WebCE's Weekly Wrap-Up: June 6, 2025
WebCE Staff
By
June 6, 2025
.jpg)
This week’s stories offer a snapshot of industries in transition, from the Fed’s latest Beige Book revealing caution across business sectors to the evolving norms around death care, where mushroom caskets and workforce shortages signal deeper cultural and generational shifts.
In cybersecurity, the rise of social engineering attacks like fake IT support calls highlights the urgent need for smarter prevention, while real estate professionals push for policy changes and celebrate tech-driven innovation.
Accounting continues to rebound in student interest, and upcoming events like SILA’s virtual classes and the CFP Board’s Connections Conference promise practical insights across financial services.
In this week’s podcast, hear how one non-traditional CPA candidate created his own path to exam success—and for a lighter close, meet the real estate agent gaining traction (and laughs) by breaking the mold on TikTok.
Let’s dive in.
Top News of the Week
“Reports across the twelve Federal Reserve Districts indicate that economic activity has declined slightly since the previous report. Half of the Districts reported slight to moderate declines in activity, three Districts reported no change, and three Districts reported slight growth. All Districts reported elevated levels of economic and policy uncertainty, which have led to hesitancy and a cautious approach to business and household decisions.”
From Grief to Growth: First-Ever Mushroom Casket Burial in North America Signals Cultural Shift (Connecting Directors)
“On a quiet hillside in rural Maine, artist Marsya Ancker will lay her father, Mark C. Ancker, to rest. But this burial, steeped in love and transformation, is a historic first: the first mushroom casket funeral ever held in North America.”
Bridging the Gap: A newly licensed Funeral Director’s perspective on tackling the industry’s staffing shortage (Funeral Director Daily)
Fewer people are entering the field, more are leaving due to burnout, and many funeral homes have no succession plans. The number of funeral homes in the U.S. declined from about 19,900 in 2010 to 18,800 in 2021, reflecting both economic pressure and the shrinking workforce.2 According to the National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) employment of funeral service workers is projected to grow only 3% from 2022 to 2032 – slower than the average for all other occupations.3 This naturally raises the question, “How can we attract and retain the next generation of funeral service professionals?”
Fake IT support calls hit 20 orgs, end in stolen Salesforce data and extortion, Google warns (The Register)
“On these social engineering phone calls, the crooks persuade the victims to open the Salesforce connect setup page — this feature allows other applications to integrate with Salesforce and share data — by pretending to be IT support. The set-up page asks the user to enter an eight-digit connection code to connect to third-party apps, UNC6040 provides this code over the phone, and this links the attacker-controlled Data Loader to the victim's Salesforce environment.”
Top Tips for Cyber Risk Prevention (Insurance Business Magazine)
In the latest edition of Insurance Business TV, At-Bay Insurance's Ken Reigler discusses the company recently being named as a five-star cyber insurance provider. He talks about the company's evolution, cyber risk mitigation and offers tips for retail brokers operating in the space.
NAR in DC: What do they want from lawmakers? (Real Estate News)
“NAR wants to juice home sales by pushing for a capital gains tax exclusion that could incentivize long-term homeowners to sell.” NAR also wants to review “zoning and land-use policies and converting underused commercial buildings for residential use.”
Visionaries: 3 Tech Trailblazers Honored as iOi Innovators of the Year (REALTOR Magazine)
“This year's honorees are “thinking differently and helping to drive the industry forward.” Their impact spans delivering cutting-edge tech solutions, serving as a voice for industry improvement and excelling in real estate practice—efforts the awards aim to recognize.”
Report card: Student interest in accounting shows marked improvement (Journal of Accountancy)
“A survey conducted in April by the AICPA in partnership with the Future Accountants Sponsoring Organizations identified increased job demand and earning potential as the top reasons among 786 accounting majors across 101 schools for choosing the field of study. Those results align with recent research by the Center for Audit Quality (CAQ) showing an increased awareness and improved perceptions of the accounting profession among high school and early college students.”
SILA’s 2025 Virtual Class Line-Up Announced (SILA)
The SILA Foundation’s interactive, instructor-led classes are returning in August. These virtual classes will be offered from 2:30-4:30 on the days listed in the line-up and membership is not required to attend.
CFP Board Unveils Power-Packed Agenda for 2025 Connections Conference (CFP Board)
“The Connections Conference will provide timely insights on topics such as artificial intelligence (AI), tax and estate planning, working with diverse clients and the psychology of financial planning, delivering strategies CFP® professionals can implement immediately. The conference will be held October 6-8 in Chicago at the Chicago Marriott Downtown Magnificent Mile.”
Top Podcast of the Week
How Hyrum Passed His CPA Exams as a Non-Traditional Student
CPA Exam Experience from SuperfastCPA
48 Minutes
Hear how Hyrum, a non-traditional student, went from struggling with the CPA study process to figuring out a study process that fit into his busy life and helped him start passing his CPA exams.
Weekend Wind-Down
Meet the real estate agent whose snarky roast videos are going viral
From the article:
Her earliest real estate videos on social media were based on what she saw other agents doing: local market updates, tips for buyers, and traditional touting of listings.
“For months, I was just making these regular old, kind of bland videos that didn’t really show who I was,” she says. “They weren’t me, exactly.”
Then on a lark last fall, she improvised a listing tour video sprinkled with jokes, uploading it to social media on a Friday before leaving town on a weekend trip.
When she returned, she was stunned to see the video had been viewed more than 20,000 times, and she realized she had struck on a style that resonated.
Check out her TikTok for some more unconventional social media marketing.