October 2025

Accounting

The Accounting Talent Shortage: Causes and Solutions

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The global accounting profession is facing an unprecedented talent shortage that threatens to disrupt businesses and economies worldwide. From small businesses struggling to find bookkeepers to multinational corporations delaying financial reports due to lack of qualified staff, the signs of strain are evident across industries. Demand for accounting expertise has never been higher – fueled by complex financial regulations, rapid business growth in emerging markets, and new challenges like environmental and social reporting – yet the supply of accountants is dwindling.… Read more
Accounting, Business and Technology

Cybercrime and the Accountant: How Accountants Are Both Targets and First Responders to Financial Cybercrime

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Accountants have become pivotal, yet vulnerable, players in the fight against financial cybercrime: their privileged access to payments, payrolls and vendor systems makes them prime targets for scams like CEO-impersonation emails, payroll rerouting, invoice spoofing and ransomware, but that same gatekeeper role also casts them as first responders who must triage losses, trace stolen funds through bank and blockchain records, rebuild tainted ledgers, quantify damages for insurers or courts, and harden controls so the next phony wire, fake invoice or diverted salary bounces off dual approvals, out-of-band verifications and AI-driven anomaly alerts.… Read more
Auditing

Who Audits the Auditors?

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Auditing is often portrayed as a cornerstone of trust in global finance. Independent accountants — the auditors — examine a company’s books and certify that the numbers are accurate. Investors, employees, and regulators rely on those certified financial statements to make crucial decisions, from buying stocks to approving loans. In theory, if the auditor signs off, the company’s accounts can be trusted. Yet in practice, the past twenty years have exposed serious gaps in this system.… Read more
Accounting

Why Governments Love Debt – and Need You To Fear It

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The article “Why Governments Love Debt – and Need You To Fear It” investigates the paradox that while politicians warn citizens about the dangers of public debt, governments themselves depend on borrowing to sustain their economies and political agendas. It explains how national debt serves as both a tool of growth—funding wars, infrastructure, and welfare—and a political weapon used to justify austerity and control public perception. Through the lens of the U.S.,… Read more
Taxation

The Hidden Imbalance of American Taxation

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In practice, ordinary workers shoulder far heavier tax burdens than the nation’s richest. This fundamental imbalance can be illustrated by cases that shocked the public when they became known: in 2018, Tesla founder Elon Musk managed to pay no federal income tax at all, despite adding some $11 billion to his fortune that year. Jeff Bezos likewise paid nothing in income tax in certain years (2007 and 2011) when he was already a billionaire.… Read more
Taxation

The Illusion of a Progressive Tax System

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In the United States, the federal tax system is designed to be progressive – higher incomes are ostensibly taxed at higher rates than lower incomes. In theory, this means the wealthy should shoulder more of the tax burden. However, when we examine effective tax rates (what people actually pay after deductions, credits, and income mix), the picture changes dramatically. Investigative analyses have shown that America’s richest residents often pay only a tiny fraction of their vast wealth in taxes.… Read more
Financial Management

Net Worth vs. Liquid Wealth: What They Don’t Teach You About Riches

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When people talk about “richness,” they often think in terms of net worth – the dollar value of everything someone owns minus what they owe. We hear headlines like “Person X has a $300 billion net worth” and assume those billions translate into bank accounts or stacks of cash. But in reality, net worth and liquid wealth (sometimes called liquid net worth) can be very different. Net worth includes all assets – real estate, retirement accounts, businesses, collectibles, etc.… Read more
Financial Management, News

PAPER BILLIONAIRES: Why the Rich Aren’t as Liquid as You Think

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At first glance, headlines about billionaires sound like bulletins from a rich-people lottery: “Elon Musk Worth $500 Billion!” or “Mark Zuckerberg Tops $250 Billion!” It’s tempting to assume such fortunes translate into cash in the bank. In reality, however, most of the ultra-rich’s wealth is not stashed in vaults or bank accounts – it exists as paper wealth tied up in stocks, equity and other illiquid assets. A Tesla share price plunge, a tech stock correction or an economic downturn can instantly vaporize tens of billions of dollars from these net worth tallies.… Read more
Taxation

Taxing Inequality: Why American Workers Pay a Higher Share than the Ultra-Rich

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Luxury yachts anchored at Davos offer a stark image of the world’s wealthiest enjoying privileges far beyond the reach of ordinary Americans. Yet while those yachts gleam, their owners often pay less in taxes – proportionally – than the people who wash their dishes or staff their hotels. A 2021 analysis by the White House found that the 400 richest U.S. families paid only 8.2% of their income in federal income taxes (2010–2018).… Read more
Taxation

How Billionaires Avoid or Minimize Taxes Legally

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Over the past decade America’s wealthiest households have seen their fortunes multiply — often while paying only a tiny fraction of that growth in income taxes. Investigations of IRS data reveal that some ultra-rich Americans enjoy effective tax rates in the single digits despite dramatic increases in their net worth. Under current law, much of a billionaire’s gain in asset value is not taxed until the asset is sold. By never “realizing” these gains, the richest people can, in effect, defer taxes indefinitely.… Read more
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