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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.
Audit
It’s almost June. When will the PCAOB publish another Canadian audit inspection report? [Canadian Accountant]
The last inspection reports of Canadian accounting firms published by the US audit agency were released in November 2025. The PCAOB published inspection reports for PricewaterhouseCoopers and Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton for audits that occurred in 2024. Significantly, under the stewardship of former PCAOB Chair Erica Y. Williams, the PCAOB had improved its processes to the point that it was publishing reports less than one year after audit inspections has completed.
Dozens of school districts are missing financial audits. Some are years late [Daily Journal (Mississippi)]
State education leaders have said the factors driving missing audits include school administrative turnover, too few district business managers, auditor staffing shortages and the burdensome federal funding portion of the audits. Some districts are having problems finding accounting firms that have the capacity or ability to complete these audits.
Meanwhile, in India
AI isn’t killing offshore accounting…This CPA firm just tripled hiring in India [The Finance Story]
Writes Vishal Agarwal, Executive Managing Director of Citrin Cooperman India:
Citrin Cooperman established its first-ever India office in 2016. It operated largely out of Ahmedabad. For the next eight years, the growth was modest. Then, in late 2024, the firm opened its second India office in Hyderabad. At that time, we had around 300 employees…Today, we’re over 1,000 people strong. Our fully remote workforce is expanding. Citrin Cooperman U.S. hit $985 million in revenue in 2025. Needless to say, Citrin Cooperman India was a significant contributor to that growth.
Fake call centres duping US citizens by impersonating a prominent American accounting firm busted in Bengaluru by Cyber Command Centre officials two arrested [Country and Politics]
It was actually QuickBooks they were impersonating, not a firm. Tons of pics of the operation at that link.
Investigations revealed that the accused had allegedly floated a company named “Circle Square LLC”and used multiple shell companies to siphon off large sums of money obtained from U.S. citizens. According to Pranob Mohanty,the accused were running the scam through a registered firm named Reckoning Service Private Limited. Though the company claimed to offer IT-related solutions, the accused allegedly impersonated employees of US-based tax consulting firm QuickBooks and cheated American citizens by offering fake tax consultation services.
Firm Watch
Baker Tilly admits 52 new principals [Business Wire]
“This year’s principal class reflects the strength we are building as one firm,” said Baker Tilly CEO Eric Miles. “They bring together diverse perspectives and expertise that are already helping us operate in a more connected way — delivering greater insight for our clients and creating more opportunity for our people.”
Deloitte announces bigger bonuses and more promotions after beating targets [Financial Times]
Deloitte boss Richard Houston said on Tuesday that the firm’s bonus pool would increase by 14 per cent, in an email to staff seen by the FT. Salaries will rise by an average of 4.2 per cent, up from a 2.9 per cent increase last year, while a larger proportion of staff will receive promotions.
AI
EY and Microsoft to invest over $1bn in enterprise AI transformation [International Accounting Bulletin]
The programme will see Microsoft’s Forward Deployed Engineers (FDE) and EY’s industry teams working together. In a statement, EY said that the move is an “important milestone” in the long-standing EY-Microsoft alliance across tax, assurance, consulting and EY-Parthenon.
KPMG integrates Claude across its core business and workforce of more than 276,000 in strategic alliance [Anthropic]
As part of this alliance, KPMG is embedding Claude inside Digital Gateway, the software KPMG’s people and clients use to do the actual work—starting with new tools for tax and legal clients. And every one of KPMG’s 276,000+ employees globally will gain access to Claude. Anthropic is also naming KPMG a preferred partner for private equity, and the two companies will build new Claude-powered products together for PE portfolio companies.
Intuit to lay off over 3,000 employees to refocus on AI [TechCrunch]
In its fiscal second quarter ended January, Intuit reported revenue of $4.65 billion, a 17% increase, and net profit of $693 million, a 48% improvement compared to a year earlier. (Related and funny: Intuit Suffers Worst Plunge Since 2003 After Announcing Job Cuts)
Executive Assistants Making $100,000 a Year Are Losing Jobs to AI [Bloomberg]
Executive assistants at professional-services firms manage partners’ diaries, handle expenses and book travel in one of the few remaining white-collar roles that doesn’t require elite credentials. They can earn more than $100,000 a year for their trouble, with incentives and bonuses for the highest-ranking. That career path is disappearing as firms like PwC and McKinsey & Co. cut or relocate thousands of support roles to save money and make way for artificial intelligence to take on more work. Slowing demand for some professional services, a drive to increase profitability and the rise of AI are fueling cuts, although some former staff at various firms said they believed protecting partner pay was also a factor.
Tax
Tax world gawks at Trump audit agreement: ‘Never seen anything like this’ [POLITICO]
Astonishment is rippling through tax world at a settlement that goes far beyond the specifics of Trump’s suit — he sought billions of dollars as compensation for some of his tax records being leaked to the news media — to instead provide him, his family and his businesses sweeping protections against government scrutiny of his taxes. “I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Steve Rosenthal, a former longtime senior fellow at the Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan think tank.
People
IBM’s global CFO: ‘There I was, top of my class. And I had no job’ [Irish Times]
The 1987 stock market crash was swift and brutal, hitting not only US stock markets but global ones, with an estimated impact of $1.7 trillion. In the US, it wiped $500 million off the markets, caused the Dow Jones to fall by 22.6 per cent – a record for a single day’s trading. Despite fears of an economic impact to rival the Great Depression of the 1920s, the effect of Black Monday was limited – for the stock markets at least. For Kavanaugh, it had wider repercussions. “Within 48 hours, my offers were rescinded,” he says. “There I was, top of my class. And I had no job.” Looking back, he says the setback was another opportunity. He landed a job at National Cash Register, working in accounts receivable. It was a low-level, low-paying job, he says, but it taught him some tough lessons.
