Adding to its continuing professional education portfolio, Thomson Tax & Accounting has acquired AuditWatch, a high-profile audit-training and process improvement consulting firm headquartered in Reston, Va.
Terms were not disclosed. The deal became official Nov. 15.
AuditWatch president Joseph "Bo" Fitzpatrick will continue to oversee the company, albeit in a new capacity as senior director of AuditWatch operations.
"They had contacted us a while back and we both looked at the pros and the cons [of the deal] and decided there were a lot more pros," said Fitzpatrick.
Fitzpatrick reports to Ken Koskay, vice president and general manager of CPE and training at TTA. The company will continue to operate under the AuditWatch name.
"They bought us for our people and our brand," said Fitzpatrick. "So we will stay AuditWatch."
This is the second acquisition for TTA since June, when it acquired Edmonds, Wash.-based Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc., which provides employee benefits research and guidance. TTA has since folded EBIA under its Research & Guidance unit.
"We are very excited by the acquisition of AuditWatch, as it complements our existing in-house training business while providing great people, products and services to the CPE and training business at Thomson Tax & Accounting," said Koskay. "I have admired AuditWatch for many years because of its stellar reputation and the fact that it provides industry-leading audit and accounting training as well as audit process improvement consulting."
