Firm Management

The University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business has won the 2014 KPMG/NABA Case Study Competition. The award, presented by Big Four audit, tax and advisory firm KPMG and the National Association of Black Accountants was presented during a two-day event held during the annual NABA Conference & Expo in Washington, D.C. last week.

Big 4 accounting and consulting firm KPMG LLP has acquired Zanett Commercial Solutions, a Cincinnati-based business and technology consulting firm. This transaction, which was finalized on June 20, broadens the depth of KPMG's technology-enablement solutions that help clients improve performance, maximize revenue and manage risk as they transform their business.

CohnReznick LLP, one of the top accounting, tax, and advisory firms in the U.S., and Boston-based accounting, consulting, and tax firm Ercolini & Company have signed a letter of intent to combine practices, expected to be effective June 30.

Tom Hood, CEO, Maryland Association of CPAs & Business Learning Institute, and Jan Hargrave, CEO of Jan Hargrave & Associates, will be the keynote speakers at the 2014 Boomer Technology Circles Summit August 18-19, 2014 at the Westin Crown Center in Kansas City, MO. Due to the growing importance of firm’s developing emerging leaders, the Boomer Technology Circles Summit will also have an Emerging Leader track.

A roundup of professionals in the tax and accounting profession that have changed jobs and/or been promoted.

How can accounting firms best-tailor their website content and services for an ever-changing marketplace?

Despite the growth of cloud-based technology, many accountants are hesitant to move all of their client data and firm management systems online. A survey conducted by CPA2Biz last fall found that 43 percent of CPAs have their doubts about the security of cloud-based applications, feeling “somewhat confident” or “not confident at all.”

On average, accounting firms have a pre-tax net profit margin of more than 20 percent. This underscores the success that most firms have with controlling costs and with the overall management of the firm’s finances. Managers, however, often allow quantitative measures like this to overshadow equally – if not more – important qualitative measures of a firm's success.