As the year winds down, M&A activity in accounting profession heats up -- our round-up of the most recent deals, including Gallina joining CliftonLarsonAllen, and Porte Brown's hookup with Borhart Spellmeyer.
ARIZONA
REDW merges in Edelman Company
REDW LLC is merging in the Edelman Company, an accounting firm in Phoenix that specializes in servicing physicians and medical practices. The move is part of Albuquerque-based REDW’s strategic plan to broaden its client base to service more health care providers and physicians. (See
CALIFORNIA
Armanino brings on valuation firm
Top 100 Firm Armanino LLP is combining with valuation firm Financial Strategies Consulting Group. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The FSCG team will relocate to Armanino’s headquarters office in San Ramon.
Lafayette-based FSCG has more than 20 years of experience advising a wide range of businesses from their early stages through initial public offerings and M&A liquidity events.
Gallina to join CliftonLarsonAllen
Top 10 Firm CliftonLarsonAllen LLP will merge with Top 100 Firm and West Coast powerhouse Gallina LLP. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Gallina will assume the CLA name, and its more than 300 team members are expected to continue to serve clients from their locations in California, Nevada, Utah and Washington.
The combination will expand both firms’ expertise in construction and real estate, as well as in agribusiness, manufacturing and distribution. Gallina regional managing partner Teresa Arrighi will join CLA’s construction and real estate executive team. Gallina managing partner Larry Taylor will serve on the CLA leadership team as chief practice officer.
Formed in 1972, Gallina has 52 partners and more than 300 staff.
FLORIDA
BDO USA merges in LBA Group
Top 6 Firm BDO USA LLP has expanded into Jacksonville by adding the LBA Group, the firm’s ninth location in the Sunshine State. The deal will add 102 staff, including 11 partners, from LBA. The deal also includes the LBA Healthcare Consulting and LBA Retirement Plan Services units.
LBA will add around $15 million in revenue to BDO’s coffers. The Jacksonville office will join BDO’s existing offices in Coral Gables, Fort Lauderdale, Lakeland, Miami, Orlando, Tampa, West Palm Beach and Winter Haven, giving BDO more than 400 professionals in Florida.
ILLINOIS
Porte Brown merges in Borhart Spellmeyer
Porte Brown LLC has expanded its presence in the Chicago area by merging in Borhart Spellmeyer & Company LLC, a firm based in the suburb of Elgin. The deal took effect December 1. Borhart Spellmeyer was founded in 1989 by partners Len Borhart and Robert Spellmeyer and has mostly serviced small businesses in the Fox Valley and Chicago environs. (See
IOWA
BerganKDV buys Carlson Hartsock
BerganKDV has acquired Carlson Hartsock & Guither, a firm based in Iowa City, effective Dec. 5, 2016. The deal enables St. Cloud, Minnesota-based BerganKDV to expand its presence in Iowa. The firm already has an office in Coralville, Iowa. BerganKDV formed from a merger last year of three predecessor firms: Bergan Paulsen, Networking Solutions and KDV. BerganKDV ranked 83rd on Accounting Today’s 2016 list of the Top 100 Firms, with $45.48 million in annual revenue. (See
BKD merges in Midwest firm Kiesling
Top 15 Firm BKD merged with Midwestern firm Kiesling Associates LLP at the beginning of December. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Kiesling has offices in Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado and Wisconsin, and specializes in serving the telecommunications industry. It will join BKD’s North Region. With the addition of Kiesling, BKD will have 35 offices in 16 states, approximately 2,600 personnel — including more than 270 partners — and more than $550 million in revenue.
MARYLAND
Weyrich, Cronin & Sorra merges in Greenberg Ettlin
Weyrich, Cronin & Sorra is adding Greenberg Ettlin & Associates, extending WC&S’s presence in Maryland’s Cecil County. The deal represents WC&S’s second merger in the past three years in the county. The firm has offices in Lutherville, Bel Air and Elkton. Greenberg Ettlin’s offices are in Elkton and Timonium, Md. Partners Don Greenberg and Larry Ettlin will be joining WC&S, but Ettlin plans to retire at the end of the year, which spurred the two partners to search for a merger deal. The plan is for the rest of the staff to remain with the combined firm.
WeiserMazars adds Integrity Consulting Solutions
Top 100 Firm WeiserMazars LLP has merged in Integrity Consulting Solutions LLC, a management and technology consulting firm based in Frederick. The deal will add four partners and 36 consulting professionals to New York-based WeiserMazars. Integrity Consulting specializes in providing enterprise risk management, business continuity, disaster recovery and emergency management planning services to clients in the government, life sciences, pharmaceuticals, higher education and manufacturing sectors. Integrity’s headquarters will stay in Maryland, operating as Integrity Consulting Solutions, a subsidiary of WeiserMazars.
MASSACHUSETTS
BDO adds e-discovery practice
BDO Consulting has expanded its forensic technology services practice by adding the e-discovery practice of Key Discovery, a litigation support service provider based in Boston. The e-discovery practice offers various services for law firms and corporate legal departments, including electronic data collection and processing, hosted review, production, project management and consulting.
Key Discovery will continue its main business of paper discovery and corporate solutions, along with its strategic alliance with BDO. Key’s e-discovery staff will relocate to BDO’s existing offices in Boston.
NEW JERSEY
Mazur, Krieghbaum & Higgins merges with McCarthy & Co.
Construction accounting firm Mazur, Krieghbaum & Higgins CPAs announced it is merging with McCarthy & Co., a Lafayette Hill, Pa., and Philadelphia-based firm that also specializes in the construction industry.
Mazur, Krieghbaum & Higgins, which has three partners and seven staff members in three offices, will assume the
McCarthy name, and its New Jersey- based leadership team and current staff will remain unchanged.
The merged firm will have 25 employees led by nine partners and principals.
NEW YORK
EisnerAmper adds Goldberg CPA firm
Alan L. Goldberg’s CPA firm has joined EisnerAmper, adding nine more professionals to the New York City firm and extending its Personal Wealth Advisory practice. (See
PKF O'Connor Davies merges in SRV CPA
PKF O’Connor Davies has added 16 professionals, including three partners, from Scialo, Reimann & Varley CPA, effective Jan. 1, 2017. (See
Prager Metis merges in Cohen Greve
Top 100 Firm Prager Metis CPAs LLC is expanding its presence on Long Island by merging in Cohen Greve & Co. CPA PC. Cohen Greve, based in Mineola, N.Y., will expand New York City-based Prager Metis’s footprint on Long Island, where the firm already has an office in Woodbury. In March, it added another Long Island firm, Mayer CPAs.
NORTH CAROLINA
Carolina firms combine
Charlotte, N.C.-based accounting firms BGW CPA and Hawkins Conrad & Co. have combined. The newly merged firm will continue as BGW CPA and include more than 50 professionals in offices around the Carolinas. The combination will help BGW expand into new markets, reduce some expenses, and add a presence in Myrtle Beach, S.C.
OHIO
Corrigan Krause acquires Klinc
Corrigan Krause has acquired Klinc & Associates, a firm based in Solon, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland. (See
Brixey & Meyer acquires KHH
Brixey & Meyer has expanded its presence in Cincinnati by acquiring a second CPA firm in the area, Kamphaus, Henning & Hood. KHH’s 15 employees are joining Brixey & Meyer as a result of the deal. Last October, the Dayton, Ohio-based firm acquired Lee Knose & Co., another Cincinnati-area firm. Brixey & Meyer now has 65 employees and four locations after the latest deal. KHH’s partners and staff will be moving into Brixey & Meyer’s existing offices in Cincinnati. The firm plans further acquisitions in the future.
PENNSYLVANIA
Stambaugh Ness acquires Bergdoll
Stambaugh Ness has expanded its presence in South Central Pennsylvania by acquiring Bergdoll & Company LLP, a CPA firm based in York, Pa. (See
HIll, Barth & King merges in Resnick, Amsterdam, Leshner
Top 100 Firm HBK CPAs & Consultants has signed a merger agreement with Resnick, Amsterdam, Leshner PC, adding an office in Blue Bell, Pa., to Canfield, Ohio-based HBK, along with clients in the sports industry. The deal gives HBK further growth in the Mid-Atlantic region. RAL has two dozen employees and focuses on the sports industry.
TEXAS
CRI expands into Dallas
Top 25 Firm and Southeast super-regional Carr, Riggs & Ingram LLC has merged in Dallas-based Vogel CPAs PC. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. This is CRI’s second merger in Texas this year; in March, it merged in Conroe-based McGee, Miller & Co.
Whitley Penn adds Wagner Eubank & Nichols
Whitley Penn is merging in a fellow Texas CPA firm, Wagner, Eubank & Nichols, effective Jan. 1, 2017. (See
UTAH
Eide Bailly merges in Daines Goodwin
Top 20 Firm Eide Bailly added accounting firm Daines Goodwin & Co. in early December, expanding its presence in Utah. The partners and staff of Daines Goodwin will be moving into Eide Bailly’s offices in Salt Lake City as part of the deal. Eide Bailly is the third-biggest CPA firm in the state in terms of its number of staff members.
WISCONSIN
Wipfli merges in Benes & Krueger
Details: Top 20 Firm Wipfli has merged in Milwaukee-based firm Benes & Krueger. Ten associates and the two co-founders of Benes & Krueger, a firm that provides a range of services to the construction industry, will join Wipfli’s more than 1,700 professionals and be based in the firm’s Milwaukee office.
