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SYDNEY, May 30 (Reuters) - Australian senators will use parliamentary hearings this week to demand accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) name staff and clients who were in on the "big four" firm's misuse of confidential government tax plans. No confidential information was used to help clients pay less tax, it said in the statement on Monday. The cache of emails between 2014 and 2017 discuss how confidential drafts of new rules were used to seek work with U.S. technology companies, among others. The parliamentary committee will hear from the Australian Tax Office and the Tax Practitioners Board and Treasury, which last week referred the matter to police for a possible criminal investigation. Reporting by Lewis Jackson in Sydney; Editing by Sonali PaulOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

In an open letter, acting chief executive Kristin Stubbins said she wanted to apologise on behalf of the firm for "sharing confidential government tax policy information", and said nine partners had been directed to take leave. PwC agreed to stand down from government work any implicated staff a day later. The heart of the issue is that a then-partner on tax at PwC shared confidential information with colleagues while advising the government on new rules to crack down on tax minimisation by multinational companies. Asked on Monday whether the firm should release the names of those with access to confidential information, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called for more transparency pending the police investigation. No clients were involved in any wrongdoing and no confidential information had been used to help clients pay less tax, the firm said.

☆ Australia says PwC leak of government tax documents may be referred to police
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

SYDNEY, May 22 (Reuters) - Australia said on Monday the government will take further steps in response to the leak of government tax plans by accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and that the matter could be referred to the Australian Federal Police. PwC Australia's CEO stepped down this month and the firm has said it is "committed to learning for our mistakes". "I think the PwC experience has been deeply, deeply troubling and we've already taken some steps but we will be taking further steps," Treasurer Jim Chalmers also told ABC Radio in an interview on Monday. "I will have more to say about how we crack down on this behaviour, which is inexcusable, frankly," he said. PwC said this month that former Telstra and Optus CEO Ziggy Switkowski will lead an independent review into the leak and will report his findings and recommendations in September.

SYDNEY, May 15 (Reuters) - PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) said the former CEO of its Australia business, who stepped down just last week, will retire from the firm, while the auditor also announced an independent review into a leak of confidential government tax information. Tom Seymour will retire as a partner at the firm on Sept. 30, PwC Australia said in a statement on Monday. According to recent local media reports, another former PwC partner had been banned by Australia's tax practitioners board for sharing government tax plans with other staff at the firm. PwC has confirmed the "unauthorised sharing of confidential tax policy information", but has not named the individuals involved. That includes if the report recommends "exiting" further people and partners from the firm, PwC added.

☆ Americans are setting vacation records and splurging at bars, restaurants and hotels
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Bryan Mena | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

This expected strength in leisure spending means big business for an industry that was on its knees just three years ago. When the pandemic began, restaurants, bars and hotels were hard hit, shedding more than 8 million jobs in the first few months of 2020. A recent survey from Bank of America showed that 68% of Americans plan to take a vacation this year. Vacationing remained elevated in April with 2.7 million Americans not at work because they were on vacation, the highest level for that month since 2017. Leisure spending is usually first on the chopping block because of its discretionary nature.

WASHINGTON, May 10 (Reuters) - A U.S. accounting watchdog found unacceptable deficiencies in audits of U.S.-listed Chinese companies performed by KPMG in China and PricewaterhouseCoopers in Hong Kong, the government agency said on Wednesday. The deficiencies were so great that auditors failed to obtain enough evidence to substantiate companies' financial statements, PCAOB Chair Erica Williams told reporters on Wednesday. KPMG Huazhen in China said in a statement it has taken steps to address the issues the PCAOB had found. With its 2023 work, the PCAOB expects it will have inspected auditors representing 99% of the work in the region. The agency will continue to demand full access to do its work, Williams said.

☆ Audits of Chinese Companies Are Highly Deficient, U.S. Regulator Says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Mark Maurer | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The PCAOB oversees audit firms that review the financial statements of companies listed in the U.S. Photo: Alyssa Schukar for The Wall Street JournalThe Public Company Accounting Oversight Board found significant auditing deficiencies in its first ever set of inspections in China and Hong Kong, saying that local affiliates of KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers missed the mark on auditing U.S.-listed companies in the region. The U.S. audit watchdog last fall completed its first set of inspections of China-based audit firms after years of Chinese regulators refusing to allow such reviews on national-security concerns. After PCAOB staff returned from Hong Kong, the regulator in December said it obtained full access to inspect the firms.

WASHINGTON, May 10 (Reuters) - The U.S. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) found unacceptable deficiencies in audits of U.S.-listed Chinese companies performed by KPMG in China and PriceWaterhouseCoopers in Hong Kong, the government agency said on Wednesday. The U.S. audit watchdog published the findings of its inspections after gaining access to Chinese company auditors' records for the first time last year following more than a decade of negotiations with Chinese authorities. The deficiencies were so great that auditors failed to obtain sufficient evidence to substantiate companies' financial statements, PCAOB Chair Erica Williams told reporters on Wednesday. The two firms represented 40% of the market share of U.S.-listed companies audited by Hong Kong and mainland China firms, she said. While the findings are consistent with what the agency usually discovers when gaining access to a foreign country's audit records for the first time, they will likely raise worries among global investors over the accuracy of U.S.-listed Chinese companies' public financial statements.

☆ Schroders' assets under management fall on year; small uptick from prior quarter
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

At the end of the first quarter, Schroders' assets under management rose 1.2% to 746.3 billion, although still 0.8% lower than the corresponding period a year ago, when the Russia-Ukraine conflict had just begun. Peer St. James's Place (SJP.L) said assets under management rose 3.5% by the end of March quarter, adding that it expected a more supportive environment for new business in 2023. Still, SJP's net inflows were down nearly 9% at 2 billion pounds during the first quarter, missing company-compiled analysts' expectations of 2.2 billion. Separately, Schroders named PricewaterhouseCoopers' current global market leader, Richard Oldfield, as its new CFO. Schroders shares were down 1.4%at 474.5 pence by 0750 GMT, compared to a largely flat benchmark index (.FTSE).

☆ PricewaterhouseCoopers to Pour $1 Billion Into Generative AI
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Angus Loten | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

In addition to embedding generative AI in its own operations, PwC hopes to advise other companies on how to use the technology. Photo: Leon Neal/Getty ImagesPricewaterhouseCoopers LLP plans to invest $1 billion in generative artificial intelligence technology in its U.S. operations over the next three years, working with Microsoft Corp. and ChatGPT-maker OpenAI to automate aspects of its tax, audit and consulting services. The accounting and consulting giant said the multiyear investment, announced Wednesday, includes funding to recruit more AI workers and train existing staff in AI capabilities, while targeting AI software makers for potential acquisitions.

April 26 (Reuters) - With more and more lawyers at major law firms using fast-advancing generative artificial intelligence tools, legal AI startup Harvey said Wednesday that it raised $21 million in fresh investor cash. Sequoia Capital, which is leading the Series A fundraising round, said more than 15,000 law firms are on a waiting list to start using Harvey. The company says it builds custom large language models for law firms. Technology companies and investors have rushed to embrace large language model-based generative AI since Microsoft-backed OpenAI's ChatGPT debuted in November. Casetext in March released its AI legal assistant product, CoCounsel, which uses GPT-4 to speed up tasks like legal research, contract analysis and document review.

☆ Deloitte to cut 1,200 jobs in the US - FT
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

April 21 (Reuters) - Deloitte will cut around 1,200 jobs or 1.5% of its U.S. workforce, the Financial Times reported on Friday, citing internal employee communications. As growth in select practices moderates, we are taking modest personnel actions where necessary," Deloitte said in an emailed statement to Reuters. Several financial firms have slashed jobs in recent months including major Wall Street banks, asset managers and fintechs amid a turbulent macroeconomic environment that has pressured consumers and soured demand in several mainstay business units. Deloitte is part of the Big Four accounting firms that include EY, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Reporting by Jaiveer Singh Shekhawat in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh KuberOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Factbox: Tesla sets stage for annual shareholder meeting
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

April 10 (Reuters) - Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) has put up five proposals for vote at its annual shareholder meeting on May 16, including the nomination of co-founder JB Straubel to the electric-vehicle maker's board. Tesla shareholders usually vote largely in line with board recommendations. FREQUENCY OF NON-BINDING VOTE ON EXECUTIVE COMPENSATIONTesla said shareholders will vote on how frequently they would prefer a non-binding, advisory vote on compensation for executive officers. Investors will choose between one, two and three-year intervals for the non-binding vote on executive compensation, the board said, adding that it recommends a three-year interval. The EV maker has urged shareholders to vote against the proposal, saying it "would cause unnecessary competitive harm".

☆ Here's why people shouldn't freak out yet about losing their jobs to AI automation
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( Lakshmi Varanasi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

As AI tools revolutionize business, workers are worried they're at risk of losing their jobs. "We've been deploying automation technology for centuries, and as of 2023, pretty much every human who wants a job has a job," Smith wrote. Yet Noah Smith, the writer behind the popular Noahpinion economics newsletter, contended in a post on Monday that people shouldn't worry about losing their jobs to automation just yet. In his post, Smith examined several studies on job automation over the years from researchers at firms ranging from Citibank to PriceWaterHouseCoopers. Assessing "replacement" is often subjectiveSmith also pointed the subjectivity used in older studies for assessing a job's risk of replacement.

With large language models like OpenAI's GPT-4 and Google's Bard quickly increasing their power and reach, vLex and Fastcase are betting their combined document library will be a rich training data set for legal AI products. "It will always make sense to train legal LLMs on legal data instead of the World Wide Web," Walters said. The merger creates a law library that is "the biggest legal data corpus ever assembled," the companies said. Other large law firms are using new products from companies like Casetext, a legal research company that last month released a new generative AI legal assistant product. Casey Flaherty of legal innovation collective LexFusion predicted the new vLex would be a "serious player" among legal information companies as AI progresses.

☆ Layoffs destroy workers' trust, but there are ways employers can reduce the damage, a PwC survey shows
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Josée Rose | Tim Paradis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A PwC survey identified steps employers can take to help restore trust amid layoffs. "Trust is built in hard times, not easy times," Wes Bricker, a vice chair and US trust solutions coleader at PwC, told Insider. Bank runs and waves of job cuts across industries, including tech, have left some leaders and rank-and-file workers feeling uneasy. Yet the gaps in trust revealed by the survey indicate that there's more work for business leaders to do. The recent challenges in some industries mean business leaders need to be straight with their employees, Bricker said, even when it's difficult.

☆ Teacher transitions from the classroom to a major accounting firm — and reminds others 'you haven't just taught'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-25 | by ( Britney Nguyen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Michael Sanders taught US history at two different charter schools around the start of the pandemic. He talked to Insider about how he transitioned out of teaching to working at a Big Four firm. In 2019, he started teaching tenth grade US history at a charter school in Barnstable, Mass., which he enjoyed. The next school year, he moved to a larger charter school network in Austin, Texas, and taught AP US history to eleventh-graders. He still talks to some of his former students and teacher colleagues too.

HONG KONG, March 16 (Reuters) - Officials from the U.S. audit watchdog will start a new round of inspections in Hong Kong on Chinese companies' auditors as soon as next week, sources said, as part of a deal with Beijing to prevent delistings of the firms from the New York bourse. That visit came after U.S. and China reached a landmark deal last August to settle a long-running dispute over auditing compliance of U.S.-listed Chinese firms. It also warned that any obstruction of inspection access could affect Chinese firms' listings in the U.S. A mainland branch under KPMG and a Hong Kong branch under PwC were picked by the PCAOB in last year's inspections, the PCAOB said earlier. Reporting by Xie Yu and Selena Li in Hong Kong, additional reporting by Chris Prentice in Washington; Editing by Sumeet Chatterjee and Sonali PaulOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Factbox: Credit Suisse's troubles - spies, money laundering and takeover
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Credit Suisse has said it expects the case, which it is appealing, to cost it around $600 million. The hedge fund's highly leveraged bets on certain technology stocks backfired and the value of its portfolio with Credit Suisse plummeted. Swiss regulators have rebuked Credit Suisse for "serious" failings in its handling of the multi-billion dollar business with Greensill. Switzerland's financial regulator said Credit Suisse had misled it about the scale of the spying. In response, Credit Suisse said it condemned the spying and had taken "decisive" steps to improve its governance and strengthen compliance.

☆ Factbox: FACTBOX Credit Suisse's troubles - spies, money laundering and central bank cash
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Lescaudron was convicted by a Swiss court in 2018 of having forged the signatures of former clients, including Ivanishvili, over an eight-year period. Credit Suisse has said it expects the case, which it is appealing, to cost it around $600 million. The hedge fund's highly leveraged bets on certain technology stocks backfired and the value of its portfolio with Credit Suisse plummeted. Swiss regulators have rebuked Credit Suisse for "serious" failings in its handling of the multi-billion dollar business with Greensill. In response, Credit Suisse said it condemned the spying and had taken "decisive" steps to improve its governance and strengthen compliance.

(Reuters) - PricewaterhouseCoopers said Wednesday that it will give 4,000 of its legal professionals access to an artificial intelligence platform, becoming the latest firm to introduce generative AI technology for legal work. Other companies, law firms and professional services firms have also started to experiment with generative AI technology. Global law firm Allen & Overy last month became the first major legal business to publicly partner with Harvey. Other legal technology companies are rushing to incorporate generative AI capabilities into products. Casetext, a legal research company, said Tuesday its recently-released AI legal assistant product is also built on OpenAI's latest model, GPT-4.

☆ 4,000 legal professionals at one of the world's largest accounting firms are getting a chatbot to speed up their work
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Britney Nguyen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Accounting firm PwC is giving 4,000 of its lawyers access to an AI chatbot to help speed up work. The chatbots are being provided by AI startup Harvey which has a 12-month partnership with PwC. PwC said the chatbots will be used to help in areas like due diligence and contract analysis. The firm said AI won't be used to provide clients with legal advice, nor will it replace or substitute lawyers and professional legal services. PwC also plans to use Harvey to develop and train its own proprietary models to make products for the firm's use and for its Legal Business Solutions clients.

☆ U.S. Corporate Boards Boosted Sustainability Experience in 2022
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Dieter Holger | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +3 min

Companies are shoring up sustainability experience in the boardroom as they face mandatory climate-disclosure regulations. Among Fortune 500 companies, 25% of board appointees in 2022 had previous experience on sustainability committees, up from 14% in 2021, according to executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles International Inc. “Boards feel like they don’t always have the right skills, knowledge, language about what’s going on,” she said. In the longer term, the work of these sustainability committees should be more integrated into the company’s overall strategy, Ms. Breeden said. The agenda of sustainability committees varies among companies and industries, Ms. Breeden said.

☆ How to invest in new AI technologies like ChatGPT, DALL-E, and more: Wall Street analysts weigh in
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Business Insider | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Wall Street is taking note, as analysts pick their favorite AI stocks to buy now for profits later. Students are using ChatGPT to write papers, job seekers are using it to write cover letters, and some employees are even surreptitiously using the AI chatbot to do their jobs for them. ChatGPT is just the tip of the spear, as AI seems poised to upend industries around the globe. Bank of America analysts predict that the AI industry will be worth $900 billion by 2026. Luckily, Insider has been collecting research notes, interviewing analysts, and investigating which stocks will enjoy the biggest returns from the explosive growth of AI.

☆ Accountants Have to Go to College for Five Years. Some Are Rethinking That.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Lindsay Ellis | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

PricewaterhouseCoopers and Saint Peter’s University are testing a pilot program that substitutes a year of work for the traditional fifth year of college coursework. Accounting, a profession focused on numbers, is vexed by this one: the 150 college credit hours required to become a certified public accountant. The shortage of accountants in the U.S. has firms boosting salaries and sending work abroad. The cost of accounting work has been rising and some firms are turning away audit work because they can’t find enough CPAs. Efforts to recruit more students into the field have become a near-constant conversation now nationwide among CPAs and industry groups.

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