The Latest

At a practice management conference earlier this year, one presenter treated attendees to a 17-year-old flashback - a nostalgic chart showing Accounting Today's 1993 ranking of the top 60 tax and accounting firms. (Yes, back then we only ranked 60 firms.)

At first glance, the notion proposed by our cover that there might be signs of growth in the accounting profession and its Top 100 Firms might seem overly (even ridiculously) optimistic.

Each year, we present a selection of "Firms to Watch" that aren't quite large enough for the Top 100, but that have shown such strong growth that they can be considered candidates for future editions of the list. Two factors have caused us to alter the format and contents of our watch list this year.

After weathering one of the roughest economies on record, the 2010 Top 100 Firms are making a gradual transition from implementing austerity measures such as fee reductions, hiring freezes and, in some dire cases, staff cuts, to repositioning themselves to capitalize on a slower-than-expected, but gradual, recovery.

Amper, Politziner & Mattia: Continued integration of 2008 merger with Goldenberg Rosenthal. Created a Clean Tech Group.

It's been another lagging year for growth in specialty services at the Top 100 Firms, which should come as no surprise given the gloomy economic climate. Nevertheless, a number of this year's class of T100 Firms still managed to post gains in select niche areas.

The poor economic conditions for most of 2009 were reflected in the first-ever decline in the revenue of the Top 100 Firms, primarily as a result of the size of the losses experienced by the Big Four. Local and regional firms as a group, however, for the most part showed modest growth. With the exception of the Mountain region, all of the regions posted modest gains for the year.

Hey faithful reader, have you befriended us on Facebook yet?

Jason Blumer is a jeans and flip-flops kind of guy - even when he's meeting a client for the first time. That may come as a surprise to many in this profession - and especially for the clients - but for Blumer, who is the managing shareholder at Greenville, S.C.-based Blumer & Associates, it's a normal way of doing business.

PCAOB OFFERS Q&AS ON SPECIAL REPORTING, SUCCESSION