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.

🤯 WTF of the Day

Lawyer Tries to Claim Her Dog as a Tax Dependent

A lawyer just sued the IRS to let her claim her dog on her taxes. Seriously.

She argues her golden retriever depends on her for everything food housing medical care and costs over $5,000 a year so economically he looks a lot like a human dependent. Her pitch is basically this If the tax code rewards people for supporting humans why not pets especially when service animals already get tax breaks.

The court was not impressed. The judge paused the case and flagged a bunch of problems including that she never actually tried to claim the dog on a return and that the tax code is very clear animals are property not dependents. Cute idea. Zero chance it works.

Source (we pay so you dont have to)

🍿 What’s poppin in accounting

Even the PCAOB Is Cutting Back

IThe PCAOB just did something you do at home when the credit card bill gets scary. It cut spending.

Its 2026 budget drops to about $362 million, roughly 9% less than last year. Board members are taking big pay cuts, headcount is shrinking, and the fees paid by public companies to fund the PCAOB are falling about 18%. Translation. Less money in. Less money out.

One board member said this still is not aggressive enough, pointing out the budget jumped around 40% over the past few years. But the signal matters. The audit watchdog is officially in cost cutting mode now.

Source: pcaobus 

🕵️‍♂️ The Audit

Are you an outlier or the industry standard? Vote in our new weekly pulse check, and we’ll share the results next issue.

Last poll results:

35% of you are absolute savages.

You know that free advice is worth exactly what they paid for it.

New Poll ⬇️

 🤝 Partner Spotlight

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 📊 Weekly Trend Chart

Even Rich Shoppers Are Going Discount

Discount stores are having a moment and it is not just because people are broke.

Walmart, Aldi, Dollar Tree, and Dollar General are pulling in everyone right now. High earners included. Nearly 30 percent of households making over $100k say they shop at discount stores, up from about 20 percent a few years ago.

Walmart even said demand for things like croissants got so crazy they had to clear shelves just to keep up. Aldi has quietly doubled its number of high income shoppers since 2021 while also winning over lower income households.

#😂 Meme of the Day

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