Baker Tilly International will soon formalize the relationship between 22 midsized accounting firms, creating a new network to be called Baker Tilly USA.Chairman of the board of Baker Tilly USA Robert J. Ciaruffoli, who is also the chairman and chief executive of member firm Parente Randolph, said that an official announcement won’t be released until later this month.
What the formalized network name change means to how the independent member firms operate remains to be seen. Ciaruffoli also serves on the International Board of Baker Tilly International, a global affiliation of 128 member firms in 85 countries. The affiliation is one of the world's top 10 accountancy and business services networks, many of which were formed mostly out of a desire to compete with larger regional and national firms for engagements.
Besides allowing members to take advantage of brand recognition, and share knowledge and best practices with other member firms, umbrella organizations such as Baker Tilly can also allow firms to compete for work without necessarily needing a national footprint.
