CBIZ acquires Denver accounting firm Knight Field Fabry [Denver Business Journal] Cleveland-based CBIZ Inc. (NYSE: CBZ) on Monday said it has acquired certain assets of Denver-based accounting firm Knight Field Fabry LLP. Formed by Sarah Knight in 2007, Knight Field Fabry provides traditional accounting, tax, litigation support and valuation services to small and mid-sized clients, mainly in the Denver area. CBIZ, a professional services company, expects the deal to add 11 employees to its existing Denver office and $1.5 million to its annualized revenue to the company.
PCAOB Alert Puts More Emphasis on Internal Control Audits [Compliance Week] Expect auditors to look for more documentation and more evidence that internal controls are effective after regulators issued formal guidance to auditors to enhance internal control audits. The guidance itself was not necessarily a surprise, especially to Big 4 and other major national firms that the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has warned to take a closer look at internal controls for the past few years. “The basic themes emphasized in the practice alert are not new,” says Jim DeLoach, managing director at consulting firm Protiviti.
Accountant teaches value of money by reading to Hempfield students [Hempfield News] Heather Lister found an ingenious way to introduce elementary school children to the world of money — have accountants read stories to children. "I came across the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants on a Listserv one day," Lister said Oct. 29.
Night of the living CPA [Accounting Today] Have you recently seen…a CPA zombie? Do you feel like the walking dead within your professional life? Do you know someone who is an innovation and growth killer within your firm? I just returned from CCH Connections User Conference and I feel as though the “new firm” ideas are starting to take hold. This is exciting!
CPA falls into Northlake pizza business [FPHJ] Fifty years after getting into the restaurant business, Jack Perry admits it wasn’t really his life’s aim. “I never planned on being in it,” said Perry, owner of Pizza Joynt, 39 W. North Avenue in Northlake. Perry graduated from Leyden High School, renamed East Leyden in 1958. His parents were factory workers at Automatic Electric, where Perry briefly worked. He didn’t care for it. “It sent me back to college real fast,” Perry said. He earned a degree and became a certified public accountant, a profession he pursued for five years. In 1963 he and an unemployed friend decided to open a small carryout pizza place in Glen Ellyn.
PCAOB Opening Up? Maybe [Mondaq] Two Senators introduced a bill that would make disciplinary proceedings of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board open to the public. According to the lawmakers, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 made the PCAOB proceedings confidential through charging, hearings, initial decision, and appeal. Unfortunately, the secretive nature of the process enables firms that engage in misconduct to drag out the proceedings for years while the investing public is kept in the dark. The new bill would make the PCAOB proceedings available to the public, similar to proceedings before other regulators such as the Securities and Exchange Commission.
U.S. Stocks Pull Back [WSJ] Stocks dropped as a stronger-than-expected reading on the U.S. services industry stoked some concern in the bond market that the Federal Reserve may begin reducing its supportive efforts sooner. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 74 points, or 0.5%, to 15565 in midmorning trade, as 24 of its 30 components fell. The S&P 500 index gave up eight points, or 0.4%, to 1760, while the Nasdaq Composite Index lost 12 points, or 0.3%, to 3924.
Bernanke Giving Homebuyers Second Chance With Pledge: Mortgages [Bloomberg] This was supposed to be the year that Herb Harrison found a newer, bigger home to replace his current house in Framingham, Massachusetts. Then, in May, mortgage rates began to rise and he put his hunt on hold. “My wife and I looked at each other and said ‘no way,’” said Harrison, who works in information technology. “It was something we thought about when rates were at rock-bottom, but once the rates spiked, we decided to stay where we are.”