iels of Spokane, Wash., while two of the New
York area’s top regionals, Eisner and Amper
Politziner & Mattia, announced their combination in mid-August.
“A lot of these mergers are between ;rms
that have deep histories together, like be-
longing to the same associations, and com-
mon alliances,” explained Allan Koltin, chief
executive o;cer of Chicago consultancy PDI
Global Inc., and one of the top brokers of CPA
;rm mergers. Koltin likened the recent ac-
counting consolidation to what happened
in the legal profession when many of the
country’s largest law ;rms unveiled merg-
ers in recent years. “I think there’s going to
be more [of them].”
“Top 100 ;rms have an insatiable appetite
for merging in firms,” added Marc Rosen-
berg, principal of Rosenberg & Associates in
Wilmette, Ill. “;ey know from experience
of merging in many other ;rms that mergers
work and are pro;table — if you do them
right. And because these ;rms have done so
many mergers, they know how to do them
right. ;ey know how to manage a CPA ;rm
and make good money at it.”
M&A
FROM PAGE
1
LARSON AND LEMASTER
The merger between LarsonAllen and LeMaster Daniels will become e;ective November 1.
LarsonAllen chief executive Gordy Viere
said that the union with LeMaster Daniels
provides an avenue to extend the ;rm’s in-
dustry specialization to the Paci;c North-
west. “We’ve long known and respected our
counterparts at LeMaster Daniels, and we
share common business and cultural prac-
tices,” he said. “Like us, they have both a met-
ropolitan and a rural presence and deliver a
mix of talent, warmth and familiarity. It’s a
perfect match that will help us serve this part
of the country with depth.”
LarsonAllen has approximately 1,500
people and $230 million in annual revenues.
;e ;rm ranked No. 18 on Accounting Today ’s
2010 list of the Top 100 Firms.
;e union with LeMaster Daniels marks
LarsonAllen’s sixth merger since May 2009.
Meanwhile, LeMaster Daniels has 12 of;ces, 26 owners and nearly 300 employees
with annual revenues of approximately $40
million. LeMaster Daniels ranked No. 75 on
the Top 100 Firms list, with $41.73 million in
annual revenues.
“We had actively been looking for North-
west ;rms to fold into the LeMaster Daniels
brand as part of our overall growth strategy,”
said LeMaster Daniels chief executive Scott
Dietzen. “An upward combination wasn’t
initially on our minds, but LarsonAllen’s
success in developing strong industry spe-
cialization was very attractive. Bringing that
niche focus to our ;rm will bene;t our cli-
ents and employees immensely, and that’s
something that we would never say ‘no’ to.
We pursued this emphatically for all the op-
portunities it presents.”
Both firms serve a wide range of busi-
nesses, from large corporations to small and
midsized privately held companies and com-
munity-based nonpro;ts.
EISNERAMPER
;e combination of New York-based Eisner
and Amper of Edison, N.J., creates an entity
with 1,200 employees, including 170 partners, and more than $250 million in revenue.
Going forward, the ;rm will be known as EisnerAmper.
Eisner ranked No. 24 on the 2010 list of Top
100 Firms, with $133.25 million in revenue;
Amper earned the No. 26 spot, generating
nearly $120 million in annual revenues.
;e heads of the two ;rms, Eisner manag-
ing partner Charles Weinstein and Amper
managing partner and CEO Howard Cohen,
began talking about a merger last September.
“As members of Baker Tilly and competing
in the New York market, we’ve known each
other for a long time,” said Weinstein, who
is now the CEO of the combined ;rm. “After
some casual conversations, we decided to put
together a breakfast meeting to see if there
really were going to be some opportunities
for us to combine.”
The first meeting took place on Sept. 2,
2009, which coincidentally turned out to be
the birthday of Amper Politziner founders
Phil Politziner and Monroe Amper. “;ere’s
a lot of karma in that,” Weinstein said.
Shortly after Amper merged in 2008 with
Goldenberg Rosenthal, Amper had created a
strategic plan for the next two to three years.
“Our main focus was getting larger in New
York City,” said Cohen, who is now chairman
of the combined ;rm. Meanwhile, New York-based Eisner wanted to expand to Philadelphia, where Amper has a large presence.
Cohen and Weinstein see the combined
;rm as becoming a dominant and pre-eminent ;rm in the Northeast. Both ;rms have
mostly grown organically over the years, in
part by hiring from the Big Four and other
national firms. But Eisner has not merged
with another ;rm in over 20 years, according to Cohen, and Amper has only done two
mergers in the last 45 years.
Prior to the mid-August merger announcement, the two ;rms worked quietly on merging their practices for three months. They
formed an integration oversight committee,
as well as integration teams in areas such
as audit, tax, consulting, litigation, ;nance,
human resources and marketing. ;ey had
their ;rst partner vote in May and the ;nal
partner vote in the second week of August.
;e merger was structured as a combination
of equals.
“I watched how they dealt with issues such
as ;rm name, chairman vs. CEO, etc., and on
every issue, leadership checked their egos at
the door,” said Koltin, who consulted with
both ;rms on the merger. “Sometimes with
very successful firms, they get blinded by
their press clippings and have a ‘Don’t screw
up a good thing’ mentality. In this case, lead-
ership challenged the troops to put personal
agendas and fears aside and see if something
truly incredible could be created. ;is is the
biggest merger of two U.S.-based accounting
;rms in the 21st century, and I think it will be
a trend that we will see continue for the next
couple of years.”
In the future, the two leaders plan to ex-
pand the ;rm as far north as Boston and as far
south as Washington, D.C., but they said that
they do not plan to make it a national ;rm
with o;ces around the country. However,
they do see themselves doing more business
servicing mid-market international compa-
nies, and Eisner already has an o;ce in the
Cayman Islands that is mainly used for ;nan-
cial services and insurance industry clients.
;e ;rm expects to retain all of its current
employees, and has been recruiting on college campuses for entry-level hires as well.
It has also been reaching out through social
networking sites, such as Facebook, Twitter
and LinkedIn, as well as You Tube, to market
its services.
“It’s rare that two firms of this size can
come together and have so much in common,” said Koltin, who has consulted with
both ;rms. “For Amper, growing New York
City was a major strategic initiative, and by
combining with Eisner they achieve that goal
the day after. For Eisner, they pick up some
exceptional niches from Amper and will also
be able to take some of their niches into the
New Jersey and Philadelphia markets.” AT
— Bill Carlino and Michael Cohn
contribued to this story.
