of college in 1974, and has been CEO since
1985. He noted that with a lot of CPA firms
that move into financial planning, “They have
their accounting firm, and then over here on
the side they have their financial practice, and
it doesn’t work well. With us, we can’t be the
firm we want to be if we don’t offer financial
services. We can’t be the firm we want to be
if we don’t offer audit services, or if we don’t
offer tax services — they’re no different. It’s
a service to a client.”
And at Rehmann, client service is a very
high priority.
to measure. So now you creatively do that,
as opposed to we’ll have a session and tell
you how to do that.’”
The firm did develop tools such as ques-
tionnaires and forms to help teams measure
their implementation, but what really helped
the strategy gain momentum was when ear-
ly adopters started sharing success stories.
“Those reports are very specific,” Kelly ex-
plained. “Here’s the client, here’s where we
were, here’s the team we presented, here’s
what resulted. We’d have five reports, and
each took a completely different approach,
but in the end they presented a team, they
were being pro-active and they were talking
to the client, and it works.”
Constant reinforcement from manage-
ment helped embed the strategy in the firm.
“I would say that we have fully penetrated the
attitude of all the CPAs and financial people
to interact with the One Rehmann approach,”
Schaard said. “It’s something that is demand-
ed of them, so we’re looking at how they’re
comped and rewarded for their efforts. We’re
looking at not just what did you produce fi-
nancially, but did you really interact in the
manner that we’re trying to present ourselves
to the public as far as a full-service offering.
We’re looking at everyone and saying, ‘Are
you delivering a One Rehmann approach?’”
“It’s a very big part of everyone’s evalua-
tion,” Kelly added. “Of course, everything’s
important — metrics, and how you treat as-
sociates, and so on — but at the top of the list
is One Rehmann.”
While both Kelly and Schaard are adamant
that One Rehmann is not about cross-sell-
ing — “We don’t want anyone selling any-
thing,” Kelly said — introducing clients to
staff members from different practice areas
certainly puts the firm in a better position to
sell more services. “This last year especially,
2010 and most of 2009, we’ve seen tremendous opportunities with existing clients and
new clientele walking in the door, saying,
‘We’re really looking for this,”’ Schaard said.
He estimated that the firm has penetrated
approximately 15 percent of its clients with
full integration, rising to 30 percent if you
exclude audit clients who are conflicted out
by Sarbanes-Oxley rules.
‘ONE REHMANN’
Though the firm has always placed an em-
phasis on client service, it didn’t achieve its
current levels until it began to formulate the
approach that it now calls “One Rehmann.”
“We weren’t getting to the level where we
felt we needed to be,” Kelly said. “We were
good, we were up there, but the clients who
were historically most satisfied, the ‘blown-
away’ category, were those who were being
served by a large group of Rehmann people,
and had direct contact with each of those
Rehmann people, as opposed to the partner-
in-charge, the gatekeeper. The accounts with
the gatekeeper, where everything had to fun-
nel through that small opening, those clients
didn’t receive the Rehmann experience. They
would say, ‘I’m really pleased with my part-
ner, but not so much with Rehmann.’”
In response, the firm took a team-oriented
approach — presenting each client with a
team, each member of which has direct ac-
cess to the client and all of the client infor-
mation, with a mandate to be pro-active in
serving that client. Rehmann also created the
post of “client ambassador.”
“It’s their responsibility to just keep in
touch with the client, and ask, ‘How are we
doing?’” Kelly said. “We found that by formal-
izing that process, and guaranteeing that we
have someone regularly inquiring of the cli-
ent, ‘How are we doing? What do you want?
What do you want more of?’ client satisfac-
tion soars and opportunities for us soar.”
Before it could soar, though, the firm’s
staff had to buy into it, which was not easy
at first, since the approach is, in account-
ing parlance, more principles-based than
rules-based. When One Rehmann was first
rolled out in 2008, Kelly said, “People were
confused, saying, ‘What is One Rehmann?
Tell me how do it. Give me marching orders.’
So as it evolved, we said, ‘Let’s not focus on
the how, but focus on here’s what we want
Historically, Rehmann’s growth has
been about 60 percent organic and 40
percent from mergers and acquisitions,
but that figure can be significantly
skewed when the firm’s M&A engine
is running hot — and in 2010 it was
running red hot. Besides a number of
mergers in Ohio and Michigan that
built up its financial and accounting
sides, in July 2010 the firm created its
new Rehmann Corporate Investigative
Services division by merging Veritas
Global in with its already established
Kerby, Bailey & Associates unit.
Veritas was established in 2005 by
former members of the Federal Bureau
of Investigation, the Secret Service and
the intelligence services to provide
risk analysis and management, due
diligence, and investigative services.
“We became acquainted via a
mutual party, and the relationship just
kind of took off from there,” said Greg
Suhajda, who was president and CEO
of Veritas, and is now president of
Rehmann CIS. “There were synergies,
and our personalities meshed perfectly
on a lot of fronts. The more people I
met, the more I liked the firm.”
In particular, Suhajda was drawn by
Kerby & Bailey’s capabilities in IT for
ensics and its large insurance defense
group. Now with a staff of more than
40, the CIS unit offers a wide range of
services, including corporate investiga
tions in areas such as fraud and em
bezzlement; asset searches; computer
security testing and consulting; risk and
vulnerability assessments; highend
background checks, and background
check system assessments; and cus
tomized geopolitical risk assessments.
Of the merger, Rehmann CEO Steve
Kelly said, “It took it to a new level.
Their client list was a who’s who, and
very large clients. The sophistication
level of their services really enhanced
what we have. They do a lot of inter
national work and worldwide asset
searches and all kinds of really neat
things for wealthy clients and for large
businesses.”
Veritas was involved in much the
same client base as Rehmann, working
heavily with financial institutions, the
medical field, the hedge fund/private
equity area, and large international
companies, so it was a natural fit. And
in keeping with the “One Rehmann”
approach, Suhajda noted, “We educate
people within, and then they become
ambassadors for us with their clients.”
“We’re very new,” he noted, “but
we’ve been taking off like gangbusters,
and it’s been busier than anyone could
have imagined.”
BETTER AND BIGGER
NEXT STEPS
With its unique client service approach, a
growing line of services, and an aggres-
sive M&A strategy, Rehmann is predicting
a strong 2011, budgeting for $95 million in
revenue, up from an estimated $80 million
in 2010. $20 million of that is budgeted for
Rehmann Financial, $5 million for its re-
cently expanded Corporate Investigative
Services unit (see ‘Better and bigger’ at left),
and the rest from the CPA side. In the future,
Kelly noted, “We think the long-term opti-
mal blend is that the wealth management
and the accounting firm revenue would be
about equal.”
For the moment, though, the firm’s short-
term plans are to consolidate the gains it
has made thus far. For Rehmann Financial,
Schaard said, “We’re really looking at shor-
ing up the tremendous growth that occurred
and kind of back-filling with advisors.” That
will mean making sure the financial side is
fully represented in the few Rehmann offic-
es where it currently isn’t, in both Michigan
and in Florida, where the firm has estab-
lished three offices over the past three years.
Schaard expects the unit’s greatest growth
over the next three years to come in the retire-
ment plan arena.
For the firm as a whole, “We’ve got some
financial digesting to do,” Kelly said, “but on
the other hand, we’ll be looking aggressively
on the CPA side, both in Ohio and Florida,” for
firms that fit its culture and complement its
expansion strategy and service offerings.
It will also work on developing its practice
area in receivership, where the firm had some
new engagements in 2010. “We’re battling
in this economy like everybody else,” Kelly
said, “and we’re working harder and doing
more for less in many cases with clients in
this market. We’ve specifically seen this with
the large client competition with other re-
gional firms here in Michigan. It is really,
really competitive.”
“Our focus is going to be on the better, not
bigger,” he added. “Let’s drive One Rehmann,
let’s integrate everything we have.” AT
