Happy last Monday before Halloween, everyone. Shall keep the commentary to a minimum for absolutely no reason and get straight to the news. To contact us with tips or stories, email or text.
OK, now the happenings.
You had me at “Miami Vice-themed work party,” Financial Review.
A former EY partner, already on a final warning for allegedly propositioning a married partner at a Miami Vice-themed work party, has lost a case that his sacking over a fight in a Sydney bar was a breach of contract.
The ACT Supreme Court ruled the firm’s partnership rules on “just cause” termination are not limited to partners’ behaviour at work and can extend to their private lives if it threatens the firm’s brand.
Former senior tax partner Leonard Joseph Nicita, who joined the firm in 2021, had defended his pushing a bartender after late night staff drinks as “innocuous” and only “tenuously” linked to work.
However, Justice David Mossop found EY’s partnership agreement only required a “good faith” opinion about what was in the interests of the partnership and that could include social or personal behaviour.
Business Insider spoke to an accountant-turned-vibe-coder (he’s still an accountant):
For more than 18 years, Wei Khjan Chan has worked as an accountant, a profession often flagged as being at risk of automation. Each time he saw headlines warning that AI could replace jobs like his, he said he felt the pressure mounting.
“It’ll be great if I get to know AI earlier. At least I replace myself rather than let other people replace me,” the 39-year-old told Business Insider.
To stay ahead of the curve, Chan picked up vibe coding, using AI tools to write code and build apps. The audit partner at an accounting and advisory firm in Malaysia said he stumbled on vibe coding in June after attending weekend coding workshops in Singapore and Malaysia.
The app he created with AI, which he showed BI, uses OCR to process expense receipts. Yes there are tools in the market that already do that, let the man have his victory.
UK firms are lobbying to stop a “potential tax raid” on their partnerships, reports Financial Times.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves is thought to be preparing to add employer’s national insurance to the tax bills of some UK businesses that operate as partnerships, which the Centre for the Analysis of Taxation (CenTax) think-tank has estimated would affect some 200,000 people and raise £1.9bn a year.
Scrapping the national insurance contribution exemption for such partnerships would increase the marginal tax rate for partners from about 47 per cent to 54 per cent, according to Dan Neidle at Tax Policy Associates, though some firms estimate the bill will be higher.
A bit of a long read from Financial Review: PwC’s $1.5b AI audit revolution has a catch: don’t expect a discount
PwC Australia is piloting its new AI-driven software platform with five local clients as part of a $US1 billion ($1.5 billion) global investment to automate large parts of the corporate auditing process.
..
The firm has found the messy reality is that while AI tools have dramatically sped up data gathering and allow for much larger samples of company data to be tested for accuracy, all that extra output still must be vetted by trained auditors.
Washington state appears to be the next state to ditch the 150-only CPA pathway, reports CFO Dive:
The Washington State Board of Accountancy has adopted new rules establishing an alternative route to getting a certified public accountant license that doesn’t require candidates to complete 150 hours of college credit — which typically equates to five years of post-secondary education or college, according to the Washington Society of Certified Public Accountants.
Nearly two dozen states have enacted similar laws. MNCPA maintains and regularly updates a map of these changes here.
Bonus depreciation means you’re probably going to start seeing a lot more car washes in your city. Bloomberg has the scoop on how the wealthy are taking advantage of this “seismic” rule change:
At Engineered Tax Services, a West Palm Beach, Florida-based firm that hunts for ways to reduce clients’ tax burdens, real estate projects under review are up 145% year over year, said Chief Marketing Officer Heidi Henderson. She said the effect of the bill was “almost instantaneous” after it passed in July.
“We are seeing a huge uptick,” she said. “We are getting so many calls from people asking, ‘What should we buy, how can we take the most advantage?’”
Oh and private jets, they’re buying private jets.
FedScoop dives into details coming out of the Center for Taxpayer Rights v. Internal Revenue Service lawsuit:
The lawsuit in question was initially about DOGE’s access to IRS IT systems. The plaintiffs — the Center for Taxpayer Rights, Main Street Alliance, the National Federation of Federal Employees and the Communications Workers of America — sought to cut off that access, citing privacy concerns.
But an amended complaint filed in May took a broader look at the “sensitive taxpayer data DOGE seeks to share,” including moves made by DHS “to support unspecified criminal investigations in connection with immigration enforcement.”
Reuters covers tax evasion in Italy:
According to a report by a government-appointed commission, which has not yet been published but which Reuters has reviewed, the estimated maximum amount of missed taxes and social contributions rose by 3.5 billion euros to 102.5 billion euros ($119.5 billion) in 2022 from 99 billion euros in 2021.
In 2021 tax evasion rose by around 2.4 billion euros from 2020.
Ohio Capital Journal covers the progress of a grassroots effort to abolish property taxes in the state:
The Ohio group seeking to abolish property taxes has collected “well” over 100,000 signatures to get the constitutional amendment on the ballot, the organizer said. This comes as lawmakers are passing bipartisan relief bills.
It’s reached a boiling point for Beth Blackmarr, a Lakewood resident fed up with rising property taxes.
“My house payment is going to be going up to $120 a month,” Blackmarr said. “It’s crazy. That puts a stress on us.”
She has been begging state lawmakers to provide some relief — and she isn’t the only one. She is part of Citizens for Property Tax Reform, a grassroots organization based in Cuyahoga County.
“Something is wrong and what’s wrong is that the legislature did not do their job,” she said. “Legislature, get moving!”
Over in Europe, EY was commissioned to crunch some numbers on the benefits of bike-sharing:
A new study commissioned by EIT Urban Mobility and Cycling Industries Europe (CIE), and conducted by EY, has for the first time quantified the economic and social return on investment of bike-sharing schemes in Europe. The analysis finds that bike-sharing generates €305 million in annual benefits, confirming its role as a key element in sustainable urban mobility.
That’s it for me this morning. Have a good week, everyone except the firm that shall not be named!
No Charges for Moody’s in Ratings Violation [