The Latest

Independent accounting firm Briggs & Veselka Co. has acquired a Houston neighbor, local CPA firm Pirsch & Mills LLP.

A former Internal Revenue Service commissioner will head up Jackson Hewitt Tax Service Inc.’s internal review of fraud charges lodged last week against a major franchisee.Last week, the nation’s No. 2 tax preparer announced that Fred Goldberg, currently a partner at the Washington law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, would lead a review of charges brought by the Department of Justice. Goldberg served as IRS commissioner for three years, before returning to private practice with Skadden Arps in late 1992. That same year, he also served a stint as assistant secretary of the Treasury for Tax Policy.

Dating back to 2000, the Internal Revenue Service has continued to take steps towards reversing several noncompliance trends that took hold in the 1990s.According to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, compliance activities increased and results improved during the IRS’s 2006 fiscal year as the agency continues to make greater use of collection enforcement tools. Last year, enforcement revenue collected continued to increase (to $48.7 billion), although the total dollar amount of uncollected liabilities did increase, to $271 billion.

Business technology solutions provider Net@Work has acquired Apptech Inc., a Cheshire, Conn.-based consulting firm specializing in Sage Pro ERP sales and support.

As part of a new branding strategy, Thomson Tax & Accounting, said that it will formally adopt Thomson Tax & Accounting as its public name and use the Thomson Corp. starburst imprint as its primary logo.

If I had a dollar for every time I heard the expression that you need to make sure your money outlives you, I would probably be retired 15 times over by now. It seems that this is the big signpost in front of all clients’ eyes.

Hourly rates charged by accountants are on the rise overall, according to Intuit’s 2007 ProConnection rates survey, which polled more than 1,100 professional accountants.

A Swedish couple is battling the country’s tax board for the right to name their 6-month-old daughter “Metallica.”In addition to acting as the Swedish version of the Internal Revenue Service, the Swedish National Tax Board is in charge of the country’s population registry and issuing personal identification numbers, similar to the Social Security numbers used in the United States. As part of that process, the board also gets final approval over the names of children.

Small and midsized businesses added 124,000 jobs in March, according to the ADP National Employment Report from payroll and benefits outsourcer ADP Inc.

Sage Software has rolled out new versions of Sage MAS 90 and Sage MAS 200, the company’s enterprise resource planning software geared toward small and midsized companies.