Or something like that. Guest 28 put it out there that Sue Sachdeva was flipping those designer threads to fellow employees for low low prices.
On the one hand, maybe the two employees on leave that worked for Suze were the bargain shoppers. On the other, how hard up for extra money was this woman? Maybe she just wore it out once with the tags on and said “I don’t love it”? Can anyone in the Milwaukee area that hasn’t already gone to happy hour confirm this? Get on the horn.
Breaking News
- Monday Morning Accounting News Brief: Claude Starts a Turf War With Consulting; An Article About How Much Big 4 Sucks | 5.4.26
- Friday Footnotes: Maybe Deloitte Doesn’t Need Employee Trust and Retention; Minnesota Wants to Tax Fraud at 100 Percent | 5.1.26
- Layoff Watch ’26: KPMG Cuts 4% From Consulting
Layoff Watch ’26: KPMG Cuts 4% From Consulting
We've got another RIF at KPMG, a consulting cull that went down yesterday (that's Wednesday the 29th for those of you reading this a week from now). Let's start with…
The Department of War Broke Up with KPMG, KPMG Gives Up Federal Audits Altogether
The other day -- and by the other day we mean like more than a week ago -- we received a text on the tipline that read "KPMG US to…
KPMG Shoves 10% of Its Audit Partners Out the Door
We're sure you've seen this FT headline floating around today: KPMG to axe 10% of US audit partners. And if you, like most denizens of the internet these days, read…
PwC Tells Remote Tax Staff to Get Their Butts Into the Office
So much for PwC letting all their people work remotely forever. Remember when that got headlines five years ago? See: PwC Just Announced That You Never Have To Go Back…
KPMG Plans to Hand Routine Testing Off to AI
Did you happen to see this WSJ article from the other day? In "In This Critical Part of Audits, the Accountant’s Role Is Shrinking Fast," we're given a look into…
Monday Morning Accounting News Brief: Claude Starts a Turf War With Consulting; An Article About How Much Big 4 Sucks | 5.4.26
Good morning! Not a fan of Star Wars so I won't be making any May 4th puns today, sorry. In this news briefAnthropic Aggressively Elbows In on Consulting's TurfThat's a…
Friday Footnotes: Maybe Deloitte Doesn’t Need Employee Trust and Retention; Minnesota Wants to Tax Fraud at 100 Percent | 5.1.26
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…
Layoff Watch ’26: KPMG Cuts 4% From Consulting
We've got another RIF at KPMG, a consulting cull that went down yesterday (that's Wednesday the 29th for those of you reading this a week from now). Let's start with…
The Department of War Broke Up with KPMG, KPMG Gives Up Federal Audits Altogether
The other day -- and by the other day we mean like more than a week ago -- we received a text on the tipline that read "KPMG US to…
Monday Morning Accounting News Brief: 990s to Get a Facelift; DOJ Gets Busy Busting Fraud | 4.27.26
Hey. Looking like this is gonna be a short news brief, it was a quiet weekend. In accounting, anyway. In this news briefEveryone Loves an Informative 990The Official IRS Shit…
KPMG Plans to Hand Routine Testing Off to AI
Did you happen to see this WSJ article from the other day? In "In This Critical Part of Audits, the Accountant’s Role Is Shrinking Fast," we're given a look into…
AI Will Be EY Auditors’ New BFF, According to EY
While staff in tax at EY US will soon be spending more time with their flesh-based colleagues due to a return-to-office mandate that requires them in the office for an…
ICYMI: According to This AI CEO You Won’t Have to Go to Work in a Year
Commence to fantasizing about what you'll do with all that glorious free time when you lose your job to AI in 12-18 months because that's the confident prediction made by…
Another Early AI Accounting Startup Just Bit the Dust
TIL that early AI accounting platform Botkeeper has died. I found out via this CFO Brew article which pointed to a post on Botkeeper's own site. Turns out r/accounting was…
KPMG Brings Cheating Into the AI Age By Using AI to Cheat on AI Exams
The image is upside down because Australia. This story sounds like a joke but we assure you it is not. KPMG Australia has expanded KPMG's storied cheating repertoire by being…
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…
Top Remote Tax and Accounting Candidates of the Week | September 25, 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 | September 18, 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 | September 4, 2025
Struggling to Find Remote Accounting 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 not…
Twitter Feed
Filling your timeline with unsubstantiated claims about the general incompetence of other tax pros is not a way to earn business. I know on TaxTwitter we all like to drag fraudsters, but pretending like you are the sole tax guru for filers feels like a stretch.
'Resign or be fired' ultimatum costs accounting firm $7,000
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…
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,…
Don’t Grow Your Accounting Firm Out of Business! Break Up With These Unscalable Practices Now
Business growth is always a high priority for accounting firms, especially small-to-midsize practices. Take care, though, because growth can be a double-edged sword. If your firm expands too quickly or…
Who Wants to Buy Nic Cage’s Haunted House?
‘Cause the man is in a bit of a pinch. As you may recall, he’s got a small lien out there to the tune of $6.2 mil and his ex-girlfriend is suing him for and additional $13 mil.
The latest problem is that NC owes $128,000 in back taxes on a house in Rhode Island. All of this would be NBD if someone out there would step it up and take one — just one! — of his homes off his hands:
Among the properties he has been selling are three castles in Bavaria, Germany, and Bath and Somerset, England, as well as Dean Martin’s former mansion in Bel Air, Calif. Also on sale are novelist Anne Rice’s former home in New Orleans and a New Orleans mansion described as the “most haunted house in the United States.” Other properties on the block include homes in New York and Las Vegas, and a 132-foot yacht.
You figure the Anne Rice place would fly off the market what with the vampire craze and all but NOOOOOOO, you’re all too cheap. If this man is forced into bankruptcy and shunned by the Hollywood community, we will all be deprived of the next edition of the National Treasure franchise. Is that what you want?
The DOJ Is Not Waiting to Weed Out Sketchy Tax Preparers
Earlier this week we learned that the hammer will be coming down on small tax prep shops.
Despite the news of the fresh measures, that didn’t prevent the DOJ from getting some of the riffraff off the streets this week.
Web CPA:
On the heels of the IRS’s plan to begin regulating tax preparers, the Justice Department announced that it has filed six lawsuits this week to stop preparers charged with generating fraudulent income tax returns.
The cases included five civil injunction lawsuits in Detroit, Cincinnati and Chicago filed against several individuals and their tax preparation services. However, the trend didn’t start this week. In December, the government filed a civil injunction suit against 12 individuals and entities in Providence, R.I.
Long/short: thousands of tax returns were falsified by throwing all kinds of deductions on the returns that couldn’t be substantiated including cash donated to The Human Fund and bogus business expenses.
As Joe noted on Wednesday, it’s difficult to reason that even after the new requirements are in place, some of the more dodgy tax preparers won’t slip through the cracks. Consumers dumbfounded by our mind-job of a tax code will continue to going to shiesty 1040 jockeys that will promise low fees and bigger refunds. Ultimately they’ll pay more in the long run.
Justice Department Cracks Down on Tax Preparers [Web CPA]
The GC Metaphor Challenge
Yesterday we shared with you at least one person’s opinion about how quitting the Big 4 is a little like leaving Ike Turner. If that name doesn’t mean anything to you, insert Jon Gosselin. Get it now?
As accurate as that may be (and certainly not a laughing matter), we can’t help but think there are other metaphors that you’ve heard that you might want to share here.
Of course there’s the proverbial pimp/whore relationship but that’s played. Get the team together and come up with something good. We’ve got E&Y tchotchkes to give away as prizes (don’t let that dissuade you E&Y peeps, we’ll come up with something).
We’ll give you a couple of options to work with:
1. Working in the Big 4 is like…
2. Leaving the Big 4 is like…
Annnd go.
Job of the Day: Ready to Roll Up the Sleeves at Fortress?
That’s part of the “skills required” for their Senior Accountant position that they just created. Since most of you are used to that sort of thing, landing this gig should be a snap.
Get the details after the jump.
Company: Fortress Investment Group LLC
Title: Senior Accountant
Location: New York City
Minimum experience: 5 years
Description: This is a new position reporting to the CAO of Fortress. The person will be exposed to the accounting, regulatory and business issues surrounding the company’s diversified investment portfolio.
Responsibilities: Assist the CAO and Accounting Policy Senior Manager with the oversight and documentation of the accounting policies of Fortress and its sponsored funds; Liaison with the controllers of the various funds on accounting, controls, and regulatory issues; Assist the CAO and Accounting Policy Senior Manager with accounting research/issues; Assist the CAO in the preparation of quarterly and annual financial statements; Prepare schedules for internal management reporting; Assist with various special projects
Required Skills: The ideal candidate will be a CPA and hold a BS Degree (or equivalent) and 5-8 years of finance accounting experience. Public company and/or private equity fund accounting experience is a plus.
See the entire description over at the GC Career Center and visit the main page for all your job search needs.
>75: Procrastination
Editor’s note: This is the latest edition of >75, our weekly post on questions that you have related to the CPA Exam. Send your questions to tips@goingconcern.com and we’ll do our best to answer as many of them as possible. You can see all of the JDA’s posts for GC here and all our posts related to the CPA Exam here.
First of all, I have to give it to all of you little future CPAs of America, you REALLY know how to put things off until the last minute, don’t you?
I’m going to let you in on a tiny little secret: the exam never goes away.
Let me paint an “imaginary” scenario where CPA Review classes are starting in less than 48 hours. Classes have been on hold for over two months and suddenly, within this 48 hour period, there is a rush of panicked CPA exam candidates realizing they’ve got less than a day left to figure out a plan. Anyone else see what’s wrong with this picture?
I’m not talking about a handful of people, I’m talking about a significant chunk of you. You know who you are and you know exactly what I’m talking about.
So what is it? Do you believe that the exam will pass itself? Or if you put it off long enough somehow you’ll wake up one day a CPA? I hate to break it to you but that’s really moronic.
There are students in our classes that are 50-some years old. Think about that. They graduated 30 years ago and are STILL putting this stupid ass exam off. So don’t think you’re some hero of procrastination just because you let 18 months go by and started losing exam scores, you aren’t special.
The bottom line is this: it is all about what you want to do with your life. Do you really want to be a CPA? Then you’ll suck it up and finish. Don’t do it because your parents want it or your girlfriend wants it or it’s your grandma’s dying wish. You are only setting yourself up for a life of half-assed failure, misery, and disappointment.
Which is kind of like what you’re setting yourself up for with a CPA and a career in public accounting except + tchotchkes. Win* (I think).
Point is, stop. In the time it takes for you to come up with 1000 excuses, you could have already booked your exam and gotten through at least 150 MCQ. Yes, it sucks but guess what? You picked it. You can make it worse on yourself and be that 50 year old guy in the back of our Live class or you can just get through it and stop bitching.
/end rant. Do it.
*I’m obligated to say that because of my day job
If You’re Bored at Work, It’s Because You’re Boring
Although we know that the bulk of you have never been bored at your jobs, there may be a handful of you that think your jobs are bit well, dull. Why is that, ya think?
Is it that you’re surrounded by rubes that can’t possibly appreciate your brilliant insight? Is it because the work you’re shuffling around is for amateurs and you should be promoted to the HMFIC to straighten the place out?
Or maybe it’s because you’re boring. Yes, yes, we realize that’s impossible but Bloomberg has something on it, so there must be something to it.
According to Susan Cramm, you’ve got only yourselves to blame for three reasons:
• You’re on autopilot – Staring at the same spreadsheets week after week, month after month, you’re bound to get bored.
• Your energy level is less than impressive – That Chipotle you inhale everyday doesn’t help.
• You’ve become a conformist – You’ve accepted the notion of “that’s the way things are done here”. Even it that “way” is done piss-poorly.
The solution? Cramm says you need to mentally fire yourself and act like you’re a newbie again. In other words, have a really awkward conversation with yourself (not a stretch for some of you), then observe the interns and take their lead. Apparently, nothing will improve your boring self more than embracing that go-getter attitude again. Great, that’s not annoying.
Vote on your boredom level below and if you just woke up from a nap, change thee ways.
Call Off the 2010 Tony Awards, We’ve Got Your Winner Right Here
Way back in August we told you about the unimaginable: accounting fraud on the stage. For those of you worried that the British production of Enron wouldn’t make it to the States, we have BIG NEWS for you.
Enron begins previews on April 8th and opens on April 27th at the Broadhurst Theatre and we’re sure it will sweep the Tonys come awards time. That is, if KPMG doesn’t screw up the count.
For you theatre junkies, you’ll be happy to know that Norbert Leo Butz has been cast in the role of Jeff Skilling. NLB is best known for his roles in Wicked, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and Is He Dead? The rest of the cast has not yet been determined but we’re still pulling for Hugh Jackman in the role of David Duncan.
The preview for the British version appears below and — GASP — mark to market is mentioned. So for those of you that aren’t so culturally inclined, maybe this will been enough to pique your interest. See you at the show.
Preliminary Analytics | 01.08.10
• Order for UBS to release client data judged unlawful – Swiss Bank secrecy law were broken says a court in neutral (still, right?) land. [Reuters]
• Sarkozy proposes ad tax on Google – What happened to taxing the stupid? [FT]
• Fully Played Out? – “Can we assume that the downturn is fully played out, especially in light of reports and other evidence that people are (still) altering their behavior (e.g., spending less and saving more) in response to what’s going on around them?” [Financial Armageddon]
• Overstock.com Staves Off Bankruptcy With ‘Hillary Clinton Nutcracker’ – For $37, they’ll throw in a Bill Clinton corkscrew. [Gary Weiss]
• Good News for the Young and Unemployed &ndsah; Your Moms still love you! Plus the job market might be turning around. [The Atlantic]
Review Comments | 01.07.10
• KPMG Lists Top 10 Priorities for Audit Committees – Fire Grant Thornton and hire KPMG? [Web CPA]
• Kumar Pleads Guilty in Galleon Case – Anil Kumar says he got $1.75 million for his inside dish from Raj. [WSJ]
• FASB Finalizes Changes on Consolidation, Equity – Subtopic 810-10 updates FAS 160, Noncontrolling Interests in…oh to hell with it. [Compliance Week]
• Cell Phones are Good for Your Brain – Gab away. [The Atlantic]
Quote of the Day
From a soon to be ex-Ernst & Young SA:
Being employed by a big 4 is like being in an abusive relationship. You know its bad for you but its still kind of addictive.
Right on the money? Dead wrong? Addictive like salt & vinegar potato chips or addictive like the stuff that’s in Rush Limbaugh’s medicine cabinet? Discuss.
Be Nice to the Interns
Word on the street is that the winter interns have arrived at KPMG which makes us think they’re out in force all over the country.
If you’ve got a new intern at your beck and call, tell them how much you appreciate them in the comments and then send them the link (telling them in person isn’t necessary).
If you’re a new intern, tell us how things are going. Is your SA sending sexually explicit emails to strangers from your computer yet? Is it everything BusinessWeek says it would be or are you getting the taste of busy season already?
Whatever your thoughts, do share and try to stay under control at the welcome happy hour.
Earlier:
Love Me, Love Me…Say That You Love Me…Critiquing The Positive Intern Hiring Trend