The Latest

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has released a report summarizing its inspection findings between 2004 and 2007 of eight of the largest domestic accounting firms, outlining the many problems it has found with their audits.

A century-old association with roots in Britain is setting up shop in the United States, trying to give the American Institute of CPAs a run for its money.

If you are interested in how the accounting profession is evolving, you might want to keep Mark Koziel on speed dial.

A century-old association with roots in Britain is setting up shop in the United States, trying to give the American Institute of CPAs a run for its money.

The success of financial advisors in profitability, revenue growth, and attracting clients was the overriding theme in the 14th edition of the 2008 Moss Adams LLP Financial Performance Study of Advisory Firms, recently released and sponsored by Genworth Financial Wealth Management. For the average firm, new assets from new clients accounted for about two-thirds of growth, expanding assets under management by 13.5 percent. However, the study shows that only one in four firms has a well-defined succession plan and many firms, some 44 percent, have no plan at all. Actually, Dan Inveen of Moss Adams, who prepared the excellent release, said that while the current flux in performance of the financial markets may be causing advisors concern, the demand for objective financial advice is likely to increase. “Forward-thinking firms will recognize this as a time of opportunity and will continue to improve their effectiveness and show value in serving the market. Plenty of potential exists for further growth.” Looking at this in greater depth, the study turned up the fact that advisors in the top performing firms spend the most time on client service and business development. Actually, the top 25 percent of solo firms (meaning firms with one owner/professional) spend 56 percent of their time on client service and business development, compared to other firms that only spend 46 percent of their time on these activities. Moreover, top-performing ensemble firms also gain leverage with non-professional staff. The smallest multi-professional firms (less than $2 million in revenue) employ 1.2 non-professionals for every professional. The same ratio applies for the larger firms ($2 million - $5 million in revenue), which is double at 2.4, thereby allowing professionals to focus more time on business development and client activities, and less time on administrative and operations tasks. Of course, expansion for advisory firms raises new and impending issues as a significant number of firm owners are nearing retirement. Though firms have been trying to recruit and retain experienced professionals, the demand has outweighed the supply. As a result, this could leave firm owners holding concentrated positions in a valuable asset with no ownership transition plan. The 2008 study shows that only one in four firms has a well-defined succession plan and 44 percent have no plan at all. In addition, the aging advisor population, coupled with strong growth in the advisor industry, indicates that transactions will be prevalent in coming years. In fact, within the past two years, 29 percent of firms considered a sale, with 37 percent citing succession as the primary motivation behind this consideration. On the opposite side, more than half (55 percent) of the firms expressed an interest in acquisition, with most citing growth and efficiency as the driving factors. For more information, visit www.mossadams.com/2008advisorstudy.

Former Internal Revenue Service Acting Commissioner Kevin Brown has joined PricewaterhouseCoopers as a partner in the firm's IRS Service Team.

Thomson Reuters has signed an agreement to acquire Paisley, a software developer that specializes in governance, risk and compliance software, especially for Sarbanes-Oxley compliance.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has voted to extend the deadlines for inspections of non-U.S. accounting firms to avoid conflicts with the laws in other countries.

Tax advocacy group Citizens for Tax Justice has released a report urging President-elect Barack Obama to avoid cutting the federal estate tax.

Disaster Relief Resource Center for Tax Professionals