Accounting
The most-read stories of 2024 in accounting
Enjoy complimentary access to top ideas and insights — selected by our editors.
2024 was a significant year across the accounting profession, with a host of pressing issues such as the worsening talent shortage, moves by top firms like PwC and RSM US restructuring their operations, the effect of President-elect Donald Trump’s return on the tax landscape, and more.
With that in mind, here are our most-read stories from the past 12 months, highlighting some of the developments that caught our readers’ attention.
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Why accounting firms are bleeding talent
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The talent shortage facing the accounting profession is well known at this point, as graduates with accounting majors are deterred by uncompetitive wages and a lack of education on career paths — while existing accountants leave the field entirely. Amid this identity crisis, firms are starting to look inwards for solutions.
Data from the most recent
But many in the field say the hurdles to becoming a licensed CPA, including the test itself, are simply not worth the payoff.
Appeals court reinstates BOI injunction
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A federal appeals court has reversed itself, reinstating an injunction on beneficial ownership information reporting by businesses only days after lifting it.
On Dec. 23, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
The plaintiffs petitioned the full appeals court for an en banc rehearing to consider additional issues in the case. They
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Reshaping the pyramid
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Consider the pyramid.
For much of its modern history, the public accounting profession has relied on the pyramid — at least metaphorically — in building both the ownership and management structures of CPA firms, and it has proven a remarkably enduring model, to the point where it was effectively the only model from the 1930s up until the late 1990s, and remained overwhelmingly the most common model for the first two decades of the 21st century.
But while the pyramids of Giza look likely to last far into the future, the pyramid model of accounting firms is facing serious challenges, specifically over the last four years, as more and more firms experiment with a host of new or newly popular models for how firms can be owned and managed.
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Accounting talent shortage worsens
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The shortage of accounting talent continues to plague the profession and appears to be getting worse. As the pipeline dries up, 83% of senior leaders report a talent shortage this year, up from 70% in 2022, with 10% this year saying it’s worsening, according to a
More than 300,000 accountants and auditors left the accounting profession between 2020 and 2022, a 17% decline, according to
As outsourcing gains wider use, the report found 90% of surveyed CFOs outsource some of their accounting functions, and 90% of those respondents said they can easily find qualified accountants when they need them. That enables them to leverage specialized talent to maintain efficiency and focus on strategic goals.
Al Drago/Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg
Trump’s victory: What it means for taxes
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After a presidential campaign that saw a steady stream of tax proposals aimed at a wide range of constituents, Donald Trump will return to the White House next January, when he can begin trying to deliver on those promises.
One of the most significant areas of focus will be on the expiring provisions of the former and future president’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which was a signature achievement of his first term. Republicans have taken control of the Senate, but control of the House remains in question as votes continue to be counted.
Extending all the provisions could cost as much as $4.6 trillion, according to Rochelle Hodes, Washington National Tax Office principal at Top 25 Firm Crowe.
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The riskiest jobs in accounting
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We’ve been hearing it for years, but especially in 2023 as generative AI rocked the world: Automation and artificial intelligence are here and they’re coming for all the routine, mundane, repeatable tasks that have traditionally been accountants’ bread and butter.
However, allowing machines to do this frees up human accountants for higher-value, strategically oriented tasks that will help firms do more with less in the face of a diminishing talent pipeline and outside disruption. Professionals will be able to work on the things that are really interesting to them and discard all the drudge work that no one ever wanted to do anyway.
Of course, regardless of whether or not anyone necessarily wants to do these things, there are still people whose job it is to do them — at least for now. Because as technology improves, the range of tasks that can be automated will only grow wider, increasing the risk for disruption. This, over time, will greatly alter the shape of the profession and the behavior of firms, which itself will alter career paths and force many out of their comfort zone with little choice but to adapt to these changing circumstances.
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Baby season vs. busy season
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Having a second child wasn’t even in the cards for Erica Goode until she knew she was going to quit her accounting job.
Goode started her career at the Big Four before moving to corporate accounting. Instead of a busy tax season, she had a busy audit season, so when she got pregnant with her first kid she requested a part-time schedule for when she returned from maternity leave.
“I can do the math,” she said. “I realized that my kid was going to spend more of their waking hours with their daycare provider than they would with me, and I just wasn’t OK with that.”
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Accounting standards blamed for lack of accountants
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The 150-hour rule for obtaining a CPA license is getting blamed in many quarters lately for the shortage of accountants, but another culprit may be the proliferation of complicated accounting standards, according to a recent academic study.
The
“The study looks at how growing regulation within accounting and the increase in accounting rules issued by the FASB have changed the accounting profession and the role of the accountant,” said Anthony Le, a Ph.D candidate in accounting at Columbia University, who carried out the study.
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PwC shakes up U.S. firm
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PricewaterhouseCoopers US is realigning its organizational structure across three lines of service — Assurance, Tax and Advisory — starting in July, only about three years after it
A spokesperson said the new structure would better serve client needs, their buying patterns and the market. It takes effect July 1. The new operating committee includes assurance leader Deanna Byrne and tax leader Krishnan Chandrasekhar.
PwC US’s incoming senior partner, Paul Griggs, announced the changes in April via a
Photo courtesy of RSM US LLP
RSM lays off 3% of staff
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Top 10 Firm RSM US laid off 5% of its consulting workforce, as well as an unspecified number of employees in assurance, on Sept. 20.
Employees in the consulting practice were notified in a virtual meeting with the practice leader and a human resources representative on Sept. 20, a source inside the firm who was impacted by the layoffs told Accounting Today.
Approximately 240 employees across the consulting practice were affected, and those employees will finish their projects by early next week, according to an email sent after the meeting. The firm said that it planned no further reductions.
One suspect in the two New Year’s Day incidents being probed as terror attacks was a former U.S. Army sergeant from Texas who recently worked for Big Four firm Deloitte. The other was a U.S. Army special forces sergeant from Colorado on leave from active duty.
Law enforcement officials on Thursday said there appears to be no definitive link between the two deadly events: a truck attack in New Orleans that left at least 15 dead and the explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck outside of President-elect Donald Trump’s hotel in Las Vegas that killed the driver and injured seven.
But in addition to the military backgrounds of the suspects — they both served in Afghanistan in 2009 — on the day of the attacks they shared at least one other striking similarity: Both men used the same rental app to obtain electric vehicles.
The driver of the Cybertruck was identified as Matthew Alan Livelsberger of Colorado Springs. He rented the Cybertruck on Turo, the app also used by Shamsud-Din Jabbar, the suspect in the separate attack in New Orleans hours earlier. Turo said it was working with law enforcement officials on the investigation of both incidents.
There are “very strange similarities and so we’re not prepared to rule in or rule out anything at this point,” said Sheriff Kevin McMahill of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.
The gruesome assault on revelers celebrating New Year’s in New Orleans’ famed French Quarter and the explosion in Las Vegas thrust U.S. domestic security back into the spotlight just weeks before Donald Trump is sworn in as president.
Texas roots
As authorities combed through the macabre scene on Wednesday in New Orleans’ historic French Quarter, they said they discovered an ISIS flag with the Ford F-150 electric pickup truck that barreled through the crowd. Two improvised explosive devices were found in the area, according to the FBI.
Jabbar had claimed to join ISIS during the summer and pledged allegiance to the group in videos posted on social media prior to the attack, according to the FBI. An official said there’s no evidence that ISIS coordinated the attack.
Officials said the 42-year-old Jabbar, who lived in the Houston area, exchanged fire with police and was killed at the scene.
Jabbar has said online that he spent “all his life” in the Texas city, with the exception of 10 years working in human resources and information technology in the military, according to a video promoting his real estate business.
After serving as an active-duty soldier from 2006 to 2015 and as a reservist for about five years, Jabbar began a career in technology services, the Wall Street Journal reported. He worked for Accenture, Ernst & Young and Deloitte.
Jabbar was divorced twice, most recently from Shaneen McDaniel, according to Fort Bend County marriage records. The couple, who married in 2017, had one son, and separated in 2020. The divorce was finalized in 2022.
“The marriage has become insupportable due to discord or conflict of personalities that destroys the legitimate ends of the marital relationship and prevents any reasonable expectation of reconciliation,” the petition stated.
McDaniel kept the couple’s four-bedroom home southwest of Houston. She declined to comment when contacted at her house in suburban Houston.
Fort Bragg
Jabbar moved to another residence in Houston, which the FBI and local law enforcement spent all night searching before declaring the neighborhood of mobile homes and single-story houses safe for residents. Agents cleared the scene shortly before 8 a.m. local time without additional comment.
Jabbar’s mobile home is fronted by an 8-foot corrugated steel fence that was partially torn apart to provide search teams access. Weightlifting equipment and a bow hunting target were scattered across the broken concrete walkway. Chickens, Muscovy ducks and guinea fowl roamed the property.
Behind the home, a yellow 2018 Jeep Rubicon sat with its doors left wide open and a hardcover book written in Arabic sitting atop the dashboard. The license plate expired in May 2023.
The other suspect, Livelsberger, was a member of the Army’s elite Green Berets, according to the Associated Press, which cited unidentified Army officials. He had served in the Army since 2006, rising through the ranks, and was on approved leave when he died in the blast.
Livelsberger, 37, spent time at the base formerly known as Fort Bragg, a massive Army base in North Carolina that’s home to Army special forces command. Jabbar also spent time at Fort Bragg, though his service apparently didn’t overlap with Livelsberger’s.
Las Vegas Sheriff McMahill said they found his military identification, a passport, a semiautomatic, fireworks, an iPhone, smartwatch and credit cards in his name, but are still uncertain it’s Livelsberger and are waiting on DNA records.
“His body is burnt beyond recognition and I do still not have confirmation 100% that that is the individual that was inside our vehicle,” he said.
The individual in the car suffered a gunshot wound to his head prior to the detonation of the vehicle.
The Financial Accounting Standards Board today asked stakeholders for feedback on its future standard-setting agenda.
The FASB published an
Stakeholders should review and submit feedback by June 30.
Patrick Dorsman/Financial Accounting Foundation
“As a result of the significant progress on the 2021 agenda consultation priorities, the FASB staff is once again seeking stakeholder input on the Board’s future agenda and initiatives,” FASB technical director Jackson Day said in a statement. “We encourage stakeholders to take this opportunity to review the ITC and share their views on financial accounting and reporting priorities they think the Board should address going forward.”
The FASB began the current agenda consultation in 2024, doing outreach to over 200 stakeholders, including investors, practitioners, preparers and academics. The discussion in this ITC is based on input received from those stakeholders and does not contain FASB views. Most of those stakeholders said “there is not a case to make major changes to generally accepted accounting principles at this time,” according to the announcement, so many of the topics that were suggested focus on targeted improvements to GAAP.
The board encourages stakeholders to continue to submit
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