News Updates

The AICPA said the National Pipeline Advisory Group will “play a critical role in guiding” the conversation and making calls to action to address the slowdown in young people choosing accounting as a career.

Having made significant progress in the ongoing effort against fraudulent employee retention credit claims, IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said the agency has entered a new phase of increasing scrutiny on dubious submissions while renewing consumer warnings against aggressive marketing.

Neel Kashkari, president of the Minneapolis Federal Reserve, said that it is unclear how many more interest-rate hikes might be needed and that "we need to get inflation all the way back down to 2%." The economy has made "good progress" in the inflation fight, but "we don't want to declare victory," Kashkari said.

Too many businesses are unaware of the beneficial ownership information reporting requirements, which will be a burden for small businesses, the AICPA told Congress.

College student Aidan Hunt was appointed at age 20 to the IRS Advisory Council, a panel that advises the IRS commissioner and recommends administrative and policy changes.

Nearly 20% of U.S. workers have jobs that are very exposed to artificial intelligence, meaning that crucial functions could be assisted or replaced by the technology, according to the Pew Research Center. The most highly exposed jobs are generally in high-paying sectors that may value analytical skills and a college education.

Citing concerns over the safety of their employees and efforts to reduce public confusion as part of a larger effort to transform IRS operations, IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel announced that the agency would end the decades-long practice of making unannounced visits to taxpayers. The change in policy is effective immediately and will cover all but a few unique circumstances. The agency will instead mail letters to taxpayers with a request to schedule a follow-up meeting.

A well-drafted premarital agreement can safeguard your client’s assets, protect against debts, and ensure a smoother divorce process. Kevin Costner’s situation is a valuable example of how your clients can protect themselves in the event of a divorce.

Recent data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis found Nebraska at No. 2 among U.S. states for both personal income growth and growth in gross domestic product in the first quarter. Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota had double-digit GDP growth while the next fastest-growing states had only 6% growth.

Three variables are crucial for ensuring that CFOs thrive in their roles, according to Accenture. These key factors are the CFO's leadership style as well as the company's culture and strategic imperative.

People born between 1965 and 1980 could face financial challenges, as the typical Gen X household with a private retirement plan has only $40,000 saved, according to the National Institute on Retirement Security. About 40% of the generation has nothing saved. The institute also reported that just 55% of Gen X workers take part in an employer-sponsored plan and that wage growth has been flat for most of this generation's time in the workforce.

A survey finds that students form perceptions of the accounting profession early -- even before they enter college.

There are several factors to weigh when deciding whether to make pretax or Roth contributions to a 401(k), in addition to current and future tax brackets. These include the scheduled expiration of certain provisions in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 as well as recent changes under SECURE 2.0.

KPMG plans to invest $2B in artificial intelligence and cloud services across its business lines globally over the next five years through an expanded partnership with Microsoft. Through the new investment, the roughly 265,000-person company will further automate aspects of its tax, audit and consulting services, aimed at enabling employees to provide faster analysis, spending more time on doling out strategic advice and helping more companies integrate AI into their operations. KPMG’s global chair and chief executive, Bill Thomas, said in an interview that the company isn’t looking to use technology to eliminate jobs, but rather to enhance its workforce with AI skills—for example, by moving people to new roles or offering them training. As part of the expanded partnership, KPMG will have early access to an AI assistant called Microsoft 365 Copilot, before its launch to the general public. KPMG’s deal with Microsoft also includes the Azure cloud platform, through which the professional-services company already uses OpenAI to build and run apps. Microsoft has a partnership with OpenAI, the startup behind the viral ChatGPT chatbot, which made generative AI a household word.

While some results of the landmark Supreme Court decision may have been foreseeable, many complications have blindsided remote retailers.

The Experience, Learn & Earn (ELE) program aims to turn accounting students into employees faster and in a more economical way, to the benefit of companies seeking talent.

Practitioners now have at their fingertips an interactive PDF that can quickly help determine whether AR-C Section 70 of SSARS No. 21 is required to be applied when performing accounting services.

Growing numbers of 80-somethings are choosing to keep working instead of retiring; roughly 650,000 Americans over 80 worked last year, about 18% more than a decade earlier. Many cite a simple reason to keep working — they just want to. Nearly half log full-time hours, with 80-somethings more common in professional, managerial, and financial roles than in service jobs. Although 80-somethings are a sliver of the overall U.S. labor force and a rarity in the highest echelons of business, signs point toward growing ranks. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that workforce participation among people 75 and older will climb to 11.7% by 2030 from 8.9% in 2020. The participation rate for every other age group is expected to decline. The demographic shift is prompting neuroscientists, employment consultants, and others to rethink how older workers can stay in the workforce with meaningful jobs.

PwC probes security incident tied to Clop cyber gang A criminal hacking gang has added more names to its lists of alleged victims from a recent campaign that exploited a vulnerability in a popular file-transfer product. The group, known as Clop, threatened to post internal data from professional services firms PwC and EY unless they pay a ransom fee. The scope of the incidents weren't immediately clear. The Russian-speaking gang has in recent weeks launched scores of attacks after discovering a vulnerability in MOVEit, a file-sharing software from Progress Software Corp. The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency on June 1 issued an advisory about a vulnerability in MOVEit software, warning that "a cyber threat actor could exploit this vulnerability to take over an affected system." Progress has since released a patch to fix the vulnerability, but about 90 companies are so far known to have been affected by the hack, according to cybersecurity researchers.

Pentagon accounting error means extra $6.2bn for Ukraine The Pentagon has revealed that it overestimated the value of weapons sent to Ukraine by $6.2bn over the past two years, double the previous estimate. The accounting error was due to the military services using replacement costs instead of the book value of equipment taken from Pentagon stocks. The mistake means the department has additional funds to support Ukraine's counteroffensive against Russia. The U.S. has committed more than $40bn in security assistance to Ukraine since Russia invaded, but the new calculation shows it has provided less than $34bn. The Pentagon has used presidential drawdown authority to pull weapons and equipment off the shelves to get them to Ukraine more quickly.