Yo and good morning. I’ve ventured out into the internet wilds and trapped you some news.
In this news brief
A New Bragging Point For Deloitte
The Canadian Public Accountability Board has started naming firms in inspection reports — yeah, they didn’t used to do this — and Deloitte is the Big 4 firm with the fewest deficiencies of the bunch. Canadian Accountant reports:
One of the largest and most profitable Canadian accounting firms, Deloitte Canada audits more than 180 public companies (“reporting issuers”) that fall within the Canadian audit watchdog’s regulatory scope. As of December 31, 2024, the firm also audited 178 mutual funds and traded funds.
CPAB inspected 13 of the accounting firm’s audit engagement files in 2025, and found just one (related to “business combinations”) with a “significant finding,” a deficiency rate of less than eight per cent.
#2 least smeggy auditing is PwC followed by EY and, predictably, KPMG brings up the rear with a respectable 21% deficiency rate.
Inspection reports are now searchable by firm name in Canada though you’ll notice there are just four names and four reports.
Oh, We’re Worried About the Partner Pipeline Now?
Financial Times put out a longish read about a topic we’ve all been eyeing for a while: Accountancy’s partnership pipeline risks running dry. Yeah, that’s what happens when you add a second carrot to the dangling carrot (non-equity partner), ship off crazy amounts of work overseas, scramble to automate everything that can be automated, and do layoffs upon layoffs.
This looks like it could have been written a decade ago. Or should have been anyway.
“The partner pipeline in audit and accounting is definitely under pressure,” says James O’Dowd, chief executive at recruiter Patrick Morgan.
“Graduate interest has been falling for several years. Significantly lower starting salaries versus 10 years ago, a long qualification process and the perception that accounting is less appealing than other professional services opportunities mean the profession is no longer securing the same volume of strong entrants.”
Some smaller firms are replacing some junior hires with AI. But Big Four executives say they cannot afford to cut back on entry-level recruitment as this could risk destabilising their partner pipeline.
“AI”
Anyway. Tiny violin and all. Firm leadership knows it’s happening, they’ve known it for a while now.
Authorities Investigating After Another Auditor Allegedly Worked to Death
In South Korea, labor authorities are investigating after an auditor allegedly died from being worked too hard. Seoul Economic Daily reports:
South Korea’s Ministry of Employment and Labor has launched a labor inspection into Samjong KPMG following allegations that an accountant at the firm died from overwork.
The ministry announced Sunday that it began the inspection on Dec. 12. Labor inspections are administrative procedures that examine whether workplaces comply with labor laws.
The ministry decided on Dec. 6 to conduct the inspection to determine the cause of death of the Samjong KPMG accountant, who had overseen on-site audit operations. A media outlet reported allegations of death from overwork, suggesting the accountant’s death was linked to extended working hours during the audit season.
Here’s a thread discussing it, and the wider issue of overwork in Korea, on Reddit.
Billboard Beef
A guy who has beef with BDO New Zealand is apparently putting up billboards about it and unsurprisingly, the firm isn’t happy. Reports The Post of NZ:
A former lawyer with a history of headline-grabbing stunts is behind billboards popping up alongside Auckland’s motorways taking aim at international accounting firm BDO.
The first billboards, erected at the start of the month, named two New Zealand BDO advisory partners and showed their faces, using photos believed to be taken from BDO’s website. The billboards also displayed an altered version of the BDO logo, showing it crossed out.
But the billboards were eventually replaced, following a legal threat to the company who displayed the signage.
Former lawyer David Jacques outlined his issues with BDO on LinkedIn a year ago and also has a website. Evidently he’s known to New Zealanders.
PwC Celebrates 9 Consecutive Years of Not Screwing Up the Oscars
Kelly Phillips Erb wrote about the Oscar vote process for Forbes and, like most of us, won’t let PwC live down the massive 2017 blunder dubbed Envelopegate.
Before the first celebrity steps onto the red carpet for the 98th Academy Awards on March 15, 2026, and before a single envelope is opened on stage, the most important work of the Academy Awards has already been done—by the voters and the accountants.
Each year, the winners of the Oscars are counted, verified, and sealed by the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), which has overseen the Academy’s voting process since 1935 and has retained the job despite its infamous 2017 envelope mix-up. Thousands of members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences cast votes this year across 24 award categories (including a new one for Best Casting) and PwC is responsible for collecting, verifying, and tabulating those results before preparing the sealed envelopes used during the ceremony.
The Academy first turned to an outside firm in the 1930s because it wanted a neutral third party that it could rely on for both accuracy and confidentiality. Accounting firms were already trusted to audit financial statements, verify complex calculations, and safeguard sensitive client information. In many ways, the Oscar vote count is similar to a specialized assurance engagement: An independent firm verifies the numbers, uses multiple controls to confirm the results, and safeguards the integrity of the process until the outcome is announced publicly.
In case anyone forgot what happened in 2017 or wasn’t paying attention at the time: PwC Celebrates Seven Consecutive Years of Not Screwing Up the Oscars. TLDR Matt Damon doppelganger and then-partner Brian Cullinan handed off the wrong envelope and the wrong Best Picture winner was announced.
Whatever mistake you’ve made at work recently, just be glad it didn’t happen on TV in front of 20 million people.
We Ever Gonna Get Another IRS Commissioner or Nah
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is no longer acting IRS commissioner and some senators snarked about it:
Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), and Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) warned today that the 210-day window under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act for Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to serve as acting IRS commissioner expired on March 6th, and they blasted the Trump administration for failing to put forward a nominee for commissioner amid the chaos it has inflicted on the agency.
In a letter to Bessent and Dan Scavino, director of the Office of Presidential Personnel, the senators noted that the agency has had seven commissioners or acting commissioners since early 2025, most of the IRS’s 28 “top official” positions were either vacant or filled by acting officials as of late last year, and that the position of IRS “chief executive officer,” is a fake job designed to sidestep the Senate’s vetting and confirmation process.
The IRS made a statement on Friday:
Consistent with applicable law and longstanding practice, the Secretary of the Treasury oversees the operations of all Treasury offices and bureaus, including the Internal Revenue Service. Secretary Scott Bessent’s service as Acting Commissioner of the IRS under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act has expired, and he has not served in that capacity since that time.
In accordance with the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, the Secretary retains the authority and responsibility to perform the functions and duties of vacant Treasury offices that are not filled on an acting basis. The IRS continues to operate without interruption, with Chief Executive Officer Frank J. Bisignano successfully leading day-to-day operations and reporting directly to the Secretary.
This seems like a good place to stop. If you have a tip, story, or pithy observation about the state of the accounting profession you are, as always, welcome and encouraged to reach out via email or text anytime. Have yourself a great week, you.
