Moss Adams LLP, based in Seattle, has agreed to combine with a Dallas–based firm, CF Accountants & Consultants, effective June 30.
The combination is expected to increase Moss Adams' capabilities in serving the financial services industry, particularly broker-dealers and hedge funds, along with real estate clients and high net worth individuals. Other clients will be coming from the fiber optic telecommunications and technology industries.
Fifty-seven CF Accountants & Consultants professionals, including seven partners, will begin working for Moss Adams. The combined group will occupy CF’s current office space in Dallas, growing Moss Adams' presence in Dallas to nearly 90 professionals.
Clay Sturgis, partner in charge of the Dallas and Austin offices at Moss Adams, anticipates the deal will add about $10 million in extra revenue to the firm. Moss Adams ranked 15th on Accounting Today's 2016 list of the Top 100 Firms, with $477 million in annual revenue. The firm has been growing its presence in both Texas and California in recent years. Moss Adams entered the Texas market in January 2015 through a combination with a local telecom consulting practice, which included six professionals in Dallas, and has steadily increased its service offerings in the area by adding 27 local hires and intercompany transfers.
In addition, Moss Adams announced the establishment of a Fresno, Calif., location earlier this month, expanding the firm’s presence in the region and further increasing its expertise in food and agriculture, manufacturing and real estate.
“A lot of folks see us as a California-based firm, even though we're headquartered in Seattle,” said Sturgis. “Our identity for a long time has been West Coast based, but for a long time our national strategy has been that you do need to have some locations outside of the West Coast.”
His goal is to grow the Dallas office to about 100 employees in short order. He came to know the CF partners through industry events. “It’s a pretty competitive marketplace, so some of the partners and I would run across another at various events, as you do with other CPA firms,” said Sturgis. “I believe there was a mutual connection with one of our partners, Kerry Gordon, from another merged in firm in Sacramento, California, who knew this organization. They had known each other—their firm and ours—over the years, and they were impressed about how the combination went with Kerry’s former firm. Once they knew that connection, seeing us here just led to some natural conversations. I think we started conversations last October.”
Roughly 33 accountants from Moss Adams will be moving into the CF offices. Established in 1956, CF Accountants & Consultants provides audit, tax, accounting, business valuation and business advisory services to clients in a variety of industries, including real estate, construction and financial services. The combination will continue to build the Moss Adams office in Dallas, which has resources in these areas along with strong capabilities in the technology, communications and media industries, among others.
“This combination with Moss Adams felt like a natural step in the growth strategy of our firm,” said Bret Robertson, managing partner of CF Accountants & Consultants, in a statement. “Our firms have similar company cultures, business ideals and long-term goals, and we couldn’t ask for a better partner to carry us into the future. Our clients will benefit from the expanded resources and opportunities available to them from a firm the caliber of Moss Adams.”
