Reznick Group said it has signed a letter of intent to acquire another accounting firm, Tidwell DeWitt, building its presence in the Southeast and adding more services.

Financial services firm Braver said it was merging with Nelson, Adam & Dickson, an accounting firm based in Concord, Mass.

Two upstate New York CPA firms are merging, with the Rochester-based firm of Bernardi & Russo joining forces with Buffalo-based Freed, Maxick & Battaglia.

Crowe Chizek said it plans to combine practices with Carter, Belcourt & Atkinson, expanding the Oak Brook, Ill.-based accounting firm's footprint in Florida.

Thomson Corp. said it would acquire the Deloitte Tax LLP Property Tax Services business for an undisclosed sum.

Accounting networks Nexia International and SC International have agreed to merge, forming the ninth largest association of accounting firms worldwide.

Board directors and general counsel are spending more time on enterprise risk management as a result of Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, but they would prefer not to, according to a newly released study.

In its second merger of the year, Pittsburgh-based CPA firm Malin, Bergquist and Co. LLP has combined with a firm based in nearby Erie, Pa.: Diefenbach Delio Kearney & DeDionisio.

Two New York firms are combining forces, with Tarrytown-based Platt, Barth, Elson & Steinman P.C. merging with New York City-based Marks Paneth & Shron LLP.

Accounting firm Coulter & Justus has sold its Technology Solutions Group to Axis Integrated Solutions, a software reseller that works with Sage Software.

Two CPA firms on California's central coast have announced a merger: Bianchi, Lorincz, Huey, Hudson & Co. and Kasavan & Pope.

Huron Consulting Group has acquired Callaway Partners for $60 million in cash to add Callaway's finance and accounting project management expertise to Huron's financial and consulting services.

Accounting firm Lovoy, Summerville & Shelton has acquired Granberry & Associates, allowing the firm to expand its client base beyond its home town of Birmingham to Granberry's turf in the Auburn-Opelika area of Alabama.

Option One Mortgage, the beleaguered subprime lending unit of tax-prep giant H&R Block, has mired its parent company deeper into financial malaise, losing a $1 billion warehouse credit line from Lehman Bros. Holdings. In a federal filing, Lehman indicated that it did not renew the credit line after it expired late last month. The mortgage unit was one of the primary drivers behind the company posting a year-end loss of $434 million. Block has agreed to sell the arm to private equity concern Cerberus Capital Management, a deal that is supposed to close October 31. Cerberus stipulated that the division needs $8 billion of borrowing capacity in order for the sale to proceed. Block said that despite the non-renewal from Lehman, the company had the requisite borrowing capacity.

Super-regional CPA and business advisory form Crowe Chizek & Co. said it completed its merger of Mount Laurel, N.J.-based Enterprise Financial Consulting Group. Terms were not disclosed. Going forward, EFC will operate under the Crowe brand. The deal was first announced in May. The union brings 20 professionals to Crowe including two partners. The 11-year-old EFC provides risk consulting, governance and compliance solutions to primarily East Coast businesses. In addition to New Jersey, EFC also has an office in Atlanta.

RiskMetrics, a global risk management and consulting concern, agreed to acquire the Center for Financial Research & Analysis, a forensics accounting firm. Terms were not disclosed. RiskMetrics said it planned to merge CFRA with its Institutional Investor Services unit, which grades corporate governance and advises investors. CFRA was founded by former American University professor Howard Schilit in 1994. Schilit, once dubbed as "the Sherlock Holmes of Accounting," sold his stake in the firm in 2003.

The Hong Kong member firm for Grant Thornton International said that six partners and 80 employees from CPA firm Moores Rowland Mazars have joined the firm. The partners include Mark Fong, the current president of the Hong Kong Institute of CPAs. As a result, Grant Thornton will now have 21 partners and 480 employees in Hong Kong. The addition comes as a result of the restructuring at MRM, which will split into two firms -- Mazars and Moores Rowland. Grant Thornton currently has offices in Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

CPA and business advisory firm Maddox Ungar PLLC has merged with Ronald N. Silberstein PLLC of Farmington Hills, Mich. Terms were not disclosed. Going forward, the firm will now operate under the brand Maddox Ungar Silberstein, PLLC. The union brings principal Ronald Silberstein and three staff members to MUS. The consolidated entity will have three principals and 14 staff members. Silberstein specialized in the audits of franchised businesses as well performing SEC work.

I have always found regional accounting firms fascinating. Just take three recent developments regarding the regional firm of Virchow, Krause & Company. One was that Wells Fargo Insurance Services of Minnesota, a subsidiary of Wells Fargo & Company, acquired Virchow, Krause & Company's Twin Cities employee benefits operations, including the head of the employee benefits practice in Minneapolis and his team. It is a good example of how regional firms view these very specialized practice areas. The acquire them and spin them off reminding me of many businesses that view the acquisition and the selling of a portion of their business as a regular means for increasing profitability.

Accounting firm roll-up concern CBiz Inc. agreed to sell its New York office to regional firm Marcum & Kliegman, a deal that includes two partners and 15 professionals. Terms were not disclosed. M&K chief executive Jeffrey Weiner told WebCPA that following the close of the deal, the CBiz office and personnel will be consolidated into M&K's New York City venue. M&K also has offices on Long Island and in Connecticut. He estimated the deal would close sometime in September. "They were looking to sell it and we were the best bidder," Weiner said. "The addition [of CBiz] just augments what we do already." Executives of CBiz did not return calls by presstime. CBiz and its audit and attest arm, Mayer Hoffmann McCann, ranked No. 8 on Accounting Today's 2007 Top 100 Firms list with revenues of $466.8 million. Marcum & Kliegman ranked No. 25 with revenues of $85 million.