Is the shiny new year going to bring you a PCAOB inspection? Audit firms and committees that want to know their odds can take a look at the regulator’s newly released list of priorities for 2025.

The PCAOB will continue to prioritize inspections of audits in industries that require “specialized accounting” or that are subject to economic and geopolitical volatility, that have had more deficiencies in the past, or those where companies are “more likely to have a going concern risk,” it said in a report.

But beyond that, it’s planning to “prioritize” inspections of audits of financial institutions, real estate companies, and tech companies. It’ll also continue to target audits of broker-dealers and companies that have done M&A, and consider examining audits of companies that have recently changed their supply chains or logistics.

Areas of emphasis: The PCAOB also stated that it would emphasize the following areas during inspections:

• Compliance with new auditing standards, such as AS 1206, Dividing Responsibility for the Audit with Another Accounting Firm, and the amendments to AS 1201, Supervision of the Audit Engagement, and AS 2101, Audit Planning

Click here for more on PCAOB’s 2025 priorities.—CV

Santa isn’t the only one feeling the holiday spirit. Shoppers are too, as some consumers are feeling better about the economy, according to executive commentary from major retailers. However, it’s a mixed bag, as there are still consumers holding back on spending.

“While overall consumer sentiment remains low, expectations are improving, which positions us well for the holidays and into next year,” Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen told investors on the grocery chain’s Q3 earnings call last week.

McMullen said higher- and middle-income households are feeling “more confident” with inflation stabilizing, although “budget-conscious” shoppers are still holding back on spending, as they feel the lingering sting of cost increases and high interest rates. Middle-income (or “mainstream”) shoppers “certainly…connected with us better in the third quarter than the second quarter,” he added.

Q3 shopping patterns at Dollar General showed that many are still “trying to make ends meet,” CEO Todd Vasos told investors last week. This is evidenced by the solid performance of Dollar General’s private brands and its $1 item aisle—the so-called “Value Valley” outperformed all other sections of the store by 600 basis points, he said.

Click here for more on consumer sentiment.—AZ

Oracle’s latest earnings report seems fine—but that’s before you remember that we’re living in the proof of concept era of the great AI saga.

Increasingly, analysts want to see companies with ties to AI completely knock it out of the park. When there are any cracks, an otherwise fine-ish earnings report can end up looking like a doozy.

As of Tuesday, Oracle would know. In the software company’s Q2 earnings report, revenue jumped 9% from the prior year to nearly $14.1 billion. Cloud services revenue, which accounted for 77% of the company’s overall revenue, rose 12% from last year to $10.8 billion, CNBC reported.

CEO Safra Catz noted in the company’s earnings call that “record level AI demand drove Oracle Cloud infrastructure revenue up 52%” to $2.4 billion. Catz added that the company expects cloud revenue to reach $25 billion in fiscal 2025.

That all sounds great. Still, the company’s quarterly revenue missed analyst expectations, and shares slid 7% the day after Oracle reported earnings, the biggest dip since December 2023.

But the downbeat reactions to Oracle’s latest report don’t mean the sky is falling for the company that’s made founder Larry Ellison unfathomably wealthy. (Oracle’s latest stock plunge decreased Ellison’s fortune by $15 billion—but he’s got around $200 billion more where that came from, according to Forbes.)

For more on Oracle’s latest earnings, click here.—NP