M&A Watch

ARIZONA

Henry & Horne acquires Arizona firm

Details: CPA and business advisory firm Henry & Horne has acquired the Phoenix-based practice of Mazza, Spero, Hougham & Schultz, effective Nov. 1. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Richard Schultz will be joining Henry & Horne as a partner, bringing the partner total at the Arizona regional firm to 16. Meanwhile, Dennis Mazza, Larry Spero and Robert Hougham will come aboard as partner emeritus. They will be located at Henry & Horne's Scottsdale, Ariz., location.

 

CONNECTICUT

Nanavaty, Nanavaty & Davenport merges in Ronald C. Chickering, CPA

Details: CPA and business advisory firm Nanavaty, Nanavaty & Davenport LLP in Newtown, Conn., merged with Ronald C. Chickering, CPA, of Monroe, Conn., effective Nov. 1, 2011. The Chickering office will move into the Newtown office of NN+D. Terms were not disclosed.

Chickering established his CPA business in Monroe in 1985. NN+D was founded in 1991 and is a regional accounting firm that provides audit, tax planning and preparation, accounting, and business consulting services.

J.H. Cohn adds Kostin Ruffkess

Details: Top 100 Firm J.H. Cohn LLP has expanded its presence in New England by merging in Kostin, Ruffkess & Company LLC, a firm with three offices in Farmington and New London, Conn., and Springfield, Mass.

J.H. Cohn already has an office in Glastonbury, Conn., and a new one that it opened last month in Stamford, Conn., to support its hedge fund, private equity and other clients in the region, but this will be the firm's first office in Massachusetts.

Kostin Ruffkess dates back to 1949. The firm specializes in accounting and tax services, along with forensic accounting, business valuation, and business consulting. It will now operate under J.H. Cohn's name. The combined firm will specialize in construction, manufacturing, distribution, real estate, municipal, and not-for-profit organizations. Both firms also have strong employee benefits practices.

The firm now has 224 employees in the Hartford region, and approximately 1,200 overall.

 

MARYLAND

Glass Jacobson merges in OneSource Financial

Details: CPA wealth management firm Glass Jacobson merged in OneSource Financial Services of Montgomery Village, Md., effective November 1.

Terms were not disclosed. As part of the deal, OneSource president Michael K. Creamer will become a principal at Glass Jacobson. The transaction represents Glass Jacobson's third high-level merger in the Washington, D.C., metro area in the past year, adding extra personnel to provide accounting, tax and investment services at the firm.

Creamer has more than 19 years of experience as a CPA and more than 14 years' experience as a Certified Financial Planner.

 

MICHIGAN

Lewis & Knopf merges in local firm

Details: Lewis & Knopf CPAs, a regional accounting and business advisory firm based in Flint, Mich., has merged in Fenton, Mich.-based Leroy G. Johnson, CPA, effective October 19.

Financial terms were not disclosed. Going forward, the firm will operate under the brand of Lewis & Knopf CPAs, P.C.

Founded in 1974, Leroy G. Johnson has been providing accounting, tax planning, tax return preparation and business planning services.

Lewis & Knopf specializes in serving auto dealerships, manufacturing and distribution enterprises, professional service and construction companies, and retail and not-for-profit organizations.

 

MINNESOTA

Minnesota firm DBC joins KDV

Details: Maple Grove, Minn.-based accounting firm David B. Campbell, Ltd., has signed a letter of intent to join Kern, DeWenter, Viere, Ltd., expanding KDV's presence in the Twin Cities region of Minnesota.

DBC specializes in accounting and consulting services in the automotive, construction, professional services and real estate industries. The merger took effect Oct. 31. Financial details were not disclosed.

KDV, founded in 1945, has two existing offices in Bloomington and St. Cloud, Minn. The firm provides accounting, tax, advisory, wealth management, payroll, technology, business valuation and consulting services. Six new employees joined the firm as a result of the merger.

 

Boulay Heutmaker adds Hansen Jergenson

Details: Minnesota accounting firm Boulay, Heutmaker, Zibell & Co. has merged in Hansen, Jergenson, Nergaard & Co., effective Oct. 31.

The combined firms will operate under Boulay's name out of the firm's offices in Eden Prairie.

The combined firm will include 30 partners and 104 employees, specializing in the manufacturing, distribution, retail, professional services, construction and real estate industries. The merger is part of Boulay's strategy to become a Top 100 Firm.

Clifton Gunderson and LarsonAllen to combine

Details: Top 100 Firms Clifton Gunderson and LarsonAllen have confirmed they plan to merge January 2 into a combined firm known as CliftonLarsonAllen.

The merger is expected to create one of the top 10 accounting firms in the U.S., with combined revenues of between $550 million and $560 million.

The combination is expected to create a powerhouse, especially in serving privately held companies, not-for-profits and governmental clients. They plan to create a holding company that will include three specialty firms to handle professional services and accounting, outsourcing of finance and business processes, and wealth management.

The firms have worked together closely in the past, including on peer reviews. "Our two firms periodically meet," said Clifton Gunderson chief executive Kris McMasters. "We started talking and sharing strategy and saw that if we brought our firms together, we had a lot of synergies and cultural similarities. We felt like we could bring something unique to the marketplace."

The combined firm will have in the range of 80 to 85 offices, with roughly 3,600 combined employees, including about 500 partners in 25 states and Washington, D.C. Clifton Gunderson is based in Milwaukee and LarsonAllen in Minneapolis.

All of the partners and principals in the two firms will become partners in the combined CliftonLarsonAllen. McMasters will become CEO of the professional services and advisory firm, while Gordy Viere of LarsonAllen will become CEO of the holding company to focus on the wealth management and outsourcing pieces of the practice.

 

NEW JERSEY

Friedman adds Sacomanno

Details: Friedman LLP has merged in the Sacomanno Valuation Group, a firm that focuses on business valuation and forensic accounting.

The partnership will build on Friedman's Forensic Accounting, Litigation Support and Valuation Services Group and provide the firm with greater access to clients in southern New Jersey and Philadelphia. Terms were not disclosed.

As part of the deal, Michael Saccomanno will join Friedman as a partner in the FLVS Group. Saccomanno's team will operate from Friedman's Marlton, N.J., office. In addition to FLVS services, the office also offers accounting and auditing, tax preparation and planning, and tax controversy resolution services.

 

NEW YORK

Tronconi Segarra merges in all-female firm DKS

Details: All-female CPA firm Domachowski Kempisty & Salvatore has joined Tronconi Segarra & Associates in upstate New York.

Tronconi Segarra, with offices in Williamsville and Niagara Falls, will add DKS's office in Clarence. All 15 members of DKS are women and will be joining the 80-member Tronconi Segarra, which has a ratio of about 50/50 male and female.

The three partners in DKS, Lynn Domachowski, Sarah Kempisty and Carol Salvatore, formed the firm in 1994, after they took over the former firm of Campbell Brown. They will now become partners in Tronconi Segarra, which already has eight partners of its own.

The merger took effect on November 1. Terms were not disclosed.

"We are an all-women accounting firm, not that we needed to tout that very much, but we all work together very well, and that's how it all progressed," Salvatore said. "We felt we had a lot to offer Tronconi Segarra & Associates, as they did with us, such as specialization and more resources. They are highly regarded in the community, so we felt like it would be a great mix."

After the merger, Tronconi Segarra will have 52 CPAs out of the 95 associates in the combined firm, and will be the third largest independent firm in the Buffalo, N.Y., region.

 

OHIO

Fricano and Wolfe merge in Ohio

Details: A.S. Fricano & Co. CPAs and Daniel D. Wolfe, CPA, have merged.

The merger took effect Oct. 1. The combined firm will be known as Byler, Wolfe, Lutsch, and Kampfer CPAs Inc. It includes six CPAs and seven support staff, with two offices in Salem and East Liverpool, Ohio.

The merger occurred as a result of the impending retirement of Fricano founder Alfred Fricano.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

 

TEXAS

Carneiro Chumney joins BDO

Details: Top 10 Firm BDO USA has added the six partners and more than 60 staff members of San Antonio-based Carneiro, Chumney & Co., expanding BDO's presence in Texas.

Carneiro's San Antonio office will join BDO's other Texas offices in Austin, Dallas and Houston. The merger took effect November 1. Terms were not disclosed. BDO had $585 million in annual revenue. Bob McAdams, the former managing partner of Carneiro, joined BDO along with the rest of his firm. He has known BDO ever since his firm joined the BDO Seidman Alliance in 1999.

"We were very comfortable with them and their resources," said McAdams. "Our strategic planning for Carneiro Chumney & Co. was to bring in more opportunity and more resources, including technologically, all the things that successful CPA firms look for."

 

VIRGINIA

Dixon Hughes merges in Swart Lalande

Details: Top 100 Firm Dixon Hughes Goodman merged in Swart Lalande & Associates in Fairfax, Va., effective Nov. 1.

Swart, Lalande & Associates has been in business since 1960, and has a staff of more than 35 professionals.

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