'Peter Jibson, managing partner of Mazars in Scotland, says his firm intends to meet its goal of doubling Scottish turnover to £14m within five years, at least partly through mergers, which he says the firm will pursue only if target firms "have the right values and approach".

'Sandy Manson, the new chief executive of Johnston Carmichael, detects a "number of opportunities" for further acquisitions, but he adds his firm will only do deals where there is a "good fit" with his firm's culture and approach.'

Tenon is also looking at targets:' Scottish managing director Tom MacLennan says the firm - which gained its Scottish presence through the acquisition of Scott Oswald in 2001 - is "particularly interested in talking to accountancy firms that want to partner with a national practice, to smaller firms that can offer a specialist service, or to established firms looking for development or managed exit opportunities".

'He wants to boost turnover from £15.8m to £25m by 2012.'

And Jim Campbell, senior partner of Campbell Dallas, says: "The long-term strategy for the practice has for some time been the creation of a Scotland-wide presence to back the firm's Scotland-wide offering," he says.'

For Scotland, read the rest of the UK - and perhaps the world.

In Canada the firm has called off talks with BDO Dunwoody, but in Australia Grant Thornton is being acquired by WHK Group, a consolidator, for cash and approximately 600,000 WHK Group shares. The deal is expected to complete on July 1.