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Friday Footnotes: New Managers Share Wisdom; KPMG Praised??; PwC Creeps Leave | 7.22.22

a very ugly dog

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What new managers wish they’d known [Journal of Accountancy] “Having responsibility doesn’t mean I can’t be a little firm with my team. I learned how to say ‘no.'”

Three PwC staff leave firm after ‘rating women’ scandal [Australian Financial Review] Three PwC staff members who allegedly attended male-only events where they rated the attractiveness of women in their office have left the firm, with the firm’s leadership labelling the behaviour as “unacceptable” following an external investigation.

Global Rulemakers Say It’s Time to Fix Goodwill Accounting [Bloomberg Tax] The International Accounting Standards Board said Thursday that it would decide whether to change the rules covering acquisition accounting at its next meeting. The announcement, which follows a long argument over the best approach, comes amid evidence that companies aren’t adequately reporting on the post-acquisition performance of companies they’ve bought, the board said.

Happy Friday to you too, Tax Twitter.

EY’s UK arm drafts in Rothschild as $80bn break-up looms [Sky News] The British arm of EY, the accountancy firm, has drafted in one of the City’s top investment banks to advise on an impending $80bn break-up that will shake up the global accountancy profession.

FRC 2021/22 audit inspections: KPMG praised; BDO and Mazars rebuked [Compliance Week] Deloitte, EY, KPMG, and PwC were each praised for the positive results of their reviews, along with Grant Thornton UK. BDO and Mazars, meanwhile, will be subject to increased monitoring after returning “unacceptable” results. Of the 12 audits reviewed at BDO, four (33 percent) were found to have required significant improvements. At Mazars, three of eight audits reviewed (38 percent) met the same threshold.

Tax Pros Say Creating a Free Federal Tax Filing System is Not Realistic With Current IRS Backlogs [GOBankingRates] According to a recent CNBC article, most professionals, like Phyllis Jo Kubey, president of the New York State Society of Enrolled Agents, are supportive of the idea of free tax filing but are skeptical about whether the IRS can handle a new project. “I’d love to be proven wrong, but I fear an administrative nightmare,” said Kubey. “I’m all for easy and effective free filing options for taxpayers. However, this law heaps additional requirements on an already overburdened IRS.”

And on Reddit this week:

Accounting Profession Has One of the Lowest Turnover Rates in the U.S. [CPA Practice Advisor] Accounting had the third-lowest average turnover rate (9.4 percent) from July 2021 to June 2022 out of the 13 job functions LinkedIn analyzed. The two professions that had less turnover than accounting were operations (8.8 percent) and administration (7.8 percent).

Accounting Firm Fined for Audit of Malawi Leaf Company [Tobacco Reporter] The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Malawi (ICAM) has fined Deloitte Malawi after finding the auditing firm guilty in cases involving its audits of Malawi Leaf Company.

USF sues former accountant who embezzled $12.8 million, targets family to recover funds [WFLA] The University of South Florida has filed a civil lawsuit against a former accountant and some of his family members in an effort to collect millions of dollars in embezzled funds.

The Comey And McCabe Tax Audits: Questions And Concerns [Forbes] Tax Notes reporter Jonathan Curry discusses the IRS audits of former FBI Director James Comey and his deputy, Andrew McCabe, and why they’ve drawn attention from the tax community.