The Financial Accounting Standards Board has posted the 2025 GAAP Financial Reporting Taxonomy (GRT), the 2025 SEC Reporting Taxonomy (SRT), and the 2025 GAAP Employee Benefit Plan Taxonomy (EBPT). 

The FASB also announced earlier this month the availability of the 2025 DQC Rules Taxonomy (DQCRT) and 2025 GAAP Meta Model Relationships Taxonomy (MMT), which together with the GRT, SRT and the EBPT are collectively referred to as the “FASB Taxonomies.”

The 2025 GRT provides updates for accounting standards, including disaggregation of income statement expenses, profits interest and similar awards, and induced conversions of convertible debt instruments, and other recommended improvements. 

The 2025 EBPT includes updates from the 2024 EBPT for elements specifically created for SEC Release Nos. 33–11070; 34–95025 which includes requirements for XBRL tagging of annual reports for employee stock purchase, savings and similar plans filing SEC Form 11-K.

The 2025 SRT offers improvements for elements whose underlying recognition and measurement are not specified by GAAP but are commonly used by GAAP filers and for SEC schedules related to supplemental information provided by insurance underwriters.

The DQCRT is structured from the typical design of XBRL taxonomies because it is narrowly focused on conveying the XBRL US Data Quality Committee’s validation rules, predominantly for regulator use. It isn’t intended to be used in SEC filers’ extension taxonomies. The DQCRT contains a subset of the DQC rules. The FASB Taxonomy staff evaluates the validation rules for inclusion in the DQCRT that have been available for use for more than a year, with consideration for how the DQC addressed any feedback received on a validation rule.

The 2025 MMT includes relationships focusing on accounting model information, which are viewed as helpful information for constituents. The objectives of the relationships in the MMT are to help preparers identify the proper elements for tagging their filings, assist data users in the consumption of data with additional relationship information, and assist in writing business rules that leverage the extra relationship information to help with the proper element selection and identification.

The 2025 GRT, 2025 SRT and 2025 EBPT are expected to be accepted as final by the SEC in early 2025. The FASB Taxonomies are available on the FASB Taxonomies Page and through these links:

A federal appeals court has reversed itself, reinstating an injunction on beneficial ownership information reporting by businesses only days after lifting it.

On Monday, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit granted a stay of a preliminary injunction by a federal district court in Texas that had temporarily paused a requirement for filing BOI reports with FinCEN under the Corporate Transparency Act of 2019 in the case of Texas Top Cop Shop Inc. v. Garland. The plaintiffs petitioned the full appeals court for an en banc rehearing to consider additional issues in the case. They argued that the panel’s decision conflicted with a 2012 Supreme Court decision in the case of National Federation of Independent Businesses v. Sebelius, ignored potential violations of the First and Fourth Amendments, and improperly discounted serious harms that the plaintiffs and the public would suffer. They also argued that the decision to reinstate the Jan. 1 reporting deadline, which was only a few days away, disregarded the interests of millions of entities subject to the CTA. The law aims to deter criminals from using shell companies for illicit purposes such as money laundering and terrorism financing.

The appeals court issued an order Thursday reinstating the injunction, and noted the original order had expedited the appeal to the next available oral argument panel, which has yet to be scheduled. 

“The merits panel now has the appeal, which remains expedited, and a briefing schedule will issue forthwith,” said the court. “However, in order to preserve the constitutional status quo while the merits panel considers the parties’ weighty substantive arguments, that part of the motions-panel order granting the Government’s motion to stay the district court’s preliminary injunction enjoining enforcement of the CTA and the Reporting Rule is VACATED.”

Earlier this week, after the appeals court panel initially lifted the injunction, the Treasury Department announced an extension of time for businesses to file to meet the beneficial ownership information reporting deadline. Reporting companies that were created or registered prior to Jan. 1, 2024, were given until Jan. 13, 2025, to file their initial beneficial ownership information reports with the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, as opposed to the Jan. 1, 2025, deadline. The American Institute of CPAs and state CPA societies have been asking FinCEN to delay the BOI reporting requirements. Now the full appeals court appears to have delayed the reporting requirement indefinitely.

I recently analyzed 132 deals across 212 accounting firms for 2024. The 2025 predictions I’m about to share are not investment advice, so please take it with a grain of salt and use your own judgement.

With that said, let’s dive in: In 2024, private equity money flooded the accounting M&A market. Top players scooped up niche firms left and right. The $2.3 billion CBIZ-Mar­cum megamerger (finalized in November) wasn’t alone—private equity is now center stage.

It’s causing excitement and apprehension in the small-to-midmarket space (some partners are raging at outside capital).

Check out the recent wave:

• Dean Dorton’s Florida pick-up of Shilts CPA on Dec. 5 and LBMC’s Memphis move to add Frazee Ivy Davis show targeted expansion.

• Citrin Cooperman’s spree (Clearview on Nov. 14, Signature Analytics on Nov. 13) shows relentless reach.

• PKF O’Connor Davies’ capital injection (on Nov. 18) sets a new mid-market financing bar.

Not just big names—smaller firms too:

• BerryDunn + Burzenski & Co. (Dec. 1), expanding in Connecticut;

• LGA + McGaunn & Schwadron (Dec. 4), deepening veterinary/dental niches; and,

• KNAV Advisory’s minority investment (Nov. 18), fueling global presence.

To put it in perspective:

Mid-market and regional firms are grabbing specialty shops—cannabis (BeachFleischman and Indiva Advisors on Nov. 4), valuation (KSM and ValueKnowledge on Nov. 12), and human capital (EY and Jubilant on Nov. 11). PE-backed platforms are stacking bolt-on deals, building full-service powerhouses.

Five p𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱

• Hyper-specialization reigns: Firms will zero in on ultra-niche areas (think AI-driven forensic accounting), leaving generalists scrambling.

• Open architecture models rise: CPA firms will partner with RIAs, ERP consultants and even legal advisors to become one-stop advisory powerhouses.

• Cross-border micro-mergers: Expect global mini-deals, just like KNAV merging in HLG Netherlands (Nov. 8), as firms chase unique talent and clients worldwide.

• Tech-centric valuations: Proprietary data analytics or AI stacks will influence deal pricing more than any traditional book of business metrics.

• PE-backed succession solutions: Outside capital will transform partner retirements from liabilities into strategic exit or growth opportunities.

For some, these moves will open the door to scale, differentiate and become indispensable. For others, it’s a stark warning: adapt or risk irrelevance.