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ARIZONA
Henry & Horne acquires Arizona firm
Details: CPA and business advisory
firm Henry & Horne has acquired the
Phoenix-based practice of Mazza, Spero,
Hougham & Schultz, effective Nov. 1.
Financial terms were not disclosed.
Richard Schultz will be joining Henry &
Horne as a partner, bringing the partner
total at the Arizona regional firm to 16.
Meanwhile, Dennis Mazza, Larry Spero
and Robert Hougham will come aboard
as partner emeritus. They will be located
at Henry & Horne’s Scottsdale, Ariz.,
location.
M&A WATCH
BY GALE CROSLEY
The on-again, off-again status of IFRS is a fact of life for those
of us in the accounting profession. But it’s not an excuse for
inaction.
IFRS — International Financial Reporting
Standards — is in use across the globe. Here
in the U.S. we follow generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP. But signs that
IFRS is making its way into American practices are everywhere. And for the first time
this year, IFRS content has been incorporated
into the U.S. CPA exam.
GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE
Thomas Calderon chairs the University of
Akron’s G. W. Daverio School of Accountancy,
which is my alma mater. In a recent in-depth
conversation, I learned about his efforts to
bring IFRS knowledge to students and to help
CPAs prepare for its inevitable arrival.
Despite his reputation as a respected
scholar, Calderon’s interest in IFRS is not
purely academic. Calderon grew up in the
Caribbean and practiced in the region, which
gave him a decidedly British/global business
orientation.
He’s a visible and respected leader in the
accounting arena. The curriculum he built at
Akron goes well beyond the basic treatment
of international accounting typical of many
university offerings.
For more than five years, the university has
incorporated IFRS into undergraduate and
graduate accounting classes. The decision
was prompted by a number of factors, including the global perspectives of Calderon and
the accounting faculty at The University of
Akron. Another was the 2007 Securities and
Exchange Commission move to no longer
require reconciliation of IFRS to GAAP for
international registrants.
The Akron program has been responsive
to moves by the Big Four to only recruit stu-
Schools of Business. This prestigious ac-
creditation carries the expectation that the
curriculum includes a global perspective,
and exposure to IFRS is an important way to
address this requirement.
CONNECTICUT
Nanavaty, Nanavaty & Davenport
merges in Ronald C. Chickering, CPA
Details: CPA and business advisory
firm Nanavaty, Nanavaty & Davenport
LLP in Newtown, Conn., merged with
Ronald C. Chickering, CPA, of Monroe,
Conn., effective Nov. 1, 2011. The Chickering office will move into the Newtown
office of NN+D. Terms were not disclosed.
Chickering established his CPA
business in Monroe in 1985. NN+D
was founded in 1991 and is a regional
accounting firm that provides audit, tax
planning and preparation, accounting,
and business consulting services.
Gale Crosley, CPA, has been named one
of the Top 100 Most Influential People
in Accounting by Accounting Today for six
consecutive years. She is an honors accounting graduate from the University of
Akron, Ohio, and winner of the Simonetti
Distinguished Business Alumni Award.
REACH OUT AND PARTNER
Calderon encourages for ward-thinking CPA
firms to partner with local universities that
have IFRS expertise. Such arrangements can
take a variety of forms. For example, your firm
could collaborate with a university accounting department to sponsor an international
accounting symposium, job fair or online
IFRS-certification program.
Such relationships can be mutually beneficial. The university brings demonstrated
expertise in the field as well as young talent to
the profession, while the firm brings contacts
and professional development opportunities.
They also lead to other types of collaboration. If an international engagement requires
a native speaker of a particular foreign language, a university is a likely resource for that
expertise.
It can be difficult, if not impossible, in an
early market to know where you will find
traction or acceptance. By associating with a
university with demonstrated leadership, you
gain entrée into a community of engagement
and expertise.
Other benefits include boosting your firm’s
visibility among job candidates. International
THE WORLD IS NOT FLAT
While there is no certainty about when or if
IFRS will be adopted, we cannot afford to be
left behind other countries. According to the
American Institute of CPAs, “the SEC is taking
steps to determine whether to incorporate
IFRS into the financial reporting system for
U.S. issuers and, if so, when and how.”
Calderon believes that IFRS will be woven
into the current GAAP standards, with likely
convergence between the two. Another pos-
sibility is that IFRS would be superimposed
over GAAP. Whatever the structure, he argues
that U.S. firms should avoid isolation and be
prepared for the movement toward global
reporting. AT
J.H. Cohn adds Kostin Ruffkess
Details: Top 100 Firm J.H. Cohn
LLP has expanded its presence in New
England by merging in Kostin, Ruffkess
& Company LLC, a firm with three offices
in Farmington and New London, Conn.,
and Springfield, Mass.
J.H. Cohn already has an office in
Glastonbury, Conn., and a new one that
it opened last month in Stamford, Conn.,
to support its hedge fund, private equity
and other clients in the region, but this
will be the firm’s first office in Massachusetts.
Kostin Ruffkess dates back to 1949.
The firm specializes in accounting and
tax services, along with forensic accounting, business valuation, and business
consulting. It will now operate under J.H.
Cohn’s name. The combined firm will
See M&A WATCh on
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