Practice Management

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

Acorn, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, will provide free tax preparation services for low- and moderate-income families in 45 cities nationwide from now through the end of tax season.

President George W. Bush said this week that he will appoint Jeffrey F. Kupfer, Treasury deputy chief of staff, to serve as executive director of his bipartisan Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform.

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.

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.

South Johnson & Co., a two-partner tax and assurance practice in Boise, has merged with regional CPA and management consulting firm LeMaster & Daniels. Financial terms of the merger, which became effective Jan. 1, were not disclosed. The union will add some $2.4 million to the revenues of LeMaster & Daniels. South Johnson co-founder Tom South was elected into ownership of L&M, while the firm's other co-founder, David Johnson, will transition out of public accounting effective July 1, 2005. Until that time, he will become a principal with the Boise, Idaho, office of L&M. LeMaster and Daniels ranked No. 65 on Accounting Today's Top 100 Firms list with revenues of $25.4 million. The firm now has 27 owner/members, 200 employees and 12 offices throughout Washington and Idaho.

Global financial services and business management provider Fiducial acquired Lousiville, Ky.-based AUSA Inc., a regional bookkeeping and write-up services company that operates under the brand Accounting USA. Financial terms were not disclosed. Ken Berryman, the former president of AUSA Inc., has joined Fiducial as the Louisville area's district manager. Going forward, AUSA will operate under the Fiducial brand. The acquisition adds 100-plus small business clients to Fiducial's portfolio.

Anchin, Block & Anchin, a regional CPA and management consulting firm based here, has merged with area CPA practice Yohalem Gillman & Co.

Fiducial, a provider of business outsourcing services to small businesses and entrepreneurs, has acquired the accounting offices of Prince William County, Va., CPA firm Frisch Ambrosiano & Kontos PC, adding nearly 1,300 tax, write-up and payroll clients and two locations to its operations.

The Internal Revenue Service has revised Schedules K-1 for this year's filing season in an effort to reduce common errors and the burden associated with preparation and filing requirements.