Connect with us

Accounting

Trump defends economic agenda, says tariffs will fuel growth

Published

on

Former President Donald Trump said his policies would inspire growth despite adding to the debt as he sought to assuage business leaders who worry his economic plans will fuel inflation.

“We’re all about growth,” Trump told Bloomberg News Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait on Tuesday in an interview at the Economic Club of Chicago. “We’re going to bring companies back to our country.”

Trump defended his proposals to dramatically increase tariffs on foreign goods, saying the proposals were for the “protection of the companies that we have here and the new companies that will move in.”

Donald Trump during an interview with Bloomberg News at the Economic Club of Chicago
Donald Trump during an interview with Bloomberg News at the Economic Club of Chicago

Christopher Dilts/Bloomberg

The Republican presidential nominee disputed the notion his tariffs would impact Americans whose jobs depend on trade, saying the losses would be offset by new domestic manufacturing jobs.

“It should have a massive effect, positive effect,” Trump said, arguing that new trade levies would pressure companies to reshore manufacturing in the U.S. “The higher the tariff, the more likely it is that the company will come into the United States, and build a factory in the United States so it doesn’t have to pay the tariff.”

The Republican presidential nominee’s comments come exactly three weeks before Election Day in what polls forecast to be a razor-thin contest with Democratic Vice President Harris. Surveys show the U.S. economy is the paramount issue for voters.

Trump in his third run for the White House has been bolstered by broad discontent among business executives and voters at large over President Joe Biden’s record. Anxiety over high prices and jobs have left the American public preferring the Republican candidate’s approach to that of Harris, polls suggest.

The former president has vowed to carry out an aggressive campaign of deregulation, renew expiring tax cuts, lower the corporate tax rate to 15% from 21%, and offer fresh tax reductions and benefits to bolster domestic manufacturing — policies cheered by prominent Wall Street and corporate leaders. 

Trump’s tax proposals, as well as dueling tax cuts and benefits pitched by Harris, though, come with stark price tags — in the trillions — and threaten to worsen a U.S. federal deficit that’s already historically large. Some investors are betting Trump’s policies will leave the U.S. saddled with more debt and higher inflation and interest rates. America’s annual deficit is already close to $2 trillion.

Defending tariffs

Trump’s economic plan is heavy on tariffs, which he aims to impose on both U.S. allies and adversaries, including a 60% levy on imports from China and 10% duties on the rest of the world. Trump has also insisted new tariffs will help fund his tax cuts, but economists say they are unlikely to create the revenue he needs. The Peterson Institute for International Economics estimates the tariffs could raise over $200 billion a year. The U.S. took in an estimated $4.9 trillion in revenue in fiscal 2024.

The former president’s tariff agenda threatens to also reduce or redirect trade flows, further impacting revenue. Many economists have warned tariffs would hit U.S. households with what is effectively a tax increase, likely sending inflation higher and raising pressure on the Federal Reserve over interest rates.

Trump also reiterated his pledge to block the sale of US Steel Corp. to Nippon Steel Corp., if the $14.1 billion transaction was concluded by the time he entered office.

“I think it sets a horrible tone,” he said of the possible sale, saying that steel was a critical national security interest.

“There are certain companies you have to have,” Trump said.

Both Biden and Harris have said they oppose the sale of US Steel to Nippon Steel, an election flashpoint, particularly in swing-state Pennsylvania, where both the American company and the United Steelworkers union — which also opposes the deal — are based.

Trump-Putin relationship

Trump declined to say if he had spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin since leaving office in 2021, responding to a question about claims laid out in a new book by journalist Bob Woodward.

“Well, I don’t comment on that, but I will tell you that if I did, it’s a smart thing,” Trump said. “If I’m friendly with people, if I have a relationship with people, that’s a good thing, not a bad thing. “

Woodward’s book cites an unnamed aide to the former president indicating that he spoke to Putin as many as seven times since leaving office. The Trump campaign has called Woodward’s claim “made-up stories.”

Trump defended their relationship, saying their positive ties were a boon to the U.S. and that he had cultivated connections with the Russian leader even though he had sanctioned the Nord Stream 2 pipeline between Russia and Europe.

Tight race

Trump and Harris in recent weeks have been ramping up their messaging on the economy — in particular in the seven battleground states likely to determine November’s election outcome. Harris’ entry into the race in July saw her erase much of the lead Trump held when Biden was atop the Democratic ticket, thanks to a surge in party enthusiasm for a new standard-bearer. 

But despite a fundraising advantage for Harris that has allowed her to flood the airwaves with advertising and her strong debate performance against Trump, polls show the race tightening again in the final stretch.

The 2024 race has seen Trump solidify his hold on the Republican party, easily vanquishing his primary opponents despite a slew of legal obstacles that include him being the first former US president convicted of a felony. 

With his base assured, Trump has sought to bolster his electoral appeal, reaching out to core Democratic constituencies such as Black voters and Hispanics — as well as working-class voters and suburban women — uneasy about economic mobility.

Continue Reading

Accounting

IAASB tweaks standards on working with outside experts

Published

on

The International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board is proposing to tailor some of its standards to align with recent additions to the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants’ International Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants when it comes to using the work of an external expert.

The proposed narrow-scope amendments involve minor changes to several IAASB standards:

  • ISA 620, Using the Work of an Auditor’s Expert;
  • ISRE 2400 (Revised), Engagements to Review Historical Financial Statements;
  • ISAE 3000 (Revised), Assurance Engagements Other than Audits or Reviews of Historical Financial Information;
  • ISRS 4400 (Revised), Agreed-upon Procedures Engagements.

The IAASB is asking for comments via a digital response template that can be found on the IAASB website by July 24, 2025.

In December 2023, the IESBA approved an exposure draft for proposed revisions to the IESBA’s Code of Ethics related to using the work of an external expert. The proposals included three new sections to the Code of Ethics, including provisions for professional accountants in public practice; professional accountants in business and sustainability assurance practitioners. The IESBA approved the provisions on using the work of an external expert at its December 2024 meeting, establishing an ethical framework to guide accountants and sustainability assurance practitioners in evaluating whether an external expert has the necessary competence, capabilities and objectivity to use their work, as well as provisions on applying the Ethics Code’s conceptual framework when using the work of an outside expert.  

Continue Reading

Accounting

Tariffs will hit low-income Americans harder than richest, report says

Published

on

President Donald Trump’s tariffs would effectively cause a tax increase for low-income families that is more than three times higher than what wealthier Americans would pay, according to an analysis from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.

The report from the progressive think tank outlined the outcomes for Americans of all backgrounds if the tariffs currently in effect remain in place next year. Those making $28,600 or less would have to spend 6.2% more of their income due to higher prices, while the richest Americans with income of at least $914,900 are expected to spend 1.7% more. Middle-income families making between $55,100 and $94,100 would pay 5% more of their earnings. 

Trump has imposed the steepest U.S. duties in more than a century, including a 145% tariff on many products from China, a 25% rate on most imports from Canada and Mexico, duties on some sectors such as steel and aluminum and a baseline 10% tariff on the rest of the country’s trading partners. He suspended higher, customized tariffs on most countries for 90 days.

Economists have warned that costs from tariff increases would ultimately be passed on to U.S. consumers. And while prices will rise for everyone, lower-income families are expected to lose a larger portion of their budgets because they tend to spend more of their earnings on goods, including food and other necessities, compared to wealthier individuals.

Food prices could rise by 2.6% in the short run due to tariffs, according to an estimate from the Yale Budget Lab. Among all goods impacted, consumers are expected to face the steepest price hikes for clothing at 64%, the report showed. 

The Yale Budget Lab projected that the tariffs would result in a loss of $4,700 a year on average for American households.

Continue Reading

Accounting

At Schellman, AI reshapes a firm’s staffing needs

Published

on

Artificial intelligence is just getting started in the accounting world, but it is already helping firms like technology specialist Schellman do more things with fewer people, allowing the firm to scale back hiring and reduce headcount in certain areas through natural attrition. 

Schellman CEO Avani Desai said there have definitely been some shifts in headcount at the Top 100 Firm, though she stressed it was nothing dramatic, as it mostly reflects natural attrition combined with being more selective with hiring. She said the firm has already made an internal decision to not reduce headcount in force, as that just indicates they didn’t hire properly the first time. 

“It hasn’t been about reducing roles but evolving how we do work, so there wasn’t one specific date where we ‘started’ the reduction. It’s been more case by case. We’ve held back on refilling certain roles when we saw opportunities to streamline, especially with the use of new technologies like AI,” she said. 

One area where the firm has found such opportunities has been in the testing of certain cybersecurity controls, particularly within the SOC framework. The firm examined all the controls it tests on the service side and asked which ones require human judgment or deep expertise. The answer was a lot of them. But for the ones that don’t, AI algorithms have been able to significantly lighten the load. 

“[If] we don’t refill a role, it’s because the need actually has changed, or the process has improved so significantly [that] the workload is lighter or shared across the smarter system. So that’s what’s happening,” said Desai. 

Outside of client services like SOC control testing and reporting, the firm has found efficiencies in administrative functions as well as certain internal operational processes. On the latter point, Desai noted that Schellman’s engineers, including the chief information officer, have been using AI to help develop code, which means they’re not relying as much on outside expertise on the internal service delivery side of things. There are still people in the development process, but their roles are changing: They’re writing less code, and doing more reviewing of code before it gets pushed into production, saving time and creating efficiencies. 

“The best way for me to say this is, to us, this has been intentional. We paused hiring in a few areas where we saw overlaps, where technology was really working,” said Desai.

However, even in an age awash with AI, Schellman acknowledges there are certain jobs that need a human, at least for now. For example, the firm does assessments for the FedRAMP program, which is needed for cloud service providers to contract with certain government agencies. These assessments, even in the most stable of times, can be long and complex engagements, to say nothing of the less predictable nature of the current government. As such, it does not make as much sense to reduce human staff in this area. 

“The way it is right now for us to do FedRAMP engagements, it’s a very manual process. There’s a lot of back and forth between us and a third party, the government, and we don’t see a lot of overall application or technology help… We’re in the federal space and you can imagine, [with] what’s going on right now, there’s a big changing market condition for clients and their pricing pressure,” said Desai. 

As Schellman reduces staff levels in some places, it is increasing them in others. Desai said the firm is actively hiring in certain areas. In particular, it’s adding staff in technical cybersecurity (e.g., penetration testers), the aforementioned FedRAMP engagements, AI assessment (in line with recently becoming an ISO 42001 certification body) and in some client-facing roles like marketing and sales. 

“So, to me, this isn’t about doing more with less … It’s about doing more of the right things with the right people,” said Desai. 

While these moves have resulted in savings, she said that was never really the point, so whatever the firm has saved from staffing efficiencies it has reinvested in its tech stack to build its service line further. When asked for an example, she said the firm would like to focus more on penetration testing by building a SaaS tool for it. While Schellman has a proof of concept developed, she noted it would take a lot of money and time to deploy a full solution — both of which the firm now has more of because of its efficiency moves. 

“What is the ‘why’ behind these decisions? The ‘why’ for us isn’t what I think you traditionally see, which is ‘We need to get profitability high. We need to have less people do more things.’ That’s not what it is like,” said Desai. “I want to be able to focus on quality. And the only way I think I can focus on quality is if my people are not focusing on things that don’t matter … I feel like I’m in a much better place because the smart people that I’ve hired are working on the riskiest and most complicated things.”

Continue Reading

Trending