TPTB have requested additional information from you to assist in their diabolical plans. As always, your help is appreciated. Kindly answer the following harmless question:
Even PwC Is Hyping Up GTA VI Now
With 14 days to go until the release of the most anticipated game of this decade, PwC has pushed out a bit of thought leadership-slash-economic analysis titled "Vice City, everywhere:…
Deloitte Guy’s Love Life Has Become a Federal Matter
Last Friday, 42-year-old Ian Brinksman was picked up by the feds for allegedly passing top secret national defense information to another individual. Though that individual wasn't named by any reports,…
Hackers Have Apparently Stolen a Whole Lot of PwC Homework
Oh no, hackers have swiped oodles of slides! PwC has confirmed that a third-party vendor it uses for employee records has been breached after a "cyber extortion group" said they…
PwC Ekes Past EY With $60.2 Billion in Reported Global Revenue
Wow, Big 4 are really rushing out revenue numbers this year aren't they? First we got Deloitte in late September, EY two weeks later, and now PwC has just dropped…
KPMG Australia Has Made a List of Things It Probably Should Have Done Already
...such as "support whistleblowers" and "punish people who do stuff that will give Australian Financial Review an easy 9 months of negative headlines." So KPMG Australia is still in its…
Monday Morning Accounting News Brief: PwC to Teach Thinking; Support Your Local Whistleblower | 11.9.26
Hey. Got some news for you so you have something that isn't politics to talk about at the water cooler. In this news briefPwC Will Certify ThinkersThat's a Big Number"People…
Friday Footnotes: KPMG Settles With Investors; AICPA Proposes Outside Investor Guidance | 11.6.26
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…
Even PwC Is Hyping Up GTA VI Now
With 14 days to go until the release of the most anticipated game of this decade, PwC has pushed out a bit of thought leadership-slash-economic analysis titled "Vice City, everywhere:…
Turns Out Offshoring Isn’t a Cheap Forever Solution to Talent Problems
Well we knew this would happen eventually. An article published today in Accountants Daily is all about how small firms over in Australia are struggling to hire talent. Now, if…
CBIZ Shareholders Are Cool With the Grant Thornton Merger, the Deal is a Go (UPDATE)
Ed. note: This article was originally published on October 29, 2026. On November 2, 2026, both CBIZ and Grant Thornton announced the transaction had completed. We didn't think this deserved…
Just in Case You Were Unsure, IRS Official Clarifies AI Is Not a Person Under Circular 230
The Journal of Accountancy has published an interesting article about comments made by the director of the IRS Office of Professional Responsibility at the AICPA National Tax Conference yesterday, an…
The Robots Want Your Emails, and the AICPA Has Concerns
Last month a pitch arrived in our editor inbox, the title of which was "Going Concern, meet the startup helping accounting firms turn old Slacks and emails into free money."…
Hackers Have Apparently Stolen a Whole Lot of PwC Homework
Oh no, hackers have swiped oodles of slides! PwC has confirmed that a third-party vendor it uses for employee records has been breached after a "cyber extortion group" said they…
Bill Gates Predicts AI Will Be Taking Clients’ Most Tedious Questions 24/7 Within a Few Years
Did you catch Bill Gates' recent chat with Ezra Klein? I didn't, thankfully my washed colleague regularly reads NYT and sent it to me via Slack. Many people are stuck…
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,…
Just in Case You Were Unsure, IRS Official Clarifies AI Is Not a Person Under Circular 230
The Journal of Accountancy has published an interesting article about comments made by the director of the IRS Office of Professional Responsibility at the AICPA National Tax Conference yesterday, an…
The Robots Want Your Emails, and the AICPA Has Concerns
Last month a pitch arrived in our editor inbox, the title of which was "Going Concern, meet the startup helping accounting firms turn old Slacks and emails into free money."…
Finance Leaders Are Shopping for a CAS Partner, and They Brought a List
Cash flow, automation, fraud protection. Your firm can deliver all three. Finance leaders would like some help with the accounting. Not a little help, either. BILL asked 354 finance decision-makers…
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…
Twitter Feed
White-collar jobs bounced back in October.
Professional and business services, which includes law, consulting and scientific research, added 70,000 jobs last month, per the October jobs report. That’s well above the sector’s average of 15,000 a month over the past year.
Via @Reuters: Investors settle with KPMG over Silicon Valley Bank collapse
Factory farm accountants sounds terrible tbh
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…
Finance Leaders Are Shopping for a CAS Partner, and They Brought a List
Cash flow, automation, fraud protection. Your firm can deliver all three. Finance leaders would like some help with the accounting. Not a little help, either. BILL asked 354 finance decision-makers…
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,…
Not Another Task Force
Editor’s Note: Want more JDA? You can see all of her posts for GC here, her blog here and stalk her on Twitter.
Our dear President has created a “Task Force” to handle those tricky problems like baby Madoffs so we can sleep at night knowing we are safe from the financial crooks robbing us blind.
Or can we?
WaPo:
Top Obama administration officials on Tuesday announced a new federal task force to combat financial fraud after deciding that the number and complexity of investigations linked to the economic crisis require a more coordinated response from government agencies.
Created by executive order, the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force targets fraud related to mortgage lending and modification, securities law, stimulus spending and the government’s bailout of the financial sector.
Meanwhile, in absolutely related news, ABC News discovered this week that Recovery.gov shows stimulus funds saving or creating jobs in Congressional districts that don’t even exist. There are tons of them so no one tell me that it’s a rounding error.
Oh wait, they admitted they screwed up and are now fixing it.
Back to this “task force.” Maybe I’m confused but don’t we already have something like that and it failed to get the first Madoff?
The Department of Justice-led task force will include officials from the SEC, Treasury, and Department of Housing and Urban Development. Sounds like a winning crew.
Attorney General Eric Holder insists that one of the task force’s main targets will be “Recovery Act and rescue fraud,” insisting “we will ensure that the taxpayers’ investment in America’s economic recovery is not siphoned away by a dishonest few.”
A dishonest few?
Like the 95 completely made up people on the Recovery.gov website who worked on that sewer project in Wisconsin?
Or the Georgia Head Start administrator who was advised to claim “317” jobs where his organization had really only gotten raises for its 317 employees?
The AP has been watching the stimulus numbers closely, and they continue to check out wrong. It doesn’t take an accountant, nor a task force, to figure that out.
Reports of Ernst & Young Layoffs Still Trickling In
We thought E&Y layoffs had finally quieted down but unfortunately late yesterday we learned of an additional ten cuts in the tax practice of the North Central region including Cincinnati, Detroit, and Pittsburgh.
These cuts in Cincy and the ‘Burgh are on top of the initial cuts we reported but this is the first tip we’ve received about layoffs in Detroit. Jump back to the main thread for the latest discussion and continue to keep us informed with details.
Preliminary Analytics | 11.18.09
• Goldman, Buffett Team to Aid Small Businesses – WB says some small business need some help with certain things, ‘Sometimes people lack basic business skills, like accounting.’ Accounting and folksy sexual innuendos? He’s already got it figured out. Take note people. [WSJ]
• How to Wreck Your Company’s Valuation – Step 1: Hire an auditor of questionable ethics. [CFO]
• Lions Ex-Stadium, Once Super Bowl Host, Sells for $7.25 a Seat – Or $583,000. [Bloomberg]
• Chance of Great Depression Now 5%… – 20 to 1? Takers? [Brad DeLong]
Review Comments | 11.17.09
• IRS Hails ‘Historic’ Response To Amnesty For Offshore Bank Accounts – Scare tactics work. [NPR]
• SEC in talks with IRS about preserving tax breaks for LIFO – Wouldn’t be so good for the likes of ExxonMobil if the breaks went away. A study says it would increase XOM’s tax liability by $9 billion. Lobby much? [CFOZone]
• Sheep Dogs and Stewardship — Why Groom the Next Generation? – “The demands on the recruiting directors of the banks and law firms and accountants are not different. They manage their personnel pipelines because, as a senior Big Four partner put it in a moment of candor, ‘the only reason we hire new staff is so we can re-stock our need for managers.'” [Re:Balance]
• Bill Belichick, Moneyball Savant? – Pats fans, turns out Belichick knows what he’s doing. [TaxProf Blog]
• The Football Plays We Don’t See – No, he really does. [Tax Update Blog]
• President Obama Establishes Interagency Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force – No less than 23 government agencies, offices, and departments will be involved. How’s that for a dense bureaucracy? [SEC.gov]
• Don’t forget to vote in our two polls from today: Non-profits/Govts and ditiching the bad boss for less scratch. Plus today is the last day to submit a caption for the water closet audit room.
Hopefully You’ve Got Plenty of PTO
DB is reporting that there’s swine flu at Citi and since we’re fairly certain that none of the 1,200 vaccination units were reserved for Klynveldian auditors, you better have your firm-issued surgical masks handy.
That goes for anyone else (read: Big 4 types) working at the Greenwich St. building.
If not, start washing you hands like Howard Hughes.
Earlier: Big 4 Sick Days: Open Thread
Satyam Would Like the U.S. Lawsuits Moved to India, Oh, and PwC Would Like to be Left Out Altogether
Satyam wants the U.S. Courts to kindly BTFO of business that should be handled in India. Specifically these silly fraud lawsuits.
Besides, PW India has already said that they want to bury the hatchet, so they feel that this whole will be best handled in the Eastern Hemisphere:
In a court filing yesterday, the software-services provider said it was joining a motion by its auditors, Price Waterhouse and Lovelock & Lewes, to dismiss the American fraud suits brought by investors.
“This case belongs in India,” the auditors wrote. “Satyam’s alleged billion-dollar fraud, as well as the allegedly improper audit, took place in India. Virtually all of the defendants are India-domiciled companies or individuals.”
P. Dubs India and Lovelock want the whole thing dropped since they were acting on the honor system. Annnnnnnd, since PwC International doesn’t have control over any of the individual firms they’d like it very much if the judge just dropped them out of this thing too:
PricewaterhouseCoopers International Ltd. said it should be dropped from the case because the investors failed to show it had control over its Indian member, Price Waterhouse, as is required by U.S. securities law.
From the looks of it, no PwC firm wants to be responsible for anything that went wrong with Satyam even though they signed the audit report. Fine, so can we agree that audit opinion was worthless? That’d be great.
Satyam Says U.S. Fraud Suits Must Be Moved to India [Bloomberg]
Bob Herz and Jim Kroeker Are Avoiding the Convergence Dance
For the love of everything that is good and holy, would someone like to be the FASB Chairman? Or the Chief Accountant of the SEC?
We realize that they’re both thankless jobs but we need people in there that are going to make some things happen.
After Jim Kroeker said this:
“[T]he boards have agreed that the projects that they’re working on are areas that need improvement, not just under U.S. GAAP but under IFRS, then I think convergence efforts should continue or would continue without an SEC finalization of the roadmap,”
Bob Herz is now saying this:
“[T]he ball is mostly with the [SEC] at this point” … Herz noted the SEC has yet to rule on the “roadmap” for U.S. compliance with IFRS it proposed a year ago.
So, let’s get this straight: JK is said, “You go first.” Now Bob Herz is saying, “No, you go first.” Does anyone want to introduce these two clowns? Are they waiting for knighthood before they move on this?
We suggest that somebody toss Mary Schapiro in there to A) complete the trilogy of stooges and B) so she can bonk their heads together. That might get them motivated.
Herz: U.S. Convergence Ball Is in SEC’s Court [CFO]
Overstock.com Fires Grant Thornton, Files Unreviewed 10-Q, CEO Remains Humble
There’s really nothing better than an eccentric CEO throwing caution to the wind, consequences be damned.
Insert Patrick Byrne, CEO of Overstock.com (“OSTK”). He issued a letter via press release yesterday that has many people’s attention.
Byrne opens the letter by quoting Nietzsche:
“All things are subject to interpretation; whichever interpretation prevails at a given time is a function of power and not truth.”
Tragic enough but then Byrne really amps it up, droning on for eleven points about his company’s dire situation. Here’s the gist*:
• The difficult accounting treatment of an overpayment received by OSTK from a “partner”.
• Putting the audit out to bid after “eight years of fine service” from P. Dubs, and hiring GT because “my belief that changing auditors every decade or so might be healthy.”
• SEC inquiries into the accounting treatment of the overpayment.
• GT changing their minds on the accounting treament after said inquiries.
• We’re filing an unreviewed 10-Q, P. Dubs is on board for our treatment, GT is fired, anyone (and I mean anyone) want to audit us?
Byrne spends no less than six paragraphs/points explaining GT’s wishy-washy, bending-over-for-the-SEC ways. The man is nothing if not thorough.
Spineless auditors notwithstanding, Byrne will press on, the company will overcome, and he will remain committed to you, Overstock.com shareholder:
I will hold a conference call to further explain and answer questions regarding this matter on Wednesday afternoon at 5:00 p.m. EST (details below). Until then, I remain,
Your humble servant,
Patrick M. Byrne
10-Q [SEC.gov]
8-K: Dismissal of Grant Thornton [SEC.gov]
Press Release [SEC.gov]
*If you want to debate the particulars, be my guest but this isn’t the Journal of Accountancy, feel me?
Reader Poll: Non-profits, Government
TPTB request that you answer the question below to assist their continued quest for world domination. Your help is appreciated.
Are Your Holidays Going to be Ruined Because of Inventory Counts?
Personally, it would make for a better yarn if we were hearing about Jameson-fueled discussions about healthcare reform that eventually lead to grabbing all the gifts (and the remaining Jameson) and storming out of in-law’s house. Sadly, we’ll have to wait until after the holidays for those.
What we have heard is that PTO still isn’t being granted in the name of inventory counts. One reader notified us that her office still hasn’t released the inventory schedule so A1s and A2s are still going to have to wait to see how much PTO they’ll be able to take for the holidays:
[I] emailed you about a month ago that we (first and second year associates) couldn’t schedule any PTO for Christmas yet- and STILL we can’t schedule PTO. I think it’s ridiculous that it’s almost a month away and we can’t get any time. I talked to a partner…and he said that we’ll get the inventory schedule the first week of December, and then we’ll know when we can schedule vacation. [He said] ‘well you’ll have two days to spend w/ your family, right’
For some people two days with your family is about all you can handle but we understand that may just be people we know.
And regardless of whether you celebrate the birth of JC, lots of people travel in the twelfth month and it’s definitely frustrating if you’re still getting stonewalled on the PTO. We’re not sure if this is an isolated incident so discuss your office’s ability work with you on the inventory schedule or if they’re putting coal in your stocking.
Earlier: Are Inventory Counts the Bane of Your Existence?
Problem of the Day: Do You Quit Your High-Paying Job with the Idiot Boss?
The BBC reported last week that 49% of workers in the UK would leave their jobs if it meant working for someone that didn’t make bad decisions.
As we’ve noted, the Brits seem to be less hung up on money than us but that still doesn’t mean you wouldn’t leave for less money if you could get away from that boss who can fuck up a cup of coffee not to mention every decision that affects your work directly.
So we have a simple question for you. Under normal circumstances, would you leave your high paying job if it meant you didn’t have to work for an idiot boss?