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Friday Footnotes: Bad Guy Fights For His License; EY’s New Buddy; IRS Improvements? | 8.13.21

Accountant who stole $1.7M from corporate client, Little League group, should get his CPA license back, Pa. court says [Penn Live] A Commonwealth Court panel on Wednesday overturned a state licensing board’s refusal to allow an accountant who stole more than $1.7 million to resume his profession. Instead, the panel ordered the state Board of Accountancy to instruct William L. McKernan III on whatever steps he must take to secure a probationary license as a certified public accountant.

PwC acquires German procurement specialist Drozak Consulting [Consultancy.eu] According to Ulrich Störk, Chairman of PwC in Germany, the bolt-on builds on the firm’s strategy to accelerate the growth of its consulting division in the country, and its ambition to beef up its capabilities in high-demand areas. Drozak Consulting is a specialist in procurement and digital operations – two of the hottest segments in consulting amid the Covid-19-induced crisis.

Microsoft Adds Massive Cloud Sales Muscle With New EY Deal [CRN] As part of the deal, London-based EY will implement one of the largest enterprise deployments of Microsoft Power Platform globally, train thousands of its professionals on Microsoft technologies and work to simplify regulatory hurdles to cloud adoption, among other goals.

Single audits: Using Compliance Supplements for success [Journal of Accountancy] A major challenge for auditors continues to be which guidance to apply and the timing of the Office of Management and Budget’s issuance of the Compliance Supplements and Addenda. Auditors need to be familiar with the requirements that apply to determine their audit scope, approach, and testing.

Why CFOs speak to the press (and whether they should) [CFO Dive] CFOs are “the obvious choice” to be a company spokesperson because they’re less prone to “gaffes or huge egos” than the CEO or other executives, Grant Johnson, chief marketing officer of SaaS company Emburse, told CFO Dive. CFOs are typically polished from investor or finance meetings, and are likely to provide measured responses naturally, he said.

SEC Chair Gary Gensler tells Sen. Elizabeth Warren that the SEC needs more regulatory authority over crypto [CNBC] On Wednesday she released the letter Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler wrote in response to her July 7 inquiry that he address the highly opaque and volatile cryptocurrency market and determine if Congress needs to act. “Right now, I believe investors using these platforms are not adequately protected,” Gensler said in his response to the Massachusetts Democrat, dated Thursday.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in CPA Practices: Is Everyone Accounted For? [CPA Practice Advisor] Diversity, equity & inclusion (DEI) in the workplace has come under heightened focus since 2020 as social unrest grew and the pandemic prompted many to reevaluate their lives. Accountancy firms are more committed than ever to making progress in this area. However, with many groups still underrepresented in the CPA profession, there is clearly still work to be done.

The IRS has a big opportunity to fix the way Americans file taxes [Vox] For decades, the tax prep industry has succeeded in preventing the IRS from doing what the tax authority in just about every other country does: providing a free, effective, easy-to-use online service where all taxpayers can file their taxes. But it’s doing so just as the Biden administration is attempting to pour billions in new funding into the IRS. The end of Free File and the conversations in Congress around IRS funding could make this the perfect moment to dismantle our broken tax filing system and build something better.