Audit & Accounting

The KPMG Foundation has granted $410,000 in scholarships to 41 minority doctoral scholarships for the 2008-2009 academic year as part of its effort to increase the number of minority students and professors in business schools.

VSP Vision Care has hired former U.S. Solicitor General Ken Starr to represent the eye care insurance provider in an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court on its tax-exempt status.

The Bonadio Group has merged with Dorfman-Robbie and its affiliated companies, the DR Group, to create an accounting firm with annual revenues of nearly $45 million.

Automobile donations have sharply declined since 2004, when Congress tightened the tax rules for claiming charitable deductions, according to an analysis of IRS data by Grant Thornton.

Accounting firm J.H. Cohn has combined practices with Frederic Kantor & Co., a Manhattan-based accounting firm serving high-net-worth individuals and families working in entertainment and the creative arts.

The Schonbraun McCann Group LLP has changed its name to Cornerstone Accounting Group LLP and announced some management changes.

Energy company El Paso Corp., its subsidiaries and five former employees settled fraud charges with the Securities and Exchange Commission for improperly inflating proven oil and gas reserves and providing misleading financial statements.

Maybe because I am so literal, I am a firm believer in transparency. Perhaps that was why I was intrigued by a newsletter from a leading firm association that goes to association members and friends. Included was a two-pager entitled “Vision for Our Future,” that identifies ten possible goals of the association for 2008-2012. The process, which included member surveys, conference calls, and meetings, was also detailed. The proposed goals were developed by a 15-member team and facilitator, all listed in the two-pager.

Job satisfaction among financial planners remains high, with 96 percent of financial planners saying they are "satisfied" or "very satisfied" with their career choice, according to an annual survey.

Ernst & Young won a decision involving a defunct hedge fund after its liquidators sued the firm's Cayman Islands unit, accusing it of performing a deficient audit and failing to detect the investment managers' fraudulent valuation.