BANKING / FINANCE

Two Irvine accounting firms--Corbin & Wertz and Hansen, Kushner & Co.--have been ranked among the Top 50 mid-sized firms nationwide by a monthly trade magazine, CPA Digest.

Corbin & Wertz was eighth in the nation in the ranking, which is based on such factors as growth, client service, personnel management and community service. Hanson Kushner was ranked 21st.

Certified public accounting firms with revenue of $100,000 to $5 million are considered to be mid-sized firms, which the publication called “the backbone of public accounting” in the nation.

Growth of the top firms was phenomenal last year.

Corbin & Wertz, for instance, had billings of $1.25 million last year, a 56% increase over $800,000 the previous year. The 5-year-old firm has built a client list of 1,500 businesses and individuals. The business clients represent a variety of industries from banking to retail sales and posted revenue of up to $50 million last year.

The only other mid-sized California firm to make the list was Singer, Lewak Greenbaum & Goldstein, a Los Angeles firm that placed 40th.