The UK version of the IRS, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, is looking for snitches.
Apparently the tax collection sitch has gotten so dire across the pond that the HMRC now needs ordinary folks to come forward out of the goodness of their hearts or their desire to screw over their personal nemeses, since the “HMRC says it takes all allegations seriously”.
We probably don’t have to tell you how well this would go over in the States. If they’re hanging volunteers for the census bureau in Kentucky, imagine what would happen if you called up the IRS to tell them about their neighbor not reporting the value of the keg beer they drank for helping you paint your house.
Snitch on your neighbours: HMRC [Accountancy Age]
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…
EY Didn’t Do Too Bad Last Year
Shortly after Deloitte released their 2026 revenue numbers on September 24, EY had some numbers of their own, announcing $57 billion in global revenue last week. Notably, they edged out…
The King’s Deloitte Got Hit With a £6 Million Fine and a Homework Assignment For Questionable Auditing
The Financial Reporting Council announced £6 million (nearly $8 million USD) in sanctions against Deloitte UK today and honestly, this client sounds like a mess. But messy clients are what…
Scandal-Embattled KPMG Australia Hits Up the Global Body to Borrow a Few Bucks
This information comes from Australian Financial Review so it's legit: KPMG Australia is seeking up to $100 million in emergency loans from the firm’s global network as well as a…
Deloitte Saw Another Year of Single-Digit Growth, a Respectable $74.5 Billion in Revenue
It's revenue season! Traditionally Deloitte is first to report and report they have: $74.5 billion in global revenue (unaudited). Last year, the firm was the first Big 4 to cross…
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…
EY Didn’t Do Too Bad Last Year
Shortly after Deloitte released their 2026 revenue numbers on September 24, EY had some numbers of their own, announcing $57 billion in global revenue last week. Notably, they edged out…
Monday Morning Accounting News Brief: KPMG Might Be Moving in Chicago; Hope You Like Sales | 10.12.26
Happy Columbus Day to those who celebrate, happy nondescript Federal holiday to everyone else. There are a few things going on today but it goes without saying that this will…
Friday Footnotes: Accounting Education Could Use a Catch Up; Whistleblower Says IRS Leaked His Tax Records | 10.9.26
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 King’s Deloitte Got Hit With a £6 Million Fine and a Homework Assignment For Questionable Auditing
The Financial Reporting Council announced £6 million (nearly $8 million USD) in sanctions against Deloitte UK today and honestly, this client sounds like a mess. But messy clients are what…
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,…
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…
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…
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…
Twitter Feed
Curious where general sentiment is here, as I think a lot of folks are afraid of being AI-cancelled
For US tax pros, if you're using an AI assistant that doesn't train your prompts into the model (business plans)
Do you think a signed 7216 consent to disclosure is required?
Idk if this was a gap in my knowledge or is commonly unknown. They certainly never did it at any of the 3 firms I worked at.
A Market Discount adjustment in a 1099-B is supposed to be recategorized as interest income.
Did you know this/do you do this?
IRS Employees Looked at Celebrities’ Tax Records, Report Says
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,…
Some at Deloitte Aren’t Too Concerned About Accountant Stereotypes
Look. We’re not saying that World of Warcraft is geeky. We’re sure that it’s a very challenging game and some very talented people put it together and continue to work on it. There just seems to be a particular segment of the population that is repeatedly associated with the game. So for the purposes of this discussion, World of Warcraft qualifies as geeky.
We’re all familiar with the reputation of accountants and people that work for the Big 4, so there’s not much to discuss there.
Continued, after the jump
Considering these two factors, why in the name of everything that is good and holy would Deloitte decide to put out an in-depth analysis on “performance improvement” that incorporates said game?
For all impractical purposes, we’re going to ignore any valid conclusions that the authors came to. That’s not what this is about. This about the authors cementing the stereotype of bean counters being not just geeks, but now super-geeks.
Don’t you recognize what we’re trying to accomplish here? There is serious cause for concern. Get someone on this before we get all Glenn Beck on your ass.
The collaboration curve: Exponential performance improvement in World of Warcraft [Deloitte]
The Year Ahead Poll
Well done people. Your creativity is unmatched. Here’s the poll to appease your craving for democracy. Since we know this will be a tough choice, the poll closes at 11:59 pm on Monday, giving you the weekend to ponder your decision.
Vote, after the jump
PwC ‘Prostitute’ Hopefully Won’t Spend it All in One Place
Dammit people, if someone is going to go to the trouble to sue the #1 company in all of Great Britain for every bloody list that can possibly be put out could we possibly get a more anti-climatic ending?
Mihaela Popa, who was obviously unaware that accountants are made to feel like prosties all over the world on a daily basis, hence, why the f*ck are you so special, wound up receiving £750 from a tribunal, according to the Romanian Times.
More, after the jump
The court:
“We find that in no way whatsoever did the unlawful victimisation either prevent Miss Popa from obtaining employment or cause her to lose employment. There was no loss of opportunity in this case. It is simply a case of injury to feelings.”
Maybe we’re a little shrewd but repeatedly seeing your name in the British press next to ‘whore’, ‘prostitute’, and ‘communist spy’, and then for a court to basically say you’re thin-skinned, all for £750 seems totally worth it.
Earlier: What if Everyone Sued Their Employer for Being Made to Feel Like a Prostitute?
TGIF
A few more updates for this weeks layoffs. We’ll continue to update you as long as more information comes in. Good luck to everyone affected.
Job of the Week: Taxes Aren’t Going Away…Ever
Fortunately for you tax people anyway. It was a rough week for a lot of you out there. Luckily, in our selfless nature, we’ll kindly remind you to check out the GC Careers Center for your next career move.
Hopefully, we’ve found someone their next job, because we’re sure some of your severance is blown already:
Details, after the jump
Company: John Hancock
Location: Boston
Title: Senior Accountant – Investment Tax Accounting
Description/Responsibilities: Manulife’s US Taxation Department within the Corporate Division is responsible for the tax compliance and financial reporting for Manulife’s operations within the US tax jurisdiction. Maintaining timely and accurate tax basis inventory of U.S. jurisdiction investments to support financial reporting and IRS audit work.
Assisting in the implementation of appropriate process improvements and technology solutions for the ongoing tax accounting and controls to support tax return preparation and financial reporting.
Assisting in analyses of investment tax positions taken and proposed to support ongoing valuation allowance analysis and tax planning initiatives.
Experience/Skills Required: Minimum Bachelors degree in accounting required, experience with tax accounting for investments preferred.
CPA or M.S.T. or M.S.A. would be preferred but not required. 3-5 years’ experience with: life insurance company financial reporting for NAIC and U.S. GAAP, experience with Canadian GAAP is a plus.
Must have expertise in Federal and State taxation laws as well as a strong knowledge of accounting for investments.
See the full description at the GC Career Center and if this position doesn’t get you amped, go to the main page and find something that does. We can’t do everything.
Caption Contest Friday: I Think You’ve Got My Handcuffs
Not too much explanation needed. E&Y auditors at the Emmys. Leave your caption suggestions in the comments. We’ll run a poll next week with the best submissions.
The President Wants Your Ideas On Tax Reform
No, seriously. Get on this. Now before you libertarian types start screaming for abolishment or fans of Teve Torbes start demanding a flat tax, the Briefing Room Blog states that, “The mandate to the [President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board] is NOT to recommend a new tax system.” Their emphasis, so that means they’re serious. No messing about the current system because it’s just fine, thanks.
So, sorry people, taxation with incompetent representation will continue but this is your chance to get off your asses and at least pretend like you’re making something happen.
Do your part, after the jump
But don’t even think about raising taxes on the middle class, however you choose to define it, “They were instructed not to consider options that involve raising taxes on families making less than $250,000 per year. So be mindful of their constraints when submitting ideas.”
There, now if you had career changing moment this week, this is your chance to give back. So take a week to think about it and then sober up and get to work. You’ve got until October 15th, a familiar deadline. See? They’re thinking about you.
Tax Reform Subcommittee Requests Ideas [Whitehouse.gov]
President Obama Wants Your Tax Reform Ideas [TaxProf Blog]
Preliminary Analytics | 09.25.09
• Accused Perot Staffer Led ’79 Hostage Rescue – The SEC will be dropping the charges due to losing all the evidence… Not really but give it time. [WSJ]
• Goldman to benefit from new OTC derivatives rules: Citi – Surprised? [Reuters]
• IRS Tells Auditors to Look at Loans by Offshore Funds – The IRS continues its role as party-pooper. [Bloomberg]
• PCAOB Issues Report On First Year Implementation of AS5 – There’s room for improvement auditors. Sounds like your personal performance reviews. [FEI Financial Reporting Blog]
Review Comments | 09.24.09
• IRS Extends Grace Period On Small Business Penalties – “The IRS announced in July it would suspend efforts to collect those penalties through Sept. 30, in order to give Congress time to pass legislation shielding business owners from some of the penalties.” [WSJ]
• Twitter Lines Up New Financing – Get it over with. Follow us. [WSJ]
• “Wait! I Was Just Getting Started…” – A Response From Professor Kelly Pope – Of DePaul University in Chicago [RTA]
• 2010 State Business Tax Climate Index (Seventh Edition) – Some Dakota is #1, Dick Cheney Land is #2; CA #48; New York #49; New Jersey #50. [The Tax Foundation]
• Twitter, the new Reuters witness – Whatever works. [FT Alphaville]
• How Safe Is Your College? [The Daily Beast]
Your AICPA Dues at Work
We know you’re all worried about the financial regulation overhaul because it may just make your lives more of a living hell. PCAOB, IRS, state accountancy boards, etc. are bad enough but no, we could all be looking at more alphabet soup (in this case the Consumer Financial Protection Agency) in the name of political grandstanding.
Fear not. The bastions of accountant lobbying, the AICPA, is all over this like Barry Salzberg at a Rogaine convention.
Continued, after the jump
[AICPA Chairman, Bob] Harris argued that the proposed legislation creating the agency, the Consumer Financial Protection Act, was overly broad.
“The definition of ‘financial activity’ in the bill is so broad as to include many services that CPAs routinely provide to their clients in accordance with a very strict regulatory and oversight regime,” he said. “The bill would result in redundant regulation of CPAs and CPA firms that are already subject to appropriate and significant oversight by the IRS, Treasury, state boards of accountancy, and professional and ethical standards for the AICPA’s members.”
Sweet Jesus, Bob. We actually agree with you on this. The situation sounds oddly similar to the situation the brain trust in DC is trying to fix now. Too many regulators let the sketchy stuff fall between the cracks and now we’re in economic no man’s land. Add more
Who knew that there was common sense being shoveled around in the halls of Congress? The problem is, we’re certain the amount of bullshit being shoveled outweighs the common sense by an exponential margin.
AICPA Wants CPAs Exempted from Consumer Agency [Web CPA]
If I Get Asked to Work One More Weekend…
We got pointed to this article in the World’s Finest News Source from last week and frankly, we thought it might sound familiar to some of you:
More, after the jump
dozens of minor policy changes, coupled with his easily cowed personality, have gradually served to make each work day an unbroken series of degrading humiliations…In addition to the single small raise [you] received and the loss of various benefits that have almost imperceptibly contributed to his professional impotence, [your] good nature and work ethic have made [you] subject to domination by both his superiors and peers…Though [you have] been stripped to little more than a neutered shell of [your] former self, [you have] reportedly started carrying out pathetic, completely unnoticed acts of rebellion in an effort to preserve some shred of what [you] believes to be [your] dignity.
Another example might be, say, eery silence.
Or this, courtesy of tip we received:
EY only gets Christmas Day and New Years Day off for the holidays…not even christmas eve…Considering they cant roll vacation time, it is just a firm way of getting people to burn vacation they cant take because their chargeable hrs and utilization will go down
We’re not sure how other firms handle the last week of the year, which tends to be worthless, but if you’re working, trying to remain chargeable that week, that’s enough to make you feel trampled on. And since accountants seem to be gluttons for punishment, they have a tendency to put up with it. But hey, if we’ve got it all wrong, let us know. Just putting it out there.
So if you’re getting walked all over and you get a kick out taking home post-it notes and printer paper for personal use, this post is for you. Try to keep it together.