Accounting leaders face pressure to choose a path that could reshape talent pipelines and firm culture for years to come.
Sponsored by “It’s NOT Just the Numbers: How to Move Beyond the Numbers and Deliver REAL Value for Your Clients.” by Penny Breslin and Damien Greathead. See Today’s Special Offer
Deloitte’s decision to dismantle its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) program for 173,000 U.S. employees is sending shockwaves through the accounting profession, exposing deep divisions on a global scale and forcing firm leaders to weigh politics against talent priorities.
The move—ending DEI goals, disbanding related departments, eliminating annual reporting, and ordering staff to remove pronouns from email signatures—came just hours before Deloitte UK issued a memo affirming its commitment to DEI.
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.
The changes wrought by COVID are rolling through the business world, pushing many of them into online commerce and cross-border sales and, ultimately, into new and nforeseen tax problems, according to Liz Armbruester, senior VP of global compliance at Avalara.
From her perch, see tracks how governments at all levels and across the globe are capitalizing on the rapidly digitizing business world to automatically collect taxes due. In the U.S., states and localities are gearing up to crack down on the new sources of revenues, leaving many businesses and their accountants still ill-equipped to handle the new rules, Armbruester tells Rick Telberg for CPA Trendlines.
COLLECTING TAXES UPFRONT: In Mexico, tax returns, accounting records, and other tax disclosures must be filed in standard electronic format, driving down the cost of tax collection by 57 percent between 2006 and 2018. Meanwhile, revenue generated by audits rose an astonishing 117 percent between 2015 and 2020. (Source: Better Than Cash Alliance, The U.N., via Avalara)
By CPA Trendlines
Accounting professionals may be focused for now on Tax Season 2022. But right around the corner, a revolution in tax is coming, if the United States can get out of its own way.
Ready or not, here it comes: digitized sales tax compliance. The compliance might happen immediately after a transaction or right in the middle of it with a tax agency in between the buyer and the seller.
It isn’t happening in the U.S. yet, but at least three states are thinking about it, and in 83 other countries, it’s already a thing. In California, Florida, and Massachusetts, it may soon be a thing. The Federal Reserve and the Business Payments Coalition have already launched a pilot program to standardize electronic invoicing systems.
Digitized tax compliance is far more than the mere e-filing of invoices and tax returns. It’s the movement of paper compliance activities to the cloud, where tax authorities can not only see transactions but, in some countries, actually, get involved in them.
The potential opportunities for accountants, auditors, and tax practitioners are as yet unknown, but where there is change, there is opportunity.
CPA firm associations combine 250 firms with $1 billion in revenues.
Left to right: Jim Holmes, International Chairman of CPAAI; Michael Parness, President of CPAAI; Clive Viegas Bennett, CEO of MGI Worldwide, and Roger Isaacs, Chairman of MGI Worldwide, celebrating the merger agreement at MGI Worldwide’s Annual Global Meeting in Dubai, UAE.
CPA Trendlines
MGI Worldwide, a global network of independent audit, tax, accounting, and advisory firms, headquartered in the U.K., and CPA Associates International, headquartered in the U.S., have announced that they will merge, effective Jan. 1, 2020.
Global trade wars, political winds buffet business.
By Kayleigh Padar CPA Trendlines
CPAs should be prepared to help their clients navigate an increasingly unstable global economy and burgeoning challenges with technology, particularly cyber threats, according to a new global study of C-level executives.
The annual study from ATKearney shows a bumpy road ahead for global executives, from the effects of Brexit to the increase in targeted fake news campaigns.READ MORE →
BKR International has named Howard M. Rosen in a new role as Worldwide CEO, effective Jan. 1, 2018. Rosen will assume the international responsibilities of BKR International Executive Director Maureen Schwartz, who will retire at the end of 2018. READ MORE →
Getting new clients tops the list of chief concerns for local firms worldwide. But the staffing shortage surges into second place. via IFAC
The eight moves smart firms are making today to win tomorrow’s battles.
By Rick Telberg
CPA Trendlines Research
Does the tax and accounting profession have a role to play in global peace, harmony, and understanding?
You may think so, based on a new CPA Trendlines analysis of a global survey of small, local, and mid-size accounting firms.
The study paints a picture of a global community of local firms with shared aspirations, expectations, challenges, and opportunities – despite (or perhaps because of) rising nationalism, protectionism, and conflicting political regimes.
In fact, the research finds that the talent shortage plaguing Unites States firms is now turning into a global problem. That is, by no means, a good thing. But it is another item all firms across the globe can share in common. And it is another chink in the armor of the so-called traditional business model of the owner-operator accounting firm because most of the issues flow from two overriding factors: Rampant under-pricing or owner greed (or both) that fails to build up capital reserves for re-investment in the business, and the lack of access to other sources of funding.
It’s enough to make us wonder if solutions to global problems are beyond the ability for individual nations to solve alone. Instead, multi-national worldwide strategies may be required. Maybe that’s part of the reason the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants is rebranding itself as the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants (still, just the “AICPA” to most).
But today, owning, operating or working in a perfectly “average” firm is not necessarily a sign of success. Instead, “average” seems doomed to obsolescence in irrelevancy – and on a global scale never before seen in the profession.
New global study shows 43 percent of accountants are ready to jump ship. Here’s why.
By CPA Trendlines Research
The war for top talent in the U.S. accountancy profession is spreading worldwide, fueled by growth and increased confidence, according to a new global study obtained by CPA Trendlines.
Some 43 percent of accountants at multinational firms say they’ll probably leave their jobs within the next year or two, seeking more pay, better opportunities or both. The figures closely follow those found by CPA Trendlines in U.S.-focused studies (CPA Firms Paying Top Dollar for Talent in Nationwide Hiring Binge).
GET THE INSTANT DOWNLOAD of the FULL-SIZE INFOGRAPHIC:
One of the busiest U.S.-owned auditors in China is not one of the Big Four. In fact, it’s Houston-based MaloneBailey, an otherwise local firm of seven partners.
Exclusively for PRO Members. 
