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.

Regional CPA and business advisory firm Weiser LLP has merged in the Clark, N.J.-based practice of Cohen Friedman Dorman Leen & Co., effective immediately. Terms were not disclosed. The union will add six partners, including CFDL managing partner Howard Dorman, to Weiser. The firm has relocated from its Clark facility to Weiser's offices in Edison. Going forward, the firm will operate under the Weiser brand. The 30-plus year-old CFDL specializes in such areas as audit, tax, elder care planning, benefit plans, insurance review, and IT consulting and implementation. Weiser is ranked No. 20 on Accounting Today's 2007 Top 100 Firms roster with revenues of $110 million.

Financial services conglomerate Wells Fargo & Co. acquired the Twin Cities employee benefits operations of regonal CPA and business advisory firm Virchow Krause & Co. Terms were not disclosed.

In a deal that would expend its network support and security services, high-volume Sage reseller Net@Work has acquired Werkflow LLC for undisclosed terms. Werkflow founder and president Christina Strack will join Net@Work as director of sales for the company's infrastructure business. In that capacity she will oversee the network-side vendor relationships (such as Citrix, Cisco, etc.) and spearhead Net@Work's recent partnerships with Mimosa Systems and Equallogic.

Thomson Tax & Accounting has acquired the Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc., an Edmonds, Wash.-based provider of benefits research and guidance to corporations and advisory firms.

Regional accounting and consulting firm WithumSmith+Brown has merged in the Iselin and Cherry Hill, N.J., and Philadelphia offices of M.D. Oppenheim & Co. PC. The merger was effective May 1, 2007. WS+B gained approximately 50 professional and support staff and two new office locations in the greater Philadelphia area. The MDO Iselin staff will join WS+B's New Brunswick staff in the coming months at a new location currently under construction, while MDO's Cherry Hill and Philadelphia locations will continue as new WS+B offices. "The decision to join WS+B was based on the belief that the union would prove beneficial to all parties involved -- especially our clients," said Richard Cohen, former managing partner of MDO. "Assimilating into a well-respected regional firm with eight offices, including an additional international affiliation, allows our clients access to considerably more resources, receiving the same superior quality services they have come to expect and more." Founded in 1974, WS+B has 375 employees, and ranked No. 37 on Accounting Today's 2007 Top 100 Firms list, with 2006 revenues of $53.1 million.

National CPA and business advisory firm RSM McGladrey Inc. and its audit and attest firm, McGladrey & Pullen LLP have completed the acquisition of Orlando, Fla.-based Tedder, James, Worden & Associates P.A. The audit and attest assets of Tedder, James, Worden & Associates are being acquired by McGladrey & Pullen while the accounting, tax and business consulting assets will become part of RSM McGladrey. The resulting consolidation will bring the total number of Florida employees to more than 400, with the combined RSM McGladrey and McGladrey & Pullen businesses encompassing eight offices in Fort Lauderdale, Jacksonville, Melbourne, Miami, Naples, Titusville, West Palm Beach and Orlando.

Northeast super-regional CPA and business advisory firm J.H. Cohn has merged with Glastonbury, Conn.-based Haggett Longobardi, effective June 1. Terms were not disclosed. Going forward, the Glastonbury office will now do business as Haggett Longobardi, a Division of J.H. Cohn LLP. The move will add 85 staffers to J.H. Cohn, including 66 professionals and 12 partners. Haggett Longobardi has specialties in the manufacturing and distribution, real estate and health-care sectors, as well as international client experience. Frank Longobardi, one of the firm's founding partners, will continue to run the Glastonbury office. The union with Haggett is the second merger within a month for J.H. Cohn. In May the firm added New York City-based Berenson LLP, which has an established apparel industry niche. Ranked No. 16 on Accounting Today's 2007 Top 100 Firms, J.H. Cohn generated revenues of $175 million.

Intuit Inc. and Electronic Clearing House Inc. have agreed to scrap a deal that would have seen Intuit pay $142 million for the debit and credit card processor.Intuit had announced the acquisition plan in mid-December, after the boards of both companies approved the proposed deal. The companies announced late in April that it would be in their mutual best interest to terminate the proposed agreement.

Education provider Kaplan Inc. has acquired the Canadian test preparation firm U.S. CPA Success, based in Toronto, Ont.Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

A pair of Michigan accounting firms -- Lewis & Knopf in Mundy Township and Rachor, Purman & Tucker of Flint Township -- have merged.Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The combined firm will operate under the name Lewis & Knopf CPAs.