AT Think

Lixil Group, the Japanese company that owns the American Standard brand of toilets, sinks and other bathroom fixtures, is seeing its profits go down the drain after the company reported accounting problems last week.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday that total nonfarm employment increased last month by 280,000, with job gains mostly occurring in professional and business services, leisure and hospitality, and health care. However, employment in accounting and bookkeeping services declined a bit.

The AICPA released a report on Thursday summarizing key stakeholders’ input on potential ways to adapt the next version of the Uniform CPA Examination.The report, Invitation to Comment Results: Maintaining the Relevance of the Uniform CPA Examination, is part of a practice analysis – an extensive research project designed to determine the knowledge and skills required of newly licensed CPAs.

Hiring at small professional services firms grew a bit last month, according to the latest figures from CBIZ.

On Tuesday, EY announced a significant expansion to its EY Scholars Master’s Program, awarding 53 students from across the country the opportunity to participate in this year’s program. The program covers up to 100% of tuition and fees for each student’s master’s degree program, providing a group of underrepresented interns the opportunity to continue their education and succeed in the growing professional services industry.

According to the second quarter AICPA Economic Outlook Survey released on Tuesday - which polls CEO's, CFO's, and other senior accounting management in the U.S. - executives grew less confident about prospects for the U.S. economy over the past quarter, and are reining in profit and revenue expectations for their organizations in the coming year.

H&R Block is testing new technology that uses Facebook’s Oculus virtual reality equipment to provide avatars of tax preparers for customers of the future.

Accounting software company Sage launched the Sage Foundation on Tuesday, which looks to "set the standard for Corporate Compassionate Capitalism around the world."

The Internal Revenue Service discovered last month that criminals accessed around 104,000 tax returns through its Get Transcript application and tried to get hold of approximately 100,000 more.

The AICPA will announce the results of its CPA Outlook Index (CPAOI), a measure of sentiment about the U.S. economy and key business performance categories for the coming year, at 7:00 a.m. EDT, Thursday, June 4, 2015.