New York Firms Team in Diversity Venture

CPA and business advisory firms Watson Rice and Marks Paneth & Shron have teamed to create Watson Rice/MP&S LLC, a joint venture that will develop programs for ethnic and culturally diverse clients. The effort teams one of the New York area's more-established CPA firms in Marks Paneth & Shron, with 44 partners and $52.5 million in 2004 revenues, and Watson Rice, a longtime firm operating under a culturally diverse management team. The firm also specializes in serving federal and city agencies, such as U.S. Post Office, the Department of Defense and the New York State Comptroller. Watson Rice managing partner Raymond Parker Jones, who will also serve as managing partner for the joint venture, described the project as "dual tracks" -- a growth engine for private companies run by culturally diverse leadership, as well as providing auditing and accounting services for Securities and Exchange Commission issuers and large corporations committed to diversity.