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The wide geographic reach of Hurricane Sandy took a small bite out the results for Paychex's second quarter ended November 30. The East Coast Storm significantly impacted about 15 percent of the company's customers and took a half a percent off results for the period, CEO Martin Mucci said during this week's earnings webcast.

The selection of VAR Stars for 2012 has been announced by Bob Scott, editor of Bob Scott's Insights, a sister publication to The Progressive Accountant. The names of the 100 business chosen for this annual honor were published this month and can be found at www.bobscottsinsights.com.

A partner at Fargo, N.D.-based Eide Bailly has been barred from practicing before the Securities and Exchange Commission for three years. J. Brian Laib drew the suspension for work conducted at a firm that merged with Eide Bailly in August 2008 and for work at the Fargo firm that involved a company and its officers, who have been the subject of legal action by the SEC and the state of Texas. .

A Florida accountant has been indicted on charges that he stole $288,500 from two clients that had been intended for paying the Internal Revenue Service. The indictment charging Joseph Rizzuti owner of Beacon Accounting Services, with one count of corruptly endeavoring to obstruct the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and four counts of wire fraud.

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According to the indictment, Rizzuti, the owner of Beacon Accounting Services in Palm City, Fla., interfered with the IRS's ability to collect taxes owed by two clients, stole payments from those clients intended for the IRS, and made misrepresentations to those clients and to the IRS. Rizzuti allegedly stole approximately $265,000 from one client and approximately $23,500 from another client, money that the clients gave him to pay to the IRS.

An indictment merely alleges that crimes have been committed and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. If convicted, Rizzuti faces a maximum potential sentence of 20 years in prison for each of the four wire fraud counts and a maximum potential sentence of 3 years for the obstruction count. He is also subject to fines and mandatory restitution if convicted.

This case was investigated by special agents of IRS - Criminal Investigation and Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. Trial Attorneys Justin Gelfand and Rebecca Perlmutter of the Justice Department's Tax Division are prosecuting the case.