Two Texas brothers, who are CPAs, have been sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission for running what the SEC calls a "shell-factory" scheme that defrauded business owners. The SEC also suspended trading in the stock of four companies controlled by Charles E. Smith and his brother, Mark Smith, that they have not yet sold to others. the two have agreed to disgorge gains, pay civil money penalties and be barred from serving as officers of publicly held companies.

The strong year for Thomson Reuters' Tax & Accounting business stayed strong in the third quarter ended September 30 with operating profit up 26 percent on a 13-percent rise in revenue. The company says all segments of the operation showed revenue growth with organic growth up 9 percent.

While the CCH Axcess suite is cloud-based, its web-based operation is not the most important feature of the company's newest product line, according to Teresa Mackintosh, CEO of Wolters Kluwer CCH. The key is the suite's shared database. "It happens to be in the cloud. But the Holy Grail is to have one true common database," she said this week.

Intuit has reached deals to provide basic product capabilities from Bill.com and Box. The agreements give ProAdvisors free accounts with Bill.com and free document management features from Box to accountants and clients. Together, the deals suggest Intuit will enter more "freemium" arrangements with third parties.