Audit & Accounting

Accounting firm consolidator Century Business Services Inc. has acquired the San Diego-based CPA and consulting firm Nation Smith Hermes Diamond.

A significant increase in sales prices for CPA firms in 2005 was one of several predictions made by a panel of experts at a recent accounting conference here.

U.S. Chief District Judge Sven Erik Holmes is leaving the federal bench to join Big Four firm KPMG LLP in the newly created position of vice chair of legal affairs.

Taxpayers who misreported their income to snare unjustified Earned Income Tax Credits are draining $2 billion a year from the U.S. Treasury, auditors at the Government Accountability Office recently told Congress.

Thanks to the help of the Financial Accounting Standards Board, more American jobs may stay in America in the near future.

Last month, the Financial Accounting Standards Board issued its long-awaited final statement on share-based compensation or "stock comp." But many wonder if that's the last that we'll hear of it.

Top-ranked Southeast regional firm Cherry, Bekaert & Holland has expanded its presence in the Tampa Bay market with the addition of Rex Meighen & Co. to its accounting and consulting group.

Maybe 2004 should have been called the year of the restatement -- amended filings for financial restatements by public companies due to accounting errors rose 28 percent in 2004, to a record 414, up from 323 the previous year, according to a report by Huron Consulting Group.

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act, along with the Securities and Exchange Commission's accelerated reporting guidelines, appear to be improving the accuracy of companies' earnings forecasts, according to a report by management consultancy firm Parson Consulting.

The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service issued interim guidance on two new penalty provisions enacted as part of the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004.