Welcome back to the working world, you. I saw someone on Reddit saying yesterday was the scariest Sunday and while I can’t relate because I mostly enjoy my job, I certainly sympathize.
CFO.com interviewed the CFO of FloQast who gave this quote:
I’m sorry to disappoint those of you who have been waiting to hear that AI has completely eliminated accounting. Better luck next year.
PwC wants in on crypto, reports Financial Times. Yes, in the year 2026.
PwC decided to “lean in” to cryptocurrency work after years of taking a more cautious stance, following the Trump administration’s embrace of digital assets, according to the US boss of the Big Four firm.
“The Genius Act and the regulatory rulemaking around stablecoin I expect will create more conviction around leaning into that product and that asset class,” Griggs said. “The tokenisation of things will certainly continue to evolve as well. PwC has to be in that ecosystem.”
Across the pond, a beleaguered client goes to bat for the auditors:
WH Smith has urged shareholders to back its auditors, PwC, despite the Big Four firm’s failure to identify a huge accounting error that rocked the company for much of last year.
The travel retailer is under investigation by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) after the discovery in August that profits at its key North American division had been significantly overstated for a number of years.
The UK audit regulator hasn’t decided yet whether or not to get up PwC’s ass about WH Smith’s issues. We’re all expecting a soft touch from the PCAOB this year, unsure if other regulators will follow suit or show their teeth.
Geez, PwC is really dominating all the headlines I’m finding this morning. Here on This is Money, it’s a PwC prediction that earned a whole story:
Artificial intelligence will add billions to the UK economy within the next six years as machines boost productivity, accountancy giant PwC has predicted.
Its economists estimated that AI would add around £2 billion in productivity gains to gross domestic product (GDP) this year, increasing to £7 billion by 2029 and £23 billion by 2032.
PwC predicted AI would contribute around one-tenth of the estimated 1.2 per cent rise in GDP this year, but by 2032 this will be 43 per cent.
Americans for Tax Reform coming in hot with a U-Haul report:
U-Haul released its annual Growth Index today which shows Americans continue to move away from high-tax states in favor of low-tax and no-income-tax states.
Three of the top four states attracting movers have no personal income tax: Texas, Florida, and Tennessee.
California is ranked dead last in the index and imposes the highest top personal income tax rate in the nation at 13.3%.
Related: When I was in Nashville last summer for the ACFE Global Fraud Conference my Uber driver was telling me how the population exploded there post-Covid. I think he said 400,000 people had moved there since 2020, I haven’t checked the data on that. And yes, many of those people were former Californians according to him. Just a silly little anecdote I thought was interesting.
HIG Europe is selling Interpath, the former KPMG UK restructuring unit, to Bridgepoint at double the valuation it had acquired the business five years ago—marking the latest deal in a wave of PE investments in the professional services sector.
Bridgepoint is buying Interpath at a £800 million ($1.1 billion) valuation, the Financial Times reported. HIG helped to carve out KPMG’s restructuring arm at a £400 million valuation in 2021.
Kiplinger has featured another CPA in its My First Million series. This time it’s a semi-retired 68-year-old in San Francisco where $1 million is practically poverty level.
Here’s how he answered the question How did you make your first million?
Gradual enrichment over time. Self-employment was the key. The cash flow allowed me to support multiple pieces of real estate (owning two homes, buying rentals), invest small amounts in the stock market and fund retirement accounts.
The business kept growing, and the cash flows kept growing.
Two decades ago, I said to my father, “I am a millionaire.” His comment: “Isn’t everybody?”
Dude, this guy is hilarious:
United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania is looking for help preparing taxes, no experience required:
For those looking to give back in the New Year, the United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania is looking for about 450 volunteers to assist with its annual free tax preparation efforts.
Training is provided and anyone can be a volunteer, said Emily Schmidlapp, United Way’s manager of moving to financial stability.
Volunteers are needed for tax clinic sites in Allegheny, Westmoreland, Fayette, Washington, and Greene counties.
The Free Tax Prep Coalition is a group of 13 organizations led by United Way and Just Harvest, providing free tax filing assistance to local households making up to $70,000 per year.
“You don’t need any tax training or knowledge coming into this. Just Harvest provides excellent and comprehensive training to all of our volunteers. They get IRS certified and are really able to provide a high quality service,” Schmidlapp said.
A bill in Illinois seeks to make things easier on tiny municipalities:
A new law will ease auditing requirements on Illinois’ smallest local governments, sparing taxpayers the expense of preparing those investigations.
House Bill 1082 amends the Illinois municipal auditing law. This applies to communities with fewer than 1,000 residents.
Municipalities with less than 1,000 residents that do not own utilities or have bonded debt must file an annual financial report. Those that own utilities or have bonded debt must file a yearly financial report and an audit every four years.
On his website, chief sponsor State Rep. Gregg Johnson (D-East Moline) said: “Smaller communities face different budget pressures and require a different approach than big cities. I sponsored HB1082 to help small municipalities by cutting unnecessary and expensive auditing regulations by 75%.”
In Montana, people who’ve been ripped off by securities fraud get relief from the state, reports Daily Montanan:
The Office of State Auditor James Brown announced this week that the state is sending restitution checks to qualifying Montana citizens who have been the victim of securities-related fraud schemes.
More than $100,000 was returned to Montanans in 2025, a press release said. Montana is one of six states that provides restitution assistance to victims of investment fraud.
“When fraudsters and bad actors harm Montanans, we aggressively investigate them, we fully prosecute them, and we ensure they take a one-way trip to Deer Lodge,” Brown said in a press release. “The most rewarding parts of my job as State Auditor is locking up bad actors and helping Montanans rebuild their lives. There is no better time to do that than this holiday season.”
Let’s wrap this up here, that’s already a lot of news for the Monday after a long holiday break. May you have the best of weeks, gimme a shout if you need me via email or text anytime. Bye!