CPA firm ranks high for women leaders

SARASOTA — Kerkering, Barberio & Co., one of the largest independent CPA firms on the Gulf Coast, has been named a top public accounting firm for women leaders in the country.

The Sarasota-based firm made a list of accounting firms recognized in the 2014 Accounting MOVE Project, a program run by the Accounting & Financial Women's Alliance, a Lexington, Ky.-based organization. The project's name, according to a release, is based on factors the group looks for in the top firms: money and fair pay practices; opportunity and advancement; vital supports like work-life programs that remove barriers; and entrepreneurship and management experience.

Kerkering, Barberio was named to the project's leadership equity and women partnership list, the release states. A top score in leadership equity, the organization says, is a firm with at least 40 employees where women comprise about 38% of top leaders. That's around twice the 19% average for all firms that participated in the 2014 Accounting MOVE Project.

“We are very proud of the people and the culture at Kerkering, Barberio,” Managing Shareholder Rob Lane says in the release. “It is the combination of the two that make this distinguished honor possible.”

Kerkering, Barberio was founded in 1972. It has offices in downtown Sarasota, Lakewood Ranch and Tampa.