A tax preparer who earned more than $100,000 while claiming he was permanently disabled has been ordered to pay the state of Ohio $57,000 in restitution.  Fernando Cruz of Maineville, Warren County, Ohio, was found guilty of worker's compensation fraud.

Duncan Ritchie, Xero's chief product and platform officer, has taken an extended lead from the cloud software company. The New Zealand-based company says his responsibilities for its small business products have been given to Tony Stewart, the chief data officer.

Liberty Tax has hired Edward L. Brunot as chief operating officer effective June 1. His appointment follows a tax season in which the number of returns dropped 16.4 percent from the 2016 season. Also during the last year, Liberty has continued to be hurt by fraud reported at some Baltimore, Md., store operators in 2016 which hampered the effort to recruit franchisees.