ARIZONA
Nearly 100 Tribal Council Members, Tribal Finance and HR Leaders, Compliance and Investment Officers, Tribal Attorneys, and other tribal professionals in tribal leadership roles across the Southwest and U.S. attended the 2014Tribal Finance and Leadership Conference at the Wild Horse Pass Hotel & Casino, a tribal property owned by the Gila River Gaming Enterprises, Inc. on November 5 and 6 in Chandler, Arizona near the Phoenix metro area. The conference was coordinated and hosted by REDWLLC, a regional accounting firm serving tribes and tribal enterprises in the Southwest. For more information about the webcast, log on to
BANGLADESH
BKR International has accepted G. KIBRIA & CO. of Dhaka, Bangladesh, into membership. The firm, which was established in 1983, comprises three partners and a staff of 61. Of the 145 accounting firms in the country, G. KIBRIA & CO. is one of only 26 that has received Grade A Status from Bangladesh Bank.
CALIFORNIA
Andersen Tax will open a new office in Irvine in January 2015. Intacct, a cloud financial management and accounting software company, announced it was selected for the 2014 San Francisco Bay Area's Best and Brightest Companies to Work For list. This prestigious list identifies and honors organizations throughout the regions that display a commitment to excellence in their human resource practices and employee enrichment.
CONNECTICUT
Registration is now is open for an upcoming Financial Accounting Standards Board webcast that provides an update on the FASB’s standard-setting activities pertaining to private companies and not-for-profit organizations. IN FOCUS: FASB Update for Private Companies and Not-for-Profit Organizations will take place on Monday, December 15, 2014, from 1:00 to 2:40 p.m. EST. Participants in the live broadcast (which is offered free of charge to those who preregister) will be eligible for up to 2 hours of Continuing Professional Education (CPE) credit. (Please note that CPE credit is not available for group viewing of the live broadcast.)
FLORIDA
Myers, Brettholtz & Company’s employees recently provided PACE Center for Girls staff, volunteers and students a home-cooked Thanksgiving lunch at their new school location off of Evans Avenue in Fort Myers. The lunch included turkey, ham, stuffing, casseroles, mashed and sweet potatoes, gravy, salad and a variety of desserts. To accommodate its growing presence in South Florida, Crowe Horwath LLP has opened an office in Miami. Located at 1395 Brickell Avenue on the 11th floor, the phone number for this new location is 786-534-0250. Myers, Brettholtz & Company will hold its 13th annual nonprofit workshop on Wednesday, Jan. 21. Since 2001, Myers, Brettholtz & Company, PA has sponsored seminars focused on the needs of nonprofits in the areas of human resources, fundraising, accounting practices and finance. The full-day seminar, “Make Every Word Count, will take place at the Holiday Inn Fort Myers Airport-Town Center located at 9931 Interstate Commerce Drive in Fort Myers from 7:15 a.m. to 4 p.m.
GEORGIA
Windham Brannon posted a strong 25-percent revenue growth rate within its advisory practice, calculated for the fiscal year that ended on September 30. The firm’s Advisory Services practice includes healthcare consulting, IT Risk advisory, Strategic Growth and litigation support services. According to the American Institute of CPAs, advisory services are experiencing equal or faster growth at accounting firms than the $94 billion industry as a whole, which is estimated to be growing at a 3.5-percent rate. Wolters Kluwer, CCH Small Firm Services has enhanced its ATXTM and TaxWise® software solutions for the 2014 tax season to deliver robust compliance-focused capabilities, improved workflow efficiency and extensive research tools to help preparers streamline tax return preparation.
ILLINOIS
Crowe Horwath LLP has introduced the Crowe International Tax Manager, an automated information gathering tool that helps streamline tax-reporting processes. Crowe developed the Web-based solution to help clients of all industries attain international tax compliance, reduce tax processing costs and adapt to emerging areas of risk.
KANSAS
Cargill Cattle Feeders LLC, the cattle supply arm of the company’s U.S. beef business, paired up with Kennedy and Coe to create a verified beef supply chain sustainability assessment program for Cargill feed yards. Kennedy and Coe will leverage its extensive beef-industry and sustainability expertise and unique ResourceMax assessment service developed by the company’s Vela Environmental division.
NEW JERSEY
Members of the New Jersey Society of Certified Public Accountants collected more than 3,200 pounds of food during its annual September to November food drive to benefit the Community FoodBank of New Jersey. The food drive was sponsored by the NJSCPA Young CPAs Council. Also, more than 30 young CPAs spent two days in November volunteering their time at the FoodBank’s facility, placing pasta into individual family-sized bags. The NJSCPA thanks the Society members, chapters and committees that gave so generously to help those in need, as well as the 14 accounting firms across New Jersey that acted as collection points for food donations.
NEW YORK
Marcum LLP released its annual Year-End Tax Guide for the national accounting and advisory firm’s clients and others. The 2014 Marcum tax guide addresses traditional tax planning concepts and sets out alternatives for the event that certain expired tax provisions are not reinstated, along with the impact of any new provisions. For the complete Marcum 2014 Year-End Tax Guide, visit
PENNSYLVANIA
The Atlantic Group, a provider of accounting, finance & tax executive search & consulting services, is opening of an office in center city Philadelphia. The office, located at 1835 Market Street, will be led by Steve Mickus, Brandon Saylor & Shilpa Sood, who have a combined 25 years of search experience in the greater Philadelphia market.
TEXAS
Real World Training, a provider of QuickBooks training courses, has agreed to support QuickBooks 2015, the newest version of the industry-leading accounting software. Going forward, all of Real World Training's live two-day classes, online webinars and CD/DVDs will teach students to use the new software. Ryan’s Dallas, Texas office joined an exclusive group of companies that were selected to the 2014 Dallas Morning News Top 100 Places to Work list for the sixth consecutive year. The list is based on the anonymous comments of more than 82,000 Dallas/Fort Worth area workers compiled by Workplace Dynamics, an independent firm that administers the Top 100 Places to Work survey.
WASHINGTON
Clark Nuber’s employees recently pulled out their best crockpot recipes to enter the firm’s sixth annual Cook-Off Contest to raise money for a local charity. The money was raised by collecting donations from each employee to purchase tastes of the entries. Each taster then cast one vote for their top three favorite recipes. The winning dishes included Spicy Pork Chili Verde, Mexican Chili and Caramel Apple Crisp. The proceeds of the event this year were donated to United Way of King County. The firm matched the employee’s donations $1 for $1. The votes were tallied and the top three prize winners were: 1st Place, Steve Shulze, Accounting Department; 2nd Place, Taylor Martin, Tax Department; and 3rd Place, Lizzie Rahm of the HR Department.
WASHINGTON D.C.
The American Institute of CPAs’ Employee Benefit Plan Audit Quality Center has prepared a new advisory to provide plan sponsors, administrators and trustees with an understanding of the importance of hiring a quality auditor to perform employee benefit plan financial statement audits, as well as information to help select a quality auditor. Visit the Employee Benefit Plan Audit Quality Center website at aicpa.org/EBPAQC to see a list of EBPAQC member firms and find other valuable tools prepared for plan sponsors and other stakeholders. The EBPAQC has developed other plan advisories for sponsors to help them understand an employee benefit plan audit, auditor communications, internal controls, and monitoring service providers and investments.
