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HearUSA said its revenue for the fourth quarter of 2009 rose 5 percent to $21.7 million from $20.7 million in the same year-ago quarter. Losses from continuing operations were $315,000, improved from a loss of $3.5 million a year earlier.
Net loss attributable to common stockholders was $172,000, or 0 cents a share, in the fourth […]

This is a weekly roundup of promotions, appointments and employee accomplishments in the Birmingham metro area. For more People on the Move, check out the Birmingham Business Journal’s print edition each week. Send announcements to ccrawford@bizjournals.com.
ACCOUNTING
Betsy Nolen, professional concierge at Barfield Murphy Shank & Smith, was honored with the Ellis Porch Spirit Award from the […]

Internet fraud cases surged by 22% in 2009, and financial losses doubled compared to the year before as scammers took advantage of Americans rendered desperate by the recession.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Internet Crime Complaint Center said it received 336,655 complaints in 2009 with losses totaling $559.7 million. This is a substantial increase from […]

Is a $150 pair of jeans a better deal than a $50 pair? Is a $60-per-month gym membership worth it? Should you spend $20 more for a better coffee maker?
The answer is, of course, that it depends. One way to evaluate a purchase is to estimate its cost per use, rather than […]

Toyota fired another volley this week as it continued its fight to regain the confidence of owners shaken by reports of unintended acceleration.
During a webcast with journalists Monday, the Japanese automaker’s hired independent experts went after professor David Gilbert of Southern Illinois University, who has emerged as a gadfly engineer. Gilbert appeared on ABC […]

White House adviser Paul Volcker said it’s too soon for U.S. policy makers to withdraw the stimulus measures and interest-rate cuts used to fight the worst slump since the Great Depression.
“This is not the time to take aggressive tightening action, either fiscally or monetary-wise,” said Volcker in an interview in Berlin yesterday, pointing […]

Finance Minister Naoto Kan’s readiness to debate Japan’s first sales-tax increase since 1997 signals the risk of a fiscal crisis may be weighing heavier with policy makers than dangers to economic growth.
A government tax panel convenes in coming weeks to review changes and hear recommendations of a private-sector board, after Kan last month […]

Forty-two students from the Thunderbird School of Global Management were in Chile Saturday during the 8.8 magnitude earthquake that rocked the South American country.
The Glendale graduate business school said the students as well as a professor and staff member survived the quake without injury.
The students, in the capital city of Santiago for a one-week class, […]