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The IRS Lost 594 Laptops
I share the 4-5 most important accounting that actually matter. I scroll so you don’t have to.
So grab your coffee, take a quick break, and lets catch up.
Today’s Ledger:
The IRS misplaced 594 laptops.
Deloitte’s DEI fight cost $21.5M.
The AI race runs on rocks.
WTF of the Day🤯
The IRS Lost Its Own Laptops
The IRS had one job after thousands of employees quit. Get the laptops back. That did not go great. From April to July 2025, about 22,000 IRS employees left through buyouts, deferred resignations, and other exits while the agency was getting chopped down. Those workers had more than 32,000 IRS tech assets, including laptops and phones. Most came back. But 1,308 did not show up in the records by November.
By April 2026, the IRS still had not found 594 of them. That is more than $270,000 of missing government gear, and the reason is painfully simple. The IRS told people to return equipment, but did not set a clear deadline. It also had no real policy to make former employees pay for gear they kept. So the agency collecting America’s taxes somehow had workers leaving with the laptop, the phone, and maybe still the keys.
Read the article
What’s poppin in accounting🍿
Deloitte Paid $21.5M To End A DEI Fight
Deloitte just paid $21.5 million because the DOJ says its DEI work crossed a line. The government’s argument is simple. If you take federal contract money, you have to certify that you do not discriminate by race or sex. The DOJ says Deloitte made that promise while using race and sex in hiring, promotions, staffing, training, and leadership programs. Deloitte denies wrongdoing and says it settled to avoid a long legal fight (sureeee).
The DOJ says Deloitte tracked internal diversity goals with green, yellow, and red scorecards. It says some senior leaders had compensation tied to those goals. It says some promotion lists identified people by race and sex so teams could keep the “current mix.” It also says certain mentoring and leadership programs were limited by race or sex. The whistleblower group that helped bring the case gets $4.3 million. So the Big Four firm did not admit liability, but it did write a very large check to make the fight go away.
Read the article
Weekly Trend Chart 📊
The AI Cold War Is About Rocks
AI has a supply chain problem. Everyone talks about the robots, the chatbots, and the scary smart computers. But the real fight starts with chips, copper, lithium, nickel, and enough electricity to melt your face off. That is why America created Pax Silica in December 2025, giving friendly countries better access to the stuff AI needs. China answered with WAICO in July 2026, offering money, infrastructure, and a seat at the table to almost anyone willing to join. Now roughly 90 countries have picked a side.
Some choices were obvious, but the weird part is the mineral map. Chile has copper and lithium, so it joined Pax Silica. Indonesia has nickel, so it joined WAICO. Kazakhstan joined both, which might be the most honest answer in the whole game. The AI Cold War is not just about who builds the smartest machine. It is about who controls the dirt under it.
Meme of the Day😂
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