Report: Ex-Horne Partners to Launch Health Care Venture

Two partners of top-ranked CPA firm Horne LLP are reportedly leaving the firm to strike out on their own.

According to the Nashville Business Journal, Lucy Carter, partner-in-charge of Horne's Nashville office, is leaving to form her own health care venture with Horne partner Sara Lankford.

Carter and Lankford are joined by five other members of Horne's Physician Practice Group in the new venture, Carter Lankford CPAs PC, which is slated to open its doors July 1, according to the paper.

"It's just time for a change," Carter told the paper. "We feel like this will enable us to deliver a more specialized service and more personalized services."

The two CPAs were founding principals of Carter Young Lankford and Roach, a Goodlettsville accounting firm that merged with Horne in 2001.

Bob Whisenant, who joined the firm in 2003, after Grannis Whisenant & Associates merged with Horne's Nashville office, will serve as interim managing partner in the Nashville office of Horne, according to the report, which noted that about 200 clients, including individuals and practices in the physician practice group, could transfer their business to Carter Lankford.

Hugh Parker, executive partner of Horne, based in Jackson, Miss., told the paper that the change is "just some people who decided to go their own way."

Carter Lankford reportedly plans to be a niche firm limited to health care, other professional practices, and professionals, such as attorneys, architects, engineers and executives, who especially need tax planning assistance.

Back in January, Horne LLP added Crain & Co., a Tennessee firm that specializes in health care services, to its fold.

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