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Amazon has confirmed it will lay off an undisclosed number of employees in its Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud computing division, a decision that spokesperson Brad Glasser said is "necessary as we continue to invest, hire, and optimize resources to deliver innovation for our customers." The company declined to say which units within Amazon Web Services were impacted, or how many employees will be let go as a result of the job cuts. AWS’ training and certification unit was one of the groups to see cuts, according to a memo sent out by division head Michelle Vaz. AWS sales rose 17% in the first quarter to $29.3bn compared to a year earlier and operating income rose 23% to $11.5bn.

 

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Neiman Marcus Group veteran Brandy Richardson will join Saks Global as chief financial officer on August 18th, succeeding interim leader Mark Weinsten. Her new company is grappling with a debt load, facing outstanding obligations to vendors and chasing synergies from the tie-up with its luxury rival. S&P Global Ratings analysts earlier this month called its recent $600m financing agreement with existing bondholders “tantamount to a default” and warned of ongoing free operating cash flow deficits.

 

CFO Dive

U.S. retail sales rebounded more than expected in June, the Commerce Department has reported, rising 0.6% following an unrevised 0.9% drop in May. Economists polled by FactSet expected a 0.2% gain. Ten out of 13 categories posted increases, with motor vehicle sales climbing after back-to-back declines. Auto dealerships led the rise in sales, with receipts increasing 1.2% after decreasing 3.8% in May. Building material garden equipment store sales increased 0.9%, as did receipts at clothing retailers. Online retail sales climbed 0.4%, while those at sporting goods, hobby, musical instrument and book stores rose 0.2%. Sales at food services and drinking places, the only services component in the report, increased 0.6%; however, sales at electronics and appliance stores dipped 0.1%, as did those at furniture outlets. “There’s still a lot of trepidation about tariffs and likely price hikes, but consumers are willing to buy if they feel they can get a good deal”, commented Heather Long, chief economist at the Navy Federal Credit Union. “The word of the summer for the economy is resilient.”

 

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Applications for U.S. unemployment benefits declined for a fifth straight week to the lowest level since mid-April, the Labor Department reported on Thursday. Initial claims in the seven days to July 12th decreased by 7,000 to 221,000, well below the 234,000 expected among economists polled by the Wall Street Journal. The four-week average of claims fell 6,250 to 229,500, while the the total number of Americans collecting unemployment benefits, reported with a one-week lag, rose 2,000 to 1.96m. Before adjusting for seasonal factors, initial claims rose 19,539 last week to 260,900. New York, Nevada and Texas saw the largest unadjusted increases, while claims fell in Michigan, New Jersey and Tennessee.

 

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Bloomberg reports that Meta Platforms has made record-breaking compensation offers to attract artificial intelligence experts to its "superintelligence" team, including a package exceeding $200m for ex-Apple engineer Ruoming Pang. These multi-year offers combine base salary, cash bonuses, and heavily performance-tied Meta stock. Apple reportedly did not counter due to internal pay norms. Meta’s AI recruitment push also includes former GitHub chief executive Nat Friedman and Scale AI’s Alexandr Wang, now Meta’s Chief AI Officer via a $14.3bn equity deal. Offers rival CEO pay at major banks and are structured to reward long-term loyalty and Meta stock performance. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said some employees received $100m signing bonuses but stayed due to OpenAI’s innovation culture. Nonetheless, Meta has hired over 10 OpenAI researchers along with talent from Anthropic and Google. 

 

Bloomberg

A notable trend in the accounting profession is the increasing acquisition of CPA firms by non-CPA buyers, including financial advisors and tech entrepreneurs. The shift is being driven by factors such as the aging ownership of CPA firms, stable revenue streams, and the potential for modernization through technology. As Shannon Hay, Senior Vice President of Commercial Lending at United Midwest Savings Bank, notes: “The biggest trend isn't just private equity - it's smaller, non-CPA buyers acquiring multiple firms.” However, non-CPA buyers face challenges, including building trust with sellers and employees, navigating operational complexities, and securing financing. To succeed, they must focus on relationship-building, leveraging technology, and considering direct ownership offshoring to enhance efficiency and scalability. The evolving landscape presents new opportunities for buyers willing to adapt and innovate.

 

CPA Practice Advisor

Netflix raised its revenue and operating margin forecasts for the year, after reporting a 16% increase in second-quarter revenues to $11.08bn, driven by member additions, price increases, and its growing ad business. Net profit in the rose 46% to $3.1bn, or $7.19 per share. Analysts surveyed by LSEG expected revenues of $11.07bn and per-share earnings of $7.08. Netflix said it expects to generate $44.8bn-$45.2bn in revenues this year, up from an earlier forecast of $43.5bn-$44.5bn. The company increased its guidance for operating margins to 29.5% from 29%.

 

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New studies by nonprofits SaferAI and the Future of Life Institute (FLI) say that leading artificial intelligence companies exhibit “unacceptable” risk management and a “striking lack of commitment to many areas of safety.” The assessments indicate that no company scored above “weak” in risk management maturity. Each report was the second of its kind. The two groups hope they will be a running series that incentivizes top AI companies to improve their practices. “We want to make it really easy for people to see who is not just talking the talk, but who is also walking the walk,” said Max Tegmark, president of the FLI.

 

Time.com

President Donald Trump is set to sign an executive order designed to help make private-market investments more available to U.S. retirement plans, the Wall Street Journal reports, citing people familiar with the matter. The order would instruct the U.S. Labor Department and the SEC to provide guidance to employers and plan administrators on including investments like private assets in 401(k) plans, according to the report, which notes that it could help pave the way for big managers of private assets such as Apollo Global Management and Blackstone to access the vast sums of retirement savings held by workers who don’t have a traditional pension.

 

Wall Street Journal

Manhattan-based U.S. District Judge Andrew Carter Jr has dismissed a lawsuit brought by Casey's Distributing against the NFL alleging that it violated antitrust law through their control over the distribution of licensed merchandise. Casey’s buys NFL merchandise from licensed manufacturers and resells it. The Nebraska-based company in 2022 sued the NFL and its 32 teams, accusing them of illegally monopolizing the licensing of trademarked team products, and of denying it of selling on such platforms as Amazon. In a court filing, the NFL defended its distribution rules as lawful, saying they focus on brand and consumer protection and do not impose restrictions or rules on price or output. The case is Casey’s Distributing Inc v. National Football Club et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 1:22-cv-03934-ALC.

 

Reuters

Earlier this week, the Institute of Internal Auditors presented its updated competency framework for internal auditors. It features three main components, with skill subcategories, proficiency levels and characteristics of demonstrating proficiencies in each of the categories, similar to the old competency framework.  "One of the key features in the new competency framework, because we've published this in an Excel workbook, is that the categories are adjustable to your organization's needs," said David Petrisk, director of standards and guidance at the IIA. "That's largely in response to feedback we were getting from public sector auditors as well as from others, that the categories needed to be flexible." Other new features in the framework include proficiency levels and job role expectations. "They can be used to help benchmark your expectations to market conditions, and also you can customize and adjust some of the details to fit your organization and market," he added. "It's a customizable framework that provides more context than we did previously."

 

Accounting Today

Two Republican senators, Todd Young (R-IN) and James Lankford (R-OK), played a crucial role in preventing a proposed 600% tax increase on the endowments of large private foundations during negotiations over President Donald Trump's tax and spending legislation. Mr. Young said: “I do have to say that this took some persuasion,” as he highlighted the efforts made to protect philanthropic organizations. The legislation, signed into law on July 4th, raised taxes on university endowments but spared philanthropic foundations, which are often criticized for their influence on social issues. The Philanthropy Roundtable and other conservative groups opposed the tax hike, arguing it contradicts conservative values. The new law also includes provisions for charitable deductions and limits on corporate giving, which could impact overall donations.

 

US News and World Report

In response to a complaint by campaigners who have accused Brussels of weakening green rules without consulting the public, the European Union's Ombudsman has instructed the European Commission to explain why it expedited proposals to cut sustainability laws. Earlier this year, the Commission proposed legal changes that would exempt thousands of smaller European businesses from European Union sustainability reporting rules. The move aimed to simplify rules for sectors competing with rivals in China and the U.S. "Based on the material made available to date, the Commission does not seem to have adequately justified derogating from its rules in this case," Ombudsman Teresa Anjinho said in a letter to the Commission.

 

Reuters

A report from the Convention on Wetlands says the destruction of the world's wetlands, which support fisheries, agriculture and flood control, may mean the loss of $39 trillion in economic benefits by 2050. "The scale of loss and degradation is beyond what we can afford to ignore," said Hugh Robertson, the lead author of the report, which calls for annual investments of $275bn to $550bn to reverse the threats to the remaining wetlands, and said current spending was a "substantial under-investment."

 

Reuters