Well it\u2019s June so you know what that means\u2026actually no, wait. Up until last year, it meant that firms slap rainbows on their logos for 30 days but the rainbows were suspiciously absent last year, not only from the Middle East branches but everywhere. See: Yo, Where Are the Rainbows?<\/a> published June 6, 2024. We expect more of the same this year and will be retiring this meme.<\/p>\n If you don\u2019t mind, let us know if your firm is doing anything to recognize its LGBT staff this Pride month <\/a>.<\/p>\n Alright, news.<\/p>\n Journal of Accountancy<\/em> asked six CPAs how they\u2019re using AI<\/a>. I don\u2019t know about you but I really appreciate articles like this filled with actual use cases and not just generalizations about how everyone should be using AI without much meat and potatoes.<\/p>\n Karl Spanbauer, CPA, controller at Capital Area Food Bank in DC, explains how his non-profit is using automation to handle its physical mail problem:<\/p>\n Drawing on his experience with Microsoft Power Automate and other software, Spanbauer built his own solution to scan, summarize, and respond to mail.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s how it works:<\/p>\n Spanbauer has added further automations to the system, making it easier to look up the status of scanned invoices and carry out other follow-up actions.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n JofA then breaks it down even further:<\/p>\n Cool piece, right? More like this please.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s another good one from JofA for employers: How employers can hire the best accounting students<\/a><\/p>\n TLDR students want to hear about what sets you apart as a firm.<\/p>\n A Business Insider<\/em> \u201cAs Told To\u201d essay: I quit my job at EY after 13 years to launch my own business. Here are the 5 lessons I learned from my Big Four career<\/a>. 13-year EY Joshua Lee, who graduated from UCLA with a major in business economics and a minor in accounting, had this to say about how he got there:<\/p>\n After my father passed away when I was young, Uncle Jack stepped in as a father figure. He worked at BDO Global and encouraged me to speak with consultants and shadow his colleagues so I could decide for myself if the Big Four path was right for me.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Let\u2019s highlight this lesson he offered up. Call it a hunch, I feel like some of you need to read this today.<\/p>\n Former senior partners at EY gave me this framework early on: 80% of people will love you, 15% are undecided, and 5% just won\u2019t, no matter what you do or say. Focus on that 15% and try to win them over. Don\u2019t forget to nurture the 80%. But stop losing sleep over the 5%.<\/p>\n It still affects me today. However, it\u2019s gotten better as I get older, perhaps because I still care but don\u2019t have as much time or energy to worry about what others think about me.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Here\u2019s a good one from Thomson Reuters<\/em>: Some tax, audit & accounting firms are rejecting private equity in favor of independence<\/p>\n Amid a dizzying flurry of mega-mergers and private equity acquisitions among tax, audit & accounting firms over the last few years, a growing number of firm leaders are publicly proclaiming their intention to decline any private equity capital infusion or purchase by a larger firm.<\/p>\n Managing Partner Tom Barry, for one, says maintaining the flexible, family-first culture at Los Angeles-based GHJ Advisors is just one reason to declare independence. \u201cI think we all know that if we didn\u2019t remain independent, we\u2019d lose control of that,\u201d Barry says. \u201cThat culture is going to be done on Day One, no matter what anyone tells you.\u201d<\/p>\n Of course, that doesn\u2019t mean it didn\u2019t take some soul-searching to make the decision.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have people knocking on our door every day for acquisitions and private equity,\u201d Barry explains. \u201cYou can\u2019t just be blind to it. You still have to understand it and know what it is. I have a custodial responsibility to understand what the best options for the firm are. We sat down last year and went through financial modeling, what we have to do [to remain independent], what are \u2018nice-to-haves,\u2019 what are non-negotiables.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n We don\u2019t trust any firm that says \u201cwe\u2019re a family\u201d unironically but it\u2019s something.<\/p>\n A Hollywood firm with a $1.2 billion Registered Investment Advisor business is for sale<\/a>, allegedly:<\/p>\n Singer Burke, a Los Angeles-area accounting and business management firm with a $1.2bn RIA arm, is pursuing a sale, according to sources with knowledge of the situation.<\/p>\n A source said Singer Burke has retained Dalphia Partners to serve as its financial advisor leading the sale effort. The company is looking to sell itself to a strategic wealth management acquirer, according to a source.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Various sources put Singer Burke\u2019s revenue between $9 million and $17 million.<\/p>\n Vancouver\u2019s Smythe is halfway back in the good graces of the Canadian PCAOB, reports Canadian Accountant<\/em><\/a>:<\/p>\n Two years after prohibiting Smythe LLP from accepting new publicly traded audit clients, the Canadian Public Accountability Board is easing its restrictions on the Vancouver-based accounting firm. Instead of prohibiting the firm from accepting new reporting issuers, the Canadian audit watchdog\u2019s restriction has been modified, and the firm is prohibited from accepting new high\u2010risk reporting issuers, including those resulting from initial public offerings, reverse takeovers or other transactions.<\/p>\n The move comes two months after the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board \u2014 the American equivalent of CPAB \u2014 found Smythe LLP had a 100 per cent deficiency rate in three 2023 audits the PCAOB inspected in 2024. The PCAOB, as reported by Canadian Accountant, also found Smythe non-compliant with rules related to communications with issuer audit committees and reporting.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n PwC made some cuts in Hong Kong<\/a>:<\/p>\n PricewaterhouseCoopers, or PwC, is said to have let go of around 50 partners in Hong Kong, with multiple departments having pay cuts of up to 30 percent, according to media reports.\u00a0<\/p>\n Some of the partners are leaving the accounting firm voluntarily, while others are being sacked, local media reported on Monday.\u00a0<\/p>\n PwC will focus its resources on the Technology, Media, and Telecommunications (TMT) sector in the future, the report said. Chinese tech giants Tencent and Alibaba are currently among PwC\u2019s clients.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n And in Korea, their measure of audit quality is up<\/a>, as in getting better. The translation is a bit rough but you get the idea:<\/p>\n Last year, an average of 8.7 improvement issues in audits was recorded per accounting firm. Since the implementation of the registering system for auditors of listed companies in 2020, the number of identified issues has shown a consistent downward trend.<\/p>\n This year, reviews were conducted on a total of 14 accounting firms, including two major firms, Samjong KPMG and Deloitte Anjin. The identified issues averaged 6.0 for major accounting firms and 9.2 for others.<\/p>\n By element, there were an average of 2.2 issues in work performance, 1.9 in leadership responsibility, and 1.5 in ethical requirements and human resources.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Was that enough news for you? It was for me.<\/p>\n As always, dear reader is encouraged to email<\/a> or text<\/a> with any thoughts, tips, or news stories you think we\u2019d like. Have a wonderful week, you.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Well it\u2019s June so you know what that means\u2026actually no, wait. Up until last year, it meant that firms slap rainbows on their logos for 30 days but the rainbows were suspiciously absent last year, not only from the Middle East branches but everywhere. See: Yo, Where Are the Rainbows? published June 6, 2024. We […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":271917,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11759],"tags":[97737,12843,15589,97735,19441,6333,35709,11549,15618,1820,97736],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-271916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-accounting","tag-6-2-25","tag-accounting","tag-cpas","tag-exbig","tag-guy","tag-monday","tag-monday-morning-accounting-news-brief","tag-morning","tag-navigate","tag-news","tag-worklationships"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.goingconcern.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Big-4-rainbow-logos-1024x823.jpeg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\n
\n
\n\n
\n
The 80\/15\/5 rule<\/h2>\n
\n\n
\n\n
\n\n
\n\n
\n\n