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Shopify’s Head of Global Marketing Goes to Avalara

Burrows

Avalara also hires CIO from Airtable.

By CPA Trendlines Research

Avalara has named Adrianna Burrows executive vice president and chief marketing officer, and Shahan Parshad senior vice president and chief information officer.

The appointments are part of the company’s push to support international expansion and strengthen its AI-powered tax compliance platform.

Burrows will lead global marketing and report to President Ross Tennenbaum. She most recently served as head of global marketing at Shopify. Her previous roles include CMO at PayScale, Cornerstone OnDemand, and Stack Overflow. At Microsoft, she managed the global launch of Windows 10 as general manager of Windows Global Marketing.

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ADVISORY & CONSULTING

Big Four Vets Launch $300M PE-Backed, AI-Powered CFO Advisory Firm

Born for scale, built to sell, and run like a tech company.

Unity Advisory: Ex-PwC UK Managing Partner Marissa Thomas and former EY UK Chair Steve Varley.

By CPA Trendlines Research

A new $300 million entrant is challenging the Big Four’s lock on Fortune 500 advisory—and it may be the next big thing.

MORE Private Equity in Accounting | Private Equity Update: 52 Deals, $28 Billion | Xero Buys Melio for $3 Billion in Race for ‘The Active GL’ | Brannon Poe: PE Drives Prices–And Change | Accounting Influencers | Behind Sorren’s Roll-Up: $170 Million, 1,000 Employees, 85 Partners

Unity Advisory, a London-based firm launched by former EY UK chair Steve Varley and ex-PwC UK managing partner Marissa Thomas, is taking direct aim at the CFO suite with a venture capital mindset, AI at its core, and no legacy constraints.

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POLITICS & GOVERNMENT

DOGE, Palantir and the IRS: What Could Go Wrong?

Palantir and the IRS: Musk, left, Thiel, right

 

Who’s watching the IRS code?

By CPA Trendlines Research

The IRS’s Unified API Layer may be the cornerstone of a digital-first tax administration, even as key voices inside and outside the agency raise red flags about transparency, security, and oversight.

MORE Tax | Mounting Delays Undermine Public Trust in IRS Refund Process | Brace Yourself: IRS 25% Staff Cuts Mean Big Trouble for Tax Pros and Clients | What to Watch in the One Big Beautiful Bill  | IRS’s Big Annual Report: Already Out of Date as Agency Grapples with Chaos and Cuts | Busy Season Barometer Stats: Who’s Responding and How They’re Doing | Accountants Reporting a Pretty Good Year | Tax Season Faceplant: Accountants Overrun by Late Chaos

The partnership with the tech industry is triggering a new kind of scrutiny, not over software performance, but civil liberties. At the center of that concern is Palantir Technologies, a data analytics company that confirms it will work with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency and the IRS on the API infrastructure. READ MORE →

CHARTS & GRAPHS

Can DOGE and Palantir Fix the IRS with a ‘Mega API’?

And what about data security and privacy?

By CPA Trendlines Research

The Internal Revenue Service is developing a Unified API Layer intended to consolidate access across its fractured legacy systems, a move that could transform the agency—if executed with transparency, speed, and user needs in mind.

MORE IRS | Brace Yourself: IRS 25% Staff Cuts Mean Big Trouble for Tax Pros and Clients | What to Watch in the One Big Beautiful Bill |IRS’s Big Annual Report: Already Out of Date as Agency Grapples with Chaos and Cuts | Busy Season Barometer Stats: Who’s Responding and How They’re Doing | Tax Season Faceplant: Accountants Overrun by Late Chaos

The project gained momentum–and sparked controversy–this year with the Department of Government Efficiency and Palantir Technologies aiming to build a comprehensive API system.

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