Discussion

• @lugaricano Luis Garicano on x

  Fabulous story.

• @dellannaluca Luca Dellanna on x

  Massive strategic blunder by KPMG, but it's absolutely right on the discount request: if accountants aren't charging less in 2026 for comparable work as previous years, they're either profiting or incompetent, none of which are good.

• @reubenr80027912 Reuben Rodriguez on x

  I joked about this before but now I'm kinda serious; AI is going to be the scapegoat for an insane amount of fraud b/c it's perfect patsy Get caught for fraud > blame auditor > auditor blames Anthropic AI model > Anthropic says “you customized our agent, that's on you not us”

• @denehyxxl Ryan Denehy on x

  I have said this to pretty much everyone who has called me in the past 18 mos about VC-backed services rollups. Incremental margin gains come at the expense of significant reduction in pricing power.

• @going_concern @going_concern on x

  Clients, take note: “KPMG, one of the world's largest auditors of public and private companies, negotiated lower fees from its own accountant by arguing that AI will make it cheaper to do the work, according to people familiar with the matter.” https://www.ft.com/...

• @dkthomp Derek Thompson on x

  This is a great catch by Matt Levine. KPMG is trying to force its auditor to accept less money, since accounting work can be significantly automated by AI. But KMPG ... makes money ... from accounting. So this looks like a company accidentally announcing to the world that its [im…

• @toonithecreator Tooni on x

  KPMG, one of the world's largest auditors of public and private companies, negotiated lower fees from its own accountant by arguing that AI will make it cheaper to do the work, according to people familiar with the matter. https://www.ft.com/... [image]

• @malaikadiva Nat on x

  The jokes write themselves really because the Big 4's clients could argue the same.

• @bearlyai @bearlyai on x

  KPMG threatened to drop its auditor Grant Thornton unless the firm lowered its fee to do KPMG's books. Why? Because KPMG knew Grant Thornton was using AI to do some of the accounting work, and that the service would be cheaper (so, Grant Thornton should pass the savings on). [ima…

• @bearlyai @bearlyai on x

  More from FT (looks like KPMG paid $357k in 2025 vs. $416k in 2024): https://www.ft.com/... [image]

• @rohanpaul_ai Rohan Paul on x

  Massive AI cost savings should come into financial accounting and auditing. FT report: KPMG threatened to take its business elsewhere if Grant Thornton, its own auditor, did not lower prices to reflect AI cost reductions. The public outcome was a 14% drop in the reported audit [i…

• @boringbiz_ @boringbiz_ on x

  If you know anyone working in KPMG audit, they will tell you that their clients have already been doing this All KPMG is doing is passing on the costs to their own auditor Expect a similar chain reaction in other services businesses as well (banking, consulting, law)

• @stevecooke.org @stevecooke.org on bluesky

  These jokers need to have their bluff called: let them do their audit with an LLM and see how much it ends up costing them.  [embedded post]

• @stevenjcbuckley Dr. Steven Buckley on bluesky

  This sounds exactly like the scene in the Big Short, where the ratings agency admits they just give AAA ratings because otherwise the banks would use other ratings agencies instead.  [embedded post]

• @tonytassell Tony Tassell on bluesky

  Not sure KMPG has thought this one through - if it is pressing its auditor to lower fees because of AI, does not that encourage its own clients to do the same? rpt here by @stephenfoleyft.bsky.social www.ft.com/content/c891...

• @ljon Harmonious Bosch on bluesky

  I'm not sure KPMG, a company which does a lot of audits, has thought this one through carefully.  [embedded post]

• @seldo.com Laurie Voss on bluesky

  Short accounting firms.  [embedded post]

• @msmarymary MaryMary on bluesky

  Extra interesting because KPMG also provides audit services.  I doubt they are voluntarily lowering their fees.  [embedded post]

• @caseynewton Casey Newton on bluesky

  I'm hearing that Big Tech is already doing the same thing with outside counsel — either tell them to do more for the same amount of money or accept a lower fee [embedded post]

• @edzitron Ed Zitron on x

  so they lied

• @rakeshsfnyc Rakesh Agrawal on x

  First of many.