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Consulting
Consultants are Taking Over the World’s Corner Offices [Bloomberg]
Leaders whose backgrounds fit the bill, increasingly, are coming from the ranks of professional services firms — and not just from McKinsey & Co., which has reliably churned out corporate chiefs for decades. What’s behind this shift? One catalyst is the move by the Big Four accounting firms beyond auditing into strategy and execution. As they’ve expanded their scope, these firms have snatched up more of the best and brightest undergrads and MBAs. Once there, they’re trained in technical know-how, problem-solving and softer skills, while acquiring expertise across entire industries rather than at just one company. And though consultants have a reputation for parachuting in to deliver a buzzword-laden strategic vision, they also stick around to do the hard work of installing new technology and processes to improve their clients’ business.
Private Equity
NY private equity drives ‘top 50’ accounting firm roll-up, based in Meridian [BoiseDev]
With money from a New York private equity firm, a raft of accounting firms across Idaho and the country have merged to form a mega firm. The new firm, using the name Sorren, combines more than a dozen accounting firms, including Meridian’s Harris CPAs, Boise-based Chigbrow Ryan Murata, and Medford-based KDP Advisors, which in 2021 purchased Garden City-based Whittaker & Associates.
Talent
A global talent leader at EY shares the 3 soft skills she looks for in job applicants [Business Insider]
Soft skills can be particularly useful for new graduates and young professionals who are starting their careers and working toward technical mastery in their fields. Wherever you are in your career, anyone who’s ever worked with other people probably knows the value of soft skills in navigating, well, human nature. Naudin ten Cate told Business Insider she looks for three soft skills in particular in job applicants.
Attention firms: If you’re hiring remote or hybrid talent, you’ll want to check out this week’s top candidates. Each one is pre-screened and hand-picked by Accountingfly for your perusal.
Audit
How to cultivate a healthy audit firm culture [Thomson Reuters] According to global research by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), 57% of those who rated their organizational culture as poor stated that they were actively or would soon be looking for another job. Among those employees in unfavorable workplace cultures, the top-cited reasons for leaving, according to SHRM’s The State of Global Workplace Culture in 2024, were: Poor management (54%); Unfair treatment (54%); Inadequate pay (54%); Lack of empathetic leadership (47%); Insufficient regard for employee well-being (47%).
Northeast Nebraska school misused more than $300,000, state auditor report shows [Nebraska Public Media]
Nebraska State Auditor Mike Foley said his office received a tip, which led to the discovery of almost 1,300 questionable credit card transactions. “We believe it was about $100,000 over a 13-month period where people were just going crazy with credit cards and abusing them and having expensive meals and travel and gaming systems and trips to the nail salon,” Foley said. “All kinds of things that you would never, never anticipate a public school district doing with tax dollars.”
She left a career in government auditing to advocate for farmers like her parents [MPR News]
Friendly Vang-Johnson’s parents were some of the first Hmong refugees to farm in Minnesota. Her father, Xang Vang, was a lieutenant in the Special Guerrilla Units, a secret army recruited by the CIA to fight for U.S. interests in Southeast Asia.
Audit finds $6.2 million in errors on NC community college’s financial statements [The News & Observer]
In its report published May 22, the Office of State Auditor detailed ineffective employee training and vague year-end procedures as the root of the problems. The errors for fiscal year 2024 include overstating money owed to the college and its assets after debt by about $945,000; understating construction in progress by about $763,000; and overstating tuition revenues and tuition and fees not yet paid by about $289,000. Unreliable data could lead to poor spending decisions, OSA said in the report.
Breaking stovepipes, not checking boxes: DoD’s audit challenge [Breaking Defense Opinion]
Secretary of the Navy John Phelan recently testified the Department of the Navy will achieve a clean audit under his leadership. If he intends to stay through this administration’s term, that pledge would sync up with the congressional requirement to deliver a clean audit by 2028. The pledge also demonstrates clear tone from the top, a consistent message that now extends across three administrations in a row. For many years, such clear messaging was considered critical to move the audit. And certainly, the Marines achieved two clean opinions in a row — the first for a military service — because commandants made the audit their priority. But the Marines’ experience also demonstrated that progress depends not just on leaders of the big organizations, like the services or DoD itself. It also requires the support of leaders from functional communities too.
State auditor’s office demands Winona submit backlog of audit reports or face penalties [WTVA]
Auditor Shad White’s office sent a certificate of noncompliance to the City of Winona on May 12, claiming the city violated state law. The law requires cities to submit annual audit reports to the state agency. White’s communications director, Jacob Walters, said the state agency last received Winona’s fiscal year 2021 report. Winona Mayor Aaron Dees said the city did not do this on purpose. He said the city is on its third clerk since 2021, and the lack of consistency played a role in the city’s failure to submit audit reports. He also said the city’s payroll system underwent updates during this time that caused challenges for the city.
Tax
How tax leaders can use geopolitical volatility to help shape policy [EY]
“A little uncertainty is good for everyone,” former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger once asserted, highlighting how maintaining a degree of unpredictability can help prevent complacency in international relations. But are there upsides to a lot of uncertainty? For tax leaders in financial services, the answer could be yes.
Announcements
KPMG LLP Names Next Management Committee [KPMG]
KPMG LLP, the U.S. audit, tax and advisory firm, today announced its next Management Committee, effective July 1, 2025. The next Management Committee includes: Vice Chair, AI & Digital Innovation, Steve Chase; Vice Chair, Advisory, Rob Fisher; Chief Operating Officer & Vice Chair, Kevin Jackson; General Counsel and Vice Chair, Legal, Risk Management & Compliance, Matt Miner; Vice Chair, Audit, Christian Peo; Vice Chair, Tax, Rema Serafi; Vice Chair, Clients & Markets, Melissa Taylor; Vice Chair, Talent & Culture, Sandy Torchia.
American Apparel names new CFO [