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Technology
CohnReznick Hires Global Leader, Strategic AI [INSIDE Public Accounting]
CohnReznick (FY24 net revenue: $1.15 billion) has named Los Angeles-based Yuying Chen-Wynn as its global leader, strategic AI. In this newly created role, Chen-Wynn will build a team responsible for driving the firm’s enterprise-wide adoption of AI and developing high-impact solutions.
AI spending at Microsoft and Oracle is even higher than it looks, thanks to this accounting maneuver [MarketWatch]
Big Tech companies are on track to spend hundreds of billions of dollars this year to build out artificial-intelligence infrastructure — but the real amount is even higher than headline numbers suggest. Companies like Microsoft and Oracle are increasingly utilizing an accounting maneuver to invest billions more into data centers without it showing up in their traditional capital-expenditure figures: finance leases.
New Future of Audit Insights Report from the PICPA Finds 90% of Auditors Agree Technology Will Transform the Profession Within 5 Years [Business Wire]
90% of auditors say technology has improved audit quality over the previous five years; 56% expect technology will have a transformational impact on audit work in the next five years.
People and Talent
The largest accounting firm in New York is cutting its local headcount [Crain’s]
Ernst & Young has long ranked No. 1 on the annual list, and it still does by a long shot: as of June 30, the firm employed roughly 13,400 accounting professionals in and around New York, nearly 50% more than the next largest local player. However, that headcount is down 8% from the same time last year.
KPMG faces early leadership contest to lead UK arm [Sky News]
Sky News understands that Jon Holt, who is serving a second term as chief executive of KPMG in the UK, is “highly likely” to stand for the global chair role currently occupied by Bill Thomas, according to several industry sources. An election to that job is expected to kick off next spring, with the successful candidate taking over in October.
Trump’s $100,000 H-1B visa adds more pressure to consulting’s growing recruitment woes [Business Insider]
“For many firms, the H-1B route has been a steady pipeline for mid-level consultants with strong technical and analytical skills, roles that are difficult to fill at scale in the US domestic market. Leaders are concerned this change adds further friction at a time when competition for talent is already high,” said Ransome. According to the US government’s H-1B employer data hub, Deloitte, EY, and Accenture are the professional services firms that hire the most employees with H-1B visas.
Attention, firms! If you’re hiring you better check out this week’s top remote accounting candidates. These are the best of the best, the creme de la creme, all wheat and no chaff. Is that how that goes?
The Week in Fraud
PSA owners ordered to pay $5 million in restitution for fraud [Connecticut Inside Investigator]
Last week, Connecticut’s Banking Department gave the owners of the Putnam Science Academy (PSA), a private high school in Connecticut, 60 days to pay $5 million to two investors they are accused of defrauding. Last November, alleged victims and former PSA employees told Inside Investigator that Tieqiang Ding and Julia Fang, the husband-wife duo who co-own PSA, are guilty of defrauding investors and embezzling school funds to the tune of millions of dollars.
Miami man pleads guilty in fraud that led to collapse of Puerto Rican bank [Miami Herald]
Juan Francisco Ramirez, 60, of Miami, admitted in federal court that he conspired with others to divert bank funds for his own benefit through sham investments, insider loans and fraudulent promissory notes, according to the Justice Department.
Member of Minneapolis Lows gang pleads guilty to federal fraud, used ‘money mules’ to steal $220K [Minnesota Star Tribune]
According to court filings, Peter Amondo Anderson, 24, and three other members of the north Minneapolis street gang carried out the fraud plot by using social media to recruit “money mules” who assisted the group by offering their bank information. The Lows members then wrote false checks to the money mules, who deposited the checks and quickly withdrew the money to return to the gang members to split.
Former Ronald McDonald House director accused of stealing $120,000 from charity [USA Today]
Iilee Pederson had been withdrawing money from the Ronald McDonald House checking account and depositing it into her personal PayPal account, according to the criminal complaint. An accounting firm had found discrepancies between the charity’s Associated Bank checking account and statements provided by Pederson while she was executive director. Pederson was the only one reviewing and approving statements and the reports were saved to a PDF and then recycled, leaving no paper trail, according to the complaint.
CAC Orders Name Change for KPMG Advisory Services [TVC News]
This counts as fraud, right?
The Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) has directed the business operating under the name KPMG Advisory Services to change its name within six weeks, citing its close similarity to KPMG Nigeria, a long-established professional services firm headquartered in Lagos.
Um OK?
How Paris Hilton demonstrated an age-old accounting principle and why this matters for clients [HousingWire]
As I like to share with my MBA graduate students, the principles of our classes are not just theory. They have real-world (or, as my Gen. Z students say, IRL (in real life)) implications.
Rangel Is in Talks to End Ethics Case [