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Erin Patterson speaks to media at her home in Leongatha, Victoria, in August 2023. Jason Edwards/Newspix via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Jason Edwards/Newspix via Getty Images A suburban Australian mom is standing trial on charges of poisoning several of her estranged husband’s relatives with death cap mushrooms at a home-cooked meal — killing three of them — in a case that has made headlines around the world. The case against Erin Patterson opened in the Victoria state Supreme Court on Tuesday, and is expected to take about six weeks. Patterson, 50, is accused of putting death cap mushrooms…

Asset tokenization, the creation of digital ownership representations for diverse assets on blockchain and distributed ledger technology platforms, is a transformative force in finance. This wave, projected to reach $4 trillion to $5 trillion by 2030, moves asset records onto immutable ledgers governed by code, introducing unprecedented audit challenges and demanding a fundamental shift in methodologies. This analysis outlines the essential knowledge audit firms need to navigate the complex risk landscape of auditing tokenized assets.Tokenized assets require enhanced forensic procedures beyond traditional audit tools due to the limitations of conventional methods in decentralized, pseudonymous systems. Traditional sampling is challenged by the…

If you’ve been in the profession long enough, you probably remember the sound of a binder snapping shut at the end of an audit. Maybe you had shelves lined with thick audit manuals, filled with sticky notes and highlighter ink. Or maybe you were among the early adopters who swapped filing cabinets for digital folders and cheered when you could cram an entire client file into a computer.Audit has always been a profession steeped in precision and consistency, but when it comes to how we manage knowledge, the tools haven’t always kept up.That’s starting to change in a big way.A…

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics issued an unexpectedly robust jobs report Friday, with employment increasing by 177,000 jobs for the month, while the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 4.2% despite cutbacks in the federal government and fears of a recession.Professional and business services added 17,000 jobs but subtracted 9,000 jobs in accounting, tax preparation, bookkeeping and payroll services. Employment continued to grow in the health care, transportation and warehousing, financial activities and social assistance sectors. However, federal government employment declined by 9,000 in April and is down 26,000 jobs since January. The Internal Revenue Service has reportedly experienced a…

Guangzhou, China — The annual Canton Fair in Guangzhou is China’s largest import-export trade show. It covers a space equal to about 200 football fields and has been running since 1957 — when China’s economy was isolated from the rest of the world. The country’s leaders decided the expo, since formally named the China Import and Export Fair, was the best way to overcome trade obstacles imposed by the West and to drum up business investment and interest from overseas markets.In the almost seven decades since, China has transformed into the world’s manufacturing powerhouse. But President Xi Jinping’s government believes the…

House Republicans plan to raise more than $15 billion in revenue through increasing U.S. oil, gas and coal lease sales, as well as other measures, to help pay for President Donald Trump’s massive tax cut package, according to a document seen by Bloomberg News. The document, prepared by the House Natural Resources Committee, details plans to mandate at least four sales in the coastal plain of Alaska’s Arctic Arctic National Wildlife Refuge within the next 10 years, and resume lease sales in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. Republicans also plan to resume quarterly onshore oil and gas lease sales as well as…

President Donald Trump declared that Harvard University would lose its tax-exempt status, a designation that has allowed the school to avoid paying levies on its revenue under a classification for educational institutions.Trump posted the announcement after weeks of threatening an Internal Revenue Service review of the Ivy League’s tax-free treatment. “We are going to be taking away Harvard’s Tax Exempt Status. It’s what they deserve!” Trump wrote early Friday morning.Conservatives have targeted Harvard and other elite universities in recent years over accusations of ideological bias and allegations of a rise in antisemitism amid campus protests against the war in Gaza. Trump…

Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for freeYour guide to what Trump’s second term means for Washington, business and the worldDonald Trump has said he will scrap Harvard University’s tax-exempt status, threatening to deal a significant blow to the university’s finances and signalling another escalation in his attack on elite US institutions. “We are going to be taking away Harvard’s Tax Exempt Status. It’s what they deserve!” the US president said in a post on Truth Social on Friday morning. The comments from the president deepen a stand-off between Harvard and the White House, which has also said it will strip more…

There is a saying that has been going through my mind of late: “May you live in interesting times.” Its origin is vague but many attribute it to a translation of a Chinese curse. Indeed, while the saying sounds like a blessing, it is more likely that wishing someone a life of interesting times is cursing them to a life of upheaval and conflict.Whether you are optimistic, neutral or pessimistic about the current state of affairs, it’s safe to say we are all living in interesting times. Disruption has become a way of life in the 21st century. Consider this:…

Key House Republicans on Thursday discussed ways to direct an expanded state and local tax deduction to those making less than $400,000 as they seek to balance the cost of the tax break with the political needs of several lawmakers from New York and other high-tax states. The $10,000 cap on SALT, one of the most contentious issues in the GOP debate on its giant tax bill, remained unresolved as lawmakers left Washington Thursday. Republicans on the House tax panel discussed a series of options to direct the deduction to middle-class households, New York Representative Nicole Malliotakis told reporters. Committee members delved…