Good morning and welcome to a very frosty Monday Morning Accounting News Brief. I’m reading that almost a million people are without power today, if you are one of them I have to question why you’re wasting precious battery on reading accounting news.
Well, we should probably get to it.
Booz Allen Hamilton is in the Treasury doghouse, reports CNBC:
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday said he had cancelled all Treasury Department contracts with the consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton, one of whose employees leaked the tax records of President Donald Trump, and the billionaires Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, to media outlets.
Booz Allen Hamilton’s stock price dropped by 8% on the heels of the Treasury Department’s announcement.
The department said it currently has 31 separate contracts with Booz Allen Hamilton, totaling $4.8 million in annual spending and $21 million in total obligations.
“President Trump has entrusted his cabinet to root out waste, fraud, and abuse, and canceling these contracts is an essential step to increasing Americans’ trust in government,” Bessent said in a statement.
It’s surprising it took this long. You may recall one old Booz employee by the name of Edward Snowden, though this statement by Treasury today appears to be related to a different one.
EY global chief innovation officer Joe Depa tells Business Insider he can spot AI from a mile away:
Depa leads the Big Four firm’s global AI, data, and innovation strategy, and part of his job involves overseeing how employees integrate AI.
That vantage point has given Depa what he calls a “high sensitivity” for detecting AI-generated work. While he’s all in on the technology and doesn’t have set limits on how often employees should use it, he said AI should be used to amplify human creativity, not replace it. He said there are situations where “it’s too much AI,” and the person hasn’t “infused any of their own original thoughts.”
Alright so what’s the giveaway, Joe?
One of the most common is neutral and overly formal writing. He added that AI-generated writing may lack personal aspects, emotion, and humor.
The writing may also be too polished, with no shifts in pattern, structure, or flow. He said AI-generated writing tends to be generic or corporate-sounding, sometimes relying too heavily on buzzwords and descriptors.
Oh, you mean like YOUR FIRM DOES in literally every single press release you put out?
KPMG is embroiled in some nasty business with a (former?) First Nations client in Canada and the dispute resolution will not take place behind closed doors like KPMG wanted. We’ll let Globe and Mail tell it:
The Lutsel K’e Dene First Nation (LKDFN) in the Northwest Territories has cleared a major legal hurdle in its battle with accounting firm KPMG, which has been accused of helping an executive steal millions of dollars from the community.
KPMG had asked a judge to rule that the case be heard through private arbitration, which is the dispute resolution process laid out in the firm’s contract with the First Nation’s companies.
This earlier story explains what the suit is about: KPMG sued in B.C. over alleged $11M fraud in NWT.
PwC is allowed to work for Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund after a year on the sidelines:
Public Investment Fund has informed PwC that the restriction imposed in February 2025 has been lifted and invited the firm to start pitching for new work, according to people familiar with the matter.
The ban, which limited new advisory contracts from PIF and its subsidiary companies, had been a major blow to PwC, which cut about 60 partners and 1,500 staff across its Middle East operations as a result.
Hopefully they learned their lesson and won’t go trying to poach people again.
Uh oh. A firm owner/preparer is headed to the slammer for 10 years and it has nothing to do with taxes. Reports WDAM 7 of Mississippi:
The owner of a Jackson accounting firm was sentenced to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to fraud and bribery of a public official.
Verneshia Cody, owner/operator of TDK Accounting and Tax Services, was charged after submitting fraudulent documents to the Mississippi Department of Health to obtain funds through the MS COVID-19 Health Disparities Elimination Project.
An investigation found that Cody obtained grant funds improperly by use of fraudulent invoices, improper expense claims and counterfeit checks.
Looks like 10 years was the max she faced when she was arrested in November.
Led Zeppelin’s longtime accountant died just before the New Year:
Joan Hudson, the accountant who devotedly managed Led Zeppelin’s finances and business affairs for more than 50 years from the band’s heyday through to recent years, died on December 31 aged 87, LedZepNews has learned.
Hudson sold her London accountancy firm Joan Hudson & Co to SRLV in 2023, allowing her to finally retire after spending decades of her life managing the convoluted world of Led Zeppelin. News of Hudson’s death first emerged on the For Badgeholder’s Only email group earlier this week.
Hudson’s dedication to the members of Led Zeppelin continued until her death, with the accountant eschewing a public profile and never giving media interviews about her work. Her decades of service to Led Zeppelin means she was likely the band’s longest-serving employee.
Fortune was invited to the KPMG Lakehouse and clearly impressed by what they saw:
In January 2020, KPMG executives gathered in Orlando for a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Lakehouse, a sprawling, state-of-the-art learning and innovation center designed to be the firm’s cultural home. Just two months later, the world shuttered under the weight of a global pandemic.
While the timing appeared catastrophic—and many partners grumbled about how it was surely coming out of their compensation—the $450 million investment transformed into what leadership now describes as a strategic “accelerant” for the firm’s most ambitious pivot ever: the AI revolution. Today, Lakehouse is one of the firm’s major hubs for training a new generation of professionals to navigate a world where generative AI is no longer a peripheral tool but a core component of professional service.
Fortune was invited to sit in on a three-day session with 600 winter interns, chosen from a pool of 9,000 applicants, representing 146 schools, as the waves of talent from New Jersey to Utah to Texas celebrated leaving school by essentially going back to class again. Lakehouse had bits of flair located throughout, such as the KPMG-branded “GEN AI Invaders” arcade game, but the large, modern building feels like a blend of a state-of-the-art hotel, a KPMG office building and a learning center.
And sex club. You forgot sex club. We hear things, ya know.
That’s enough of that! Shoot me an email or text if you have a tip, have seen a story you think we should cover, or just have a pithy observation about the accounting profession you think should be shared with the world. Stay warm out there!