⬇️ The Tuesday 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

Pentagon Can’t Count (Again)

For the 7th year in a row, the Pentagon flunked its audit. Out of $3.8T in assets, it couldn’t account for 60%. Yes, the same organization running the world’s most powerful military can’t balance its books. Why? Decades of messy record keeping and systems older than disco.

The Pentagon says it’ll have things cleaned up by 2028, but let’s be real, would you trust someone who’s failed the same test seven times? This raises a trillion-dollar question, if they can’t track their own spending, how much are we wasting?

💎 What’s poppin in accounting

IRS Fines for Foreign Trusts Lack Legal Backing

The IRS has been fining taxpayers for errors on foreign trust reports, forms used to disclose ownership or involvement in trusts outside the U.S. But it turns out they may not actually have the authority to enforce these penalties.

After losing multiple court cases, the IRS is now under pressure to clarify its enforcement powers. However, without changes from Congress, these penalties remain a legal gray area, leaving taxpayers in limbo and facing steep fines for minor errors.

Source: Bloomberg Tax

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 📊 Weekly Trend Chart

 Local and State Governments Boom, Feds Stay Flat

While the federal government’s workforce has remained steady at around 2-3M employees for over 60 years, state and local governments have grown significantly. This shift suggests that more responsibilities are being handled at the state and local levels, while the federal workforce stays the same size.

Now, with a proposed "Department of Government Efficiency," there’s renewed focus on cutting waste in federal agencies. But as the chart shows, the real story might not be in Washington, it’s in the massive growth of government closer to home.

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