Firm News -- Dec. 2

ALABAMA

Barfield, Murphy, Shank & Smith, Birmingham, is celebrating the 20th anniversary of its founding in 1991 by Don Murphy, Keith Barfield and John Shank in the basement of one of their homes. (Steve Smith joined as a shareholder in 1994.) The firm now has over 100 employees and serves over 2,000 clients.

CALIFORNIA

HMWC CPAs & Business Advisors, Tustin, gave $6,000 in charitable donations to two local nonprofit organizations -- $5,000 to JSerra Catholic High School, and $1,000 to the Blind Children's Learning Center.

FLORIDA

Fuoco Group LLP, North Palm Beach, a new division, Elder Services Group LLC, to provide assurance to retired professionals and older adults that need assistance with banking, bill-paying, managing home care or health care, providing payroll services for caregivers and household employees, submitting insurance claims, reconciling bank and investment statements. Jacqueline Harris Chiodo will serve as president of the division. ... Cross, Fernandez & Riley LLP, Orlando, has rolled out its 2011 Annual Central Florida Public Charities Survey. The third annual survey creates a valuable free benchmarking resources for the local public charity community. Charities can participate here. ... Kingery & Crouse PA, Tampa, has joined PKF North America, giving it 96 members in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

ILLINOIS

Sikich LLP has moved to a new corporate headquarters at 1415 W. Diehl Road, in Naperville. The firm has signed a 12-year lease for approximately 80,000 square feet in the corporate Tellabs Inc. building. ... Grant Thornton LLP, Chicago, has launched a Japan Business Group that will focus on serving Japanese inbound companies in the United States. The new group will be led by international client services director Kumiko Watanabe.

KANSAS

Lewis, Hooper & Dick LLC, Garden City, has been named the Garden City Community College Endowment Association's Outstanding Service Honoree.

MICHIGAN

Plante Moran has been named one of the Top Five Workplaces in Michigan by the Detroit Free Press, placing third in the Large Companies Category.

NEW JERSEY

Cowan, Gunteski & Co., Tinton Falls, co-sponsored a private forum for business owners in New Jersey in mid-November.

NEW YORK

Accounting Transition Advisors has changed its name to Transition Advisors LLC, New York City. The company also created a new logo and launched a new Web site. ... Teal, Becker & Chiaramonte CPAs PC, Albany, has been named a 2011 Best Places to Work in the Capital Region in the Top Midsized Companies Category by the Business Review. This is the third time in five years the firm has received the award. In addition, staff from the firm took part in a firm volunteer day to build homes through Capital District Habitat for Humanity in mid-November. ... KPMG LLP, New York, was ranked No. 2 in Computerworld's 2011 list of Top Green-IT Organizations. Separately, KPMG International released its latest Global Business Outlook survey, which is based on responses from 6,367 companies representing manufacturing and service providers in 17 countries. ... EisnerAmper LLP, New York City, released the third edition of The Pulse of Private Equity, its biannual research report based on survey results from over 100 private equity fund executives.

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