The Student CPA

A couple of weeks ago, I attended my very first accounting career fair in a very long time. I had every intent to make the most out of the event. While I was very well aware of some of the customary things that I needed to do in order to make a good impression on recruiters, I kept looking for some out of the box tips for effectively working a career fair. As such, I turned to Google Search to see if I could find a single tip that appeared to have the potential to help me stand out from other  job seekers.  As I kept digging through the search results, it came to my attention that using a 30 second job search elevator pitch when first meeting with recruiters is an excellent attention getter. Although I don’t like the idea of speaking from a script, I nevertheless went ahead and prepared an elevator pitch highlighting my background, my strengths, and my career aspirations.  The Web was not the only place I went to look for answers. I also sought the advice of one of the accounting professors at my school. Continue reading An Anecdotal Career Fair Experience

There have been a string of notable merger and acquisition deals involving a number of regional accounting firms since 2009. You know what they say, if you can’t grow organically fast enough, find yourself a merger or an acquisition candidate.  In a chronological order sort of, here are some of the M&A deals within the public accounting industry that have caught my eye:

Year 2009:

-Baker Tilly Virchow Krause, LLP (Chicago, IL) acquires Beers + Cutler (Vienna, VA): prior to the tie up, Baker Tilly Virchow Krause, LLP was ranked the 17th accounting firm  with $215M in annual revenues whereas Beers + Cutler was ranked 42nd  with annual turnover of $60M. As of 2010, the combined firms  are ranked 13th with annual revenues of $250M. This acquisition enables Baker Tilly Virchow Krause, LLP, a public accounting firm that primarily did business in the Midwest, Continue reading Mergers and Acquisitions Fever Takes Hold of Regional Accounting Firms