia Auditors, No Raise For You This Year
EY continues to redefine the meaning of “better working world,” this time by way of salaries for audit staff in financial services. Better for whom we aren’t quite sure, not the people receiving these salaries. AFR wrote about EY Australia audit salaries this morning (their morning): The starting pay for most auditing staff in parts […]
EY Regrets Any Inconvenience Cybercriminals Having Your Credit Card Number May Cause You
“Hacker” stock photos are the worst. Is he hacking from the back room of a vape shop? We saw this story on Cybernews, shout-out to them for staying on top of the MOVEit data breach. TL;DR: File transfer program MOVEit was compromised earlier this year by the Cl0p ransomware group, Cl0p threatened to release the […]
These Firms Are Cheap AF With the Deferred Start Date Stipends
Remember when your grandma would slip a $5 bill in your birthday card and tell you not to spend it all in one place and you, the ungrateful child that you were, internally sneered that five bucks barely covers a soda and a candy bar? That was different because your parents paid your rent and […]
In Shocking Blow to Pro-Office Leadership, People Will Quit If You Force Them Back Into the Office
Just in case the C-suite needs more evidence that precious talent hates being corralled back into their cubicles, Deloitte has released a new survey that says if you force it, they will not come. Most people are surprisingly OK with going into the office, just not all the time Here are the key findings from […]
PwC UK Interns to Undergo Intensive Training in the Ancient Art of Pointless Water Cooler Chitchat
PwC UK is following through on its threat to force “lockdown-damaged” interns into the office so they can learn how to interact with human beings face-to-face, reported The Times this morning. Three summers have passed since the pandemic first forced everyone inside, this summer is the first year since that the firm is making a conscious […]
Deloitte Is Delaying Start Dates. Again.
Poets&Quants reported yesterday that Deloitte is pushing back start dates for MBA new hires, for some they’ve been pushed back all the way to spring of next year. The details: Many of the MBAs hired by Deloitte, one of the world’s biggest accounting and financial advisory firms, have been informed that their onboarding with the […]
Disgraced PwC Partner Who Got Forced Out Forgot to Mention the Disgrace in His Farewell LinkedIn Post
In what must surely be an oversight, mandatorily retired PwC Australia partner Peter van Dongen (again, great name) neglected to mention that he was forced out of the firm, saying he “agreed with PwC to bring forward my planned retirement by a few months.” AFR columnist Joe Aston writes: A month ago, embattled consultancy giant […]
Turns Out the Secret PCAOB Inspection List Isn’t Intangible Property for the Purposes of Wire Fraud After All
Financial Times reported today that two of the people in the middle of KPMG’s 2018 PCAOB inspection cheating scandal (extensive write-up here if you’ve been under a rock for approximately five years) are likely limping away scot-free minus any Google searches of their name being forever dominated by stories about cheating audit inspections. Two people […]
AI Is Moving So Fast PwC Couldn’t Even Commit to a Year-Long Training Program
This stock photo might belong on r/itsaunixsystem but we’re quickly running out of AI stock photos so just deal. Saw something interesting in Fortune yesterday and thought it worth sharing as it gives us a look at PwC’s AI upskilling plans and demonstrates how difficult it is to train your people on a technology moving faster […]
Team Deloitte is Ready to Kick Some Ass at the 2024 Olympics
I have nothing negative to say about this (for once). Everyone, meet Team Deloitte. These 25 elite athletes – among them 19 Deloitte professionals along with a few Deloitte alumni and sponsored athletes — are training to qualify for the Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris 2024. What an incredibly creative and difficult way to get […]
Nonprofit Group Morally Opposed to Diversity Accuses PwC of Being Unlawfully Woke
America First Legal, the nonprofit group founded in 2021 by President Trump’s senior advisor Stephen Miller, has sent a strongly worded letter addressed to Tim Ryan accusing his firm of “unlawfully discriminating based on race, color, national origin, religion, and sex in its hiring, promotion, training, and procurement decisions.” The group then calls for PwC […]
PwC’s Mandated Conflict of Interest eLearning AKA a BuzzFeed Quiz on Ethics and Integrity
Which Tax Practitioners Board Code of Conduct violation are you? It seems that’s the question PwC Australia is trying to answer in its new conflict of interest training, born out of the absolute shitstorm that began years ago when former partner Peter Collins leaked confidential information he’d received about upcoming Australian tax legislation in consultation […]
EY’s Top In-House Lawyer Just Quit
EY US Vice Chair & General Counsel Ann Cook is saying goodbye to the firm after just two years in the role and ten total at EY, an exit that Financial Times ties to the Great Cheating Scandal of 2019. We too shall find some red string and put it all together in a moment. […]
Deloitte is Taking the PwC Tax Scandal Straight to the Bank
Although consulting is having a bad year in Australia overall, it seems there’s a tiny bright spot glimmering from the swampy depths and it’s Deloitte cleaning up on PwC’s sloppy seconds. Australian Financial Review: Deloitte is on target to become the largest of the big four consulting firms this financial year thanks to the collapse […]
PwC Australia Spammed Government Offices to Sell Solutions to Problems They Weren’t Supposed to Know About
The fallout from the PwC tax leak saga continues, this time it’s public servants complaining that PwC pursued and pestered them with unsolicited emails trying to sell them solutions based on information they weren’t supposed to have. Internal emails released by the Aussie agriculture department show one partner had no problem revealing they had insider […]
Which Big 4 Firm Gets Sued the Most in Federal Court? Deloitte By a Long Shot
Have you ever wondered which Big 4 firm has been involved in the most federal litigation in the last four years? No? Well Law Street Media put together this beautiful post about Big 4 firms getting sued in federal court anyway and you’re going to read it. The article is all about analytics so of […]
EY’s Getting Ready For Bad Grades From the PCAOB For Overseas Colleagues’ Work (Allegedly)
Apparently someone inside EY blabbed to Financial Times about the current state of EY audit quality and the firm “expects more failing grades” from the PCAOB specifically related to work performed offshore for US-listed clients. Their last inspection wasn’t so great, the PCAOB identified deficiencies in twelve of the 56 audits inspected for a deficiency […]
Google Searches For the Word ‘Delayering’ Up 558% Since Today’s EY Global All-Hands Call
Apparently there was an EY Global all-hands today and at some point during it, leadership mentioned an important tidbit of information and then promptly breezed right past it. A tipster tells us: EY all hands, people do not seem happy. Staff on the call were told the firm will be focused on ‘delayering’ in fiscal […]
Just How Many People Left Big 4 Firms Last Year?
Just how many people left Big 4 firms — voluntarily or not — in 2022? About 56,600 according to this CFO Journal piece published on WSJ this morning. For this year, the number is about 21,400 through June, a 11.6% drop from the same period the year prior. That’s from workplace data analyzed by Revelio […]
Dutch KPMG Cheaters Might Get a Call From the PCAOB
In today’s Monday Morning Accounting News Brief (published every Monday morning at…whenever I roll out of bed), I shared this story from DutchNews about a new round of cheating of the answer-sharing variety at another KPMG arm. Add the Netherlands to the ever-growing list of cheaty KPMG arms, I guess. From that article: At least […]
Deloitte Just Admitted to Misusing Government Information à la PwC Tax Scandal
So the firms are up against the Australian Senate this week, answering uncomfortable questions about their inner workings all because one PwC partner couldn’t keep his mouth shut and blabbed confidential government tax intel back to the firm so PwC could make some money off of it. While that situation continues to destroy PwC’s reputation […]
Firms Are Making Big Expansions in India
Thanks to Reuters we’ve got some solid intel on accounting firms’ increasing their presence — and therefore headcounts — in India, expanding out from city centers and into smaller cities and towns. We’ve known for some time that offshoring has exploded in recent years, now we know there’s much more room to grow. 1,269,219 square […]
Why Won’t You Leave?! Korean Big 4 Firms Have the Same Low Attrition Problem Everyone Else Does
When KPMG US laid off 5% of its workforce last month, the firm’s official statement made mention of “historically low attrition” as a contributing factor, meaning firms were no longer bleeding talent as they’d been just a year before. KPMG was not unique in experiencing this, it’s something we’ve been hearing since late last year: […]
PwC Has Not Paid Its Interns (UPDATED)
Ed. note: we’re told the interns were paid the day after this post was published. We’ve been informed of a situation at PwC, one that apparently has been brewing for days but that we only found about this afternoon because browsing the r/pwc subreddit isn’t something we do on a regular basis. Thank you to […]
‘Lockdown-Damaged’ New Hires Struggle to Socialize at KPMG UK
KPMG UK is joining Deloitte and PwC in adding soft skills and professional basics to the firm’s new hire training, having noticed the recruits are lacking in “people skills” critical to hack it in public accounting. Why is this new crop so devoid of interpersonal intelligence? While us older working adults were getting fat and […]
Fuel Up the Bus, PwC Australia Has Named and Shamed Eight Partners Tied to the Tax Leak Scandal
When PwC Australia CEO Tom Seymour stepped down in May after it was confirmed he’d received tainted emails containing confidential government tax intel leaked by former partner Peter Collins, it seems the firm hoped sacrificing him was enough to settle the matter and move on. Spoiler: it was not. While us Yanks were picking up […]
EY UK Appoints 267 New Partners
Unbothered with American federal holidays, EY UK announced on Tuesday (July 4) that the firm has appointed 267 new partners, marking a 10 percent increase and bringing the total EY partner population in the UK to 1683 from 1553 the year prior. These figures include those moving from non-equity partner to equity partner. More than […]
PwC Goes on Record to Say There Will Not Be Layoffs (Not Loud Ones Anyway)
One of the hundreds of local Business Journals wrote yesterday about layoffs in our sector, those layoffs being KPMG’s 5% cut announced Monday, Deloitte laying off 1200 or so people in April, and EY’s 3000 layoffs that coincidentally happened shortly after Everest fell apart but had nothing to do with Everest falling apart (according to […]
KPMG Got Extra Roasted By the FRC Thanks to the Firm’s “Poor Disciplinary Record”
Both KPMG and PwC have been fined by the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) in relation to the statutory audits of the financial statements of Eddie Stobart Logistics plc, a shipping and logistics company based in Warrington, UK. It seems KPMG handed the client off to PwC in 2018 after a breakdown in KPMG’s relationship with […]
Already Underpaid PwC UKers Get Told Bonuses Will Suck This Year
Although Big 4 audit fees have increased so much in the last several years clients wrote a strongly worded letter to complain about it, PwC UK told its 25,000 staff last week that things will be tight this year. “Challenging” market conditions mean smaller raises (if they get raises at all) and bonuses. Oh yay. […]
Deloitte Plans to Have a Third of Its Workforce Operating From India Within the Next Four Years, Says South Asia CEO
That’s it. That’s the story. Published today in India’s business paper The Economic Times: Deloitte plans to have around 30% of its workforce operating from India within the next four years, with an estimated total employee count ranging from 150,000 to 160,000, as the country figures prominently in the firm’s global growth plans, according to […]
PwC Sold Off Its Scandal-Plagued Government Consulting Business For 67 Cents
That headline is not an exaggeration, they really did. Technically it was $1 AUD. Yesterday’s news cycle was quickly dominated by news that KPMG US would be slashing its workforce by 5% but we would be remiss not to remind everyone that while us Americans were blissfully snoozing away on Sunday night, PwC Australia sold […]
Layoff Watch ’23: The KPMG Workforce is Shrinking By About 5% (UPDATED)
Stock photo of KPMG office in London. Look, the logo is the same ok. Update 8.18.23: reports of layoffs in advisory (and memes about them) began trickling out on social media this week. We confirmed with KPMG that these layoffs are the last batch of people let go as part of the 5% reduction in […]
PwC Is Allegedly Looking to Sell Off Its Poisoned Government, Education and Healthcare Practice
Australian Financial Review is reporting today that PwC Australia may be in talks with private equity to sell off its poisoned government, education and healthcare practice. The private equity firm named in the report is Allegro Funds. It is understood a term sheet about a potential deal has been drawn up outlining details of the […]
People Shouldn’t Be in a Constant State of Stress and Exhaustion Due to Their Jobs, Deloitte Report Unironically Says
Yesterday, Deloitte released a new report in collaboration with independent research firm Workplace Intelligence that tackles the important issue of employee well-being. Like the employees, employee well-being isn’t doing so great. To arrive at these conclusions, they conducted a survey in March 2023 among 3,100 employees, managers and C-level executives across the U.S., U.K., Canada […]
EY and PwC Among the Many Entities Caught Up in the MOVEit Cybersecurity Breach Ransom
On the 15th, CNN broke the story of a “global cyberattack by Russian cybercriminals” (guys, we only need one “cyber” here) that exploited a vulnerability in file transfer software MOVEit. The breach affected numerous federal agencies as well as “several hundred” companies, per a senior CISA official. According to Tech Crunch, a dozen or so […]
UK Audit Regulator Chair Says Cheap-Ass Firms Should Pay Their Junior Auditors Better
Financial Reporting Council chair and stereotypically European named Jan du Plessis has told the Financial Times that audit firms — who regularly complain about the UK audit regulator being up their asses — should pay their junior auditors more. “There has been a significant increase in profitability at all the audit firms. They have the […]
Suddenly Cognizant of Mandatory Retirement Age, EY Global CEO Carmine Di Sibio Is Stepping Down
This just in: Carmine is gonna head out. FT: On Tuesday, Di Sibio made it clear he did not intend to step down immediately, but would instead oversee the organisation through a long transition lasting until the end of the next financial year in June 2024. In a partner webcast, he said he planned to […]
EY’s New Payroll Chatbot Just Has to Be Slightly Less Sucky Than HR to Be a Success
No doubt proud of its partnership with a massive professional services organization that is mostly prestigious unless some scandal or embarrassing internal falling out is afoot, Microsoft has written a long and complementary blog post about EY’s new toy the ‘EY Intelligent Payroll Chatbot‘. Speaking of EY and payroll, the great “just kidding!” payroll snafu […]
Former Partner Who Got His Says Aussie Government Should Stop Using Outside Consultants
*not the actual partner in photo The PwC tax scandal (AFR coverage) has brought to light the government’s liberal use of outside consultants (that’s “liberal” as in “a lot” not the political leaning so spare the comments) and amplified the voices of people who believe the government should be doing a lot of this work […]
Finally Having Something to Roast Them About, KPMG CEO Takes This Opportunity to Talk Sh*t About PwC
A quickie from Sydney Morning Herald on yesterday’s Senate committee hearing in which KPMG Australia CEO Andrew Yates took the opportunity to throw some barbs at PwC while he has the chance: KPMG boss Andrew Yates publicly rebuked PwC for the tax scandal that is impacting the entire multibillion-dollar financial consulting industry while apologising for […]
Naughty PwC Is Bleeding Big Pension Clients
A second large pension fund has severed ties with PwC Australia as a direct result of the leak of confidential tax intel the firm used to sell tax avoidance schemes to certain VIP clients. Australian Retirement Trust is the second largest pension fund in the country and joins largest fund AustralianSuper in breaking up with […]
EY Interns Are Going to Have the Worst Summer
It’s gonna be a lame summer for EY interns as the firm has trimmed internships down to six weeks and is withholding both Disney AND intern gifts. When it happened in winter, interns were apparently told it was “because of budgeting due to the potential split.” Now that the Project Everest split is a no-go […]
Bonus Season Is Not Looking Good at the King’s KPMG
According to reporting across the pond (including this story from City A.M. we shall be quoting in a moment), KPMG UKers are not going to have a fruitful bonus season due in large part to a slowdown in business. KPMG has slashed the bonus pool of its UK workforce and reined in commission for salespeople […]
Promotion Watch ’23: EY Promotes 966 to Partner, Missing Last Year’s Record of 1033
Undeterred by the embarrassment of Everest’s implosion, EY proudly announced today that 966 people have been promoted to partner across the globe. That’s down from the record 1,033 promoted to partner in 2022. The obligatory press release makes sure to mention that these promotions reflect continued growth and strong business performance by the organization. In […]
KPMG Gets Sued, Accused of Allowing Pirate-Like Activity at Credit Suisse
Discountenanced Credit Suisse stockholder Gregory Stevenson is suing 29 of Credit Suisse’s current and former directors and officers, the bank’s ex-auditor KPMG, and various KPMG henchmen on behalf of investors alleging the firm looked the other way while aforementioned directors and officers plundered the bank for more than a decade. The docket number is No. […]
PwC Australia is Very Very Sorry, You Guys
Presumably because the many apologies and decisions made before this letter have not sufficiently gotten the heat off their backs (and boy is it hot), PwC Australia published an open letter apology on their website Monday. The entire text, including the formatting, appears in below. At issue, if you make your residence under a rock, […]
EY’s Landlord Didn’t Pay the Mortgage on the Downtown LA Office Building
Before we get into the situation, please note the issue discussed here is not EY’s fault. Rather, the office tower bearing the firm’s name at 725 South Figueroa Street in downtown Los Angeles has entered receivership after asset management company Brookfield stopped making payments on its debt in April. Commercial real estate firm Colliers has […]
PwC Chief Products & Technology Officer Says Not to Worry, They Don’t Want to Replace You With AI
A couple days ago, NYT published a piece asking an important question: Who will protect the workers losing their jobs to AI? The article references a May 16 senate subcommittee hearing chaired by Senator Richard Blumenthal at which OpenAI’s Sam Altman is told Mr. Blumenthal’s greatest nightmare is AI causing massive job loss. “There will […]
Deloitte Risk Advisory Associate Director Who Praised Hitler on LinkedIn No Longer Works at Deloitte
Ed. note: this article’s headline has been changed as we don’t actually know if he got fired or not. Neerabh Mehrotra, formerly Associate Director at Deloitte India, has been let go after he gushed over Adolf Hitler’s charisma, intelligence, and confidence on LinkedIn. The post: Text transcription, courtesy Google Lens: 😊Friday Inspiration😍 Recently I picked […]
Carmine Talks About AI Putting HR Out of a Job, Attrition, and a Rough Labor Market
EY Global Chairman and CEO Carmine Di Sibio and King Charles III stan showed up on Squawk on the Street today talking about the labor market and, more notably, how the firm is using an AI chatbot to answer payroll questions. The AI segment begins around 3:05. He also discussed hiring, saying they’ve been seeing […]
Disgraced Ex-PwC CEO Tom Seymour Finally Shows His Face in Public
Don’t know why but this article is hilarious, it feels way more TMZ than you ever expect an article about disgraced former professional services leaders to be. The Australian has informed the world that scandal-plagued ex-PwC CEO Tom Seymour was spotted in public three days after the firm announced he would be retiring on September […]
KPMG Might Be the Next Big 4 Firm Ditching Its Downtown Atlanta Office
In March, Atlanta Business Chronicle reported Deloitte did not renew its 260,000 square foot lease at 191 Peachtree St in downtown Atlanta. Now KPMG might be joining them in looking to downsize from downtown space. Deloitte’s decision may have something to do with this: Violent protests over long work weeks tonight at Atlanta’s Deloitte office […]
PwC Issues a Groveling Apology Video (Not Really)
Satirist Mark Humphries has given us the closest thing we’ll get to an apology from PwC for their part in shattering the public trust and slandering the good name of professional services. A message from PwCpic.twitter.com/3DoR61BheQ — Mark Humphries (@markhumphries) May 18, 2023 The skit ran on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s evening news and said […]
PwC Australia Got in Trouble With Mom and Dad, Will Be Grounded For a While
Not satisfied with former CEO Tom Seymour as a sacrifice, the PwC tax leak scandal continues to claim victims and chip away at the good name of PricewaterhouseCoopers. Financial Times has reported that overlords from the global office “will seize” oversight of the Australian business because the Aussies screwed up, big time. The issue has […]
One Week After He Stepped Down as CEO, PwC Announces Tom Seymour Will GTFO Completely
Last Monday, PwC Australia’s Tom Seymour vacated his post as CEO after it came to light that he, along with a handful of other partners, received the low down on confidential government tax info that was then leveraged to advise clients on how to avoid upcoming tax changes. This has led to some less-than-favorable media […]
Big 4 Recruiting is Gonna Hate This
A highlight: “Generally, you shouldn’t have a year end one after the other,” says Tara. “But the company went under a hiring freeze and I wound up with five or six clients’ year ends back to back. I was working excessively long hours and work life balance just went out of the window. I’d get […]
Deloitte Picks Up an EY Alum As Chief Tax Officer-in-Residence
This one is fresh off the newswire. Deloitte announced its Chief Tax Officer Program is bringing on Paul Stephens, a 25 year veteran of AT&T, to serve as independent senior advisor. His job will be to advise Deloitte Tax staff and senior leadership “while also helping CTOs and their finance organizations create value for their […]
PwC’s Tom Seymour Just Stepped Down Because He Was On a Naughty Email Chain (UPDATE)
Ed. note: On May 15, 2023, one week after former CEO Tom Seymour vacated his role, PwC announced he will retire on September 30. While most of us were sleeping, PwC Australia was starting its Monday minus one CEO. Tom Seymour has stepped down following a board of partners discussion after it was revealed last […]
The King’s KPMG Had a Little Tax and Payroll Problem
Sky News received some insider info that KPMG UK had a bit of a tax problem last week, relating to the firm’s legal structure and employee contracts. This is on top of a payroll issue last week that meant staff checks arrived late. Sky News: The fiasco is understood to have arisen as a result […]
We’re Hearing PwC CRTs Will Be Rough This Year
The rumor mill has been worked into a lather about a reduction in force at Marcum (someone in the comments says that’s BS though we did get confirmation of some kind of private equity deal coming down the pipe), lots of performance discussions at Deloitte after promotions were unexpectedly delayed for many, and possible silent […]
The Rumor Is True, PwC Is Returning to the Office
Today was the much-anticipated firmwide webcast in which we expected PwC leadership to announce a return to office. Lo-and-behold…it happened. A source tells us: 50 percent “people together,” virtual channel staff three times per month, firmwide events requirement two times per quarter. So return to work 50 percent starting July. r/PwC is discussing it and […]
Carmine Will Not Let That Split Thing Go
Only days ago, WSJ ran the headline “EY Breakup Plan Is Really Dead” and included a quote from EY Americas Vice Chair of Tax Kevin Flynn, lifted from a recording of a staff call: “My message to everyone about Everest is, it’s behind us. Let’s not spend time in the rearview mirror.” And days before […]
Talent-Strapped Down Under Deloitte and EY Are Importing Staff
We all know outsourcing is big these days — accounting firms might be sending a third of their work overseas and some seniors are overseeing an entire team of offshore associates — but what about insourcing? Oh wait, that means something different. We’re talking about talent-strapped Big 4 firms bringing the offshore talent to them. […]
Big 4 Firms Are Noticing a Sudden Skills Gap in New Hires
It’s funny, I was just talking about this yesterday to a state society leader, how there’s been talk in recent weeks that offshoring and automation have reduced the “skills gauntlet” interns and new hires go through to learn the tedious details which in turn is making a crop of staff and associates who feel almost […]
Deloitte Inked a Deal For 14,000 Square Feet of Brand New Office Space in Las Vegas
Las Vegas Review-Journal has reported that Deloitte will be one of the first tenants for the second phase of mixed-use development UnCommons in southeast Las Vegas. Developer Matter Real Estate Group announced last week that the firm will occupy 14,000 square feet on the third floor of the fourth UnCommons office building, due to be […]
The King’s KPMG Gets Fined for Rookie Mistakes
Another day, another Financial Reporting Council fine for KPMG. This time it is related to their audit of TheWorks.co.uk, a discount retailer specializing in arts, crafts, toys, books, stationery, and perpetual fire sales of various cheap stuff with which to clutter your domicile and desk drawers. On Wednesday, the FRC announced sanctions against KPMG and […]
EY Australia’s Head of HR Abruptly Quits, Rumors Abound That Partners Could Get Chopped
Although EY continues to deny it, Accountants Daily reports that lead partners at EY Australia have been instructed to draw up a list of everyone who isn’t pulling their weight so they can figure out who to chop, per a source. AD’s sources made it sound like no one is safe, not even partners. Sources […]
PwC Has Set Aside $1,000,000,000 for AI
We’ve used that PwC Chad image way too many times recently so have this AI-generated fantasy forest instead. It wasn’t that long ago that Big 4 accounting firms were cagey about staff playing around with ChatGPT on company equipment, consumed by the fear of sensitive client information being fed into the AI black hole. But […]
Deloitte Suddenly Placed a Bunch of Crypto Job Ads?
Blockworks has written about activity on LinkedIn and Google Jobs suggesting “that Deloitte is on the prowl for crypto natives to join its ranks.” A LinkedIn search shows 331 crypto-y roles at Deloitte, almost all of them posted last week. Blockworks’ job hunter says the other Big 4 — you know who they are — […]
What TF Is Going on With Deloitte Promotions?
It’s promotion time at Deloitte and what is usually a time of celebration has devolved into disappointment and confusion for many. We’ve been tipped to unexpected promotion results and pointed to a thread on r/Deloitte that breaks it down: I just met with my coach and although I was rated as strong in all categories, […]
EY’s Gonna Borrow Money and Do Some Accounting Tricks to Spare Partner Payouts From Everest Fallout
The following tidbit of information about the aftermath of the Project Everest failure is going in Footnotes later today however we felt it important to call it out for those who skip the weekly linkwrap. Apologies for doubling down on EY news today. WSJ published an exclusive about the post-Everest mess at the crack of […]
It’s Gonna Be a Talent Bloodbath at EY
Earlier this week WSJ’s CFO Journal posted a piece entitled “Ernst & Young, After Its Failed Split, Could Find Itself Vulnerable to Staff Poaching.” They might as well have made the headline “Hey Big 4 Firms, There’s a Carcass Full of Meat Here For You to Pick Pieces Off Of” because the premise of the […]
Layoff Watch ’23: Deloitte Makes Some Cuts in Risk & Financial Advisory (UPDATE)
Apparently a 3% reduction was announced in an RFA (Risk & Financial Advisory) all-hands call today (April 20). Saw only one mention of it on thelayoff and many, many on Reddit. Like this one on the Deloitte sub: According RFA All Hands: 3% of RFA will be laid off, most of which will be in […]
PwC Once Again Tops the Vault Accounting 25, EY Almost Didn’t Make the List
Vault has announced its much-loved Accounting 25 list today and it should come as no surprise that PwC has once again topped the list, making it 11 years in a row at the top for P. Dubs. Congrats to them for holding down the throne. While prestige is the most important factor in the Vault […]
Guess We Should Discuss Deloitte’s RTO Plans
Yesterday the PwC return to office plan set to be announced May 3 and take effect after the firmwide summer break was all but confirmed and in a discussion about it I came across this: Therese are nothing when compared to Deloitte’s planned RTO announcement which has a tentative announcement date of the Tuesday after […]
Empathetic Leadership Is So 2022
Post image via Here’s the Deck EY Put Together to Sell the Audit/Consulting Split to Staff It was only days ago that EY released its Empathy in Business Survey results for 2023 and if you remember, the last time they promoted empathy in business it did not go well. Recap on that from last year: […]
EY US Just Fired 3000 People, Totally Not Related to Everest Falling Apart
Well we knew this was coming. Reuters: Ernst & Young’s U.S. arm said on Monday it was shedding 5% of its workforce, less than a week after the unit’s objection torpedoed the global accounting giant’s plan to break up its audit and consulting units. The layoffs will affect around 3,000 of the company’s U.S. employees. […]
That PwC Return-To-Office Rumor Might Be True (Includes Potential Confirmation)
Remember that rumor buzzing around last week about a PwC return to office? It might be true. You’ll note that OP updated their post to specify that what they’ve heard applies to US tax. This morning Going Concern received a copy of a memo that appears to confirm just about everything the original rumor-spreader said, […]
Someone’s Starting Rumors That PwCers Are Getting Forced Back Into the Office
Someone on a throwaway told all of r/Big4 a few hours ago that they’ve been given inside information about a mandatory return to office at PwC to be announced in a couple weeks. This screenshot couldn’t have worked out better. Since late 2021, PwC has touted a super flexible remote work policy. Come in, don’t, […]
EY Tells Staff to Get Ready for Some Cuts After the Everest Embarrassment
We are still working on a more detailed post-mortem of the Project Everest collapse and our guesses for what comes next but in the meantime, check out what The Guardian ran this morning. EY has reportedly told UK staff to brace for a wave of cuts, after the business spent $600m (£480m) globally preparing for […]
KPMG Gets Sued Because Their Longtime Client Went Down in Flames
We knew this was coming. Bloomberg has reported that Silicon Valley Bank auditors KPMG have been sued — along with underwriters Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and Morgan Stanley — after SVB’s spectacular collapse on March 10. KPMG audited the bank for nearly 30 years. Similar to previous suits, a complaint filed Friday in the […]