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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 The Firm Running Georgia\u2019s Struggling Medicaid Experiment Was Also Paid Millions to Sell It to the Public<\/strong> [ProPublica<\/a>] 2025 Accounting MOVE Project Survey Launches with Expanded Focus on Belonging and Career Equity<\/strong> [EIN Newswire<\/a>] EisnerAmper, Wipfli said to seek new PE investors; Companies for sale activity picking up<\/strong> [PE Hub<\/a>] Armanino Expands into Utah Market With Addition of Cooper Savas LLC, a Leading Salt Lake City Public Accounting Firm<\/strong> [Business Wire<\/a>] EY delays start dates for consulting recruits for third year in a row<\/strong> [Financial Times<\/a>] Trump\u2019s tariffs have been good for consulting firms<\/strong> [Business Insider<\/a>] PwC cut 1,500 jobs\u2014and it shows the \u2018mini-boom\u2019 in accounting is ending<\/strong> [Fortune<\/a>] Search firm to attempt world record at Target Center to boost CPA recruiting<\/strong> [Minneapolis\/St. Paul Business Journal<\/a>] Ex-EY Partner Banned for Tax Evasion<\/strong> [Mirage<\/a>] Trump\u2019s \u2018beautiful\u2019 bill spans 1,116 pages. Here\u2019s what\u2019s inside it<\/strong> [AP<\/a>] $40,000 SALT offer discussed with megabill holdouts<\/strong> [POLITICO<\/a>]Deep Dive<\/h2>\n
When the state of Georgia handed Deloitte Consulting a $10.7 million marketing contract last July to promote the nation\u2019s only Medicaid work requirement program, the initiative was in need of serious PR. At the time, a year after the program\u2019s rollout, less than 2% of those eligible for Georgia Pathways to Coverage had enrolled, well short of state targets. To get the word out, the state turned again to the firm that it had relied on to build and manage the program. About 60% of the marketing contract went toward creating and placing ads about Pathways on television and radio, including during NFL games and morning talk shows.<\/p>\nResearch<\/h2>\n
The 2025 Accounting MOVE Project, the accounting profession\u2019s only annual benchmarking research focused on the advancement of women and diverse talent, has officially launched its survey and is now open for participation. This year\u2019s research, sponsored by the Center for Accounting Transformation, CPA Trendlines, Moss Adams, and the Accounting & Financial Women\u2019s Alliance, reflects a pivotal shift in how inclusion is measured\u2014prioritizing workplace belonging and measurable career equity outcomes, regardless of whether firms use the term \u201cDEI.\u201d<\/p>\nFirm Watch<\/h2>\n
Sources have told PE Hub the two firms are \u201choping to attract new PE investments.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n
Armanino is pleased to announce that the team from Cooper Savas LLC, a full-service public accounting firm based in Salt Lake City, Utah, has joined the firm. The latest deal marks Armanino\u2019s first entry into the Utah market, further expanding its national footprint and enhancing its ability to serve clients across the country.<\/p>\nConsulting<\/h2>\n
EY has delayed start dates for graduates hired by its US strategy and deal advisory business for the third year in a row, as the Big Four firm grapples with what it called \u201cuncertain and evolving market conditions\u201d. Undergraduate and speciality master\u2019s students who were due to join EY Parthenon after graduation in the next few months have been told they would now be needed \u201cno sooner than March 2026\u201d.<\/p>\n
While another of Trump\u2019s efforts, DOGE, has hurt the consulting industry, the tariffs, aimed at narrowing the $1.2 trillion trade deficit in goods the US imported in 2024, have so far spared the services sector, leaving consultancies largely untouched.<\/p>\nTalent<\/h2>\n
The largest US accounting firms saw revenues soar post-pandemic. In 2022, the top 100 firms\u2019 combined revenue jumped 18.55%, according to Accounting Today. In 2023, they experienced slower but still-impressive revenue growth of 12.88%. PwC was no exception. Its revenue climbed 15.7% in 2023, and a further 9.74% in 2024. It went on a hiring spree over that same period, growing its US workforce from around 56,000 in 2022 to nearly 77,000 in 2025. But the mini-boom appears to have ended, for PwC and for large accounting firms in aggregate. Last year the top 100 firms had an anemic growth rate of 4.89%, what Accounting Today called \u201cone of the weakest performances of the century.\u201d<\/p>\n
A St. Louis Park company is attempting to break a quirky Guinness World Record, but the motivation behind their unusual feat stems from a serious issue affecting businesses across the country.<\/p>\nTax<\/h2>\n
A former EY partner, Mr Peter Mark White, from Sydney, has had their tax agent registration terminated for misconduct and has been banned for 5 years from seeking registration with the Tax Practitioners Board (TPB). The TPB Chair, Peter de Cure AM, said \u2018There is no future for tax agents associated with tax avoidance or evasion. Mr White\u2019s misconduct harmed his clients, his firm, the tax profession and the tax system, and requires the maximum penalty of deregistration and exclusion for 5 years.\u2019<\/p>\n
House Republicans are advancing President Donald Trump\u2019s big bill of tax breaks, spending cuts and beefed-up border security as Speaker Mike Johnson attempts to pass the package over unified Democratic opposition by Memorial Day. House committees have labored on the legislation, which runs a whopping 1,116 pages and is titled the \u201cOne Big Beautiful Bill Act,\u201d a nod to Trump himself.<\/p>\n
The SALT cap increase is one of the biggest hangups in the bill, which is filled with President Donald Trump\u2019s domestic policy priorities. A band of SALT Republicans are publicly pushing for the cap increase to hit $62,000 for individuals and double for joint filers; conservatives generally oppose lifting the existing $10,000 cap, which generally hits high-tax coastal states rich in Democratic votes.<\/p>\nRise of the Robots<\/h2>\n<\/p><\/div>\n