limited liability partnership llp industry accounting professional services tax consulting founded 1910 as seidman and seidman headquarters one prudential plaza chicago illinois products professional services revenue 1.29 billion usd fy 2016 number of employees 4 059 1 website bdo.com bdo usa llp is the united states member firm of bdo international a global accounting network . the company is headquartered in chicago . contents 1 history 1.1 expansion 1.2 development of the national firm 2 present 3 controversies 3.1 washington d.c. tax scandal november 2007 10 3.2 new york law school and madoff scandal december 2008 4 references 5 external links history edit bdo usa llp was founded as seidman and seidman in new york city in 1910 by three immigrant brothers maximillian l. seidman francis e. seidman and jacob s. seidman . at that time the accounting profession was in its infancy with fewer than 2 200 practicing cpas in the united states . shortly thereafter in 1913 the 16th amendment to the united states constitution was ratified followed by the revenue act of 1913 with new impositions of u.s. federal income tax enacted by congress in that year . m. l. seidman saw the potential of the accountant s role to provide tax services to individuals . by 1917 congress enacted the first revenue bills and the u.s. entry into world war i created the need for corporate income and excess profit taxes . at the same time federal spending rose to 18.9 billion with 58 percent of the federal revenues provided from income taxes . m.l. seidman and his siblings who joined him in his new accounting firm seized the opportunity to provide tax services to businesses in addition to individuals . expansion edit an era of expansion began . fostered by the federal government s conversion of furniture and woodworking companies to aircraft production for the war effort the firm opened an office in grand rapids michigan in 1917 . seidman and seidman quickly established itself as a leader in serving the furniture industry by developing the first effective furniture plant costing system . today bdo seidman s furniture industry practice remains in the industry . in 1925 the firm rapidly expanded opening offices in jamestown illinois and rockford illinois followed by chicago in 1921 and gardner massachusetts in 1924 . in 1922 j. s. seidman joined the firm as a founding member . the 1930s brought another new beginning for the accounting profession . in 1933 congress passed the securities act requiring public corporations to have financial statements included in registration statements and periodic reports reported on by independent cpas . a year later the securities and exchange commission was created to administer the new legislation . in 1950 l. william seidman joined the firm and ultimately became its managing partner before leaving for government service most notably as chair of the fdic . 2 development of the national firm edit the firm continued to grow and by the 1960s truly became a national firm . on april 1 1968 the firm was converted into a national general partnership . this marked the beginning of a new era of expansion . over the years to the present the firm established many offices throughout the united states . founding partner keith beresheim was instrumental in helping bdo grow its practice and become a national tier firm . present edit today bdo usa llp has more than 50 offices and more than 400 independent alliance firm locations nationwide . during this timeframe bdo international was created and has grown to become the fifth largest accounting and consulting network in the world with 1 118 member firm offices in 135 countries . in february 2009 bdo usa llp launched the firm s first ever national advertising campaign people who know know bdo . in june 2012 the monitor joseph a. smith jr. of the national mortgage settlement announced he engaged bdo usa llp as his primary professional firm . bdo will join the monitor and his team for a period of three and a half years as they oversee implementation of the historic national mortgage settlement involving 49 states the united states government and five of the nation s largest banks . controversies edit bdo has been involved in a number of engagements which resulted in major litigation and press attention . washington d.c. tax scandal november 2007 10 edit a group of dc government employees had embezzled funds by fraudulently issuing real estate tax refund checks to their friends . bdo seidman was the independent auditor of the dc government s financial records . on november 21 2007 reuters wrote washington d.c. officials should fix problems identified in an audit that found the city mishandled millions of dollars according to delegate eleanor holmes norton who represents the u.s. capital in congress . the audit conducted by accounting firm bdo seidman llp found that financial reporting for the city s school system and medicaid programs did not match their financial statements making both areas vulnerable to fraud . altogether auditors found more than 160 instances where the city failed to comply with conditions for spending federal money primarily by misreporting funds and mismanaging cash . as of november 2007 it was estimated that over 30 million were scammed by washington dc tax officials since 1999 . at the height of the scam half of the property tax refund checks were fraudulent . the average legitimate check was less than 10 000 while the average scam check was over 300 000 . the scandal may also singe bdo seidman a private audit firm that gave washington dc cfo natwar gandhi its seal of approval earlier this year . its auditors were paid millions to go over the city s books and gave gandhi s office an unqualified opinion . citation needed in 2010 a mentally ill woman who was not a dc employee was able to exploit a security loophole in dc s financial systems to file tax returns claiming 19.1 million in refunds but these were stopped . relevant discuss 3 new york law school and madoff scandal december 2008 edit on december 16 2008 in connection with the bernard madoff scandal the new york law school filed a lawsuit against j. ezra merkin ascot partners and its auditor bdo seidman after losing its 3 million investment in ascot . the lawsuit charged merkin with recklessness gross negligence and breach of fiduciary duties . 4 references edit https www.bdo.com about why bdo facts figures william seidman who led cleanup of s & l crisis dies bloomberg may 13 2009 neibauer michael february 5 2010 . woman worms into d.c. taxpayer accounts . washington examiner . retrieved 2010 12 30 . gandel stephen december 17 2008 . the madoff fraud how culpable were the auditors . time magazine . retrieved 2010 12 30 . external links edit bdo seidman llp bdo international retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title bdo usa llp & oldid 743336238 categories bdoaccounting firms of the united statescompanies based in chicagohidden 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