The Monday Lowdown ⬇️

If you're new around here, every day or so I share the 4-5 best accounting insights I saw in the past 24 hours.

I scroll. so you don't have to.

Happy tax season, you overworked bean counters. May your coffee be strong, your clients be quiet.

🤯 WTF of the Day

Accounting Firm Owner Gets 10 Years for COVID Grant Fraud

An accounting firm owner just nuked her own career.

Verneshia Cody, who ran TDK Accounting and Tax Services in Jackson, pleaded guilty to fraud and bribing a public official. Prosecutors say she used fake invoices, bogus expenses, and even counterfeit checks to steal COVID grant money meant for health programs. Then she spent it on herself.

The result…10 years in prison.
Another reminder that touching government money with fake paperwork is the fastest way to end up in cuffs.

🍿 What’s poppin in accounting

Refunds Are Bigger This Year. Here’s How to Get Yours Fast.

Tax refunds could be 30% bigger this year thanks to Trump’s new tax law. The average refund was about $2,939 last year, and for a lot of people, this will be the biggest check they get all year.

If you want it ASAP, there’s one move: efile + direct deposit. The IRS is basically done with paper checks. They’re slow, easy to lose, and 16x more likely to get messed up. File electronically, choose direct deposit, and most people see their money within 21 days and often sooner.

No bank account? You can still use a prepaid debit card or app that has routing and account numbers. You can also split your refund into up to three accounts if you want some to spend and some to save. And if you’re tracking it, use Internal Revenue Service’s Where’s My Refund? tool. That’s it. Simple.

Payroll errors cost more than you think

While many businesses are solving problems at lightspeed, their payroll systems seem to stay stuck in the past. Deel's free Payroll Toolkit shows you what's actually changing in payroll this year, which problems hit first, and how to fix them before they cost you. Because new compliance rules, AI automation, and multi-country remote teams are all colliding at once.

Check out the free Deel Payroll Toolkit today and get a step-by-step roadmap to modernize operations, reduce manual work, and build a payroll strategy that scales with confidence.

Download the Toolkit for free today

 📊 Weekly Trend Chart

KFC Is Getting Cooked

America is eating more chicken than ever. Somehow, KFC is losing anyway.

KFC dead last out of 76 restaurant chains on market share. In 2019, KFC owned about 15% of the U.S. fast-food chicken market. Today it’s under 10%. Meanwhile chains like Wingstop, Dave’s Hot Chicken, and Slim Chickens are eating its lunch. Wingstop alone nearly doubled its share.

The wild part: this is happening during a chicken boom. Everyone wants chicken. KFC just isn’t the place they want it from anymore.

#😂 Meme of the Day 

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