Comments are closed on Friday Footnotes and the Monday Morning Accounting News Brief by default. If you have something to say about any stories linked here you are welcome to email the editor, text us at 202-505-8885, or hit us up on Twitter @going_concern. See ya.
CPA Exam
Washington DC’s CPA bill advances to mayor’s desk [CFO Dive]
The Council of the District of Columbia, in a unanimous vote Tuesday, advanced bill (26-494), which will establish an alternative path to becoming a certified public accountant that requires a bachelor’s degree, two years of experience and passing the CPA exam.
AI
Exclusive: OpenAI’s CFO pitches a new way to measure AI’s value [Axios]
OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar is proposing a new enterprise AI metric: “useful intelligence per dollar.” Instead of measuring AI spend by expenses or cost per token, she argues businesses should ask four questions: Is AI completing work that matters? What does each successful task cost? How often does it get the work right? Does each AI dollar produce more value as usage grows?
SEC
An SEC email address mix-up is causing confusion and threatening to disrupt its proposal to scrap quarterly reporting requirements [Fortune]
In May, the Securities and Exchange Commission proposed a new rule that would let publicly listed companies report their financial results twice a year instead of every quarter, as is currently required. The agency asked the public to weigh in and send its feedback to rule-comment@sec.gov. But the comment inbox that the SEC lists on its own instructions page—and has printed in almost every rule proposal it has issued since at least 2019—is rule-comments@sec.gov. With an “s.” The comment (or…comments) period on the semiannual reporting rule closed on July 6, but the email address confusion cropped up on Monday in a letter to the commission from nonprofit investor advocate Better Markets.
Paper Taper: Statement on Proposed Regulation E-Delivery [SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce]
Today, in a long-awaited move, the Commission proposed Regulation E-Delivery to make electronic delivery the default under the securities laws for issuers, investment advisers, investment companies, and broker-dealers. This rulemaking focuses on the default delivery method; not the content of disclosure or its format. I am happy to support what I expect will be the first step in rethinking, modernizing, and improving disclosure of information to investors. The proposal should benefit investors, issuers, and market intermediaries. By reducing printing and mailing, an e-delivery default should lower costs. A more important consequence of the shift to default e-delivery is facilitating the incorporation of technological advances to improve investor engagement with the information being delivered. I hope to see interactive and customized disclosures, something that is not possible with paper. This proposal is a great first step, but the SEC’s paper mentality is still alive and well.
Jobs
Resume orders for accounting professionals surge 800% as AI disrupts the industry, Resumeble data shows [National Law Review]
“AI” *eyeroll*
Resumeble, a professional resume writing and career services company serving job seekers across more than 80 industries, today released internal order data showing an 800% increase in resume requests from accounting professionals between January–June 2023 and the same period in 2026 — nearly ten times the growth rate of the company’s overall business.
Big 4
PwC fined $4.4M for auditing missteps in UK [CFO.com]
PwC faces a fine of about $4.4 million for alleged failings in its audit of British aerospace and defense firm Babcock International Group. That’s according to a news release and settlement document issued by the United Kingdom’s Financial Reporting Council on Thursday. In the release, the council said that PwC and audit engagement partner John Waters “admitted serious and numerous breaches” of auditing requirements related to cash pooling, financial arrangements for an overseas contract and assessment of goodwill impairment, among other matters.
Australia to boost scrutiny of Big Four accounting firms after wave of scandals [Reuters]
Australia on Thursday announced plans to increase its oversight of the Big Four accounting firms after a series of high-profile governance failures in the industry, most recently by KPMG whose staff have been accused of misusing confidential information to win contracts. The government said it had directed the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) to improve the regulation of accounting and auditing firms, “enhancing the accountability, transparency and oversight of the audit sector.”
Tax
Zero Paper Initiative Information Security [TIGTA (PDF)]
TIGTA issued an alert to the IRS after we identified concerns at two sites contractors are using to support the IRS’s Zero Paper Initiative (ZPI).
Top US tax lawyer forced out after White House clash over tax audits [Reuters]
The U.S. tax agency’s top attorney was forced from his role in recent days after refusing White House demands to participate in tax audits, according to three people familiar with the matter. Ken Kies, the Internal Revenue Service’s acting chief counsel and Treasury Department assistant secretary for tax policy, told administration officials their requests would violate a law prohibiting the president, vice president and other White House officials from ordering the IRS to “conduct or terminate an audit or other investigation of any particular taxpayer,” said the people. They spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of professional reprisals.
IRS raises standard mileage rates for remainder of 2026 [Journal of Accountancy]
The revised standard mileage rates, effective July 1, are: 76 cents per mile for business, an increase from 72.5 cents, and 23.5 cents per mile for medical and moving purposes, up from 20.5 cents per mile for each. The mileage rate that applies to the deduction for charitable contributions is fixed under Sec. 170(i) of the Internal Revenue Code at 14 cents per mile.
Bellevue accountant sentenced to prison for filing false tax returns [KOMO News]
Thanjavur Manavalan, 65, owner and operator of Mano Accounting Services, was sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Seattle after a jury convicted him in March 2026 on three counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation and presentation of false tax returns, according to the U.S. Department of Justice for the Western District of Washington.
Audit
Public companies look to auditors on regulatory changes, AI disclosures [CFO Brew]
More public companies are getting proactive on regulatory changes that could impact capital markets and are more focused on AI-related risks, according to the Center for Audit Quality’s (CAQ) latest Audit Partner Pulse survey released on Wednesday. The spring survey, fielded in May, garnered 589 responses from audit partners. It found that nearly two in five (39%) respondents said their clients were “seeking guidance on expected regulatory changes,” compared with less than a quarter (23%) of respondents in the fall survey.
