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Art of Accounting: New Withum partners prove what I strongly recommend

I have long advocated hiring entry-level people rather than those with two or three years’ experience.

Withum’s new partners seem to prove the advisability of this. Nine staff members were promoted to partner on July 1, eight of whom basically spent their careers with one firm or a continuum of that firm. I am pleased to welcome them all and proud of their accomplishments.

Brad Caruso and Nina Chmura are from my New Brunswick office. Brad started as an intern in 2006 and has become our youngest partner. Nina joined us in 2004 with a year’s experience before she moved to New Jersey from Boston. Nina, along with Adrienne Anderson (see next paragraph), became Withum’s third and fourth part-time partners. I was at Nina’s wedding, and today she has two great sons. Brad met and married one of our team members, Ashley, and they have a one-year-old son.

Of the seven other new partners, Jarrod Rhen (Princeton) joined Withum after spending two years with a firm in San Francisco. Donna Nevolo (Whippany) has been with Withum and a predecessor for 13 years after starting elsewhere and then taking a bunch of years off to raise her family. Phil Antico (New York) and Mark Deters (Whippany) joined us after the firm they started with was acquired and their department eliminated. Adrienne Anderson (West Palm Beach) joined us after a career with one firm elsewhere when her primary mentor and person she worked the most with recruited her after she joined Withum. Adrienne is also a part-time partner with her work/life balance certainly being well managed. Ray Bastin (Orlando) had a few positions before settling in at Averett Warmus Durkee for 10 and a half years when they merged with Withum one and a half years ago. Peter Lubcker (New York) was with a few comparable size firms in an active career before joining Withum two years ago.

There is a pattern and it shows with the new partners. Eight of the nine virtually spent their careers with one firm. The pattern is also duplicated throughout all of our offices. Longevity in a career with one firm is an excellent growth track. There is a consistency in training, development, empathy with clients and fellow team members, appreciation of the profession, love of the culture, growth, experience and opportunity. The partners who did not start with us brought expertise that complemented or added to our services, but most also had longevity with one or a small group of firms.

Firm-wide over half of our 110 partners started here or had minimal experience before joining us. This is very impressive and indicates that hiring and training is a successful tactic for the staff and firms.

At Withum, our culture is second to none and it is borne out by the opportunities within the firm. I am proud to congratulate our new partners. They are remarkable, high-performing professionals and really nice people.

Additional information about our new partners can be viewed by clicking here and by reading the blog I posted July 6, 2017 at www.partners-network.com.

Edward Mendlowitz, CPA, is partner at WithumSmith+Brown, PC, CPAs. He is on the Accounting Today Top 100 Influential People List. He is the author of 24 books, including “How to Review Tax Returns,” co-written with Andrew D. Mendlowitz, and “Managing Your Tax Season, Third Edition.” Ed also writes a twice-a-week blog addressing issues that clients have at www.partners-network.com. Art of Accounting is a continuing series where Ed shares autobiographical experiences with tips that he hopes can be adopted by his colleagues. Ed welcomes practice management questions and can be reached at (732) 964-9329 or emendlowitz@withum.com.

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Recruiting Employee retention Practice structure Ed Mendlowitz WithumSmith+Brown
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