• Economists Oppose More Stimulus – Your rebuttal, Professor Krugman [WSJ]
• Fed’s Bullard Says He Doesn’t See Economic Recovery Faltering – “We are going to have just the right policy to get the right inflation rate,” Bullard said today in a Bloomberg Television interview. “I do not buy into the stories about the Fed making a mistake one way or the other going forward.” You got a like a guy with confidence I guess [Bloomberg]
• Madoff Trustee Says 15,400 Claims Were Filed – “The final tally of claims from victims of Bernard L. Madoff’s vast Ponzi scheme comes to more than 15,400, up from 8,800 claims filed at the end of June, according to an update provided on Thursday to the federal bankruptcy court in Manhattan.” Who’s putting this off? Did some just hear about this story? Not at the top of the do list to call Irv Picard and say “yeah, we had some cash in there”? [DealBook/NYT]
Breaking News
- Friday Footnotes: KPMG Staff Not Happy With How Layoffs Were Handled; SEC Says PCAOB Should Toss Independence Rules | 5.8.26
- In a Final Rule, Dept of Education Is Unswayed By the AICPA’s Strongly Worded Letters About the Meaning of Words
- Plante Moran Goes South of the Border to Acquire a Firm in Mexico
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…
Friday Footnotes: KPMG Staff Not Happy With How Layoffs Were Handled; SEC Says PCAOB Should Toss Independence Rules | 5.8.26
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…
In a Final Rule, Dept of Education Is Unswayed By the AICPA’s Strongly Worded Letters About the Meaning of Words
In the final ruling of a game of semantics that really chapped the AICPA's ass, accounting has not earned a place on the Department of Education list of "professional" degrees.…
Plante Moran Goes South of the Border to Acquire a Firm in Mexico
Shoutout to the person who sent us a link to this, might have slipped past the ol' radar otherwise: Plante Moran bought itself a 500-person Mexican firm called JA Del…
Layoff Watch ’26: RSM Trims Down in Audit
Seeing a couple Reddit posts about a wave of "Business Update" meetings being forced on people's calendars at RSM yesterday. As we all know, "business update" is code for "you're…
SEC Says “What If We Just… Didn’t” on Quarterly Reporting
So that thing that started with a Trump shower thought last fall and that WSJ said would be happening imminently is, in fact, now happening. Catch yourself up on earlier…
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…
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In a Final Rule, Dept of Education Is Unswayed By the AICPA’s Strongly Worded Letters About the Meaning of Words
The end of the ‘Always Available’ professional
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…
Michael Moore’s Next Child Movie Has a Name
The Michael Moore documentary that has been so feverishly anticipated now has a title: Capitalism: A Love Story.
For those of you not so familiar with Moore’s work, you can basically expect convenient statistics for Moore’s position and not-so-flattering footage of rich guys who might had a hand in some of the collapse. Master de Ponz, Prince Ponz, Angelo Mozilo, Joe Cassano, anyone whoever worked at a hedge fund, etc.
Michael Moore names his new economy themed film [New York Daily News]
Sweden, Probably Not Too Keen on Human Souls as Collateral, to Write Down Latvian Debt
In what could be the most sensible reaction by bankers in quite some time, Sweden is writing down debt held by individuals in Latvia.
This move by the Swedes occurs, not so surprisingly, after the revelation that Latvian bankers were acting as soul brokers.
Swedbank, which is entirely made up of tall, stunningly attractive blondes that only purchase inexpensive, self-assembled furniture, stated that approximately 10% of the loans held by Latvian individuals would be written down, leaving many Latvian souls at risk of repossession by the Princes of Darkness Latvian Bankers.
Swedish Banks Prepare Latvian Debt Write-Down [DealBook/NYT]
A Job That You Probably Don’t Want: Citigroup CFO
Don’t mind if Uncle Sam is up in your biznass 24/7? Thrive in a thankless atmosphere? KPMG is your favorite Big 4 firm? We know that you don’t sleep. Job is yours.
The bastions of financial responsibility at Citigroup have announced a new CFO, the second in four months. The lucky SOB is John Gerspach who got the bump from Controller. Best of luck John. Now how about those dividend checks?
Citigroup Names Gerspach CFO; Kelly Shifted to Strategy Role [Bloomberg]
Scoping | 07.09.09
•Dollar Will Remain World’s Main Reserve Currency – Sayeth Robert Gibbs, Obama mouthpiece. But there’s more, “‘There are a lot of people that have talked about it, but we don’t think that’s really serious,’ U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said”. Hear that? Not serious! Wa-hoo! GO TEAM AMERICA! [Bloomberg]
•GM Will Exit Bankruptcy With $48 Billion in Debt – This will be the “new” GM. The “old” GM will get “unwanted assets, including contaminated factory sites, a parking lot in Flint, Michigan, and a nine-hole golf course in New Jersey.” Sounds like a winner! [Bloomberg]
•U.S. jobless claims drop steeply – Calm down. It’s new jobless claims. It’s not like the unemployed are finding work. [Reuters]
Review Comments | 07.08.09
•Six charged in shares fraud case – “Six employees of the Wall Street firm Sky Capital Holdings have been charged with carrying out a $140m (£87m) investment fraud in the US and Britain.” [BBC]
•AIG in talks with MetLife over Alico – In case you didn’t hear, AIG owes some money [FT.com]
•Hedge Fund Buys Buffett Lunch A Year After Losing 66% – Guess they really need some pointers from the Oracle. [Clusterstock]
WSJ: Entrepreneurs Win Tax Case Versus IRS
Get some coffee, we’re about to talk some tax law…
In a major win for small businesses, a U.S. Tax Court ruled in favor of farmers in Nebraska who claimed that losses from their LLC were not “passive” as the IRS has been arguing for years.
As a result of the ruling, losses from investments in LLP’s and LLC’s held by active participants will be allowed to offset said individual’s personal and investment income.
Prior to the ruling some losses were being carried forward for years until the investment produced a profit or was sold and because the case was heard in U.S. Tax Court, the ruling applies to all states.
The IRS, as always, seems to have outs. Sayeth the Journal, “The agency could appeal the Tax Court ruling to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. It also could try to get Congress to change the law or try a new strategy to maintain the status quo.”
Okay, we made it through that…
Entrepreneurs Win Tax Case Versus IRS [WSJ]
Swiss Gov’t: You Want the Names? You’ll Have to Waterboard Us.
With only days until a showdown between the IRS and UBS, the Swiss Government has announced that it will stop the release of the 52,000 client names even if the U.S. Court orders the names to be released.
Now before you say, “Oh, Swiss Government, you’re so cute with your braided blonde hair and neutrality,” they sound pretty serious:
“Switzerland makes it perfectly clear that Swiss law prohibits UBS from complying with a possible order by the court in Miami to hand over the client information,” the Swiss Justice Ministry said. “On the basis of the Federal Council’s landmark decision, UBS will by no means be in a position to comply with such an order.” The Finance Ministry added that “all the necessary measures should be taken to prevent UBS from handing over the information on the 52,000 account holders demanded in the U.S. civil proceeding.”
We really feel that a few Toblerones would really go a long way to convincing the IRS that the names aren’t really that important. Just say the word IRS and we’re sure that they can make it happen.
Switzerland: Will Block UBS From Giving U.S. Client Data [WSJ]
H&R Block Suggests That You Start Saving Receipts
H&R Block announced yesterday that it expects the IRS to get less kind and gentle in the coming years as the Service attempts to close the $345 billion tax gap.
The announcement states that the IRS is nearly doubling its budget for next year and that last year, 1 in 99 individual tax returns were audited as compared to 1 in 202 in 2000.
Maybe the Democrats do want all our money…
Audits Double This Decade [H&R Block Press Release]
BKD Makes a Move, Albeit a Small One
Not sure how we missed this but whatevs. BKD made a move on a local Dallas firm, KBA Group LLP on June 1.
BKD will add eight partners, 95 employees, and approximately $16 million in revenues to its business.
According to AccountingWEB, “This expansion will allow BKD to meet the needs of the rapidly growing Texas market as it serves clients from its offices in Houston, San Antonio, and now Dallas.” Sounds like a BKD press release but if you say so…Enjoy the new boss, KBA!
BKD announces merger with Dallas-based KBA Group [AccountingWEB]
Scoping | 07.08.09
•Switzerland thwarts US tax deal – The Swiss Government is not down for any kind of deal. They figured offering Toblerones was the best they could do so now they want the IRS to drop it. [BBC]
•Apple’s Disclosures on Jobs Said to Be Subject of SEC Review – “Apple Inc.’s disclosures about Steve Jobs’s health remain under scrutiny by U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigators over how his condition went from ‘relatively simple’ to “more complex” in nine days, said a person familiar with the matter.” [Bloomberg]
•In California, Even the I.O.U’s Are Owed – “The only thing worse than being issued an i.o.u. rather than a check from the State of California may be not getting the i.o.u. at all — at least in time to meet the deadline of your bank.” Keep it up Cali and we’ll take your beaches away. [New York Times]