Recruiting

The Government Accountability Office recently released a report on detailing some of the conclusions gleaned from a recent forum on engaging and retaining older workers.

Shareholders and board members should brace themselves for record turnover among chief financial officers this year, according to a survey from executive services firm Tatum LLC.Based on a poll of more than 150 of Tatum’s Executive Practice partners (who now provide interim or permanent leadership to client organizations), the survey results suggest that Sarbanes-Oxley-related headaches unrealistic demands from board members and chief executives will drive more than 2,300 chief financial officers from their positions in 2007.

In a merger of companies that primarily provide accounting technology to schools, Dallas-based Tyler Technologies Inc. announced that it has acquired Bangor, Maine’s Advanced Data Systems Inc.Publicly-traded Tyler said that it had acquired all of ADS’s common stock, as well as an office building used in the business, for approximately $4.2 million in cash. ADS develops and sells fund accounting solutions, primarily in New England.

A flurry of e-mails and letters arrived just under the deadline for the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board’s 70-day comment period regarding proposed changes to the audit standard on internal controls over financial reporting.

Accountabilities Inc., a provider of staffing and marketing services to CPA firms, announced that it has entered into an asset purchase and reorganization agreement with Tilden Associates Inc. and TFP Acquisition Co. LLC.Tilden’s chief line of business is the sale of automotive franchises, and the administration and support of auto repair centers. TFB Acquisition is a newly formed company controlled by Tilden’s chairman and president, Robert Baskind.

The Deloitte Foundation, a not-for-profit arm of Deloitte & Touche, announced the 2007 recipients of fellowship grants through the organization’s doctoral fellowship program.

Donald Korb, chief counsel of the Internal Revenue Service, is getting a ton of good press these days for his efforts to get the agency into the game of recruiting young tax attorney talent.It’s a rare week that goes by in my office that either I don’t have a direct conversation with a practitioner, or I don’t overhear talk from the editors and writers for our sister publications revolving around the ongoing quest of just about every accounting firm to attract and retain workers. So it’s probably by nature of the even smaller pool of candidates that the competition for tax attorneys isn’t the stuff of surveys and opinion polls.

Wolters Kluwer Tax, Accounting & Legal announced that it will open an office in India for its CCH unit and other related businesses.

Katherine Schipper, a recent member of the Financial Accounting Standards Board, has joined the advisory board for BNA’s recently launched Accounting Policy & Practice Series.

After serving as a regional managing partner with a national firm for several years, in the late 1970s Len Miller decided to find a new home for his technical expertise in accounting and consulting, as well as his firm administration skills. He co-founded his own firm in Phoenix, Miller Wagner & Co. Ltd., and ran the business for more than two decades before consolidating with CBiz Inc. in early 1999. Today, Miller serves as the president of CBiz Accounting, Tax & Advisory Services LLC.With over 40 years of experience, Miller is a recognized expert in the fields of finance, real estate, general business consulting and various litigation support matters -- but he still places an emphasis on the programs his firm has in place to retain and develop its own employees.

In my last column, I recounted how a mix-up in pay envelopes some 25 years ago resulted in my learning that an unqualified superior was making more than three times what I was.

CPA partners believe compensation is the driving force behind a new recruit’s decision to join and stay with a firm -- but a new study says that’s not necessarily the case.

Tuition paid for a school focused on treating learning disabilities can be classified as a medical expense, according to a private letter ruling from the Internal Revenue Service.Like other deductible medical expenses, the original ruling (PLR 2005-21003) found that the cost of tuition is deductible only to the extent that medical expenses for the year cumulatively exceed 7.5 percent of a taxpayer's adjusted gross income.

Thomson Tax & Accounting, part of the Thomson Corp., announced that it has finalized the acquisition of Illinois-based Deloitte Tax LLP Sales & Use Outsourcing business.

There are only two conferences for accountants that my colleague, Jeff Stimpson, and I never miss attending. Winning Is Everything, presented by the Advisory Board, is one of them.The Advisory Board’s members are four of the leading consultants to accounting firms -- Jay Nisberg, president, Jay Nisberg & Associates; Allan Koltin, president and CEO, PDI Global.; Gary Boomer, CEO of Boomer Consulting; and Gary Shamis, managing director of SS&G Financial Services and co-founder of the Leading Edge Alliance.

Teams of accounting students from 22 colleges have accepted an invitation to participate in the inaugural KPMG National Audit Case Competition.

Staffing firm Robert Half International has identified five accounting and finance jobs that it says are positioned for strong growth in 2007.The information is based on research collected as part of the company's 2007 Salary Guide, as well as candidate placements and discussions with hiring managers throughout the United States.

A recent study by the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed more than 1,400 accountants left the country to work overseas permanently last year, according to Australia’s Daily Telegraph.According to experts in the industry, that trend is only likely to worsen in the common years as the rest of the world adjusts to the International Financial Reporting Standards, which have been in place in Australia since January 2005. Those standards are set to be widely adopted in 2008.

A study from the Federal Managers Association says that group members point to management resistance as the key barrier to agencies embracing telecommuting as a standard operating procedure.

Worker confidence among accounting and finance workers rose in the fourth quarter of 2006, according to a recent survey commissioned by recruiting and staffing firm Spherion Corp.