Smart by name, Smart by nature.

Smart & Associates has acquired the KPMG compensation & benefits tax practice that the Big 4 firm was required to sell as part of the deal with the US Justice Department. The acquisition will mean taking on 37 KPMG fee earners and a fee base of about $8 million, primarily based from Chicago. To put this in context, in 2005 Smart & Associates billed $80 million.

There is no comment on the purchase price, but one would expect that Mr Smart picked up a bit of a bargain here, given the unusual circumstances leading up to the sale.