Recruiting

Deloitte plans to invest approximately $300 million to create a learning and leadership development center in Westlake, Texas.

The American Institute of CPAs plans to offer training in International Financial Reporting Standards and the Extensible Business Reporting Language.

The American Institute of CPAs has awarded research grants to accounting and management professors from the University of California, Rice University and the University of Melbourne, Australia.

Bob Graham paid a visit to the American Institute of CPAs' Spring Council Meeting last month to learn more about what the profession was doing, especially in the way of education for the newly approved forensic accounting credential as well as international accounting. A former U.S. senator, Florida governor, and presidential candidate, he recently opened the Bob Graham Center for Public Service at the University of Florida. Sen. Graham spoke to WebCPA about his views on education in the accounting profession.

The American Institute of CPAs has formed an online Succession Planning Resource Center to help small and midsized firms deal with questions of how their firm should be managed in the future.

"Not everybody has to like me." This statement is a solution to the first of seven deadly sins of career management, as explained during a keynote at the Forum for Women in Accounting, a three-day confab that has attracted approximately 250 participants.

The labor union Unite Here has started a Web site to provide information about the progress of a class-action lawsuit against PricewaterhouseCoopers over the firm's overtime policies.

All eyes are on the Securities and Exchange Commission as it prepares to issue a detailed roadmap this summer for the transition to International Financial Reporting Standards, but some representatives gave hints about what might be in that roadmap at a conference held by the Financial Accounting Standards Board in New York.

After floating the proposal roughly one year ago, the American Institute of CPAs has approved the creation of the Certified in Financial Forensics credential, a new designation that will include expertise in a range of areas such as bankruptcy and insolvency, computer forensics, economic damages, family law, fraud investigations and litigation support.Approval for the credential — which will be the fourth offered by the institute, joining the Personal Financial Specialist, the Accredited in Business Valuation and the Certified Information Technology Professional — was approved at the annual meeting of Spring Council here.

It’s a good news/bad news/good news story.Demand for the services that CPA firms provide is widely expected to remain strong into the foreseeable future.

With all the recent brouhaha over the subprime controversy and claims that mark-to-market accounting contributed to or even caused problems for investors in collateralized debt obligations, lots of people have been commenting on the relative usefulness of original cost and estimated market/fair value.One of the recurring themes raised by the chorus of critics (who shall remain nameless) is that original cost is preferable because it’s more reliable than estimated value.

The Virginia Society of CPAs Educational Foundation has established a scholarship fund to honor the victims of last year's Virginia Tech shooting.

The AICPA Private Companies Practice Section (PCPS) did a remarkable job with its 2007 Top MAP Issues survey, and it was done without even changing the question that is asked each year or who was asked. It was done simply by taking a knife and cutting up the answers. The annual survey asks various practitioners in public practice: What are your top five MAP concerns?

A new survey of CFOs suggests that staffing levels in corporate accounting and finance departments will remain essentially unchanged in the third quarter.

Kaplan CPA Review has been rebranded as Kaplan Schweser, carrying the name of its parent division at the Washington Post Co.

UCLA Extension has teamed up with Dalton Education to offer an online certificate program in personal financial planning.

Steinberg Advisors has set up an unusual bonus program, giving its full-time employees a one-time bonus of $1,200 to help them cope with rising energy costs.

A new initiative aims to create more diversity among corporate tax professionals.

Entry-level job site CollegeGrad.com has ranked accounting as the college major most sought after by employers for filling entry-level jobs.

With accounting standards moving toward convergence around the world, some accounting firms are beginning to worry that the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards could lead to litigation.