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ALABAMADonaldson, Holman & West PC, Birmingham, has joined CPAmerica International.

APRIL18-19: Tiburon CEO Summit XII, Tiburon Strategic Advisers. Ritz Carlton Hotel, San Francisco.

The Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Board has approved the nomination of James H. Quigley - currently the head of Deloitte's U.S. arm - as the next global chief executive officer of the Big Four firm, though worldwide member firm partners must still vote on the appointment.Quigley, who has served as Deloitte's U.S. chief for the past four years, will succeed William G. Parrett, another former U.S. chief whose eight-year term ends on May 31.

The Canadian arms of Grant Thornton International and BDO International announced plan to merge their businesses.

A federal judge has signed off on a $9 million settlement against Ernst & Young over claims made by investors in PNC Financial Services Group Inc.

The Government Accountability Office said that the Internal Revenue Service doesn’t appear to be in a position to develop its own software for tax preparation anytime soon.As part of its partnership with the Free File Alliance, in exchange for a number of tax prep providers agreeing to provider their software free of charge to certain taxpayers, the IRS has agreed not to develop its own software. But because increased electronic filing would reduce the agency’s processing costs, reduce transcription errors and speed up refund turnaround, the GAO was looked to examine the benefits and costs of the agency creating its own online tax prep offering.

Internal Revenue Service agents are spending more time conducting face-to-face corporate audits that produce no revenue, according to a report released by the tax division of Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.

In an annual ritual, many small businesses rush out after tax season to take their accountant's advice on the tax benefits of incorporation, and business software and services company Intuit has relaunched its online incorporation and document-filing services site to coincide with the rush.

The climate is changing for nonprofit organizations, with both the Internal Revenue Service and Congress zeroing in on issues such as transparency, board oversight and compensation matters.While Sarbanes-Oxley requirements apply to only the public company sector, the scandals emanating from publicly traded companies over the past several years have affected the nonprofit arena as well, according to Geralyn R. Hurd, an executive in the tax services group at Crowe Chizek's Chicago office.

Like their GOP predecessors, the Democrats in charge of Congressional tax committees continue to wring their hands over the fiscal train wreck looming due to the escalating alternative minimum tax.But agreement on a way to stop that runaway AMT locomotive - a step that many tax accountants say is needed to head off a tax revolt by millions of middle-income American families - seems just as elusive as ever.