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Businesses expanding internationally are placing greater emphasis on tax certainty and regulatory transparency alongside headline corporate tax rates, as complex reporting requirements, policy changes, tariffs, and international rules increase the true cost of operating across borders. Kreston Global’s 2026 survey of 1,100 mid-market business leaders found that 39% consider favorable tax policies important when selecting markets, up from 33% in 2024, while 36% cited regulatory transparency, up from 28%. Trade considerations are also increasingly influential, with 57% saying tariffs or trade disputes have significantly affected their global strategy over the past one to two years, and 48% identifying favorable trade agreements as an attraction for international expansion. Despite these challenges, 86% expect international business conditions to become more favorable over the next two to three years, reinforcing the need to assess tax, regulatory, and trade certainty at the outset of investment decisions.

 

Bloomberg Tax

Meta has used artificial intelligence (AI)-powered flux analysis to reduce its financial close from seven days to six and is piloting agentic AI across other accounting functions as it works toward continuous close and continuous control monitoring. Chief accounting officer Aaron Anderson said the company is applying existing financial control and risk-assessment frameworks to AI, gradually increasing automation only after systems demonstrate reliable performance, particularly within its SOX-controlled environment. Meta is also addressing data-quality limitations, testing AI agents in areas such as revenue operations, and requiring its roughly 550-person accounting organization to complete AI fluency training. Anderson said AI implementation has required more testing, monitoring, and maintenance than anticipated, while the longer-term shift could require auditors to focus more on validating financial outcomes rather than tracing every step taken by AI systems.

 

CFO

Uber plans to lay off about 10% of its global workforce - around 3,400 employees - as part of a major organizational overhaul. Dara Khosrowshahi, the CEO of the taxi and delivery firm, told staff that the changes would create a “simpler and faster” business, including by reducing the number of small teams where one or two employees report to a single manager by nearly 50%, and cutting by 20% the number of employees who sit more than seven layers from the chief executive. The move will also reinforce a hybrid work policy which requires three days a week in the office. Analysts said the layoffs could generate up to $2bn in annual savings.

 

BBC News

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Daily Mail

The Guardian

The Commerce Department reported on Wednesday that U.S. factory orders rose 0.9% in July, exceeding expectations for a 0.6% increase and rebounding from a revised 0.2% decline in June, while orders were 6.5% higher year over year. The increase was led by a 12.7% surge in civilian aircraft and parts orders, while machinery orders rose 0.8%, and motor vehicle bodies, parts, and trailers increased 0.4%. However, orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft, a closely watched indicator of business equipment spending plans, were unchanged, while shipments of these core capital goods rose 1.2%. Manufacturing continues to benefit from investment linked to the artificial intelligence buildout, although supply chain pressures, elevated input costs, and import tariffs remain headwinds.

 

Reuters

The U.S. economy has expanded modestly in recent weeks, while employment has increased slightly, and prices have risen moderately, according to the Federal Reserve’s latest Beige Book. Employment increased slightly to modestly across seven of the Fed’s 12 districts and was flat in five, while the pace of price increases was unchanged in eight districts, slowed in three, and accelerated in one. Businesses reported continued cost pressures from energy, transportation, raw materials, healthcare, insurance, and tariffs, although price-sensitive consumers have limited some companies’ ability to pass on higher costs. The mixed picture comes ahead of the Fed’s September 15-16 meeting, with its benchmark interest rate currently at 3.50%-3.75%. Policymakers remain divided over whether persistent inflation warrants a rate increase, while uncertainty around higher energy prices, international conflict, and policy is clouding the outlook. The Beige Book also highlighted weakness in parts of the housing market, increased demand linked to data centers and defense spending, and mixed effects from AI adoption on labor demand.  

 

Reuters

U.S. private employers added 38,000 jobs in August, below the 47,000 expected and down from an upwardly revised 46,000 in July, according to ADP, marking the weakest monthly increase since January and providing further evidence of a slowdown in the labor market. Employment growth was heavily concentrated in a handful of sectors, with education and health services adding 45,000 jobs, leisure and hospitality gaining 16,000, and construction adding 12,000. By contrast, manufacturing lost 17,000 positions, professional and business services shed 16,000, and natural resources and mining, as well as trade, transportation, and utilities, each lost 5,000. Large companies accounted for almost all net hiring, with businesses employing at least 500 workers adding 34,000 jobs, compared with a gain of 3,000 among companies with fewer than 50 employees. Wage growth remained stable, with base pay for employees staying in their jobs increasing 3% year over year, while gross pay, including bonuses, commissions, tips, and other earnings, rose 4.4%.

 

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The NBA has imposed one of the harshest punishments in league history on the Los Angeles Clippers after an investigation found the team facilitated outside payments to star Kawhi Leonard to circumvent salary-cap rules. The league fined the Clippers $30m, stripped the franchise of five first-round draft picks, and suspended owner Steve Ballmer from league activities for one year. The investigation found that team sponsors, including Aspiration, Boingo Wireless, Daktronics, and Lockton Insurance, improperly paid Leonard. The NBA specifically cited Ballmer for approving a business deal tied to Aspiration’s endorsement agreement with Leonard and failing to ensure compliance with league rules. Leonard was ordered to pay the NBA $700,000, while two Clippers executives were also suspended. The Clippers said they “vehemently reject” the findings and intend to challenge the decision. Ballmer had previously denied wrongdoing, while Leonard said he accepted responsibility for lapses in judgment by people within his inner circle.

 

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Wall Street Journal

The U.S. Treasury and IRS have proposed investment rules for Section 530A accounts, or Trump accounts, that would expand eligible options beyond the four index ETFs initially offered while maintaining strict criteria during a child’s growth period through age 18. Eligible investments would generally track indexes composed primarily of U.S. companies, prohibit leverage, and charge fees of no more than 0.1%, an approach some financial advisors view as unusually prescriptive and potentially too conservative for young investors. Others argue that limited, diversified choices could simplify decisions for parents and encourage participation by reducing “analysis paralysis.” The agencies are accepting public comments on the proposed regulations through October 20th.

 

Financial Planning

A U.S. federal judge has rejected the Department of Justice’s attempt to force Google to sell its AdX advertising exchange and publisher ad server, despite an earlier finding that the company had built an illegal monopoly in online advertising. Judge Leonie Brinkema has instead opted for behavioral remedies, likely to include data-sharing requirements and greater compatibility with rival products, with the final measures still to be agreed. The decision marks the second time a court has declined to break up Google after an antitrust defeat, following a similar ruling in its search monopoly case. Judges in both cases have cited the practical difficulties of forcing major divestments and the risk that rapid technological change, particularly in artificial intelligence, could overtake remedies during lengthy appeals. The ruling leaves Alphabet’s core businesses intact and follows a 57% rise in its shares over the past 12 months. Google welcomed the rejection of a break-up, while anti-monopoly campaigners criticized behavioral remedies as insufficient to curb its market power.

 

Bloomberg

CNBC

Financial Times

The FASB has proposed a new Accounting Standards Update containing technical corrections and clarifications intended to improve U.S. GAAP. The proposals include guidance concerning expected credit loss estimates, modified share-based payment awards, and several other accounting topics. The changes form part of the FASB’s ongoing project to make incremental improvements to its Accounting Standards Codification. Public comments are open through November 19th, the same deadline for feedback on a separate proposal addressing whether stablecoins and certain other digital assets can qualify as cash equivalents.

 

Accounting Today

Journal of Accountancy

Congress has approved a stopgap funding bill that would maintain the IRS’s annual budget at $11.2bn through December 11th and prevent a government shutdown when current funding expires September 30th. The House passed the measure 370–48 after the Senate approved it 90–6 in August, sending it to the president for signature. The legislation also prevents a second rescission of more than $11.6bn in IRS funding during the continuing resolution period. IRS funding has fallen substantially from the $79.4bn in supplemental funding originally provided by the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, with $26bn remaining available through September 30th 2031, as of January.

 

Journal of Accountancy

Advisors to ultra-high-net-worth clients can use borrowing, real estate investment, and energy assets to provide liquidity and reduce or defer taxable income while keeping more capital invested. Rather than selling appreciated assets and triggering capital gains, clients may borrow against investment portfolios, while real estate investments can generate substantial first-year deductions through cost segregation and 100% bonus depreciation, subject to passive activity rules and eventual depreciation recapture. Oil and gas investments can provide additional deductions through intangible drilling costs and a 15% percentage depletion allowance on qualifying royalty income, with mineral rights potentially serving as collateral for further borrowing. Alan Stalcup, chief executive and founder of GVA Real Estate Group, argues that these strategies require careful structuring around applicable tax rules, but can allow wealthy clients to preserve compounding and defer taxes rather than simply managing tax consequences after transactions occur.

 

Accounting Today

Insurer Swiss Life plans to cut ‌up to 600 roles by the end of 2028 to improve efficiency, even as it reported a 3% rise in half-year premiums to 12.3 billion Swiss francs and announced a 250 million Swiss franc share buyback. Around ​half of the job cuts will happen at the ⁠Swiss insurance business; the other half will come from the ​asset management unit mainly overseas. "We want to sustainably expand our business beyond 2027. This entails strengthening our position and our efficiency – also by ​leveraging the advancing digitalisation – to enable us to quickly capture ​further market opportunities in a focused manner," CEO Matthias Aellig said.

 

Reuters

Germany's IG Metall  union has warned that its members will resist attempts by Volkswagen to undo a previously agreed restructuring package, although it stopped short of threatening strikes ahead of a critical board meeting scheduled for the end of this week that will see a vote on what currently are three rival restructuring proposals. The automaker's biggest overhaul ​to date could include plant closures, the carve-out of some units and 50,000 further ⁠layoffs. "I can only warn you: If the board tries to call this agreement into question again, then the factory floors will be up in arms at all our sites," Thorsten Groeger told workers in Hanover, one of the sites that faces closure. "We will oppose it with all our might," said the representative for Germany's largest union.

 

Reuters

Sixty per cent of American adults view themselves as “working class,” including those who have college degrees and higher incomes, according to a report from the Pew Research Center. The share is up from 54% in 2024. Republicans are more likely than Democrats to identify as working class, even after taking economics, occupation, education and other factors into account. About 60% of White and Hispanic adults consider themselves as working class, compared with about half of Black and Asian adults, the report showed.

 

Bloomberg

Business Insider

Pew Research Center