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.

Payroll, tax and benefit services provider TimePlus Payroll announced its recent acquisition of West Columbia, S.C.-based American Business Payroll.

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.

The Virginia Society of CPAs announced that its president and chief executive, Thomas M. Berry Jr., will retire at the end of April. He has led the organization for the past 30 years.The society’s board of directors has named VSCPA executive vice president Stephanie R. Peters as the 8,100-member group’s next president and chief executive. She has worked at the VSCPA for nearly a decade.

Wolters Kluwer business CCH announced that Mike Sabbatis has been named to the newly-created position of president for CCH Tax and Accounting U.S.

Wachovia Corp. recently agreed to a three-year corporate partnership to help support and enhance the ongoing initiatives of the National Association of Black Accountants Inc.

A board within the International Federation of Accountants has proposed new guidance to help member bodies develop practical experience programs for accounting students.The International Accounting Education Standards Board, an independent standard-setting board, recently issued a statement outlining such programs, “Practical Experience Requirements - Initial Professional Development for Professional Accountants.”

With continuing professional education and training inching ever closer together, CPE for 2007 is shaping up to be a mix of new offerings and delivery formats bookended by industry-focused courses and uncertainty over potential changes emanating from the 110th Congress.While CPE demand spiked in 2005 as a result of mandates such as Circular 230 and Section 199 of the American Jobs Creation Act, providers pointed to more recently enacted standards like FIN 48, the Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005, the new risk assessment standards, and the continuing cry for fraud education as topics that will highlight much of CPE this year.

William Ferrara, professor of accounting emeritus at Stetson and Pennsylvania State Universities, received the 2007 Lifetime Contribution Award from the Management Accounting Section of the American Accounting Association, sponsored by the American Institute of CPAs.