EY cut junior auditors. Big 4 grad listings down 44%.

Good morning, friends. EY gave AI agents to 130,000 auditors in April, then cut its junior staff two months later. Big 4 graduate listings in the UK are down 44% this year. CFOs say they have never felt worse about the economy, yet two-thirds plan to spend more on tech.

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🏦 ACCOUNTING — EY deployed AI agents, then cut junior auditors

What happened: EY deployed AI agents across 130,000 auditors in April to handle document search, workpaper drafts and client requests. Two months later, it cut audit Staff 1s. Deloitte UK cut 175 audit staff the same week and Big 4 UK graduate listings are now down 44%.

Why it matters: Mid-size firms still hiring for the old model are training staff for a role that's shrinking fast. The talent pipeline that used to flow down from Big 4 exits is drying up. Update your audit Staff 1 job description before the next hiring cycle, not after.

What to watch: Watch for mid-size firms updating audit Staff 1 job descriptions to include AI review and oversight skills. The question is no longer whether AI changes the role. EY just answered it.

Read the full analysis →

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Outside Nexairi

IRS advisory panel calls for expanded AI with safeguards — Journal of Accountancy

A federal advisory panel told Congress to fund the IRS and expand its AI tools, with new fraud prevention guardrails required. The recommendations also included tax simplification and less burden on preparers.

CFOs are spending more on tech as economic confidence bottoms out — CFO Dive

Grant Thornton found two-thirds of CFOs plan to increase tech spending even as only 37% feel optimistic about the near-term economy. That's the widest gap between spending plans and economic outlook the firm has recorded.

Does your AI vendor's financial model put client portfolios at risk? — CPA Practice Advisor

A new analysis asks whether the circular financial arrangements among major AI companies create hidden concentration risk for retirement investors. CPAs with clients holding AI-heavy portfolios may want to review the exposure.

Strange days in accounting: one industry veteran takes stock — Accounting Today

Joe Woodard writes that AI and emerging developments are creating a professional environment that doesn't fit old playbooks. Worth 5 minutes for anyone trying to get a clear-eyed read on where the profession is headed.

The White House wants Anthropic to block every jailbreak. Experts say that's impossible. — Wired

Wired reports the White House is pressing Anthropic to prevent all jailbreaks of its AI systems. Security experts say there's no known way to stop every exploit and they've been trying.

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Tool Worth Knowing: Grok for Word (producthunt.com/products/grok-by-spacexai-for-word)

SpaceXAI's Grok assistant now runs inside Microsoft Word to help draft and refine documents without switching tabs. For CPAs writing engagement letters, management memos or client reports in Word, it cuts the copy-paste loop out of the workflow.

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Deeper Read

Crowdsourcing Code: Farming Ideas, Refining Concepts — Accounting Today

Accounting Today looks at how firms are building internal AI innovation programs that tap staff ideas for tool development. A model worth borrowing if you're trying to build buy-in before mandating AI use.

A Startup Claims It Broke Through a Bottleneck Holding Back LLMs — MIT Technology Review

Subquadratic says its approach to how models process text is 56x faster than current methods, with independent validation. If it holds up, the per-query costs that make enterprise AI expensive come down significantly.

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Quick Hits

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• IRS merging tax practitioner offices despite AICPA opposition
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• ChatGPT inbox triage habit for Sunday nights
• Massachusetts income tax ballot struck down by court