People: Stephane Oury has joined Stout as managing director of its new office in Geneva, and Christophe Lapaque has joined in a similar capacity in the firm’s new office in Lausanne, also in Switzerland … Montana CPA firm Anderson ZurMuehlen has promoted a number of staffers, including Steven Johnson to senior manager; he’s a CPA who also consults on economic damages cases … James P. Liddy has been named chairman of KPMG's Global Financial Services practice … Mike Harlan, Bruce Taylor, and Allen Weingarten are new partners at Kutchins, Robbins & Diamond Ltd. in Illinois in the wake of its merger with Rockoff, Harlan, Rasof Ltd. … Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Tax Policy David Kautter has been named as acting commissioner of the IRS; he’s formerly with RSM US LLP and Ernst & Young.

Firms: The American Society of Appraisers (ASA) and the National Association of Independent Fee Appraisers (NAIFA) have reached an agreement on the merger of NAIFA into ASA; the merger will add nearly 800 new members to ASA's more than 5,000 multidiscipline credentialed valuation professionals in over 75 countries and 63 chapters throughout the world … Allied Business Group, based in Overland Park, Kan., will broaden its business to include advising registered investment advisory firms (RIAs) on M&A transactions; it will also rebrand itself as Mariner Capital Advisors to better reflect its relationship with its parent company (Mariner) … Ankura, a national business advisory and expert services firm, has a new logo with the subtitle “Collaboration Drives Results” … Objective Capital Partners, a middle-market M&A advisory firm in Southern California, has been awarded four Advisor of the Year awards including one for valuation advisory … Fargo, N.D.-based Eide Bailly expands to Texas with the acquisition of Davis Kinard & Co. of Abilene, which will add 11 partners and 80 staffers to the firm.

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