I first discovered accounting in my sophomore year of college and was immediately drawn to its zero-sum game: every trial balance must foot to zero, every debit matched by a credit; it was a perfect harmony of logic. But as I moved from the classroom to the conference room, I realized that behind each journal entry lies a human story far richer than any spreadsheet.

At EY, I spent years in the international tax practice, working on mergers and acquisitions, IP onshoring and cross‑border reorganizations, an environment where the answer almost always began with “it depends.” Every multistep plan we proposed carried consequences across jurisdictions, and our task was to bring every stakeholder along, weighing trade‑offs in tax savings, implementation costs and regulatory scrutiny. Gaining that buy‑in requires something more than technical expertise; it demands trust, built through empathy and open dialogue. And while we may lean on AI tools for speed and analysis, the trust we place in another person is fundamentally different and irreplaceable.

It is certain that AI will truly upend our way of working. When I started out in my career and had to understand what GILTI, BEAT and FDII meant and why I should care about them, I had a few paths to take: 1. Go ask my senior or manager and have them explain it to me; 2. Look it up on Google and get well and truly lost reading through the regs; or 3. Go read a BNA portfolio. Now with even the most basic AI large language model, I can ask for it to define the subject, give me an example and break it down for me as if I am a child.

The access you have today to information is comparable to when the internet first became available and with this brings the debate: ‘Will we need accountants in the future?” I understand why this question keeps getting brought up. Most people outside think we have a standardized workflow with pristine data for which we just log in at 9 and go home at 5 after working on our beloved spreadsheets. But ask anyone in the industry and they will tell you how they would love to have this kind of a lifestyle where each answer was clear and there was a definitive way forward. 

As AI technology evolves, so too will the tools that have shaped our careers. Every day, new startups launch with the promise of revolutionizing how we work. Before long, I believe all the manual tasks we once performed will be fully automated. I look forward to the day when I can simply extract a trial balance from the system and generate a tax return that automatically applies book‑to‑tax adjustments, tracks every business change from the year, and delivers a complete, compliant filing. I’ll shed tears of joy the first time I never have to hand‑fill a Schedule Q again.

But that’s when my real work will begin. I will review each return not only to confirm that the numbers are entered correctly, but also to ensure they make sense in context. I’ll seek to understand the story the business is telling: Why did certain figures move? What does this reveal about the company’s strategy? And based on those insights, how can we design a proactive plan for the coming year? To answer these questions, I’ll draw on every lesson from my critical thinking courses and ask why.

AI shouldn’t be viewed as a career threat but as a powerful partner in our work. After all, our clients’ finances are deeply personal, tied to their dreams, anxieties and life milestones, and emotions inevitably come into play. With regulations and tax laws shifting daily, clients will look to us not just for compliance, but for someone who can translate figures into a meaningful narrative. You personally know how many questions you got asked over the last few months asking you to predict what is going to happen this year. That’s where human judgment is irreplaceable: knowing when to dig deeper, which details to emphasize, and how to guide clients through complexity with clarity and compassion.

In the age of AI, the professionals who will excel are those who invest as much in empathy, communication and critical thinking as they do in technical skills. They’ll build workflows that require every AI‑generated insight to pass through a human lens and welcome the moments when financials reveal a story of resilience or ambition. AI will continue to accelerate change, but behind every algorithmic recommendation and every line on a tax return, there must be a person ready to listen, interpret and guide. Because at its core, finance will always be personal.

Grant Thornton Advisors is adding Grant Thornton Switzerland/Lichtenstein and Grant Thornton in the Channel Islands to the multinational platform it launched earlier this year. Both transactions are expected to close later this year.

In January, Grant Thornton Advisors combined with Grant Thornton Ireland to create an integrated international firm. In April, it announced agreements with GT firms in Luxembourg, the United Arab Emirates and the Cayman Islands, as well as GT Netherlands in May.

The firm is backed by private equity firm New Mountain Capital, which acquired its majority stake in March 2024 after selling a majority stake in Top 100 Firm Citrin Cooperman. As a result of the PE investment, Grant Thornton took on an alternative practice structure, splitting its non-attest services into Grant Thornton Advisors and its audit and assurance services into Grant Thornton LLP.

By adding firms in Switzerland, Liechtenstein and the Channel Islands, Grant Thornton is expanding its geographic footprint and increasing its total headcount to 13,5000 professionals across nearly 60 offices over the Americas, Europe and Middle East. 

“We are very pleased to have our colleagues in the Channel Islands, Switzerland and Liechtenstein join our differentiated and expanding platform,” Jim Peko, CEO of Grant Thornton Advisors, said in a statement. “We’re building the world’s most talented team — delivering seamless offerings through an expanded footprint. The result: an unparalleled client experience and unmatched quality.”

Adam Budworth, managing partner of Grant Thornton Channel Islands, said in a statement: “This is an exciting opportunity to support our growth in the Channel Islands with access to new service offerings, technologies and investment capital. Joining the platform will only enhance the reputation of the Channel Islands on a bigger stage, while at the same time creating unique opportunities for our people.”

“I am delighted about this positive development and am convinced that it is the right step for our firm in the current turbulent market environment,” Erich Bucher, CEO of Grant Thornton Switzerland/Liechtenstein, said in a statement. “It opens up completely new perspectives for us and will enable us to push ahead with our growth strategy much more quickly.”

Senate Republicans plan to modify President Donald Trump’s massive fiscal package to lower maximum deductions for state and local taxes and limit the impact of a “revenge” tax on foreign investors.

Senate GOP leaders also plan to cut deeper into Medicaid health insurance for the poor and disabled than House Republicans did in their version of the legislation to help pay for Trump’s tax cuts.

Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee released their version of the legislation, which also would make permanent some business tax breaks that would only run through 2029 in the version the House passed last month by a single vote. 

Here are some of the key differences between the Senate and House tax bills. 

‘Revenge’ tax

The House bill’s Section 899 “revenge” tax has alarmed Wall Street analysts who warn it would create another disincentive for foreign investors already rattled by Trump’s erratic trade policies and the nation’s deteriorating fiscal accounts. 

Senate Republicans responded by delaying and watering down the levy, which would increase tax rates for individuals and companies from countries whose tax policies the government deems “discriminatory.” 

The Senate version would postpone that new tax until 2027 for calendar-year filers and raise it by 5 percentage points a year until it hits a 15% cap. The House version of the tax would take effect sooner and rise to 20% over four years on individuals and firms from targeted countries.

State and local tax deduction

Senate Republicans want to significantly scale back the House bill’s $40,000 limit on state and local tax deductions, a move House Republicans from high-tax states such as New York, New Jersey and California are fighting.

The Senate’s version of the tax bill calls for a $10,000 SALT cap, which leaders acknowledge is merely a placeholder figure as they try to hash out a compromise. There are no Senate Republicans from those high-tax states, and they’ve made no bones about the fact that it’s not a priority for them. 

Car loans

Senators want to restrict to new cars a House-passed provision allowing car buyers to deduct up to $10,000 a year in interest on their auto loans through 2028 for vehicles built in the U.S. Ohio Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno, a former car dealer, pushed for the language.

Moreno had also sought to make the tax break permanent, but the draft keeps it a temporary benefit.

Electric vehicles

The Senate bill would eliminate a popular $7,500 credit for the purchase of electric vehicles 180 days after the bill becomes law, as opposed to expiring at the end of the year for most vehicles in the House version. That could be a difference of a few days, or longer, depending on the timing of the bill. 

Child tax credit

Both the House and Senate bills seek to boost the child tax credit but they do so in different ways. The Senate legislation would increase the maximum per-child credit from $2,000 to $2,200, making it permanent and adjust it for inflation in later years. 

The House bill would boost the tax break to $2,500, but it would decrease after 2028.

Tipped workers

The Senate bill contains new limits on Trump’s campaign promises to exempt tips and overtime from taxation. It caps the amount of tipped wages that can be exempt at $25,000 per individual and overtime at $12,500 per individual and $25,000 per couple. The breaks phase out above $150,000 in income for individuals and $300,000 for couples, and, like the House bill, they expire after 2028.

Seniors

The Senate bill expands a maximum $4,000 bonus standard deduction for seniors to $6,000 in an effort to better offset all Social Security taxes paid, a promise by Trump.

Medicaid cuts

The Senate bill makes more aggressive cuts to the Medicaid program for low-income and disabled people than the reductions in the House bill, favoring states like Texas and Florida that did not expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. 

The Senate bill also would require parents with children 15 and older to work or do community service for 80 hours per month to qualify for health insurance through Medicaid. The House plan exempted all people with dependents from the work requirements. 

University endowment tax

The Senate bill significantly pares back the House’s plans to increase taxes on investment income generated by private university endowments. While the House proposed a levy as high as 21% on institutions with the largest endowments, the Senate version would cap the tax hike at 8%. 

The bill does not include a tax on private foundations found in the House bill.

Permanent business tax breaks

The panel also plans to permanently extend three business-friendly tax breaks that end after 2029 in the House version. Those provisions include the research and development deduction, the ability to use depreciation and amortization as the basis for interest expensing and 100% bonus depreciation of certain property, including most machinery and factories. 

Gun tax breaks

The Senate version would eliminate taxes and other regulations on many guns and silencers subject to the National Firearms Act of 1934 in a win for gun-rights advocates.