SALT Firm Ryan & Company Opens D.C. Office

State and local tax consultant Ryan & Company has opened a Mid-Atlantic regional office in Alexandria, Va. The office is led by Michael Allen, who recently joined the firm as a principal. Previously, Allen had his own Washington-area tax-appeal practice, representing clients in Virginia, Maryland and D.C. He's been both a real estate bank appraiser and a licensed independent fee appraiser. Ryan & Company is headquartered in Dallas and has 27 offices around North America. A press release is here.

Ryan & Company

On N.Y.'s Licensing Requirements

If you're a CPA seeking a license in New York State, and most of your experience is in corporate accounting or investigations, you should be aware: Documenting your qualifying experience may be a bit more difficult than you expect. Myra Thomas wrote an overview of the requirements, and some tips for handling them, for jobsinthemoney.com.

Challenges for Corporate Accountants in N.Y. [JITM]

Thoughts on Salaries: Comments Invited

A few weeks ago, we ran a poll on jobsinthemoney.com to ask what people thought was more important: their salary or work-life balance. About 47 percent of the respondents said balance was the bigger issue, while 44 percent emphasized salary.

Then I got an e-mail that detailed one accountant's thoughts about salaries. It's interesting, so I'm posting the entire message here. I'm sure others out there have their own opinions, so feel free to add your own comments.

I am a second year cost accountant at a Fortune 50 corporation in Illinois. I have had a year's experience of auditing and I am now starting my 2nd year of cost accounting here at one my corporation's component plants.

To me, it is all about how much money you make per hour. If I am going to work more, I expect to make more. I find that as you move up in the corporation, the hours you must put in go up proportionally more than the pay until you reach a certain point. If you are going to be in top management, you better value salary over work life balance. However, if you stay on the front lines in the lower level accounting positions, the hours can really stack up too, and the pay is not even comparable to a higher level position.

For me, I feel that $30 an hour is pretty fair for the job of a staff accountant. Therefore, if I were to make time and a half for all the overtime I put in, I would have to make $73,000 a year assuming I work 45 hours a week most of the time and I assume eight-hour days for all the paid days I get off (about 25 a year).

The question is, can I find a job that pays $73,000 a year and only requires nine-hour days. I would say that would be challenging. Therefore, maybe I should have been a high school teacher since they make less money in total but way more $ per hour.

I suggest deciding what you think is a fair amount per hour and then see what salary you need to have based on the hours you work to see if your pay and time is in
balance.

Add your thoughts by clicking on the comments link below.

Opportunities Under the FCPA

If you're a certified public accountant with an innate skepticism, and you enjoy foreign travel, problem-solving and out-of-the box thinking, there may be work for you because of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, writes Dona DeZube in an article I just posted on jobsinthemoney.com.

Skeptical? A CPA? FCPA Work Might Be For You [JITM]

Working With Financial Advisors

For some young CPAs, the future may be about financial advise. This month's Registered Rep, the magazine for those who used to call themselves brokers but now prefer the term "wealth manager," has a long and interesting article on why financial advisors should include different kinds of financial professionals, including CPAs, on their team:

Broker coaches and recruiters say they expect more advisors and reps, particularly those with high-net-worth clients, will come to understand how much leverage they can derive from investing in a sales assistant with a professional background - even if the starting salary is twice what a typical clerical assistant can command.

"It's really the wave of the future," says Katherine Vessenes president of Vestment Advisors, a consulting and training firm for advisors based in Minneapolis. Vessenes, who has advised Sheehan on practice-management issues, is also co-author of Building Your Multi-Million-Dollar Practice (Kaplan Business, 2005). "The top advisors are going to bite the bullet and spend the money and their businesses will really take off," she says.

Don't let the term "sales assistant" put you off. Some of the folks in the article are doing high-level work and making good money doing it. If you're looking for a different way to use your accounting background, giving wealthy investors tax and other advice through the offices of an FA could be an option.

Seek Professional Help [Registered Rep]

It's Bonus Time! (Or not)

Outside of Wall Street, holiday bonuses are on the wane, says the Christian Science Monitor. But that could change if the job market stays tight:

John Challenger, CEO of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, finds that, increasingly, employees have an edge because of the tight labor pool. Noting that this has been a good year for performance, he says, "We expect more companies will be sharing more of that with their employees." Even so, he adds, "Companies are much more careful today about keeping the bonuses in a reasonable frame. There's some caution out there, because the economy is slowing. Next year might not be as strong."

Still, Bob Kustka, president of CHR Partners, a human resources consulting firm in Norwell, Mass., expects changes: "Bonuses are going to come back into vogue in the next few years as the war for talent heats up," he says. "The new workers entering the workforce, the millennials, will be harder to keep. They don't have the same level of loyalty [that] previous generations had. Therefore organizations will be looking for innovative ways to keep those workers." Already he sees gaps in accounting, engineering, and nursing.

For companies that do give bonuses, staffers want a little clarity in how their amounts are determined. Employees, said one outplacement specialist, "want to be treated fairly and have clear expectations."

The vanishing holiday bonus [Christian Science Monitor]

IRS Recruits on Campus

The Internal Revenue Service was at Saginaw Valley State University in Michigan last month. It teamed 34 students - most of them accounting majors - with about 20 special agents and retirees to simulate the investigation of financial crimes. The session was part the Adrian Project, which the IRS has brought to 10 different states to encourage more students to apply for positions in the service.

IRS brings 'Adrian Project' to campus [Valley Vanguard]

Yes, You Need a Mentor

Talk to a career coach and sooner or later they'll get around to mentoring. We write a lot about it (see our latest here) because having a mentor whom you can trust with your confidences, and can trust to offer frank insight, is such an important component of effective career-management.

So, of course, I noticed an article on MSNBC about the importance of mentors to women as they strive to break through the glass ceiling. Eve Tahmincioglu writes about Deloitte & Touche USA Chairman Sharon Allen's experience:

"I can’t stress enough how important mentoring is to achieving success in one's career," says Sharon Allen, Chairman of Deloitte & Touche USA LLP. She credits the mentors she’s had in her career with helping her enter the small club of high-ranking women executives.

A key mentor for her was the managing partner in Deloitte’s Boise, Idaho, office where she worked early on in her career. "He would give me a little bit of additional confidence by standing by me and giving me that nudge to assure me I was doing the right thing," she explains. "As I developed in my career and moved along up the ladder, I established new connections with people I felt were looking out for me."

The lack of female role models, she adds, continues to hinder advancement for women, so women find themselves "establishing their own way and styles that work for them, and as a result, the additional reinforcement from a mentor is useful."

Work is complicated today, and even if you don't aspire to the chairman's office (woman or not, that's Allen's title) having a mentor can help you determine the best course through any number of issues you'll face as your career develops, whether its positioning yourself for a promotion to taking family leave. Tahmincioglu's article is a good primer, even for men.

Mentors can help women shatter glass ceiling [MSNBC]
Strategies to Help You Move Up [JITM]

Foreign Firms Looking Here

European financial firms are looking for talent here in the U.S., Myra Thomas writes in a piece we posted this morning on jobsinthemoney.com:

The attraction of the U.S. consumer's spending power and the American capital market is creating a wave of European company expansion here, presenting opportunities for finance professionals in a wide range of disciplines. Skilled investment managers, accountants, analysts and CPAs with appropriate industry knowledge and an understanding of foreign markets can be an asset to firms considering establishing or expanding their stateside presence.

Foreign Firms Seek U.S. Talent for Expansions [JITM]

A Good Match Vs. Wishful Thinking

Recently I've received a lot of e-mail from accountants and auditing professionals expressing frustration: They get nowhere applying for jobs even though their degree isn't in a related field and/or they don't posses a relevant certification.

In the best case, these folks are trying to push themselves into challenging roles they haven't prepared for. In the worst case, they're just not paying attention to the jobs they're applying for.

We're going to write some more stories about matching yourself with the right opportunities. But in the meantime I have to suggest everyone bear in mind a key rule of job-hunting: Make sure your credentials fit with the employer's needs. As Robbie Miller Kaplan wrote for us last August:

Employers are interested in hiring applicants that have qualifications that match their job requirements.

Do you have the appropriate education, training or certifications? If not, it's in your best interest to obtain them through traditional or online learning. Pursue alternative sources to secure practical experience, such as internships and volunteer opportunities.

And Dona DeZube, in an article on responding to online job ads, said:

Make Sure You Fit: Before you reply, digest the job description and make sure you have the required experience and education, suggests Timothy Wujcik, chairman of Chase Winters Worldwide, a Chicago recruitment firm. He estimates about 10 percent of the candidates who e-mail their replies to Internet job postings don't do that. "We were looking for an individual with compensation of $450,000 and we received a resume from a candidate who was a messenger," Wujcik recalls as an example. "There was no correlation whatsoever between this job and his job as a messenger."

Wujcik's example may be extreme, but his point is a good one. I'd love to get some feedback on this. Click the comment link below.

Ask the Expert: I'm Qualified - Why Can't I Find a Job? [JITM]
Tips for Responding to Online Ads [JITM]

In Demand in the Garden State

Given it's proximity to New York and Philadelphia, and its being home to a goodly number of financial, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, it's no real surprise that New Jersey is in need of accountants. Writes Yvonne Darling in the local business newspaper NJBiz:

Michael H. Karu, a certified public accountant at Levine, Jacobs & Co. in Livingston, says accounting jobs often appeal to those looking for steady employment, but they often trail other jobs in initial appeal.

"It’s not glamorous nor is it a way to instant riches. Conversely, have you ever seen an accountant on a breadline?" he said.

Good point. Meantime, Rothstein Kass in Roseland, N.J., says it's hired 120 recent accounting graduates this year alone.

Have You Ever Seen an Accountant on a Breadline? [NJBiz]

Vanderbilt Plans Accounting Master's Program

Vanderbilt University's Owen Graduate School of Management will begin offering a master' program in accountancy in the fall of 2007.

The 10-month program is intended for non-accounting undergraduates who aspire to launch their careers with one of the top five global accounting firms - Deloitte & Touche, Ernst & Young, Grant Thornton, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Vanderbilt University to offer Master of Accountancy degree [VU Cast]

Wal-Mart's in Recruiting Mode

Wal-Mart visited the University of Delaware a few weeks ago, spreading the word about opportunities for summer interns and entry-level professionals at the mega-retailer's Bentonville, Ark., headquarters. Recruiter Levey Williams and senior internal auditor Lashondra Jones spoke to about 140 students.

Using a slide presentation, Jones explained her responsibilities as an auditor for Wal-Mart, which includes reconciling inventory and managing the shrink, or loss, of the company. Wal-Mart offers positions in this field in 13 states, and new employees receive on-the-job training for 14-16 weeks. Employees are offered benefits and the opportunity to travel around the country and overseas, she said.

Jones said she had no desire to become an auditor when she was at the University of Alabama. "Before Wal-Mart came to my campus and talked about it, I had never thought of internal audit as a possible career," she said. "It's an interesting one."

Joyce Henderson, assistant director of UD's Bank of America Career Services Center, said she helped bring Wal-Mart to campus because of the quality of the available positions. "Wal-Mart is the largest employer in the world, and when I spoke with Levey Williams, he talked about some of the awesome opportunities for positions for undergraduate students, which included the auditing position that they alluded to in the program," Henderson said. "When he shared with me what the benefit package was, I thought this would be an excellent opportunity for our students to investigate."

Wal-Mart's probably as much a leader in getting bad press as it is in making money. But over the years I've spoken to a few people who work in Wal-Mart's tax department and they seem to think it's a challenging, good place to work.

Wal-Mart recruits UD students for internships, careers [UDaily]

Recruiters and You

A lot's been written about why recruiters are your ready allies in job hunting. The most recent I've seen is by Sarah Needleman on CareerJournal.com (here), who writes about finding recruiters whose focus matches yours. She also includes some good ideas for networking. And as long as we're talking about recruiters, earlier this year I posted a story (here) by Scott Krady on developing effective relationships with recruiters once you've found them. Though it was written for people on Wall Street, a lot of its tips can applied in the accounting world.

Ways to Find Recruiters Who Specialize in Your Niche [CareerJournal]
How To Develop A Relationship With A Recruiter [eFC]

Offshore Finance

So, I see that Outsource Partners International, which calls itself a "professional services firm dedicated solely to finance and accounting outsourcing," has opened a service center in Sofia, Bulgaria. It will have 125 people offering finance and accounting services in different European languages.

Offshoring of financial and accounting jobs is one of those things I keep an eye on. Wall Street's been sending a lot of its back-office jobs overseas, and of course the trend toward transferring IT and customer service jobs out of the country has been written about for years.

This press-release paragraph is a bit heavy, but read it anyway (please):

After considering a number of locations, OPI decided to open its newest facility in Bulgaria largely due to the country’s abundance of highly skilled multi-lingual professionals. Nearly 80% of the university educated population speaks at least one foreign language, while nearly 25% speak two or more foreign languages. At the same time, the country is politically and economically stable with plans underway to join the European Union in January 2007. These attributes make the new OPI facility an ideal nearshore alternative for European-based companies looking to cut costs and improve efficiency through finance and accounting outsourcing.

What's so important about all that? For one thing, it profiles the competition you might face for corporate finance jobs in the next decade, or the people you might end up managing if you're an ambitious young manager. On the one hand, everyone says demand for CPAs and financial pros is high right now; on the other hand, I hear from a lot of people who've been looking for the right job for months, if not longer. This particular center is aimed at serving European firms, but file this item away for future reference. It's just another bit about the changing landscape.

Outsource Partners International

Where Men Are Men - and Accountants Are Scarce

The Montana Society of CPAs has launched a Web site - the Montana Connection [here] - as part of its campaign to lure CPAs to the state and keep native-born talent at home. The Helena Independent Record says in less than a month and with little publicity, the site has already filled two accounting positions. It also offers tools for calculating the cost of living in Montana, and notes on obtaining your certification there.

Calling all CPAs: Web site promotes accounting jobs in state [HelenaIR.com]
Montana Connection

Finding Mistakes So You Don't Have To

Normally, I don't think of Robert Half as an outfit with a great sense of humor. But its Resumania Web site is a hoot. It's billed as a "place for real-life examples of how not to write a resume," and it lives up to its name. Skip the "retro" section, which has some nuggets you may well have seen before, and go to the "Hall of Fame" or "Online Resumania." My personal favorites:

QUALIFICATIONS: "Self-motivated, organized and detail oriented. High standards including attention to detail and quality of work."

EXPERIENCE: "Detailed-oriented saleman."

OBJECTIVE: "To be revered as a Goddess for my analytical skills; to be admired and talked about for my creative and elegant ideas; to work for a group that's still in it to have fun and make That Dream come alive; to be surrounded by good people who laugh often and whose own personal motivation inspires me; to forge consensus and sow encouragement in those around me."

"COVER LETTER: I am extremely loyal to my present firm, so please don't let them know I'm looking to change jobs."

Resumania

KPMG Targets Private Equity Funds

KPMG has formed a U.S. Private Equity Group to provide more services from senior partners to private equity funds. The group will help clients with merger and acquisition structuring, due diligence, tax work, audit and advisory services for private-equity funds and portfolio companies, and other transactional assistance.

Donald C. Spitzer, 57 and a 35-year veteran of KPMG, will lead the group as national managing partner - private equity. He said every member of the group is already providing customized services to large funds. Now based in New York, Spitzer previously was Southwest area managing partner for audit, risk and advisory services. He's also been on a national partner- in-charge and an office managing partner, and led development of the Transaction Services practice and the Restructuring Practice of the firm from the mid 1990s to 2001. A quick Web search tells us he's also a 2006 officer of the Boy Scouts of America's Circle 10 Council.

KPMG

Managing Your Own Retention

It seems that companies and employees are a bit out of sync when it comes to what keeps people sticking around. Max Messmer, the oft-quoted chairman of Robert Half International, suggests retention is mostly about challenges and opportunity (see the context here), but a survey by HR consultant Watson Wyatt Worldwide and the human resources association WorldatWork indicates pay is a bigger reason than most employers acknowledge.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the survey indicates companies underestimate the value of health-care benefits in keeping employees on-board. Deborah Keary, director of human resources for the Society for Human Resource Management, told the Journal employers shouldn't single out pay or job opportunities by themselves as the greatest retention issue. Both are contributing factors to the retention challenge, she said.

Most of the accountants I've talked to, and the AICPA's chief himself (here), talk about the importance of getting firms in-sync with younger professionals. And I'm flat-out afraid I'll be called predictable if I mention the heat's really on them because of the competition for young CPAs with a few years of experience under their belts.For the accountant, it all comes down to communication: Making sure you're clear in letting your firm know what you're looking for in terms of pay, quality of life, balance and benefits.

CFOs Value Employee Loyalty [JITM]
AICPA Chair Talks Retention [JITM-CW]

Breaking News: Tax Directors Stressed

Tax executives can't make their headcounts and budgets keep pace with their departments' increasing workloads. And though tax departments are gaining visibility within the corporation, their leaders are having to do more work they regard as less valuable to the business. The reason? According to KPMG's annual survey of senior tax executives, it's all about compliance.

Among the survey's findings:

• Some 42 percent of tax executives said they actually have fewer days in the financial close process than they did last year, with only seven percent saying they have more time.
• Tax departments continue to grapple with increased work as a result of SOX 404 compliance requirements (80 percent), increased documentation requirements (86 percent), and increased independent auditor requirements (81 percent).
• Some 89 percent of tax directors say increased tax accounting and SOX 404 requirements are forcing them to spend less time on tax planning than they would like.
• In addition to technology-specific improvements, tax departments reported they plan to increase training (56 percent) add resources/staff (44 percent), and increase use of outside consulting (35 percent).

Increasing Regulatory Demands Are Changing Role of Corporate Tax Departments, KPMG Study Reveals [KPMG]

And as long as I'm linking, here's a link to a story jobsinthemoney ran on what tax directors look for in job candidates:

What Tax Directors Look for When Hiring [JITM]

The State of SALT

Hiring in State and Local Tax practices - which go by one of my favorite acronyms, "SALT" - may slow down a bit next year, but still remain relatively strong. James Rubin writes on jobsinthemoney.com that firms of all sizes are taking on a steadily growing amount of work in the area, and are hiring both experienced hands and fresh-out-of-college associates to help. One key to success here has nothing to do with numbers: Brian Murphy, managing partner of Grant Thornton's SALT services, says he also looks for strong communication skills and the ability to think on the fly when he's considering job candidates.

CPA Firms Still Need SALT Expertise [JITM]

More on the Young Accountants Survey

Reading through the press release on CCH's survey of young accountants, one thing in particular struck me: CPAs with four to seven years of experience don't think their firms are providing the tools necessary to do their work well, appropriate rewards, and enough challenge. Which strikes me as something more firms should be worried about, given the pressure to keep people on board nowadays. A partner in one firm says accounting firms tend to be conservative when it comes to workplace issues - but you have to wonder whether or not they can afford to hang on to that conservative streak much longer.

CCH

Deloitte's Compliance Chief on Careers

We posted an interview this morning with Harold Tinkler, chief ethics and compliance officer for Deloitte & Touche USA since 2003. Tinkler's been with Deloitte for 35 years, so he understands the business and he understands the firm. He talks about his role, his typical day, and offers some advice to those interested in careers in compliance and ethics. You can read the interview here.

Q&A: Deloitte's Ethics and Compliance Watchdog [JITM]

AICPA Chair Talks Retention

AICPA Chair Leslie Murphy says the shortage of accounting professionals is likely a long-term situation and told firms they need to be more pro-active when it comes to holding on to their staffs. As a profession, accounting "has to do more to make it inclusive and attractive if we're going to successfully compete with other career options available," he told the CCH User Conference in Boca Raton last week.

Noting that in 14 years 75 percent of AICPA members will be approaching retirement, Murphy said accounting firms need to be more in-tune with younger workers and their hot-button issues - things like work-life balance, corporate culture and flexibility in the workplace.

At the same session, CCH's Mike Sabbatis outlined the results of CCH's Young Accounting Professionals Survey and said firms need to better understand the accounting workforce. "They must look at career paths and implement development programs that keep good employees eager to work for their firm."


AICPA Chair Details Staffing Strategies in Tight Job Market [SmartPros]
Survey: Young CPAs Say Firms Fail to Deliver on Key Attributes [SmartPros]

Vote

It's election day, and maybe this isn't exactly related to your work, but I'll say it anyway: Go vote. In my home district in Pennsylvania, the poll workers told me it's been an exceptionally heavy turnout - nearly 500 voters had signed in before 11:30. So, go vote.

Opportunities in Orangeburg County, S.C. - Maybe

An un-named accounting firm is mulling an office in Orangeburg County, S.C., but the county government needs to show it's got the right labor pool in order to convince the firm to set up shop. The firm - which asked economic development officers to keep its name out of the papers - is looking for 200 candidates to fill 45 positions. Ultimately, 200 back-office jobs could be created to handle benefits packages for large companies. Officials said the firm "is a highly credible company that is raising the bar for the overall community."

Accounting firm considers Orangeburg [Times & Democrat]

Career Information from the AICPA

The AICPA is offering a free DVD on staff retention to its members. Even though it approaches the issue from the employer's point of view, it's being publicized to audiences like the Young CPA Network (see more here), who aren't all in the position of hiring and managing staffs. I haven't seen the disc yet, so I'm shooting off my mouth a bit here, but tools like this can be valuable for career-management purposes because they can provide insight into what firms are thinking. I've asked the AICPA for a copy, and once I've had a chance to look at it, I'll let you know whether it's worth looking at.

In any case, the AICPA's Web site has a lot of interesting career information on it, in addition to the Young CPAs Network. Check out it's information on work-life balance (here) and general women's issues (here).

AICPA

Any Day Now

A quick check of the SEC's Web site shows the agency is looking for accountants. Not a lot of them, mind you, and many of the positions seem to be open only to current government employees. The pay looks okay - these are GS 13/14 jobs with salaries around $100,000 - and of course you can't beat the government for benefit security.

What piqued my interest was an article in yesterday's Los Angeles Times that said the SEC brought nine percent fewer enforcement actions in FY 2006 than it did last year. The reason?

The drop was largely a result of reduced staff, SEC Chairman Christopher Cox said in the statement. The agency restricted hiring in 2006 because it had to close a $48.7-million budget gap triggered partly by cost overruns in building a new headquarters in Washington.

A spokesman told the Times the agency planned to start filling some of the job openings, though he wouldn't say when.

SEC actions fall 9% on job vacancies [LA Times]
Securities & Exchange Commission

Boston's Landscape

Boston firms are in need of CPAs with a few years of experience under their belts, not only in taking on accounting chores, but also in managing staff. In Boston last week, David J. Clarkson, a CPA who is vice president of human resources for Vitale, Caturano & Co., told me "there are a lot of firms here, and we need people with six years of experience - say, the three-to-seven year people." The trick, he said, is finding accountants who can also be supervisors, especially in areas like tax, Sarbanes-Oxley, internal audit and technical risk. "It's hard to find good people who want to work in public accounting in those areas," Clarkson said. You can read my full story here.

I hope to write more about Vitale, Caturano. The place has an air about it that's not all calculated atmosphere. To hear Dave tell it, the firm will do pretty much anything reasonable to keep talented staff on board, and has a higher-than-average retention rate. It offers on-site yoga classes, parking, flex-time, free food ("food is very important to us," Dave said) and a waterfront location. One of the interesting points he made about the industry's overall approach to retention is that such things worked. He thinks they'll be around for a long time.

In fairness, I should point out Dave's observation that the firm's culture was a part of its founders' vision. It was about having fun, not "employee retention." The last time I was in an office like this, I was visiting Steve Jobs' old NeXT Computer as part of a contingent from Dow Jones.

Experience in Demand for Boston CPAs [JITM]
Vitale, Caturano

Opportunites in Family Offices

Family Offices - which offer wealth management and other financial services to families who have millions of dollars in liquid assets - are engaged in something of a talent war. Among other things, they're looking for CPAs. I posted a story on jobsinthemoney.com this morning.

Wealthy Spur Increased Need for 'Family Offices' [JITM]

Gay and Lesbian Issues

How industries treat their gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered employees is tracked by the Human Rights Campaign, an advocacy group in Washington. In September, HRC published its Corporate Equality Index 2006, "a report card" on GLBT equality in corporate America. Given that accounting, as an industry, has been trying to ratchet up its efforts in diversity in recent years, it's interesting to see how it's fared here. HRC says its "consulting and business services" industry group, which includes accounting firms like the Big Four, showed dramatic growth this year. All of the Big Four received a perfect score in the survey.

It's a dense report, and there's a lot of marketing-speak in it. But if you're interested in diversity, it might be worth a look.

Corporate Equality Index 2006 [HRC]

Alvarez & Marsal Poaches from Big Four

A lot of hiring's been going on at Atlanta-based M&A adviser Alvarez & Marsal: The firm's poached some Big Four talent for transaction and tax advisory groups in Chicago and New York. Michael Gacek and Brandon Crawley jumped - from Deloitte & Touche and PricewaterhouseCoopers respectively - to join the transaction advisory staff in Chicago. Kevin Karl and Martin Williams also left PwC to join the New York office: Karl will be a manager in transaction advisory, while Williams joins tax advisory as a senior director. Meanwhile, another senior director, Lauren Byrne, left Ernst & Young for tax advisory.

Alvarez & Marsal builds transaction and tax advisory [Financial News]