The Wednesday Lowdown ⬇️

If you're new around here, every day 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

PCAOB chair pushes back on shutdown plan

Erica Williams, chair of the PCAOB, is not staying quiet. She just publicly slammed the GOP-led plan to shut down her agency and dump all its responsibilities on the SEC. Her message: this move would gut audit oversight and screw with investor trust at a time when the markets can’t afford more risk.

She said the PCAOB isn’t about politics, it’s about catching bad audits before they blow up. And if you kill it, you’re rolling back the guardrails we put up after Enron. The bill’s still just a draft, but Williams made it clear: she’s ready to fight.

Source

💎 What’s poppin in accounting

Washington hits big tech with new tax plan

Washington state just dropped a budget with one clear message, if your company makes over 250 million a year, pay up. Amazon and Microsoft are first in line. The new surcharge starts in 2026 and runs for four years.

That’s just part of it. They’re also jacking up business taxes, capital gains, sales taxes on services, and property taxes. The money’s going to patch a 16 billion dollar hole and fund housing, climate stuff, and homelessness programs. Build big in Washington, expect a bigger bill.

Source

 📊 Weekly Trend Chart

More people are using bnpl to afford groceries

Buy now pay later is no longer just for sneakers or tech, people are using it to buy milk and bread. A LendingTree survey found 25 percent of users are now using BNPL for groceries, up from 14 percent last year. Nearly one in six are using it for takeout and delivery.

At the same time, more people are falling behind, 60 percent say they’re juggling more than one BNPL loan. Food prices are still climbing, and for a lot of people, short term debt is how they’re keeping up. This isn’t a good sign for the economy.

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