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Graison Dangor

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Audit committees are ‘zeroed in on’ cybersecurity: report

New SEC rules may be partly why nearly 70% called it a top-three priority.

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Cheat sheet round up: aligning FP&A and the C-suite, retained earnings, and essential skills. 

More quick reference guides for corporate finance.

Cheat sheet round up: FP&A and the C-suite, retained earnings, and essential skills. 

A broken out piechart icon denoting accounting

Accounting

Jesse Klein

Despite beating analyst expectations for Q3, Spotify’s stock sank 2% on Tuesday after its earnings call. According to 

, the stock price has risen 70% in the past year, and shareholders may have sold to lock in profits, as Spotify’s fourth quarter guidance looked a little lukewarm.

The Swedish audio company earned 4.27 billion euros ($4.9 billion) in Q3 revenue, above the 4.23 billion euro Bloomberg analysts predicted, and up 12% YoY. And monthly active users increased to 713 million, above the estimated 711 million.

But the Q4 forecast wasn’t as lofty. Spotify predicted 4.5 billion euros in quarterly revenue, “citing 

,” according to Rolling Out, while analysts expected 4.57 billion. Also, music licensing agreements with the major labels are Spotify’s largest expense, and a series of expensive renewal deals this year “add[ed] pressure to content costs,” Rolling Out reported.

“The revenue guidance miss, even if modest, likely contributed to the stock decline as investors who had bid shares higher in anticipation of stronger forward projections reassessed their positions,” the outlet said.

Spotify CFO Christian Luiga said in the call that the company will “continue to see 2025 as a transition year for ads business and expect growth to improve in the back half of 2026.”

But 2026 will also be a year of executive transition. Founder and CEO Daniel Ek will end his tenure at the tail of 2025, ushering in chief product and technology officer Gustav Söderström and chief business officer Alex Norström 

. And the audio giant is positioning itself for the new world of video podcasts, having recently announced a 

 to stream podcasts, including from pop culture and sports podcasting network The Ringer, on the platform.

Image of spotify logo on an iPhone screen

Spotify beats Q3 expectations, but stock still sinks

Q4 forecast hits a sour note with investors. 

Natasha Piñon

Want to feel old? ChatGPT was released this month…three years ago. Yes, only three. And, yes, we know: It feels like a lifetime.

In those three short years, finance teams have rushed to invest in AI and pilot tools that, they hope, 

. And while ROI on many AI investments still proves…let’s be nice and 

we’re finally getting a much better sense of exactly how and where AI can assist with key finance functions, including the audit process.

On October 27, PwC offered reporters a look at what the firm is calling “the next generation audit,” which currently consists of a slew of AI assurance tools either currently in use or in the pilot phase.

 “It’s a transformation of our entire audit practice,” Kyle Maryanski, US assurance partner and leader of the Next Generation Audit for PwC, told reporters during an Oct. 27 roundtable. “Yes, it’s rooted in technology. There’s a big base technology to that. But it also is talking about our people, process, and methodology and how we’re going to do things.”

The “north star,” in Maryanski’s telling, is an “AI-integrated, end-to-end audit platform, which is where we’re going to get at the end of the day.” He said the global scale of the effort will eventually give the firm “consistency in how we collaborate and how we share information across countries, across accounting standards.” The upside of the gradual rollout is that as the firm debuts tools “in pieces and phases, we’re getting benefits immediately along the way.”

And there are lots of tools to roll out: Among the eight PwC introduced at its roundtable, there’s ChatNational, a GenAI chatbot and research tool that’s been in use for a year. It connects to PwC’s global research platform, giving audit and attest professionals answers to questions relating to accounting, auditing, and reporting guidance.

There’s also Evidence Match, which automatically matches information between two records, to allow PwC professionals to respond to and resolve open items faster.

“If you think of an audit, we spend a lot of time gathering information, getting it from the client, matching it to systems, tracing and tying it in, and it goes through a lot of manual work and effort, and then ultimately you get to analyzing the anomalies or the differences, which is really where the real value is added,” Maryanski noted. “This is in accounts payable, accounts receivable, fixed assets, cash. Pretty much all the areas where you do substantive testing, you’re going to use something like Evidence Match.”

 On the topic of timelines, an end-to-end, AI-integrated audit process will be “in place for calendar 2026 audits,” Shawn Panson, PwC’s US assurance transformation leader, told reporters. “That’s our hope.”

PwC has invested $1 billion in its Next Generation Audit platform, as well as $1 billion into an initial three-year relationship with OpenAI, first announced in 2023. Not exactly chump change—but ROI is largely tool-specific, according to Jennifer Kosar, PwC’s US assurance AI leader.

“We are looking at different measures of ROI or measures of success on these technologies,” Kosar said. “Accuracy, of course, is important when that is the important measure,” citing tools like Evidence Match, where there’s a “binary yes or no.”

For many tools, however, the bigger measure of success is: “How helpful was it? Did it accelerate the process? Did it make it go faster? These are different measures that are equally, if sometimes not more important, depending on the particular solution you’re trying to build,” she explained.

And if things stop working, the firm is ready to pivot away from a given tool. “AI technologies in particular may solve a particular pain point, and then two to three years later, that’s not the pain point anymore,” she noted. “We absolutely have that baked into the process to measure both usefulness and performance over time.”

When asked if these tools would shrink the minimum viable number of staff on an audit, PwC stressed the need for human oversight. “AI systems are not traditional automation,” Kosar said. “They require a significant amount of expertise to continue to run over time, so to continue to build, to test, to monitor, the subject matter expertise is significant, and so some of these people are deployed to those roles as well.”

But while employees have received extensive training on these new tools, expectations for entry level auditors may be changing.

“We’re definitely looking for different skills, as well as engineers and stuff that we’re now hiring that we would have never hired into the assurance practice before,” Panson said. “Not all those people will definitely be dual track CPAs [with an AI concentration] but we’re certainly looking for more of the dual track so people can serve both those purposes. It’s early days, but we’re certainly starting to see a shift.”

A look at PwC’s ‘next generation’ audit 

The Big Four firm has invested $1 billion into its Next Generation Audit platform.

PwC trimmed its global workforce by 5,600 in its 2025 fiscal year, an apparent departure from a previous pledge to boost head count.

Back in 2021, Bob Moritz, PwC’s former global chair, said the firm 

 100,000 new employees by the middle of 2026. With the job cuts that happened in 2025, the firm would have to add more than 

 in the fiscal year to meet that prior target.

PwC declined CFO Brew’s request for comment.

The headcount update arrived in PwC’s annual report, published October 28. Also in the report, the firm said its global revenue climbed 2.9% to $56.9 billion for fiscal 2025. That adds up to another year of slowdown: In fiscal 2024, the firm’s revenue growth rate dropped to 3.7% from 9.9% in 2023.

Other Big Four firms showed a rebound after a rough few year: Deloitte reported revenue growth of 4.9% to $70.5 billion in its September 30 annual review, while EY reported growth of 4% to $53.2 billion in its FY 2025 report, released on Oct. 21. Notably, given the economic volatility of 2025, their fiscal years all ended at different times: June 30 for PwC, June 27 for EY, and May 31 for Deloitte.

PwC called its revenue results “a solid performance in a challenging economic climate.” Elsewhere in the annual report, Global Chairman Mohamed Kande noted “the need to reinvent our business.”

“This year, we invested in our people, expanded our technological offerings, and continued to build leading-edge capabilities to help our clients thrive,” Kande said, calling out the firm’s nearly $1.5 billion investment “to scale next-generation AI capabilities across our network.”

PwC cuts head count amid slowing revenue growth 

 The firm had previously pledged to hire 100,000 employees by the middle of 2026.

Alex Zank

UHY has big aspirations. Already ranked by Accounting Today as the 26th-largest US accounting firm with approximately $385 million in revenue, the professional services firm wants to become a billion-dollar company. Its new CFO, Laura LaPeer, will play an important role in helping the company reach that objective.

“That’s one of the things that really attracted me to this role, is the seat that the CFO has at the table,” LaPeer, whom UHY announced as its new finance chief back in July, told CFO Brew. She said her job is “to not only be involved in M&A, being part of the board, working with our private equity firm, but really helping to grow the firm [and] also look to see how we can be operationally effective.”

 late last year it had secured private equity investment from Summit Partners. The two firms didn’t disclose the terms of the deal, but UHY noted the PE injection will help the company grow both organically and through M&A.

“This partnership marks the beginning of a new and expanded era of growth for UHY,” Steve McCarty, CEO of UHY, said in a December news release.

 LaPeer joined UHY from another accounting firm, Plante Moran, where she also served as CFO. Before that, she worked for another company, ProQuest, which also had private equity backing.

LaPeer said her experience at another accounting firm means “I bring that industry lens and that industry knowledge.” Her last firm operated more holistically, whereas UHY traditionally has “operated more regionally,” but about a year ago started to consolidate its operations and services.

“Because I came from this industry, I can provide some insights of…best practices, or ways that we can structure our compensation goals, how we’re incentivizing our partners, what we’re having them focus on for their metrics, because it isn’t as much office-driven now; it’s focusing more broadly,” LaPeer said.

Having worked for a PE-backed firm before, LaPeer said she’s familiar with the relationship dynamics between companies and their equity partners as well as PE firms’ expectations. ProQuest grew through numerous acquisitions when LaPeer was there, which is “exactly what we’re looking to do here at UHY,” she said. She’s contributed to acquisitions through assessing targets, reviewing their earnings, purchase accounting, and systems integrations.

 UHY has a pipeline of potential acquisition targets that at any given time runs from 60 to 80 firms deep, according to LaPeer. The firm has potential deals in the works, ranging from very early conversations to “full diligence,” she said. Company leadership and PE investors discuss pending deals on a weekly basis.

UHY has closed on four deals so far this year, which have mostly been on the smaller side. But those small deals are good practice for when a behemoth comes along, LaPeer said.

“Whenever you get the one [deal] that’s $50 million, that muscle memory can come in handy” thanks to the prior smaller-value deals, she explained.

 In addition to being a key player in UHY’s achieving its growth goals, LaPeer has set some of her own goals for the finance function.

At the time of our interview, UHY had “about a 10-day close.” LaPeer said she wants to reduce close time to six days “to provide insights more timely.” She also wants to provide leadership with revenue “on day one,” rather than with the rest of the financials. Achieving that comes down to improving processes, she said. Those improvements include “using workflows for invoice approval or using bank lockboxes to automate cash application.”

“You really need that if you’re going from a $500 million firm to a billion-dollar firm,” LaPeer said.

New CFO a key player in helping UHY reach its growth goals

Laura LaPeer has experience in growing through M&A, which will come in handy at a firm that wants to become a billion-dollar company.

Nowadays, seemingly everyone is introducing a shiny new generative AI tool that promises to revolutionize life itself. (We’re only exaggerating slightly.) The latest one targeted at accounting pros comes from none other than the American Institute of CPAs.

 to the wider accounting world (someone on staff must be a fan of 

). Josi only draws from AICPA’s online library of 40,000-plus materials for use as a learning tool, workflow automator, and research assistant, according to a news release. The online library includes such materials as AICPA’s various professional standards, its code of professional conduct, accounting and audit guides, and FASB and PCAOB accounting standards.

More than 400 accounting firms have purchased or tried out Josi since its launch, according to the release.

“AI has changed the rules on how businesses operate,” Tom Hood, EVP of business engagement and growth at AICPA and CIMA, said in the release. “CPAs need a fast, modern way to find answers to their most pressing accounting and auditing questions, and Josi is tailor-made to fill that need.”

According to AICPA, Josi can help accounting pros “generate engagement letters, research complex accounting questions, prepare for the upcoming quality management standards changes,” and simplify FASB codifications, among other things.

Josi is priced with small to mid-size accounting firms in mind, the AICPA also noted. This may be good news to firms that lack the resources that the “big guys” have to adopt new AI technologies. A 

 published in March found that larger organizations ($500 million-plus in annual revenue) were adapting to GenAI “more quickly than smaller organizations.”

AICPA unveils new GenAI tool 

Josi relies solely on the AICPA’s online library of 40,000-plus materials.

AICPA unveils new GenAI tool

Call it a tale of two cities. Okay, three. And instead of cities, it’s automakers.

Fine, you got us. We’re really just here to talk about auto earnings, as General Motors, Tesla, and Ford all reported the week of October 20, and “a tale of three automakers” is a lot less catchy than we’d like it to be.

Going into the earnings-heavy week, Morningstar analyst David Whiston, who covers GM, Ford, and other auto retailers, told CFO Brew that on top of “the general expectation” that the auto industry will start passing tariff costs on to consumers in 2026, there’s a lot of, you guessed it, 

“You’ve got the threat of possibly a slowing economy,” he noted. “There’s a lot of concerns about vehicle affordability. There’s concerns about loan delinquencies.”

But “despite all the volatility, all the economic news that has people spinning around, we’re still going to end up with a relatively decent, if not healthy, automotive market [from a] sales perspective by the end of the year,” Erin Keating, executive analyst for Cox Automotive, told us.

Looking ahead to 2026, adaptability and strategic clarity are the name of the game, she said: “Those that are able to navigate these geopolitical shifts and make decisions and stick to them strategically, even with some uncertainty…are going to be the ones that are going to be able to sustain themselves throughout next year and beyond.”

So let’s see how everyone’s doing, shall we?

In Q3 2025, General Motors seemed like someone a little too excited to go to their high school reunion: They’re not just doing fine or pretty good…they’re doing 

The company raised its 2025 fiscal guidance, and better yet, expects 2026 to outperform this year.

“Looking ahead to 2026, we have multiple levers to carry our current momentum forward, including progress on [electric vehicle] losses, warranty costs, tariff offsets, regulatory requirements and fixed costs,” CFO Paul Jacobson said during an earnings call October 21. “As a result, we expect next year to be even better than 2025.”

Of course, that’s the kind of thing investors love to hear. “Usually they won’t say anything about the upcoming year until they report fourth quarter results in January of that year,” Whiston noted. “The fact they’re willing to say that early is a good sign.”

The automaker also lowered its expected tariff impact this year, now anticipating costs of between $3.5 billion and $4.5 billion, down from the previously expected $4 billion to $5 billion.

“[GM] continue[s] to have inventory discipline and pricing strength that just really keeps them pumping along at good average transaction prices, balancing volume of profitability,” Keating said. “They obviously want to focus on the bigger, more profitable models that honestly sell best in the US, and I think that’s part of the reason they’re relatively positive on their outlook.”

Ford also had cost impacts to share. In September, a 

 a Novelis aluminum plant in Oswego, New York. That was bad news for Ford, which relied on the supplier for its vehicle production.

The automaker said it anticipates the fire will cost it between $1.5 billion and $2 billion, though it has plans to mitigate that; CEO Jim Farley said in the company’s earnings report that Ford is “working intensively with Novelis and others to source aluminum” that can be made in the operational section of the plant “while also working to restore overall plant production.”

In its October 23 earnings report, Ford now expects adjusted earnings before interest and taxes to come in between $6 billion and $6.5 billion, down from its previous forecast of $6.5 billion to $7 billion.

Over at Tesla, CEO Elon Musk is seeking a trillion-dollar 

 because, among other things, he wouldn’t feel comfortable building “a robot army” at Tesla if he were at risk of “being ousted.”

“I wish I could say the temper tantrum around the paycheck for Elon was out of the ordinary, but I fully expected him to bring that up on the call and to speak to his need to be involved with the company,” Keating said.

According to its October 22 earnings report, Tesla’s profit fell 37% YoY. Revenue climbed 12% to $28.1 billion, with Tesla selling more cars between July and September than in Q3 2024. Notably, though, the company offered significant discounts to boost sales, meaning Tesla earned less money per car on those sales.

Automakers offer a wide range of guidance in latest earning batch 

After last week’s big-name earnings reports, we got a better look at the state of the auto industry. 

Courtney Vien

 in public accounting firms, BDO, the nation’s sixth-largest accounting firm, has 

 to charting its own course. While announcing staff changes, including the retirement of current US 

, the firm described a “strategic reset and decision to remain independent of external equity investment” in a press release.

“Choosing independence is a conscious decision made from a position of strength,” BDO global CEO Pat Kramer said in a statement. “This approach ensures that we remain in control of our destiny while continuing to build a future-proof organization.”

, the choice to accept PE funding is not without controversy. While some view PE investment as a way for firms to grow, offer more consulting services, 

, and increase investments in technology, others worry PE money could compromise firms’ independence or lead them to prioritize short-term earnings over long-term goals.

Inside Public Accounting’s midyear survey of accountants revealed 

 toward PE. Around 40% said PE was “raising the competitive bar” for firms, but an equal percentage wasn’t sure, and 23% said it wasn’t. Close to half (47%) of respondents said that PE “created challenges or morale issues for staff.”

In an interview with CFO Brew earlier this year, Berson said he felt PE investments benefited partners more than they did employees. BDO USA adopted an employee stock ownership program (ESOP) in 2023 as a means of raising capital.

But BDO USA is also pursuing a strategy familiar to PE-backed accounting firms: scaling up. Last month, it 

, the country’s 31st-largest firm, a deal which brought it an increased presence in the Southeast. The Horne merger increased its employee base by more than 1,300 people.

Horne CEO and managing partner Rusty Butcher 

 that his firm had explored PE investment, but that “we could just never get comfortable that doing a transaction with private equity was consistent with our focus on providing opportunities for our people and making sure that we’re being good stewards of the resources that we have been provided.” BDO USA’s ESOP, he said, “did align with our values.”

Correction 10/28/2025: This story has been edited to update references to BDO USA, instead of BDO, and to clarify details of its Horne merger.

Accounting

Spotify beats Q3 expectations, but stock still sinks

A look at PwC’s ‘next generation’ audit

PwC cuts head count amid slowing revenue growth

New CFO a key player in helping UHY reach its growth goals

AICPA unveils new GenAI tool

Automakers offer a wide range of guidance in latest earning batch

BDO reconfirms its commitment to take no PE money

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