Thomson Tax & Accounting has released "PPC's Guide to Audits of Nonpublic Companies," which helps integrate the requirements of the newly released risk assessment standards that go into effect for financial statement audits beginning on or after Dec. 15, 2006. The new tome fuses two existing products -- "PPC's Guide to Audits of Small Businesses" and "PPC's Guide to Risk-Based Audits" - into a single guide for all nonpublic, non-industry-specific audit engagements. The manual includes checklists, forms and audit programs to help firms transition their audit approach to reflect the new standards. The guide is available in a variety of formats including TTA's proprietary Checkpoint platform. The risk-assessment guide also contains in-depth coverage of new requirements for communicating internal control deficiencies under SAS No. 112 and communicating with those charged with governance under SAS No. 114.

Citing a material breach, financial staffing and marketing services concern AccountAbilities has terminated its planned asset purchase and reorganization pact with automotive franchiser Tilden Associates Inc. and TFP Associates, a spinoff company controlled by Tilden chairman Robert Baskind. AccountAbilities said that, among other things, Tilden did not file its annual report on time, which subsequently resulted in Tilden's stock being delisted from the OTC exchange. Under the terms of the pact, Tilden would have acquired the assets of AccountAbilities for 12.5 million shares of its stock -- valued roughly at $18.7 million. Following the close of the deal, there was to be a 1-for-25 reverse stock split, representing about 96 percent of Tilden's shares. Allan Hartley, president of Accountabilities, said that his company would shop around for similar agreements such as the one with Tilden.

Global business intelligence software provider Business Objects S.A., provider of the Crystal Reports series, has agreed to acquire enterprise software publisher Cartesis for about $300 million in cash.

AccountAbilities Inc., a provider of financial personnel staffing services, marketing services and management consulting services, announced that one of its partner firms has acquired a smaller staffing and consulting firm.

A new survey from Deloitte says that there is a strong relationship between work-life balance and positive ethical behaviors at work.

A new report from the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board looks to draw some conclusions out of its inspections of approximately 275 audits of internal controls over financial reporting performed by registered public accounting firms.The report specifically looks at the second year implementation of the board’s Auditing Standard No. 2, “An Audit of Internal Control over Financial Reporting Performed in Conjunction with an Audit of Financial Statements.” Nearly a year ago, the PCAOB announced that during 2006 it would conduct inspections to determine whether auditors were achieving the objectives of the standard with the least expenditure of resources.

Jayne V. Bates is in the home stretch of her one-year term as president of the Association for Accounting Marketing, which will end in July. Bates has served on the association’s board of directors since January 2001.Herself a CPA, Bates is currently the director of marketing for Carter, Belcourt & Atkinson PA CPAs, a firm based in Lakeland and Tampa, Fla. She has been with CBA for nearly 20 years, spending her first eight years with the firm as a professional staff accountant and serving in a marketing capacity during the rest of her tenure.

Recently, a managing partner shared with me his answer to the question, "When does turnover begin?" His reply was, "At the beginning."Duh! Why didn't I think of that? So, if employee turnover begins with the selection process, what steps can we take to improve it? There are many steps in the recruitment and selection process - and as they say, the devil is in the details. Here are some suggestions:

Women can crunch numbers with the best of the big boys. But how many skirts stick around long enough to work their way to the top of the pile of suits, and do they have what it takes to succeed if they make it there? Pose that question in today’s society and the immediate answer may be “Yes” based on political correctness rather than truth. While 57 percent of today’s accounting graduates are women, only 30 percent of managers and 10 to15 percent of partners are female. The average male member of the American Institute of CPAs is 50, while the average female member is 40. So what happens when those older male partners retire and expect to rely on the younger women they hired to take over the reins? Firms looking to train female successors need to teach them certain skills they didn’t learn in school—or CPE classes for that matter. Skills like communication, confidence and building credibility. “We have all these women being drawn out of accounting schools and we’re not developing them and they’re dropping out of the profession. Firms are investing millions of dollars in women and they’re just walking out the door,” says Gale Crosley, CPA, founder and principal of Crosley + Co., which serves as consultants to CPA firms looking for practice development assistance, including establishing programs to help women excel in their careers. “Women aren’t taught to be initiators. You have to be an initiator to be a good rainmaker.” Crosley hesitates to use the word, which Webster’s defines as “a person whose influence can initiate progress or ensure success,” because it is typically associated with men. But she promotes the idea of “making rain” or “getting wet” in her upcoming 2007 Forum for Women in Accounting, whose theme is “Becoming All You Can Be.” The May conference aims to teach potential female rainmakers how to network, take risks, make money and manage the clock without compromising their family life in the process. When assessing firms, Crosley runs into many professional women who feel uncomfortable asking men out to business dinners for fear they will think of it as a date. Guys go out to lunch together and the women don’t participate, and she hears lots of “locker room talk” that makes the women employees uncomfortable. Her job is to help them overcome their fears and uncertainties so they can climb the ranks. “Getting comfortable with how to position and handle yourself is a challenge and always will be,” Crosley says. “A key quality is knowing and understanding the process and what techniques to use and avoid.” When one of her associates was invited to a hockey game with 25 men and complained that she didn’t enjoy the experience, Crosley explained to her that “business development isn’t about cocktailing around and having a bunch of fun.” Rather, it is part of the job description, like learning to play golf to network outside the office. “It’s just another line item on the resume,” she says. And perhaps one that helps place more women on top.

As part of a new branding strategy, Thomson Tax & Accounting, said that it will formally adopt Thomson Tax & Accounting as its public name and use the Thomson Corp. starburst imprint as its primary logo.

The May cover story for Practical Accountant focuses on how a number of firms are using formalized testing to determinate if a potential hire is right for a job. It also explores how testing is extending to other aspects of firms’ operations.

CCH has released a white paper providing insight into what it believes is most important to young accounting professionals in the workplace today.

When I first enrolled in college, I opted for a marketing course as an elective. At first, there was some trepidation on my part, because to me, marketing was a term my grandmother used when she intended to go grocery shopping. During my first day in class, I soon learned that the process of marketing had nothing to do with a visit to Grand Union or Safeway.

Reversing a trend of declining optimism over the past three years, CPAs serving as chief executive officers, chief financial officers and in other executive financial positions have a favorable view of the economy, according to the first quarter 2007 Business and Industry Economic Outlook Survey.

In a recent interview with Practical Accountant, Judith O’Dell, the recently-appointed chairwoman of the Private Company Financial Reporting Committee, explained the mandate that the committee will be following as it explores the need for different reporting standards for public and private companies in the following months.

A number of firms, especially the larger regionals, are going corporate. This approach to firm governance is seen as having an overall advantage over the strict partnership model as partners at different stages in their careers and with different specialties and concerns often find it hard to reach consensus or take decisive action quickly.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's Office of the Chief Accountant has selected four professional accounting fellows to serve two-year terms beginning this summer.

Marcum & Kliegman LLP has launched a new Women’s Leadership Development Program with neighboring law firm Farrell Fritz PC.The program, which is open to employees of both firms but not open to the public –yet -- was developed to provide a supportive venue for female professionals to explore issues that affect them in the workplace and develop skills to enrich their careers, said Marcum manager of training and development, Nancy Chen.

Business-information provider D&B Corp. has acquired First Research for $22.5 million in cash.

The latest compilations of international auditing, ethics and public sector accounting standards are available in print and electronic formats from the International Federation of Accountants.The 2007 “Handbook of International Auditing, Assurance and Ethics Pronouncements” contains all pronouncements of the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board as of Dec. 31, including the first four standards on auditing, which were redrafted under the board’s new clarity drafting rules. The handbook also contains an updated, “Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants,” which was issued by the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants in July.