Accounting and business consulting firm Citrin Cooperman has added four partners and 15 staff members from a recently dissolved White Plains, N.Y., accounting firm, Eisman, Zucker, Klein & Ruttenberg LLP.
EZKR dissolved as of June 13 and Citrin hired the four partners, while another local firm, O’Connor Davies Munns & Dobbins, hired most of the remaining partners and staff, according to the
The four partners who will join Citrin Cooperman are Howard Klein, Mark Mottel, William Zeboris and Alan Zverin. Each is well respected within the Westchester accounting community and has many years of experience providing services for Westchester-area businesses and individuals.
Klein was formerly the managing partner at EZKR and co-head of its Trusts and Estates Department. He will continue to counsel clients in all areas of audit, taxation, estate planning and consulting. Klein is a past president of the Westchester Chapter of the New York State Society of CPAs and is currently co-chair of its Estate and Financial Planning committee.
Mottel specializes in real estate, including sophisticated tax planning for businesses and high net worth individuals. Zeboris will continue to work with a wide range of clients, including high net worth individuals and their businesses, trusts and estates. Zverin will continue to focus on advising clients in the areas of financial, tax and estate planning, as well as being a consultant to clients in all areas of their business operations.
The partners and staff moved into the White Plains office of Citrin Cooperman on Monday and got right to work, according to managing partner Joel Cooperman. “They’ve actually been very productive today, so they had a good day," he told Accounting Today. "Over the weekend, our IT people got them ready to go. They walked in this morning and they were good to go."
While his firm decided not to hire all of the partners and staff, Cooperman said he had been concerned that the rest of the people at EZKR were placed. "Fortunately one other firm took the rest of the people in, and that was a good thing for everybody," he added.
He said his firm looked at the book of business of the various partners to determine whether they were compatible with his firm’s White Plains business.
"We looked at the intangibles, which were how well they fit into our practice," he said. "We felt that we took in people that would do well for us long term."
Asked what led EZKR to dissolve, he said there were some financial issues with their management. "It had probably gotten to the point where they were looking for fresher horizons, basically a fresh start," he said.
Citrin Cooperman ranked 27th on Accounting Today’s 2011 list of the Top 100 Firms, with $100 million in annual revenue.
There was no broker involved in the deal. Cooperman said the only costs were the moving expenses and the legal costs of drawing up the agreements. Overall, he sees great potential in the White Plains market with the addition of the former EZKR partners and staff.
"Their industries were very compatible with the work we had to do in White Plains," he said. "They ahve audits and a lot of tax work and business relationships. EZKR was a very well known firm in the Westchester and White Plains marketplace. We think we have a really good chance between our firm and the people we took in to do some good things there."
