Financially troubled consulting and tax services firm LECG revealed Friday it has received an acquisition offer for at least part of its business from FTI Consulting that could help rescue the firm from its financial straits.

Payroll and benefits outsourcing provider Paychex said it has completed its previously announced acquisition of online payroll concern SurePayroll.

Cherry Bekaert & Holland has acquired the CPA firm Burrus Paul & Turnbull, expanding the firm’s presence in Virginia.

I get questions daily from CPAs asking if their firm should consider a merger or if it is possible for their firm to compete as an independent or local firm. My current answer is, "It depends!"

CALIFORNIA

Anderson ZurMuehlen and Co., a regional CPA and business advisory firm here, agreed to merge with Great Falls-based Hamilton Misfeldt and Co. effective July 1.

A troika of CPA executives, whose practices completed an aggregate of nearly 20 mergers during 2010, told attendees at this year’s Winning Is Everything conference here in Las Vegas that in order to craft a successful M&A strategy, a firm must have a unified vision and an internal champion to spearhead the program and never compromise its core values just to grow or add geography.

The Tax & Accounting business of Thomson Reuters has acquired the publishing division of Chicago-based consultancy PDI Global Inc. for undisclosed terms, effective Tuesday.

Ernst & Young’s member firm in Israel — Kost, Forer, Gabbay & Associates — has acquired the professional services arm of Hacktics Ltd., an Israel-based security organization that protects against cyberspace attacks.

Bartolomei Pucciarelli has merged in the accounting practice of Joseph H. Schwendt, CPA, expanding the firm’s client base in New Jersey.

Buyers who skip evaluating IT systems of a target company may be making a very expensive mistake, according to accounting and consulting firm Crowe Horwath.

BlumShapiro has merged in accounting, tax and business consulting firm Needel, Welch & Stone, expanding the firm’s presence in Massachusetts.

Two months after penetrating the Pacific Northwest region by acquiring LeMaster Daniels, CPA and business advisory firm LarsonAllen acquired Kennewick, Wash.-based Hansen NvO, effective immediately.

Atlanta accounting firms Windham Brannon and Tarpley & Underwood have agreed to combine, expanding the services and client base for the two firms.

Southwest regional CPA firm Weaver has merged with L.T. Hawthorne & Associates Inc., expanding the firm’s services for the petroleum and renewable fuel industries.

Public accounting firm Morrison, Brown, Argiz & Farra LLC combined Tuesday with ERE LLP to create MBAF-ERE CPAs LLC, a division of MBAF.

Dixon Hughes PLLC and Goodman & Co. LLP said Monday they plan to merge on March 1, creating the largest CPA firm based in the South and the 13th largest in the country.

Vanacore, DeBenedictus, DiGovanni & Weddell, a two-office, 10-partner CPA and business advisory firm, has merged in Lesnick and Paradie, a Tarrytown, N.Y-based practice.

The Florida firms of Gregory, Sharer & Stuart, P.A., and Hevia Beagles & Company, P.A., have combined forces.

CIS Consulting Group has sold its 24-year-old practice to a variety of interests, including a software company it once represented.