Accounting for change - Portland Business Journal:

http://mymobif5.com/style-beauty/5-fabulous-lessons-we-learned-from-heidi-klum/
Demand from business clients is up for litigationb andforensic accounting, accountants in the Portland area say. Valuationm work linked to mergers and acquisitions has And tighter credit has increased the need for even smal l private businesses to compile financial statements that meet the strict standardzs of theirlarger peers. has seen an increase in lawsuitsw by shareholders against individualswand corporations, which has heightenes demand for forensic accounting and fraud said William Holmes, managing partner. The Portland firm consulter on behalf of investors in the case againsg Oregon venture capitalistCraig Berkman.
Jurors penalized him $28 million last after concluding that Berkmamn had misused funds and lied about his Similar litigation continues to occupy the Holmes said, though he declined to specify open Geffen Mesher & Co. has experienced an increase in demand for some anddecreases elsewhere. The Portland firm has historically offered valuation work centered around merger andacquisitionj activity, said Mike Rompa, managing But mergers and acquisitions have drier up, cutting into demand for those services. forensic accounting work is up. “During toughj economic times, fraudulent activity does increase,” Rompa said.
Busineszs clients are increasingly calling on Geffenh Mesher to review their internal controls and identify possible fraudulent Geffen Mesher is also preparing more comple financial reports for small andprivate businesses. Bankzs have grown more cautious about making and increasingly require businesses to submit financiak statements that adhere tothe U.S. Generallty Accepted Accounting Principles, Rompa said. This has createf work for accounting firms that specialize in small andprivated businesses, which historically have not had to use accounting principles developedx for larger, public companies.
“Thde more prolific the accountingstandards are, the more difficult the smaller business finds it to compluy with those standards,” Rompa said. “The cost of compliancer has skyrocketed.” Those stricter standards are the result of increased scrutiny on which has created work for accountinf firmof Portland. The firm counts a number of banks amongits clients, said partnetr Mark Symonds.
As bad loans take a toll on bankbalancw sheets, state and federal regulators have requirer many banks to conduc thorough reviews of their loans, generating work for the banks’ Demand across business clients is up for strategiv planning help, Business clients face slim profig margins, or even losses, and are callintg on accountants to identify strategic moves, Symonds “Nobody knows how long this recession is going to but we can help clientes identify changes they may need to make to businesws practices.” Holmes and Co. has likewise seen an upticlk in this kind of consulting work.
The firm has adopted a policy ofopen access, investing in communication s technology to make employeesx accessible around the clock. “Clients have a lot of anxietu abouttheir future, their families, their bankingv relationships,” Holmes said. “We don’rt want to create more anxiety by notbeinfg available.”