Courtney Vien

Raleigh

Senior Reporter at CFO Brew

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Articles

IRS to lose up to 40% of its workforce

1 week ago | cfobrew.com | Courtney Vien

The IRS, acting under direction from the Trump administration, will cut from 30% to 40% of its workforce, according to an internal memo seen by CBS News and the Federal News Network. The agency has plans to go from 102,000 employees to a target of 60,000 to 70,000, the memo said. The layoffs will come in two phases, the memo said.
Tariffs won’t restore US manufacturing jobs, supply chain professionals say

1 week ago | cfobrew.com | Courtney Vien

Cut down on courthouse antics. Learn how legal system abuse is defined + strategies to mitigate this type of abuse with Marsh McLennan Agency. Defend your org. The tariffs levied by President Donald Trump likely won’t bring manufacturing jobs back to the US, a CNBC survey of supply chain professionals suggests. Around six in 10 (61%) respondents CNBC polled said it would be more cost-effective for them to source goods from lower-tariff countries than to onshore.
What midcap companies look for in a CFO

1 week ago | cfobrew.com | Courtney Vien

As CEO of executive search and talent advisory firm Boyden, Chad Hesters hears a lot about what companies are looking for in a CFO. In particular, he works with many midcap, privately held, family-owned companies. We spoke with him about the trends he’s seeing and the skill sets finance professionals should cultivate if they aspire to CFO roles in companies like these. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. What skill sets are midcap companies looking for in their CFOs?
Baker Tilly in talks to merge with Moss Adams

1 week ago | cfobrew.com | Courtney Vien

Hey, remember when we thought the CBIZ-Marcum merger was big? An even larger deal between two accounting firms may be on the horizon. The Wall Street Journal reports that Baker Tilly, the 11th-largest accounting firm in the US, and Moss Adams, the 12th-largest, are in talks to complete a merger. If the deal goes through, the combined entity would be the 6th-largest accounting firm in the US, with annual revenues of more than $3 billion.
Senate confirms Atkins as next SEC chair

1 week ago | cfobrew.com | Courtney Vien

The Senate has voted, 52–44, along partisan lines, to confirm Paul Atkins as head of the SEC. Atkins was an SEC commissioner from 2002 to 2008 under President George W. Bush, and is CEO of consulting firm Patomak Global Partners. He is widely expected to take a more deregulatory approach than his predecessor, Gary Gensler. In speeches, he has criticized Dodd-Frank and expressed the viewpoint that regulators, not Wall Street, were to blame for the Great Depression.
The rise and fall of the 150-hour rule

2 weeks ago | cfobrew.com | Courtney Vien

The 150-hour rule always irked accounting professor Boz Bostrom. The 40-plus-year-old rule requires aspiring CPAs to earn 150 hours of college credit—or 30 hours on top of the 120 needed for a bachelor’s degree—to be eligible for licensure. Getting additional education, Bostrom told CFO Brew, could cost a student tens of thousands of dollars “as opposed to working that year and making $75,000,” he said.
Third IRS head quits since the inauguration

2 weeks ago | cfobrew.com | Courtney Vien

The turmoil at the IRS continues as the agency’s head, Acting Commissioner Melanie Krause, has announced she will resign. She will be the third IRS head to step down since Donald Trump’s inauguration. Krause is leaving, people familiar with the matter told the Washington Post, because the Treasury Department and the Department of Homeland Security did not include her when drafting an agreement to force the IRS to give taxpayer data to immigration officials.
A three-part plan for dealing with tariffs

2 weeks ago | cfobrew.com | Courtney Vien

Cut down on courthouse antics. Learn how legal system abuse is defined + strategies to mitigate this type of abuse with Marsh McLennan Agency. Defend your org. As you may have noticed, President Donald Trump announced sweeping new tariffs on April 2, with a 10% baseline rate to be slapped on imports from most countries, plus even higher rates for imports from the EU, China, and other nations.
Deficiencies dropped to 39% from 46% in 2023.

3 weeks ago | cfobrew.com | Courtney Vien

Somewhere, Erica Y. Williams is smiling. Audit deficiencies dropped in 2024, the PCAOB reported in a staff publication, reversing a multi-year trend of rising deficiency rates. It observed that 39% of audits it inspected in 2024 had deficiencies, down from 46% in 2023. That’s still a “high” rate, the PCAOB said, and it’s greater than 2021’s 34% deficiency rate and 2020’s 29% rate. But it represents a move in the right direction.
SEC climate rule kicks the bucket

3 weeks ago | cfobrew.com | Courtney Vien

After months on life support, the SEC climate rule is finally, officially dead. The SEC will no longer defend the rule in court, the agency announced on March 27. The rule, which would have required US public companies to make disclosures about their greenhouse gas emissions and how climate risks could affect them, was released in March 2024 and almost immediately faced legal opposition. The SEC put the implementation of the rule on pause while the courts deliberated.