Philadelphia accounting firm Nihill & Riedley P.C. has been renamed as Smart Devine & Company LLC after it was acquired by Jim Smart and Rich Devine, formerly of Smart and Associates.

CPA and business advisory firm White, Nelson & Co announced that it would merge with Orange County practice Diehl, Evans & Co., effective December 1.

Kemper CPA Group, a regional accounting and business advisory firm based in Greenfield, Ind., has merged in Campbell, Royster, Carver, McBride & Co. LLP of Henderson, Ky., effective October 1.

Minority-owned CPA firm Hoskins & Company is expanding from its Nashville base to Chattanooga, Tenn., with the acquisition of the firm of Harry Tate, CPA, P.C.

CPA and business advisory firm McConnell & Jones has merged in John A. Braden PC, effective immediately.

Crowe Horwath LLP plans to merge in Perry-Smith LLP on Nov. 1, expanding the Chicago-based firm’s footprint to San Francisco and Sacramento.

It's no secret that today mergers and acquisitions are an extremely active part of the accounting profession. These combinations are due to numerous reasons, with retirement, leadership and growth at the top of the list. As owners reach retirement age, they are looking for an exit strategy. At the same time, growing firms are looking for merger candidates to gain clients, to gain access to needed staff skills, or to establish a presence in a desired market location. With a marketplace like this of buyers and sellers, it's no wonder there is plenty of activity!

PHOENIX

Price Kong & Co. is a firm on the move - but not literally.

In a union that would create one of the largest CPA and business advisory firms in California, Top 100 Firm Burr Pilger Mayer is merging with Windes & McClaughry Accountancy Corp., effective Jan. 1, 2012.

Big Four firm KPMG LLP has agreed to acquire Optimum Solutions, an Oracle Platinum Partner that provides management consulting and implementation services for organizations using Oracle Corp.’s enterprise software.

Buoyed by revenue from the acquisitions of SurePayroll and ePlan Services, payroll and benefits outsourcing concern Paychex posted a 13 percent rise in first-quarter profits, to $149 million for the period ended August 31.

The Sage Group plc, parent of Sage North America, said Thursday that it has reached a definitive agreement to sell Sage Software Healthcare, its subsidiary that offers practice management and electronic health record solutions to U.S. physician practices.

New York accounting firms Mayer & Co. and Feldman, Meinberg & Co. have agreed to merge their practices.

ADP has acquired Asparity Decision Solutions, a privately held company that develops decision support software for employee benefits management.

MNP, one of Canada’s largest chartered accounting firms, said it would merge in Waterloo, Ontario-based Wayne Drew Professional Corp., effective October 1.

Ernst & Young has acquired the Tax Risk & Process Reengineering Practice of True Partners Consulting, a firm based in Chicago.

Carr, Riggs & Ingram has expanded to Kentucky by merging with Holland CPAs in the firm’s second merger in the space of a month.

ALBERTA