Connect with us

Accounting

A plague on both your (political) parties

Published

on

While the accounting profession is divided in its preferences for the 2024 presidential election, it is united by a profound distaste for politics in general.

Over three-quarters (76%) of accountants surveyed by Accounting Today in late September said they were “very dissatisfied” with the current political climate, and another 15% were “somewhat dissatisfied.” (See the survey results.)

When asked to explain their dissatisfaction, a small-but-vocal minority blamed it squarely on one side of the political spectrum or the other, with varying levels of intemperate language — describing the party of Vice President Kamala Harris as the “democRATs,” for instance, or calling former President Donald Trump “the Orange Idiot.”

For the majority of accountants, however, that sort of vituperation is precisely the problem.

“The lack of cooperation and working together for all citizens is appalling,” said a manager from a small accounting firm in the Midwest who is a registered Republican. “The nastiness and name-calling is childlike. I expect better from all elected officials. We need solutions and actions, not harsh words about others. Our political leaders need to work together for solutions. Perhaps the problem is we do not have real leaders; we have elected personalities.”

“It’s too adversarial, and never in my lifetime has it been less about what is good for the people,” agreed a Democrat who is the owner of a small firm in the West.

“Politics seems to be about ways to ‘get’ the other guy, not about helping the people of America,” added a staff member, a Republican, from a small firm in the South.

Donald Trump and Kamala Harris at the second presidential debate in Philadelphia.
Donald Trump and Kamala Harris at the second presidential debate in Philadelphia.

Doug Mills/The New York Times/Bloomberg

A number of respondents expressed serious concern about what they see as deepening divisions between Americans, and the way politicians exploit those.

“This country is so divided,” warned a Republican department head from a midsized firm in the Midwest. “People are making decisions based on emotion, rather than facts and policy. There are blatant lies around every corner and people ignore it or are misinformed. Sadly, people are choosing to break ties with lifelong friends and family rather than seeing the truth: These politicians do not really care about us.”

A registered Independent who owns a small firm in the South agreed: “There is too much division,” he said. “Compromise is not a dirty word.”

The practical results of politics

The unwillingness to compromise is having serious implications for taxpayers.

“There is a lot of animosity which is preventing important legislation from being passed,” warned a senior executive from a midsized firm in the Midwest who is registered as a Republican. “For example, the technical corrections related to research and development credits was not passed because the parties cannot work together on a common goal. A simple bill like this should have been proactively passed with little hesitation; however, the bill was littered with other propaganda that made it impossible to pass.”

All of that matters to tax professionals because there are major issues they are hoping to see resolved after the election — in particular, the impending end of a number of provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

“The sunsetting of TCJA will greatly impact my small-business owners,” said the owner of a small firm in the Northeast who is a Democrat. “I expect tax liabilities to go up post-election.”

“There’s a four-page list of expiring tax breaks,” noted a staff member from a very small firm in the West who is an Independent. “Congress is doing nothing to help the people, they are only interested in what goes into their pockets, not how to get the economy moving. If all the TCJA [provisions] expire in 2025, I don’t want to be doing taxes anymore. Clients think we are not looking out for them, or we are ‘taxing’ their Social Security, but they don’t understand we are just trying to follow the ever changing laws.”

Some said that the election will inevitably cause problems for accountants — regardless of whether the winners actually resolve any of the issues the profession is concerned about.

“I believe there will be compliance issues related to whomever is elected,” said a department head from a midsized Midwest firm, a Republican. “As anyone in accounting can tell you, the continuous changes to the Tax Code are a huge burden on CPA firms, particularly those that are smaller. Large firms have teams dedicated to navigating changes, so they are able to pivot quickly but smaller, regional firms are in a perpetual game of catch-up, it seems.”

Continue Reading

Accounting

Accountants on IRS and PwC layoffs, accounting students and more

Published

on

Complimentary Access Pill

Enjoy complimentary access to top ideas and insights — selected by our editors.

This week’s stats focus in part on the job titles seeing the greatest losses at the IRS during layoffs; as well as the states that have proposed or passed alternatives to the 150-hour rule; the percentage of master’s in accounting program applicants since 2020; the number of PwC employees laid off in May; the projected size of Deloitte’s new New York City headquarters; and the amount of 2026 HSA annual contribution limits, depending on coverage.

Continue Reading

Accounting

CrowdStrike says DOJ, SEC sent inquiries on firm accounting

Published

on

CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. said U.S. officials have asked for information related to the accounting of deals it’s made with some customers and said the cybersecurity firm is cooperating with the inquiry.

The Austin, Texas-based company said in a filing Wednesday that it has gotten “requests for information” from the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission “relating to the company’s recognition of revenue and reporting of ARR for transactions with certain customers.” ARR refers to annual recurring revenue, a measure of earnings from subscriptions.

The company said the federal officials have also sought information related to a CrowdStrike update last year that crashed Windows operating systems around the world.

“The company is cooperating and providing information in response to these requests,” the filing states.

U.S. prosecutors and regulators have been investigating a $32 million deal between CrowdStrike and a technology distributor, Carahsoft Technology Corp., to provide cybersecurity tools to the Internal Revenue Service, Bloomberg News first reported in February. The IRS never purchased or received the products, Bloomberg News earlier reported.

The investigators are probing what senior CrowdStrike executives may have known about the $32 million deal and are examining other transactions made by the cybersecurity firm, Bloomberg News reported in May.

Asked for comment about the filing, CrowdStrike spokesperson Brian Merrill said, “As we have told Bloomberg repeatedly, this is old news and we stand by the accounting of the transaction.” 

A lawyer for Carahsoft previously declined to comment on the federal investigations, and representatives didn’t respond to subsequent requests for comment about them.

Continue Reading

Accounting

Elon Musk urges Americans take action to ‘kill’ Trump tax cut bill

Published

on

Tech titan Elon Musk ratcheted up his offensive against Donald Trump’s signature tax bill on Wednesday, urging that Americans contact their lawmakers to “KILL” the legislation.

“Call your Senator, Call your Congressman,” Musk wrote in a social media post. “Bankrupting America is NOT ok!”

The post came one day after Musk lashed out at the tax bill, describing it as a budget-busting “disgusting abomination” as Republican fiscal hawks stepped up criticism of the massive fiscal package. 

Trump hasn’t publicly responded to Musk’s comments, but the White House put out a statement Wednesday saying the legislation “unleashes an era of unprecedented economic growth.” 

And House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters that Musk is “dead wrong” about the bill and that the tax cuts will pay for themselves through economic growth.

Musk’s public condemnation pits him against the president at a critical time as Trump is personally lobbying holdouts on the bill. His campaign against the legislation threatens to stiffen resistance and delay enactment of the tax cuts and debt ceiling increase. 

Musk has attacked the legislation days after leaving a temporary assignment leading the administration’s Department of Government Efficiency initiative to cut federal spending. The Tesla Inc. chief executive officer’s high-profile role in the Trump administration eroded his business brand and sales of his company’s electric vehicles plunged. 

The House-passed version of the tax and spending bill would add $2.4 trillion to U.S. budget deficits over the next decade, according to an estimate released Wednesday from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

The CBO’s calculation reflects a $3.67 trillion decrease in expected revenues and a $1.25 trillion decline in spending over the decade through 2034, relative to baseline projections. The score doesn’t account for any potential boost to the economy from the bill, which Johnson and Trump argue would offset the revenue losses. 

Musk, the world’s richest man with a net worth of about $377 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, has become a crucial financial backer of the Republican party. After making modest donations most years, Musk became the biggest U.S. political donor in 2024, giving more than $290 million.

Johnson said Musk had promised to help reelect Republicans just a day before savaging Trump’s bill. Musk did not respond to a request for comment. 

Most of Musk’s giving was aimed at electing Trump but he also supported congressional candidates. America PAC, the super political action committee that Musk largely funded, spent $18.5 million in 17 separate House races. Though that total pales in comparison to the roughly $255 million he spent backing Trump, the spending means a lot in a congressional election, where challengers on average raise less than $1 million.

Control of the House will likely be decided by the outcome of fewer than two dozen close races in the 2026 midterm elections. The GOP’s chances of holding their majority would suffer a major blow if Musk were to withdraw his financial support.

Continue Reading

Trending