Treaty to Save Euro Takes Shape, but Britain Sits Out [NYT] European leaders, meeting until the […]
EY GDS Philippines Turns 11, Celebrates By Planning to Hire An Additional 2,000 People
EY's global delivery machine in The Philippines is marking 11 years this month and as a treat, they're apparently adding 2,000 more people to its roster of more than 6,000…
Revenue Is Down For the First Time in 17 Years But at Least Partners Got a Raise at PwC UK
Looks like offshoring and layoffs couldn't save the King's PwC from a revenue slump this year. The firm has just reported revenue of £6.2 billion (approximately $8.28 billion USD), a…
EY Got the Big Pentagon Audit Job
This according to what the Department of War put up yesterday: Ernst & Young LLP, New York, New York, is being awarded a labor-hour contract with a maximum value of…
Chief Operating Officer Punted From the Partnership Post-Audit Scandal Sues KPMG
The former chief operating officer and audit partner who said at a parliamentary hearing last month that she didn't recall stuffing confidential documents in her personal locker is now suing…
Big 4 Climate Activism Has a Pretty Convenient Revenue Stream, Say 16 State AGs in Tedious Letter to Firms
The attorneys general of 16 states have written a long strongly worded letter to Big 4 firms (and CC'd the SEC) warning them that the firms' climate commitments and willingness…
Friday Footnotes: KPMG Puts Up Money For Excellence in Accounting; The Secret to a Promotion Is Never Saying No | 9.25.26
Footnotes is a collection of stories from around the accounting profession curated by actual humans and published every Friday at 5pm Eastern. While you're here, subscribe to our newsletter to…
Another Accounting Firm Is Getting Into the Law Business
After KPMG opened the door to the accounting-firms-doing-law space last year, another firm has thrown their green eyeshade into the ring. Idaho-HQd and private equity-backed Sorren (IPA #49 with $193,296,588…
EY GDS Philippines Turns 11, Celebrates By Planning to Hire An Additional 2,000 People
EY's global delivery machine in The Philippines is marking 11 years this month and as a treat, they're apparently adding 2,000 more people to its roster of more than 6,000…
Monday Morning Accounting News Brief: AI Is Making Clients Even Worse; India’s Still Working on Homebrew Big 4 | 9.21.26
Hey. Can someone please tell me why it's still 90 degrees outside? I'm beyond ready for fall already. ICYMI: An Accountingfly client is looking for people with seven or more…
Friday Footnotes: PwC Bonuses Take a Hit; EY Thinks It Has a Slick Return to Office Trick | 9.18.26
Footnotes is a collection of stories from around the accounting profession curated by actual humans and published every Friday at 5pm Eastern. While you're here, subscribe to our newsletter to…
The AICPA Wants Tax Pros to Take a Hit From Its New AI Risk CART
Rather than dropping a strongly worded letter on the topic of the IRS's position on AI in tax practice and dropping the topic there to focus on other pressing matters,…
Deloitte Survey: A Lot of People Are Using Clandestine AI at Work
As corporations everywhere shove AI down our throats and businesses wrestle with the conflict between rushing to integrate AI to not be left behind and having to pay for it…
Bill Gates Proposes a Tokens and Robots Tax
Bill Gates has written a loooong essay on AI covering all sorts of things from potential benefits to immediate concerns. Feel free to read the whole thing if you'd like,…
Firms (and Some Guy Obsessed With China) Have Weighed in on the PCAOB Turning an Eye to AI
The comment period for PCAOB Release No. 2026-005 Request for Public Comment on PCAOB Standard Setting has closed and when all was said and done, it racked up an unremarkable…
Audit Leaders Currently in the “Throw AI at the Wall and See What Sticks” Phase
Gartner has released some numbers on AI usage they harvested from audit professionals and the headline figure shouldn't surprise anyone: only 7% of those surveyed report they aren't using AI…
Expense Management: Because Apparently Clients Will Pay You to Make Expense Reports Suck Less
Spend and expense management is one of the most in-demand CAS services—and one of the most underutilized. There’s still plenty of room to get into the game. Clients are drowning…
For Firms, Growth is Down But Profitability Is Up
That's the headline from INSIDE Public Accounting based on the results of their 2026 Practice Management Report: The report draws on survey responses from 605 North American accounting firms, spanning…
AICPA Pushes Back on IRS Suggesting CPAs Should Charge Less If They’re Using AI
Back in June the IRS Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) issued its first solid AI guidance in the form of a bulletin titled Introductory Guidelines for Responsible AI Use in…
Top Remote Tax and Accounting Candidates of the Week | October 16, 2025
Struggling to Find Remote Accounting or Tax Talent? We’ve Got You Covered.If your firm or internal team is having a tough time sourcing qualified remote tax and accounting professionals, you're…
Top Remote Tax and Accounting Candidates of the Week | October 2, 2025
Struggling to Find Remote Accounting or Tax Talent? We’ve Got You Covered.If your firm or internal team is having a tough time sourcing qualified remote tax and accounting professionals, you're…
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The AICPA Wants Tax Pros to Take a Hit From Its New AI Risk CART
“I want an accountant who isn’t afraid to go to jail.”
A prospect actually sent me this.
He said his current CPA was too “by the book” and he wanted someone more aggressive.
Obviously, I didn’t respond.
Because yes, I am very afraid of jail.
I have absolutely zero interest in
Here Are Tax and Audit Salaries at Top 25, Top 300, and Regional Firms
Recruiting firm Brewer Morris has released its 2025 US CPA salary guide and should you want to read the whole thing you can request it from them here. Perhaps you,…
Friendly Reminder Not to Work Yourself to Death For This Profession
Saw this on the bird app yesterday and thought its message would be worth passing along what with 20 days remaining until April 15 and nerves as strained as ever…
Accounting Firm Abruptly Nopes Out of Tax Season Early (UPDATE)
Ed. note: An earlier version of this article's headline stated the sheriff is investigating. The Alexander County Sheriff's Office informed us they are not investigating, only fielding calls from the…
This Deloitte Office Has Eliminated Trash Cans at Desks to Make Staff Get Up Off Their Asses
Boston Business Journal wrote an article about Deloitte's new office in Boston and for some reason they chose to lead with this: You won’t find trash cans at the desks…
The IRS Decided to Troll Tax Pros For 10/15
We realize the decision to run maintenance on IRS systems likely isn't made by anyone who understands deadlines but surely someone who does could inform the IT department of these…
Expense Management: Because Apparently Clients Will Pay You to Make Expense Reports Suck Less
Spend and expense management is one of the most in-demand CAS services—and one of the most underutilized. There’s still plenty of room to get into the game. Clients are drowning…
Top Remote Accounting Freelancers: February 3, 2024
Looking to staff up for a season or hire a freelancer for a project? Accountingfly is ready to partner with you! Gain full access to a pool of highly skilled…
10 Essential Project Management Principles for Accounting Firms
Every accounting firm struggles with project management, with smaller practices that are rapidly expanding taking the brunt of the damage. As your firm adds new clients, takes on more work,…
6 Ways Email is Secretly Destroying Your Accounting Firm
Email: The word itself sounds innocent, doesn't it? Kind of like "snail mail," but faster, sleeker, and without the slimy trail. But don't be fooled—email is secretly a sinister beast,…
At Least One McGladrey Employee Is Skeptical of the Motives Behind the Firm Giving Everyone iPads
This just in from a tipster (confirming a Tweet that was pointed out to us) […]
Your Thoughts on the New Going Concern
So now that we've opened the kimono, TPTB are pretty anxious to know what you […]
Get Yourself a Piece of Koss Embezzlement History
Remember the good ol' Koss fraud? It's been quite some time since we were on […]
Exit Interviews: Speak Your Mind or Let It Go?
Ed. note: Is your career somewhere in between mundane and craptacular? Email us at advice@goingconcern.com and we'll […]
Accounting News Roundup | 12.08.11
Corzine: 'I Simply Do Not Know Where The Money Is' [WSJ]Much of the day's testimony is […]
Here’s Your CPA Exam Scores Open Thread for the October/November Testing Window
All that hard work has either really paid off or was the biggest waste of time in your life.
David Cay Johnston: President Obama Has Out-Norquisted Grover Norquist
Granddaddy of tax gazetteers, David Cay Johnston, is poking at Grover Norquist again, this time over the quagmire that the Republicans find themselves in over President Obama’s payroll tax cut proposal. The very proposal that could make Obama the biggest Grinch of 2011. Ruined holidays aside, DCJ points out that if the Republicans shoot this down, they do so at the behest of what seems to be a very popular idea:
[N]umerous opinion polls show overwhelming public support for continuing tax cuts for workers and for raising taxes on millionaires. That has left Republican leaders no choice but to silently cry uncle and agree to the president’s request to extend and possibly expand the payroll tax cut.
The reason that Republicans aren’t so hot on the payroll tax cut is that it’s “temporary.” They’d rather see “permanent” tax cuts enacted, although those “permanent” tax cuts are never “permanent.” The “permanent” Bush tax cuts, for example, had to be “extended” last year because they were about to “expire” which basically makes them “temporary.” The payroll tax cut was originally enacted last year with the Bush tax cuts but as Paul Ryan says, it’s supposed to be like a holiday, which is to say, “We lived through it and we’ll just move on with our lives and never to speak of it again.” DCJ writes that this means Obama has beat the Republicans at their own game:
Having outsmarted Norquist, Obama gets to run for a second term as the champion of at least a $100 billion tax cut. Obama can even say that if Republicans had had their way, working people’s taxes would have gone up while taxes on billionaires would have gone down. And he gets to tell small business owners that, but for Republicans, their taxes would have gone down too.
This is a marketing fiasco for Republicans to rival the Ford Edsel and New Coke. Already more than 40 congressional Republicans have taken steps to distance themselves from Norquist, who scowls at the mere mention of what could have been his, but is now Obama’s, very popular tax cut.
In other words: Whose shorties are snagged now?
Republicans paint themselves into a tax-cut corner [DCJ/Reuters]
President Obama Just Might Ruin His Family Christmas for the Payroll Tax Cut
That’s what Harry Reid is saying anyway. I’m not a parent, so I’m not exactly sure how a man would explain to his daughters that they’ll have to spend Christmas on the beach without Dad but he can always Skype in from the West Wing, or he could take the Paul Ryan approach. [Reuters]
It Sounds Like KPMG Is *ThisClose* to Jumping Ernst & Young in Revenues
Not sure how we missed this story but thanks to the random commenter who brought it to our attention. New KPMG Global Chairman Michael Andrew was recently interviewed by The Australian and it sounds like KPMG had a pretty kickass fiscal 2011.
We’re still waiting for the official revenue numbers (I’m guessing they’ll be out next week) but Drew kinda spilled the beans already:
New KPMG global chairman Michael Andrew revealed to The Weekend Australian yesterday that the company had recorded a 10.1 per cent increase in revenue in the past financial year, to $22.7 billion. The numbers are due to be released officially later this month.
“If we had not had the Japanese earthquake, I suspect we would have gone past Ernst & Young. Japan is a good market for us. We had really good growth in the Americas and really good growth in tax,” he said yesterday.
FUCKING JAPAN AND YOUR EPIC NATURAL DISASTER! You just cost one of the premier professional services firms on EARTH the chance to leave a rival in the dust. Since there was enormous death and destruction, I guess everyone at the firm will let this go but they’re trying really hard not to throw out some pro forma numbers just for the sake of argument. ANYWAY, for those of you scoring at home, the $22.7 bil puts the House of Klynveld slightly behind E&Y who racked up $22.9 billion for FY ’11. It will also make for the second straight year of a bumper crop of Omaha Steaks for the employees at the firm.
But despite earthquakes and actual hard numbers, Mike is calling it like he sees it:
“We are basically equal No 3. There is still a big gap to PwC and Deloitte, which have been buying large consulting practices in the systems implementation area.”
In other words, if all things were equal, KPMG would probably be the largest firm. They’re just keeping their heads about it.
KPMG grows to match rival Ernst & Young [The Australian]
Some Holiday Housekeeping
It’s the Holiday Season and that means two things: 1) Big Surprises; 2) Big Disappointments. With that in mind, I’m here to share with you, first, a surprise.
Tomorrow, barring any unforeseen sabotage by internal detractors, we’ll be launching a redesigned look and feel for Going Concern. We’ve been sporting our current layout for quite awhile and the feeling amongst us (and many of you that participated in our fall survey) was that we need to update things a bit. After quite a bit of yelling and few instances of people stomping around the room like 3 year-olds, we’ve got something we’re all (more or less) happy with.
Personally, I wanted to spring the revamped website on you like your parents divorce at the Thanksgiving table but I was convinced to share the news with you a day before for the sake of goodwill, transparency and all that crap. Along with the redesign, there will be some upcoming promotions and other new stuff that will undoubtedly change your lives forever.
Now, after an initial freak out, I’m sure you’ll have plenty of questions, which you are invited to share in the comments or by emailing us. But I will save you the trouble of asking the obvious – Yes, we will be maintaing the same commenting format, so you’ll be able to protect your true identities with cleverly devised Internet personas.
Oh right, the disappointments. If you’re devastated by this news and tomorrow your vision is completely shattered by the eyesore in front of you, we invite your feedback and suggestions for what will make your experience less sucky.
You may now shriek with glee.
PCAOB Reminds Auditors That It’s Still Ugly Out There
Just when you thought the economy was looking up, out peeks the PCAOB with a friendly reminder to the auditors out there that current economic conditions warrant a tad more due care than usual.
Kids, allow us to introduce you to Staff Audit Practice Alert No. 9.
The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board today published a Staff Audit Practice Alert to assist auditors in identifying matters related to the current economic environment that might affect the risk of material misstatement in financial statements and, therefore, require additional audit attention.
“Today’s volatile economic environment may affect companies’ operations and financial reporting, which has implications for audits,” said PCAOB Chairman James R. Doty. “The alert reminds auditors of their responsibilities under these conditions.”
Staff Audit Practice Alert No. 9: Assessing and Responding to Risk in the Current Economic Environment, updates Staff Audit Practice Alert No. 3, which was issued in December 2008, in light of current global economic conditions and recent enhancements to PCAOB standards.
Many of the matters discussed in Practice Alert No. 3, Audit Considerations in the Current Economic Environment — including fair value measurements, accounting estimates, going concern, and financial statement disclosures — continue to be critical in audits of 2011 financial statements. Certain of the PCAOB standards referenced in that alert regarding assessment of, and response to, risk, however, were superseded in 2010 with the Board’s adoption of eight new risk assessment standards (Auditing Standard Nos. 8-15).
“This practice alert discusses issues posed by the current economic situation and highlights certain requirements in the new risk assessment standards. Auditors should be alert to the new requirements contained in the risk assessment standards and how those requirements relate to audits performed in the current economic climate,” said Martin F. Baumann, PCAOB Chief Auditor and Director of Professional Standards.
We know you guys cannot wait to read this one, so by all means, knock yourselves out.
If you’re too busy to take the three minutes to read it, I’ll sum it up thusly: we’re doomed, so maybe SALY isn’t such a good idea after all.
So glad we’re all clear on that. Now, back to the JIT for all of you…