Business News brief

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CPA firms plan merger

Parente Randolph LLC and Beard Miller Company LLP on Tuesday announced their intent to merge, creating the top regional certified public accounting firm in the Northeast, with over 170 partners and more than 1,200 team members in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware and Texas. The name of the new firm will be announced at the close of the merger, expected in the fourth quarter of 2009.
Beard Miller Chairman and CEO Lamar Stoltzfus will serve as chairman of the new firm, while Bob Ciaruffoli, chairman and CEO of Parente Randolph, will serve as CEO.
Bernanke’s worth shrinks
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke saw his net worth fall by more than a quarter in 2008, to between $850,000 and $1.9 million, according to an annual disclosure form released Tuesday. While still substantial, that’s down from the $1.2 million to $2.5 million he reported for 2007.
Bernanke, who has had to grapple with a financial crisis brought on in part by complex investment products, keeps his assets in plain vanilla vehicles such as retirement plans, mutual funds and savings accounts.
Frequent flier plans eased
Free travel on United Airlines and frequent-flier perks at Delta Air Lines will soon come with fewer strings attached.
Starting Thursday, United will drop fees ranging from $75 to $100 per ticket that it had charged passengers to cash in frequent-flier miles for trips booked less than 21 days in advance.
Delta unveiled a major upgrade to its loyalty program on Tuesday as it melds frequent-flier offerings with those of merger partner Northwest Airlines.
Members of Delta’s SkyMiles program who meet the minimum flying needed to obtain elite status will be allowed to roll over their excess miles to the next year.
AIG sells assets
Insurer American International Group said Tuesday it closed the sale of its life insurance premium finance business for $679.5 million in cash.
AIG sold a majority of the division to First Insurance Funding Corp., a subsidiary of Wintrust Financial Corp. of Lake Forest, Ill. AIG is now shedding assets and cutting costs as it restructures. Following a bailout that has left the government owning roughly 80 percent of the huge insurer.