Hey, people. Some news for you if you’re into that.
Deloitte got caught using AI in a report prepared for the Australian government and will be refunding some of its fee as a result:
The Big Four accountancy and consultancy firm will repay the final instalment of its government contract after conceding that some footnotes and references it contained were incorrect, Australia’s Department of Employment and Workplace Relations said on Monday.
The department had commissioned a A$439,000 “independent assurance review” from Deloitte in December last year to help assess problems with a welfare system for automatically penalising jobseekers.
Financial Review, which was first to cover the situation, said in a commentary article that “the incident plays into the ideological jihad waged by the Greens, which has stereotyped consultants as highly paid fat cats ripping off taxpayers and undermining the role of the public service.”
Effective January 2027, 150 hours is no longer the only CPA pathway in the state of California:
California has joined 21 other states in revising licensing mandates for accountants, offering a faster route to earn the CPA credential in a move aimed at expanding access to the profession.
Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) Friday signed into law legislation, AB 1175, that allows accountants to qualify for the license with a standard bachelor’s degree and two years of professional experience. The law also hands the California Board of Accountancy authority to set more detailed education standards, among other changes.
Earlier:
Ever the advocates, the AICPA says the government better fully staff the IRS, shutdown or no. JofA has the scoop:
The IRS should keep all employees on the job even during a government shutdown that extends beyond the five working days covered in the agency’s contingency plan, the AICPA said Friday.
The Senate is set to vote again on a funding bill today, one day before IRS funding is scheduled to end. Taxpayers, C corporations, and tax advisers must meet an Oct. 15 filing deadline, then work begins on the next tax filing season, Melanie Lauridsen, the AICPA’s vice president–Tax Policy & Advocacy, said in a news release.
“An extended government shutdown during this important filing deadline will compound this anxiety if the IRS is not 100% staffed,” Lauridsen said.
Crain’s crunched the numbers on public accounting headcounts in Chicago and found that of Big 4 firms, only KPMG reduced their ranks last year.
Deloitte has long ranked No. 1 on the annual list and still does: As of June 30, the firm and its subsidiaries employed 907 certified public accountants in and around Chicago. That’s up 4% from last year, a notable increase given broader layoffs in the accounting industry nationally.
The London-based company now employs a total professional staff of 5,705 in the Chicago area, up 3% from last year. Professional staff in this context refers to partners, associates and anyone working directly in the accounting area as full-time employees.
Cherry Bekaert has named a new DC market leader:
The firm last week named Mitchell Weintraub as its D.C. market leader, replacing Neal Beggan, who is leaving the Cherry Bekaert to join another accounting firm in the D.C. market, according to a spokesperson.
CNBC is worried about Big 4 revenues if quarterly reporting requirements change:
SEC Chair Paul Atkins told CNBC soon after that a rule proposal is underway, though he suggested any change would give companies the option to change their reporting schedule. “For the sake of shareholders and public companies, the market can decide what the proper cadence is,” Atkins said.
With semi-annual reports, companies could theoretically halve the considerable costs and labor associated with filing quarterly reports. But the independent, outside accounting firms, in particular the “Big Four” — Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC — that help prepare them stand to lose a major portion of their audit business. On average, it takes about 180 hours to prepare a requisite form 10-Q, at an expense that can vary from $50,000 for smaller companies to well over $1 million for large-cap enterprises. And that doesn’t include expenditures for internal audit teams and operations.
Huh, we really thought this one wasn’t going anywhere.
Earlier:
A “Senior Early Talent Manager” at a large firm across the pond is concerned after seeing a survey:
In a recent BBC Bitesize survey of more than 4000 13–16-year-olds, doctor, engineer and teacher were the top three job choices. The NHS, Google and Apple ranked the top three employers to work for. There wasn’t a professional services firm in sight, and no aspiring accountants or auditors, at least in the top 10.
Perhaps the profession’s misunderstood or perceived as offering old-fashioned, unfun jobs. Just under half of respondents (47%) felt university was their preferred pathway to employment. A quarter put apprenticeship as their route to career success. Encouragingly, 85% of teenagers surveyed were confident they could get their desired job.
We need to pay attention to this – we need to let students know how interesting, varied, exciting and dynamic our profession is. The oldest of those interviewed could join our industry as soon as 2027. If a current 13-year-old gets their university choice, it may be 2033 by the time they join one of our graduate programmes.
Careful, current 13-year-olds can read and would discover in just a few minutes of Googling just how much work is being offshored these days and how unstable working in public accounting is right now. But by all means, go forth and proselytize.
The Sunday Times profiles a woman who made £7,000 a year as a freelance infant sleep consultant and didn’t want to spend £1,000 of that on an accountant so she turned to ChatGPT in “‘I saved £1,000 by using ChatGPT as an accountant’.”
When Nicole Ratcliffe first sat down to work out how to pay her tax bill, she was lost. She runs two businesses — one as a sole trader and one as a limited company, which meant that her finances were “a complete and utter mess”.
“It was so complicated, and I didn’t know where to start to sort it all out. I’m in a bit of a transition period with the business so it’s become a bit complex,” said Ratcliffe, 44, a freelance infant sleep consultant.
Ratcliffe had already asked ChatGPT about her blood test results and requested advice on what she should ask her doctor, as well as using it to look for cheap days out near where she lives in Manchester.
She said: “I didn’t have the time to trawl through Google and find contradictory bits of information or stuff that wasn’t relevant to me. So I laid out my situation and asked ChatGPT to explain what I could declare as a sole trader versus a limited company and what taxes I might have to pay.”
That’s that. If you have seen a story you think we’d like, have a tip, or just want to complain you are welcome to email or text anytime. See ya!