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Friday Footnotes: Where the Audit Jobs Are; Big BDO Hires; A New Gig For PwC Alum | 9.9.22

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Supply and Demand

New York First in Projected Growth of Auditor and Accountant Jobs: Weekly Stat [CFO] Projections on four position categories — accountants and auditors; credit analysts; financial managers; and financial and investment analysts, financial risk specialists, financial specialists, and all others — reveal that despite a global shift in workflow and flexibility, the most populated and economically productive states continue to lead the way in hosting tomorrow’s financial support staff. Although New York, Texas, and California dominated the number of jobs being offered for the roles analyzed, Florida was the only state to appear in the top five in each of the four positions reviewed.

Accounting department has record year at annual Meet the Firms event [St. Cloud State TODAY] A RECORD. Who says interest in accounting is down these days! Granted, it was 176 people.

Across the Pond

Accountants in high demand as average earnings hit almost €120,000 [The Irish Times] A survey by industry group Chartered Accountants Ireland in conjunction with accounting firm Barden shows that the average salary package commanded by these professionals rose by €7,000 or 6 per cent to €119,270 last year. The figure includes salary, car allowances and bonuses, and points to what Chartered Accountants Ireland said was the “continued strong earning prospects for chartered accountants”.

BDO bolsters audit practice with 600 new trainees following watchdog’s damning criticism [City A.M.] Accountancy firm BDO has hired 600 new trainees, including 400 to its audit practice, after the UK’s accountancy watchdog slammed the challenger firm over the “unacceptable” quality of its audits.

Big 4

Deloitte Updates Audit Committee Guide to Meet Evolving Risk Landscape and Regulatory Environment [PR Newswire] Deloitte launched an enhanced and digitized version of its “Audit Committee Guide” today. Last published in 2018, Deloitte’s “Audit Committee Guide” provides a first-hand look at the latest requirements and an explanation of the shifting roles and responsibilities of audit committee members, especially in emerging areas such as environmental, social, and governance issues, including cybersecurity. While the guide is focused on requirements for public companies based in the United States, much of the content can be leveraged by those serving on non-public company audit committees. Each section within the “Audit Committee Guide” also features questions that committees can consider asking to promote constructive dialogue on a variety of topics.

EY Leaders Green Light Split Plan [Wall Street Journal] Ernst & Young’s leaders fired the starting gun Thursday on a monthslong plan to split its consulting and auditing businesses, in a radical move that will generate windfalls for the firm’s partners and could upend the business model for accounting firms. “This is something that will change the industry,” Carmine Di Sibio, EY’s global chairman and chief executive, said in an interview.

The Take: Ernst & Young Breakup Could Shake Up Innovation as Well as Auditing [SAP News] “From a customer point of view, it will eliminate any kind of conflict of interest,” said Evan Schultz, SAP global vice president of Services and Financial Services Industries Ecosystem and Partner Ecosystem Success. “And it could potentially lead to a kind of rebirth of the audit market, in which you have pure audit firms that can focus entirely on that single business. This would be helpful from a customer standpoint, especially if you think about integrated reporting.”

KPMG: 78% of U.S. adults will socialize with friends in the metaverse [VentureBeat] People may not know what the metaverse holds for them beyond games, but the vast majority of U.S. adults are ready to plunge into it, according to a survey by KPMG. Whether they agree on what it is or not, the metaverse has captured the imagination of Americans. KPMG said about 78% of U.S. adults said in a survey they see value in immersive interactions such as socializing with friends and family, while 76% say they see value in on-the-job training in the metaverse. Further, 59% of U.S. adults report they expect the metaverse to have a significant impact on their lives in the next 12 months with an additional 48% reporting a significant impact in next 5 years.

Accounting Firm Mergers

Carr Riggs & Ingram Merges In Atlanta-Area Firm [INSIDE Public Accounting] Enterprise, Ala.-based IPA 100 firm Carr Riggs & Ingram LLC (CRI) (FY21 net revenue of $382.3 million) has acquired Brown Nelms & Co. PC of Peachtree City, Ga.

Other Stuff

FreshBooks taps PwC alum as new CFO [CFO Dive] FreshBooks, a cloud accounting software company, appointed Wayne Jackson as its new CFO effective Sept. 6, the company announced. Jackson was previously CFO at digital payments company Cantaloupe, Inc.

Accountants should be leaders in pay equity [Accounting Today Opinion] CEO of public accounting at the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants and Going Concern favorite Susan S. Coffey writes: “I strongly believe the accounting profession must demonstrate leadership in pay equity, both as advisors to clients and employers, and as implementers of fair policies within our firms. Our calling cards are objectivity, integrity and transparency, so we should be the first to raise a red flag if pay practices are out of alignment on gender, racial or ethnic lines. Absence of pay equity harms business performance, recruitment and retention, and raises risk — in short, it’s bad business and we shouldn’t tolerate it. That’s why I found it so disturbing — infuriating, really — to read a recent Wall Street Journal article that used federal data to show that median pay for men exceeded that for women three years after graduation in almost three-quarters of undergraduate and graduate degree programs, representing a range of fields of study. An accompanying chart of career categories showed a distinct early pay gap among women and men for accounting and related services. Disparities like these are indefensible, and we can’t allow them to linger.”

Freight Company Executive’s Accounting Fraud Conviction Affirmed [Bloomberg Law] Prosecutors presented enough evidence of former Roadrunner Transportation Systems Inc. CFO Peter Armbruster’s knowledge of accounting misstatements to support a jury’s verdict convicting him of four counts of accounting and securities fraud, the Seventh Circuit ruled Wednesday.

Accountant At Party Realizes Too Late That Person Asking Him About His Work Was Just Being Polite [Babylon Bee] It’s SATIRE.