Friday Footnotes: PwC CEO Issues a Stern Threat to Luddite Partners; Compliance Startup Gets Slaughtered on Substack | 3.20.26
The week’s headlines spotlight a tightening grip on compliance and a fierce push toward AI across the accounting sector. PwC’s U.S. CEO warned partners that resisting AI adoption could end their tenure, while a Substack investigation accused YC‑backed Delve of fabricating SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA and GDPR reports for hundreds of clients. Regulators also stepped up: the World Bank barred three PwC Africa units for collusive fraud, the SEC announced a new SOX enforcement team, and Idaho enacted a CPA licensing bill that eliminates the 150‑credit‑hour hurdle. Together, these moves signal heightened scrutiny and rapid technological change in professional services.
Tax Prep But Make It Catchy
Boss Up Taxes, a Houston‑based tax‑preparation outlet, has exploded on TikTok, amassing hundreds of thousands of followers and generating a surge in client appointments ahead of the April 15 deadline. The firm’s bold, meme‑style videos contrast sharply with the traditionally...
Deloitte Runs a Photo Competition??
Deloitte Italy and Fondazione Deloitte have launched the 2026 Deloitte Photo Grant, offering two awards totalling 75,000 euros. The competition’s theme, “Proximities,” invites photographers to examine physical, economic and digital distances shaping modern life. Open to any photographer under 35...
The Global Accounting Profession, Now Featuring 1,000+ PE-Backed Firms
The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) reports that more than 1,000 accounting firms worldwide now have private‑equity backing. Between 2015 and 2025, 177 direct PE investments sparked 875 subsequent roll‑up acquisitions, totaling 1,052 impacted transactions. Private‑equity activity is most concentrated...
Upload All Your Tax Information to Grok, What Could Go Wrong?
Elon Musk promoted xAI's Grok as a tool that can ingest and process users' tax documents, promising faster refunds. Early adopters claim the AI helped increase a refund by $1,400, though Grok explicitly states it does not provide tax advice....
Friday Footnotes: Deloitte Consolidates; Wild Rumors Fly About KPMG Clients’ Earnings | 2.27.26
Deloitte announced a sweeping consolidation of its Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) member firms into a single €20 billion practice, slated to launch on 1 June 2026. The move will unite 132,000 staff under a new Deloitte EMEA structure and trigger a leadership...
Should We Be Concerned That More Than Half of New CPA Licenses Issued in This State Last Year Went to...
In 2025 Washington’s State Board of Accountancy issued a record 2,086 new CPA licenses, a 16.3% increase from the previous year. Remarkably, more than 60% of those licenses were awarded to international candidates who sat the exam at overseas testing...
Another Early AI Accounting Startup Just Bit the Dust
Botkeeper, an early AI accounting platform founded in 2015, announced its closure after eleven years despite achieving high‑accuracy transaction coding and a sophisticated AI suite. The company raised substantial venture capital and built an “Infinite” platform that could reconcile data...
Friday Footnotes: Italian Tax Cops Go Sniffing Around KPMG’s Office; Depreciation Is AI’s Latest Victim | 2.13.26
The latest Friday Footnotes roundup highlights three intertwined trends reshaping accounting and finance. Big‑tech firms’ $3 trillion cap‑ex plans are prompting aggressive depreciation adjustments, as Meta’s $2.6 billion earnings boost shows the earnings‑management risk. Meanwhile, Italian tax authorities have raided Amazon managers’...
EY Is Bumping Up a Financial Services Leader to the Big Assurance Chair
EY announced that Joe Link will assume the role of Americas Vice Chair – Assurance on April 1, succeeding Dante D’Egidio, who moves to US managing partner. Link brings nearly three decades of financial services experience and will oversee a...
Another Big 4 Ditches Their Executive Assistants For Offshore Ones Instead
KPMG Australia announced it will outsource roughly 200 of its 260 executive assistants to the Philippines, representing about 75% of its EA function. The move is part of a broader cost‑cutting initiative after advisory revenue fell 18% and overall revenue...
The AICPA Gets the “Professional” Validation They Wanted, Early Career Pipeline Still on Fire
The U.S. Department of Education’s draft rule would have capped graduate student loans and initially classified accounting degrees as non‑professional, threatening higher‑limit borrowing for CPA candidates. The AICPA and NASBA quickly submitted strongly worded letters contesting the classification. In response,...
It Seems People Are Still Confused About How to Handle Our First Tax Season Without Checks
In March 2025 President Trump signed Executive Order 14247, mandating the elimination of paper checks for all federal payments by September 30 2025. The order, citing $657 million in annual Treasury costs and fraud risks, forces taxpayers, businesses, and vendors to transition to...
Dear IRS, Give Us the Practitioner Party Line NOW
The article revives a 2020 tweet urging the IRS to create a “practitioner party line” that lets tax professionals on hold talk to each other. It explains the nostalgic concept of party lines from the pre‑internet era, where callers shared...
IRS and SBA Employee Allegedly Ran Pandemic Fraud Ring Right Out in the Open on Instagram
Attallah Williams, a former SBA loan officer and IRS tax‑examining technician, has been charged with conspiracy to defraud the government by submitting fraudulent Covid‑relief applications. Over a three‑year period she allegedly secured more than $3.5 million from four programs—EIDL, PPP, EIDL...
Audit Firm Runs Afoul of PCAOB Rules By Taking Same As Last Year Way Too Literally
The PCAOB sanctioned Southfield‑based Zwick CPA, its owner Jack Zwick, and audit manager Jeffrey Hoskow for multiple violations during the 2022 audit of energy company Genie. The firm failed to plan risk assessments, gather sufficient evidence on revenue and internal...