AUTOMATION’S IMPACT

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Your team’s next hire might well be someone who’s better at system design than reviewing and reconciling transactions. Meet the finance engineer.

The role, which combines software engineering expertise and financial or accounting acumen, is popping up in job listings. According to data from Ladders, there have been 60 six-figure listings for finance engineers so far this year, including from high-profile companies such as OpenAI, Google, Netflix, and Nike.

“Finance engineer” is a role that’s about “owning the systems and the architecture and the data model that cuts across both” accounting and finance, Parker Gilbert, CEO and cofounder of AI accounting platform Numeric, told CFO Brew. In a LinkedIn post, he describes it as a person who can “orchestrat[e] the logic, flows, and pipes that get the accounting work done.”

And at least at Numeric, a finance engineer looks a whole lot like a vibe-coding accountant. The company’s job posting for the role calls for someone with three to eight years’ experience “in corporate accounting, FP&A, or finance at an early-stage startup” who’s also proficient in Excel and SQL. “Comfort building tools with LLMs is a must,” the listing notes.

“We want to see this ability to ingest a lot of context,” Gilbert said. “And then a real appetite and ability to go build tools, to vibe code things—to think about this work in a very product-centric, repeatable sense.”

“Comfort building tools with LLMs is a must,” reads the job listing from Numeric.—CV

      

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THE ECONOMY

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We can do this the logical way…or the fun way.

There’s the purely rational, numbers-based way of getting a read on inflation: You could take a look at the personal consumption expenditures index, the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation indicator, which was released August 26.

The PCE price index rose 0.2% in July, up from a 0.1% decrease in June, per the Commerce Department. For the year, the PCE index was up 3.7%, while the core PCE inflation rate rose 3.3% YoY; both were flat with June’s figures.

So…those are numbers. And that’s the logical way to see what’s going on with inflation.

And then there’s the fun way. What’s that, you ask? Well, you could always listen to recent earnings calls and see what CFOs had to say about inflation, obviously!

The general read: If CFOs are talking about inflation right now, they’re not exactly saying “Wow, inflation is so great and awesome.” Still, we’re not seeing the full-blown stress of recent years.

Retailers are finding ways to absorb some of their higher costs.—NP

      

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COMPLIANCE

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Deloitte agreed to a $21.5 million settlement with the Department of Justice (DOJ) over claims that the company violated the False Claims Act.

The DOJ alleged Deloitte, a government contractor, committed fraud because of its DEI initiatives. It claimed, among other things, that the company took race and sex into account during hiring and promotions.

Deloitte did not admit to, and the government did not prove, any wrongdoing, but the settlement marks another win for the Trump administration in its ongoing efforts to eliminate DEI in the public and private sectors.

“The Justice Department will aggressively pursue government contractors that have used taxpayer dollars to fund unlawful discrimination,” Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement.

“We are pleased to have resolved this matter to avoid the cost and distraction of protracted litigation, allowing us to remain focused on attracting and developing exceptional talent with the skills and capabilities our clients rely on every day,” Jonathan Gandal, firm managing director at Deloitte, told HR Brew in an emailed statement.

Federal contractors like Deloitte have a strong incentive to settle these cases, HR Brew reports.—KP

      

market forces

Francis Scialabba

Today’s top finance reads.

Stat: More than $20 billion. That’s how much the FTC claimed in a lawsuit that Amazon improperly raised through “hidden surcharges” on advertisers. (CNBC)

Quote: “The consumer is telling us, they’re voting with their dollar. These price reductions are resonating.”—e.l.f. Beauty CFO Mandy Fields, on using tariff refunds to lower prices 💄 (the Wall Street Journal)

Read: Rasonque, Revolution Medicine’s groundbreaking new pancreatic cancer drug, costs a whopping $480,000 a year. Who pays the tab? It’s complicated. (the New York Times)

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After roughly 30 acquisitions, is Aprio still the same firm? CEO Richard Kopelman breaks down the onboarding playbook that’s kept the culture intact through years of rapid M&A-driven growth.