Most UK firms know what they charge for Self Assessment. Fewer have calculated what it actually costs to deliver. When salary, utilisation and overhead are properly modelled, internal costs per return sit between £300 and £600. The margins are tighter than many assume.
AI accounting startup Basis closed $100 million Series B funding at a $1.15 billion valuation, led by Accel and Google Ventures. The platform claims 30% adoption among top-25 US firms, with reported efficiency gains of 20-50%. First autonomous 1065 completion demonstrated.
Cottons Group partner Emma Reid cuts through the advisory talk. The problem isn't interest, it's capacity. If your team is stuck in rework and compliance deadlines, advisory becomes unpaid overtime nobody can scope properly.
QuickBooks data shows business ownership overtaking savings accounts as a wealth strategy. 66% are planning or actively thinking about it. Accountants have a compliance workload incoming.
Tax expert Rebecca Benneyworth says firms should test MTD with at least one client before 6 April 2026. She chairs HMRC's Digital Advisory Group and has been running MTD trials with her own practice clients. Her advice: understand the year-end filing process now, not in a panic later.
Mustafa Suleyman claims AI will reach human-level performance in accounting roles within 24 months. Vendors accelerating: Xero launched GenAI for reconciliations, Intuit released Assist, Sage pushes real-time data, Wolters Kluwer extracts tax data from unstructured sources. Profession sceptical. Users rejecting integrations when costs passed to smaller platforms. Xero's API changes could cost providers £17,000 annually. Critics argue most 'AI' is rebranded automation. Data security and regulatory compliance still barriers. UK Making Tax Digital for Income Tax launches April 2026, affecting 1 million sole traders. Full automation requires solving data quality, compliance, judgement calls.
PwC has cut its entire US talent acquisition department, including leadership, recruiters, campus staff, and nearshore teams. The firm cited reliance on contractors and third-party labour for the next two years. This follows a May 2025 layoff of 1,500 US roles and global cuts of 5,600 positions in FY2025. US revenue growth fell from 10.7% in 2023 to 3.4% in 2024. Global revenue rose just 2.9% to $56.9bn, down from 9.9% growth in FY2023. PwC is investing $1.5bn in AI whilst shrinking its recruitment pipeline.
Supreme Court struck down Trump tariffs 20 February 2026. Justice Department previously assured courts refunds were guaranteed if plaintiffs won. Government now boxed in by its own written commitments to the Court of International Trade. Over $170 billion in disputed duties collected. About 1,500 companies filed suit. CFOs must act immediately: monitor liquidation deadlines, compile documentation, reassess ASC 450 contingencies and ASC 740 tax positions. Refund timeline remains uncertain. Multi-year litigation likely despite DOJ's prior assurances limiting government's negotiating room.
Grattan Institute argues halving the CGT discount from 50% to 25% over five years would generate $6.5 billion annually to fund stamp duty abolition. The top 20% of earners capture 89% of CGT discount benefits, averaging $86,000 annually versus $5,000 for the bottom 60%. Stamp duty removal would improve labour mobility and housing turnover. Senate inquiry reports 17 March. Labor reportedly considering CGT changes for May budget. Critics warn reduced discount could trigger investor sell-offs and rental market disruption, potentially cutting construction by 10,000 homes by 2030.
Licensed CPAs fell to 653,408 as of August 2025, down from 1.93 million in 2019. Accounting graduates dropped to 47,000 in 2023, a 30% decline from 2014-15 peak. BLS projects 136,400 annual openings through next decade. Baby boomer retirements, CPA exam bottlenecks (42-63% pass rates), and automation eroding entry-level roles drive exodus. AICPA Pipeline Pledge shows early stabilisation: accounting enrolments up 12% in 2024-25. Still insufficient. CPA hiring now takes 73 days, 41% longer than average. Over 720 companies cited insufficient accounting staff in filings. States testing licensing reforms show modest gains of 4-8 days.
Finance leaders have declared transformation their top priority for 2025. Meanwhile, most B2B payments still take days to clear. The gap between strategy documents and actual payment rails has never been wider.
The internet is awash with identical tips about automating AR and offering early payment discounts. Meanwhile, CFOs are still chasing invoices like it's 1994. Perhaps the problem isn't knowing what to do, it's actually doing it.