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Footnotes is a collection of stories from around the accounting profession curated by actual humans and published every Friday at 5pm Eastern. While you\u2019re here, subscribe to our newsletter<\/a> to get the week\u2019s top stories in your inbox every Tuesday and Friday.<\/em><\/p>\n Comments are closed on Friday Footnotes<\/a> and the Monday Morning Accounting News Brief<\/a> by default. If you have something to say about any stories linked here you are welcome to email the editor<\/a>, text us<\/a> at 202-505-8885, or hit us up on Twitter @going_concern<\/a>. See ya.<\/em><\/p>\n Accountant shortage forcing Long Island firms to boost pay, improve office culture<\/strong> [Newsday<\/a>] KPMG\u2019s new AI bot has cut interview scheduling time by almost 60% and saved more than 1,000 hours for the talent acquisition team<\/strong> [Fortune<\/a>] Hey, if your firm is hiring be sure to check out this week\u2019s top accounting candidates from Accountingfly<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n EY Oceania to avoid merger in global restructure<\/strong> [Financial Review<\/a>] The rule change that could blow open US law<\/strong> [Financial Times<\/a>] KPMG Appoints Three Leaders in the U.S. Asset Management and PE Practices<\/strong> [INSIDE Public Accounting<\/a>] Iowa passes CPA licensure legislation<\/strong> [CFO Dive<\/a>] Tax firm owned by Anne Arundel lawyer found liable in unjust enrichment case<\/strong> [Maryland Daily Record<\/a>] Tesla\u2019s top financial controller leaves<\/strong> [Electrek<\/a>] US plan to delist Chinese stocks may make Hong Kong great again as IPO hub, bankers say<\/strong> [South China Morning Post<\/a>] Elon Musk\u2019s DOGE Is Getting Audited<\/strong> [WIRED<\/a>] According to one of our podcast listeners, CPAs at a Top 100 private equity-owned accounting firm are being told to remove the “CPA” designation from their signatures in emails and even their names on LinkedIn.<\/p>\n \u2014 Blake Oliver (@BlakeTOliver) April 11, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u2018ChatGPT is going to make me end it\u2019: Frustrated accountant vents over boss blindly trusting AI<\/strong> [Economic Times<\/a>] ChatGPT might be a huge boon for many sectors and is most definitely a great tool to make your daily life easier, from building resumes to generating photos. But it might have certain limitations that people often tend to look past and continue to rely on it blindly, something an accountant at a company is learning the hard way.<\/p>\n Economic Times doesn\u2019t say WHERE he said this\u2026we found it on r\/antiwork:<\/em><\/p>\n ChatGPT is going make me end it<\/a> The IRS is barely auditing anymore<\/strong> [Morning Brew<\/a>] A surprisingly useful tool for this year\u2019s tax season<\/strong> [Vox<\/a>]Talent<\/h2>\n
\u201cFirms that are having trouble getting talent might need to look at how they phase compensation increases throughout the career pathway and raise starting salaries,\u201d said Lisa Simpson, vice president of firm services at the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants in Durham, North Carolina. Salaries for accountants are starting to increase after lagging for years, experts said.<\/p>\n
Kai is designed for candidates to be able to ask questions after hours, and answers basic questions about benefits, hours, or details about the hiring process. In the first month, Kai handled more than 23,000 inquiries from candidates, with 33% of them coming in after 5 p.m. The bot also takes into account the person\u2019s location, experience, and interest in roles, to suggest open positions at KPMG. Around 21.5% of those who interact with Kai in this way end up showing interest in the roles it recommends.<\/p>\nBig 4<\/h2>\n
EY\u2019s local leadership and structure will not change under a reorganisation of the firm, which will rationalise the number of regional divisions. But staff reporting to the overarching Asia-Pacific geographic grouping, which is being pared back significantly, are likely to be part of another round of redundancies at the consulting and accounting giant.<\/p>\n
\u201cLarge accounting firms have long coveted the legal fees that lawyers in California and elsewhere receive for serving their best clients,\u201d the general counsels of 10 large law firms noted in a tetchy public letter arguing against liberalisation in Arizona\u2019s neighbour in 2019. At the time, California\u2019s state bar was considering allowing non-lawyer ownership of law firms, but that effort foundered after massive lobbying by incumbent firms. The letter, signed by representatives from Morrison Foerster, Baker McKenzie, Sidley Austin and Dentons, among others, warned that the global dominance of the accounting profession by a handful of accounting firms \u201cis an anti-competitive model that should not be replicated in the legal profession\u201d.<\/p>\n
KPMG LLP\u202fof New York has announced three new leaders for its U.S. Asset Management business: Yesenia Scheker-Izquierdo appointed U.S. sector leader for asset management; David Neuenhaus appointed tax sector leader for asset management; Matt Giordano appointed audit sector leader and audit service line leader for asset management.<\/p>\nCPA Licensure<\/h2>\n
Iowa Senate lawmakers passed new legislation Tuesday that will allow future certified public accountant candidates to become licensed with a bachelor\u2019s degree that includes accounting coursework, two years of accounting work experience and passing the CPA exam, according to a press release from the Iowa Society of CPAs. The bill next goes through a certifying process before heading to Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds\u2019 desk to be signed, according to the ISCPA, which backed the legislation.<\/p>\nNews<\/h2>\n
An accounting firm owned by Glen Frost, the founder of one of Anne Arundel County\u2018s largest law firms, was found liable for unjust enrichment and ordered to pay more than $680,000 after a jury trial last month. Frost, owner of Strategic Tax Planning and managing partner of Frost Law, was sued in August 2023 by three men who referred clients to Strategic Tax Planning with the understanding that they would be paid commissions.<\/p>\n
Tesla\u2019s director of accounting controllership, Harsh Rungta, has left the automaker and joined eVTOL aircraft manufacturer Archer Aviation. Rungta has been at Tesla for more than 6 years. He came from PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC), Tesla\u2019s independent registered public accounting firm, and became Tesla\u2019s Director of Automotive Revenue & Energy Business Controller.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese companies may consider a secondary listing or a dual-primary listing in Hong Kong to raise funds, which will boost the initial public offering (IPO) market,\u201d said Tom Chan Pak-lam, honorary \u00adpresident of the Institute of Securities Dealers, an industry body for stockbrokers. A total of 286 Chinese companies were listed on the New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq and NYSE American with a combined market capitalisation of US$1.1 trillion at the end of March, according to data from these exchanges.<\/p>\n
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is auditing Elon Musk\u2019s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The probe, which has been ongoing since March, covers DOGE\u2019s handling of data at several cabinet-level agencies, including the Departments of Labor, Education, Homeland Security, Health and Human Services, the Treasury, and the Social Security Administration, as well as the US DOGE Service (USDS) itself, according to sources and records reviewed by WIRED.<\/p>\nPrivate Equity<\/h2>\n
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AI<\/h2>\n
byu\/InterestingBrother31<\/a> inantiwork<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\nTax<\/h2>\n
The government\u2019s gimme-money department has shrunk so much that it\u2019s struggling to get up and work. IRS audits are at a record low and could plunge even further following President Trump\u2019s cuts, the New York Times reported yesterday. According to NYT\u2019s analysis of federal data, audit rates for personal income taxes fell from ~1% (about 1 in every 100 tax returns) in 2010 to just 0.36% in 2023 (roughly 1 in 300).<\/p>\n
Something unexpected happened recently as I was filing my taxes: AI helped. It even caught an error that my human accountant missed. This was surprising because when I decided to test out a free tax return chatbot, I expected it to tell me to, I don\u2019t know, write off my dog as a business expense and pay my IRS bill in magic beans.<\/p>\nRelated<\/em><\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n