Account

NEW YORK -- MCI Communications Corp. pulled its $50 million account from Wells, Rich, Greene yesterday and gave it to Messner Vetere Berger Carey Schmetterer, a small New York agency.Executives at MCI would not comment on why the company had switched its account. But advertising executives familiar with MCI's plans said the company had moved its account in large part because of management changes at MCI earlier this year involving executives in charge of the company's advertising.The transfer of the MCI account comes as the long-distance telephone company finds itself under growing pressure from shareholders to improve its performance.

Trahan, Burden & Charles Inc., a Baltimore advertising agency enjoying a growth spurt, has scored a national account to develop ad campaigns for a major computer company.Micron Electronics Inc., a Nampa, Idaho, company that designs and manufactures computers and has $1.8 billion in annual sales, tapped the agency to develop advertising for products including personal computers, hardware and software.The company, which sells through phone orders and the Internet, had handled advertising in-house.

An accountant for an Eldersburg car dealership admitted in Carroll Circuit Court yesterday that he stole more than $625,000 from the business since 1988.Stephen Clifton Sheeler, 47, of Rosedale, Baltimore County, pleaded guilty to one count of felony theft. Sheeler admitted writing more than $625,000 worth of checks to himself from Jeff Barnes' Chevrolet-Geo.In exchange for Sheeler's guilty plea, prosecutors agreed to drop 12 other felony theft charges.Carroll Circuit Judge Luke K. Burns Jr. ordered a presentence investigation of Sheeler and set sentencing for March 24.Sheeler could receive up to 15 years in prison, but prosecutors said yesterday they will wait to see the presentence investigation report before they recommend a sentence to the judge.

Freed & Associates, a small Baltimore advertising firm, has edged out two larger Baltimore firms to become the agency for the Eastern region of Domino's Pizza Inc.The contract award will mean an additional five jobs at the 22-person Freed agency, said President Gloria Freed. "This will be our biggest piece of business," she said.Wanda Newcity, regional marketing director for Domino's, estimated that the deal will mean $3 million in annual billings for Freed. In 1992, Freed had $12 million in billings and expected to grow to $18 million in 1993 without the Domino's account, Ms. Freed said.

WASHINGTON -- Federal investigators have found evidence that the former head of the White House travel office deposited money that news organizations paid for presidential trips into his own bank account and may have diverted some of it to his personal use, law-enforcement officials said yesterday.About $55,000 in news media money was deposited into the bank account of the former official, Billy R. Dale, from 1988 to 1991, the officials said, referring to a review of Mr. Dale's bank records.

Putting together the best features of a brokerage account, a mutual fund account, a checking account and a debit card account has helped make millions of dollars for the brokerage industry.Since Merrill Lynch introduced its Cash Management Account 15 years ago, almost all big brokerages, including two major discount firms, have brought out their own versions of these products, which go by the generic name of asset management accounts.By now, the main features of these accounts are fairly well known: They act like checking accounts and pay interest like money market mutual funds.

Richardson, Myers & Donofrio, the Baltimore advertising agency, said yesterday that it will share a $32.4 million account to create a nationwide advertising campaign for the National Association of Realtors.The account will be one of the largest ever for the agency, said Chuck Donofrio, president of RM&D.RM&D will share the three-year account with Townsend & O'Leary, a Laguna Hills, Calif., advertising group which handled a successful media campaign for the California Association of Realtors last year.

Baltimore's W. B. Doner & Co. has landed the advertising account for Potomac Mills Mall, the sprawling outlet center that claims to be the most popular tourist attraction in Virginia, the agency announced yesterday.Doner said the account would yield an estimated $1.1 million in billings over the next year, but if the agency's campaign pleases Western Development, the mall's owner, the long-term payoff could be much bigger.Doner's primary assignment would be to increase the frequency with which residents of Potomac Mills' core market visit the center, said Jim Dale, the agency's chairman and chief executive.

A Sykesville family whose home was destroyed in a fire last Sunday may receive help from their neighbors, friends and the Town Council."I would surely want to know someone would help my family in a situation like this," said Councilman Eugene Johnson.Sykesville officials voted last week to open an account at Union National Bank in the name of Nancy Smith and her son, Michael Smith. Although the council declined to contribute town money to the fund, several council members said they planned to make personal contributions.

*TC Q: I have been dabbling in stocks for four years. Three months ago, I had a hunch about a stock, so I doubled up on my position by borrowing on margin. After looking at a few monthly statements, I found that I can get a much lower rate from a discount brokerage firm. My broker charges 2 1/2 percent above the broker's loan rate, and the discount firm only charges 1 percent above the same rate. In addition, the discount broker offers much lower commission rates.I do my own research and make my own trading decisions and want to move my account to the discount broker.