DOMINION'S ACCOUNTANT CLOSING ROANOKE OFFICE

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 14, 1993                   TAG: 9304140029
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short
DOMINION'S ACCOUNTANT CLOSING ROANOKE OFFICE
Coopers & Lybrand, the international accounting firm that opened a Roanoke office two years ago when it won Dominion Bank as a client, is leaving now that the bank has been acquired by First Union Corp.
First Union's external auditor is the Charlotte, N.C., office of KPMG Peat Marwick, the accounting firm Dominion had used before switching to Coopers & Lybrand.
The Coopers & Lybrand office in the Dominion Tower will close April 30, John D. Strom, managing partner, said Tuesday.
Strom said he and about half of the 17 employees will transfer to the firm's other offices. The remaining staff will be out of jobs.
Some jobs end this week, he said. Employees at the firm said they were told only Monday that the office is closing. Strom said the loss of the Dominion business was not the sole reason for ending the Roanoke presence. He said Coopers & Lybrand's strategy is to create "hubs" of service.
"All offices the size of Roanoke and Lynchburg are under scrutiny right now," said Robert Morris, managing partner in firm's Lynchburg office.
However, he said there are no changes planned at the Lynchburg office, which is about 35 years old and employs about 30.
The Roanoke office opened in January 1991 in the Liberty Trust Building and moved into 5,565 square feet on the 10th floor of the Dominion Tower building when the building was completed later that year.
It was the firm's seventh office in Virginia. Others are in Newport News, Norfolk, Richmond, Rosslyn and Tysons Corner.
The only other national accounting firm with an office in Roanoke is KPMG Peat Marwick.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB