Firms on the move: Marks Paneth raises $20K for Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in honor of late partner

CONNECTICUT

Blumshapiro, West Hartford, partnered with Christian Community Action for the eighth consecutive year to provide Thanksgiving Day meals to people in New Haven. The Blumshapiro Thanksgiving Food Basket Campaign for Christian Community Action brings a full traditional dinner to more than 1,200 New Haven families and feeds more than 3,000 residents on Thanksgiving Day.

FLORIDA

Kabat, Schertzer, De La Torre, Taraboulos & Co., Miami, expanded its sponsorship of JD Motorsports with Gary Keller. KSDT CPA will serve as the primary sponsor onboard the No. 4 KSDT Chevrolet of BJ McLeod (pictured); will be represented on the No. 0 Chevrolet driven by Garrett Smithley in a co-branding with Florida International University; and will be on the No. 01 Chevrolet driven by Stephen Leicht, in a partnership with Univista Insurance.

The Accounting & Financial Women’s Alliance announced the recipients of the 2019 AFWA National Member of the Year and President’s Award during the annual Women Who Count Awards lunch, held Oct. 22 in Orlando. The AFWA National Member of the Year is Sarah Militello, associate financial analyst II at Amway in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The AFWA President’s Award winner is Lori Kelley, a member of the tax division at Warren Averett in Destin, Florida.

Deloitte announced that registration is open for the 2020 National Multistate Tax Symposium, hosted at Disney’s Grand Floridian in Orlando Jan. 29-31. More information is available here.

INDIA

The Ernst & Young national headquarters at 5 Times Square in New York.

Stephen Yang/Bloomberg

EY and BlackLine formed a strategic alliance in India to offer finance process automation to businesses across a variety of sectors. The alliance follows the announcement last year of a global strategic alliance between EY and BlackLine.

KANSAS

The Kansas Society of CPAs announced Damon Ward, director of tax for Spirit AeroSystems, Wichita, was elected chair of the board at its annual meeting Nov. 1 at the Accounting Innovation Center in Kansas City. Other elected officers to the 2019-20 executive committee are: vice chair Christina Ricke, K•Coe Isom, Wichita; secretary/treasurer Amber Goering, Goering & Granatino, Overland Park; and immediate past chair Jay Langley, Summers, Spencer & Co., Salina. Additionally, the Educational Foundation of the KSCPAs elected its officers and trustees. Becky Shaw of Berberich Trahan & Co., Topeka, was elected chair of the Educational Foundation Board of Trustees for 2019-20. Also on the board are: vice chair Kimberly Charland, Kansas State University, Manhattan; secretary/treasurer Rachel A. Green, the University of Kansas, Lawrence; trustee Jeff Bryant, Wichita State University, Wichita; and trustee Misty Schartz, Fort Hays State University, Hays. Damon Ward also will serve a one-year term on the board of trustees.

MINNESOTA

BerganKDV, Bloomington, honored employees who are active members of the U.S. Armed Forces or are veterans, and who enjoyed a paid holiday, on Veterans Day. Those members are: Tina Brewer and John Peters in Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Justin Oleson in Des Moines, Iowa; Dick Panek in Farmington, Minnesota; Phillip Richardson and Eric Stringham in Kansas City, Missouri; Matt Lovitz in St. Cloud, Minnesota; and Andrew Brockway and Travis Hoing in Waterloo, Iowa.

MISSOURI

Garret Layman

BKD CPAs & Advisors, St. Louis, surveyed its top 2,500 clients for its biennial BKD Client Experience Survey, and reported that this year’s results are better than the survey’s inaugural year in 2017. BKD’s Net Promoter Score was 74, up six points since the last survey, and 73 percent of respondents gave BKD a 5 out of 5 (“very satisfied”) on the scale, among other positive findings.

NEW YORK

Marks Paneth, New York, raised $20,000 for Light the Night 2019, a fundraising campaign where volunteers participate in evening walks to benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Marks Paneth employees participated in Westchester County on Oct. 26 in memory of Tony Tempesta, former partner-in-charge of the firm’s Westchester office, who passed away in August 2018. The Marks Paneth team, “A Mile for Tony,” honored Tempesta, who was a strong supporter of Light the Night.

The New York State Society of CPAs hosted the 2019 Auditing Standards Conference Nov. 14 at the City University of New York’s Graduate Center.