CONNECTICUT
Mahoney Sabol adds Robert L. Howard
Details: The Glastonbury, Conn.-based firm of Mahoney Sabol & Co. LLP merged in Robert L. Howard's CPA practice. The merger will give Mahoney Sabol five professional staff who specialize in municipal, quasi-governmental and not-for-profit specialty practice areas.
Howard has joined the firm as a partner and will direct the public sector practice. He specializes in providing audit and consulting services to nonprofit and governmental organizations, including federal and state single audits.
GEORGIA
Habif, Arogeti & Wynne and JRZ merge
Details: Top 100 Atlanta-based tax, accounting and business consulting firm Habif, Arogeti & Wynne LLP has agreed to merge in JRZ LLC.
The new addition will strengthen HA&W's real estate practice. "With the inking of this deal, there are immediate synergies, as this combination bolsters our already market-leading real estate group," HA&W's chief executive officer and managing partner Richard Kopelman said in a statement.
Jim Ziegelbauer, head of JRZ, specializes in providing tax and consulting services to closely held commercial real estate owners, operators and investors.
INDIANA
CliftonLarsonAllen acquires Nonprofit Financial Solutions
Details: Top 100 Firm CliftonLarsonAllen has acquired the Kirklin, Ind.-based firm Nonprofit Financial Solutions for an undisclosed amount.
Nonprofit Financial Solutions provides nonprofits with CFO, consulting and outsourcing services.
Eight of Nonprofit Financial Solutions' professionals, including partner Timothy Murphy, will join CLA. Murphy has experience as a financial and operations management consultant and worked with a range of clients, including community foundations, faith-based organizations, churches, social service agencies and organizations that receive federal and state funding.
MISSOURI
Mueller Prost PC combines with Accurate Business Results
Details: Mueller Prost PC has combined its CPA and business advisory firm with Accurate Business Results.
Mueller Prost, which specializes in the health care sector, has been serving clients since 1983. ABR, which provides Medicare and Medicaid cost report preparation and reimbursement services, will become a part of Mueller Prost's health care division. The combination will give the firm the opportunity to bolster its comprehensive tax, financial and reimbursement services.
Mueller Prost PC and ABR have been strategically aligned since 2010, offering audit, tax, consulting, and Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement services to health care providers
NEW YORK
Baker Tilly and Holtz Rubenstein merge
Details: Top 20 Firm Baker Tilly Virchow Krause LLP is expanding its presence in the New York City market by merging with local Top 100 Firm Holtz Rubenstein Reminick LLP. The combined firms will operate under the Baker Tilly name.
"We've been looking for the right merger partner in New York and we found that partner in Holtz Rubenstein Reminick," said Baker Tilly chairman and chief executive Timothy Christen.
Baker Tilly actually set its sights on Holtz Rubenstein several years ago. "About four years back, Tim Christen approached our firm. Their strategic plan was to find a New York firm and build out their national brand," said Barry Garfield, regional managing partner of Holtz Rubenstein, during an interview with Accounting Today. At the time, a merger wasn't part of the New York-based firm's immediate growth plans. "We ourselves were prepared to listen to their story but we weren't actively pursuing any strategic plan at that time," Garfield explained.
A little over a year ago, Holtz Rubenstein re-evaluated its strategic plan and agreed that it was time to make a move. Holtz Rubenstein identified several firms that it could merge with and decided that Baker Tilly would make the best fit.
The combination is expected to create a firm with over 1,600 staff and $300 million in revenue. Baker Tilly, which has offices all around the Great Lakes Region, as well as New York and Washington, D.C., ranked No. 17 on Accounting Today's 2013 list of the Top 100 Firms, with $259 million in net 2012 revenue. Holtz Rubenstein Reminick, which has offices in Manhattan and on Long Island, ranked No. 95, with net 2012 revenue of $32.8 million.
Baker Tilly executive managing partner Ed Offterdinger will expand his role and lead the integration of the two firms.
Allan Koltin, CEO of Koltin Consulting Group, who advised both firms on the merger, commented, "Baker Tilly was looking for a Top 25 CPA firm in New York City for a couple of years, but wasn't willing to pull the trigger until they found the right firm. Holtz Rubenstein Reminick was the perfect firm in that they shared the same vision for exceptional client service and taking care of their people. Baker Tilly also realized that, in order to be a significant 'player' in New York, they would need to merge in a Top 100 Firm. HRR had been courted by practically every large New York and national firm in the country and loved the leadership role that they would have in growing the greater New York market."
Marcum merges in Cornerstone Accounting
Details: Top 20 Firm Marcum LLP has merged in Cornerstone Accounting Group, an accounting and assurance firm that focuses on the real estate industry.
Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed. Marcum's revenues in 2012 were $275.5 million, but Cornerstone's annual revenues were not disclosed.
As part of the deal, the entire Cornerstone team, including five partners and 75 staff members, will join Marcum. Cornerstone managing partner Daniel Vitulli will become national leader of Marcum's real estate industry group and will join Marcum's executive committee.
Cornerstone provides accounting and assurance services to its clients, including private equity funds, hedge funds, real estate investment trusts, pension advisors and private real estate companies.
NORTH CAROLINA
Elliott Davis to merge with Lunsford & Strickland
Details: Top 100 Firm Elliott Davis has expanded its footprint in North Carolina with the addition of local firm Lunsford & Strickland PA.
The shareholders of each firm have voted to combine their firms effective July 1, 2013. The combination will establish a Raleigh office for Elliott Davis.
"We have served Triangle-based clients for years; therefore, Raleigh is a strategic opportunity and prime location for us," Elliott Davis managing shareholder Rick Davis said in a statement.
Lunsford & Strickland, which was established in 1989, provides assurance, tax, business valuation and litigation support services to businesses throughout the Carolinas. The firm serves diverse clients in industries such as biotech, life sciences, software, health care, not-for-profits, closely held businesses, and real estate, as well as retail and hospitality.
The merger will give Elliott Davis a total of 450 employees throughout the Raleigh and Charlotte, N.C.; Columbia, Charleston, Greenville, and Greenwood, S.C.; Augusta, Ga.; and Richmond, Va., areas.
VERMONT
The Bonadio Group acquires Independent Audit Associates
Details: Top 100 Firm The Bonadio Group bolstered its internal audit team with the acquisition of Independent Audit Associates, of Rutland, Vt. The deal closed on May 1, 2013.
IAA makes Bonadio's first acquisition outside of the state of New York. "As our client base continues to expand beyond the borders of New York State, we were actively pursuing opportunities that would allow us to physically meet our clients' demands, and have done so with our first office location in New England," Thomas Bonadio, CEO and managing partner of The Bonadio Group, said in a statement.
IAA was co-founded by its president, Eileen Shannon, in 1992. The firm specializes in internal audit work for financial institutions. The IAA staff is composed of former bank internal auditors and bank staff who each have several years of experience in the financial services industry, working with banks and holding companies with assets ranging from $150 million to $1 billion.
The new addition comes with six employees, which will give The Bonadio Group the ability to formalize a new internal audit team, to be led by principal Thomas Giglio.
The Bonadio Group's internal audit team will be headquartered at the firm's Syracuse office. The new team is projected to have annual billings of more than $1.2 million as a result of the acquisition.
IAA marks the second acquisition for Bonadio within the last six months.
The firm added Richard Zweifel's CPA team in the fall, opening its first office location in Utica, N.Y. Currently, with more than 380 employees statewide and annual revenues of more than $55 million, The Bonadio Group has offices in Albany, Rochester, Buffalo, Perry, Geneva, Syracuse, Utica, New York City, and now Rutland, Vt.
