Eide Bailly is due to merge with Great
Lakes No. 3 Wipfli in June; and so on.
Needless to say, this complicates our
list-making, requiring fine — and, admittedly, often subjective — judgments
about where to put a firm that straddles
two or more regions, but hasn’t quite got
the reach to be a national firm. Western
Regional Leader Hagen, Streiff, Newton
& Oshiro, for instance, is headquartered
in Newport Beach, Calif., but has a strong
presence in the Southwest, as well. We’ve
noted some of these dual citizenships in
the regional lists that follow.
BEYOND M&A
As much as mergers contributed to growth
in the regions, they aren’t the only way to
build a firm. Our Regional Leaders report-
ed strong increases in demand for services
by nonprofits and health care facilities, as
well as real estate and construction clients,
and from professional services organiza-
tions like law firms and doctors’ offices.
Some service areas saw strong growth in
individual regions — firms in the Capi-
tal Region, for obvious reasons, saw in-
creased demand from both government
and government contractors, while firms
in the Southwest, and Texas in particular,
were doing well with oil, gas, and other
energy-related services and clients.
into national firm Crowe Horwath, which
itself rose from a Great Lakes leader to a
national firm. New England lost two major firms, Kostin Ruffkess and CCR, to J.H.
Cohn and Grant Thornton, respectively.
With that said, we’ve managed to
grow this year’s Regional Leaders from
the 2011 list, not only replacing those
firms that were either acquired or grew so
large they became national, but adding a
few more, to bring our total up to 171. If
you belong among our Regional Leaders
but we missed you this year, e-mail us at
AcToday@SourceMedia.com so we can
add you to next year’s survey.
In the meantime, consider this year’s
list of Regional Leaders, starting below
and continuing in the pages that follow,
as they demonstrate the many ways an
accounting firm can grow. AT
THE 2012 REGIONAL LEADERS
Top Firms: Capital Region
Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Washington, D. C.,
and West Virginia
The Capital Region saw respectable growth this year,
with the Regional Leaders’ combined revenue swelling 4.97 percent to $681.65 million.
That increase is all the more impressive given that
one of last year’s mega-mergers meant that one of
the region’s major players, Virginia’s Goodman &
Co., left the list after hooking up with Southeast pow-
erhouse Dixon Hughes to form Dixon Hughes Good-
man. The firm obviously remains a major presence
in the Capital Region, but can be found on our list
of Southeast Regional Leaders, where it ranks No. 1.
The same applies to Southeast No. 2, Cherry, Bekaert
& Holland, which is based in Virginia, but has strong
operations throughout the Southeast.
Firm Headquarters
Reznick Group Bethesda, Md.
Kearney & Co. Alexandria, Va.
Aronson Rockville, Md.
Watkins Meegan Bethesda, Md.
Argy, Wiltse & Robinson McLean, Va.
SC&H Group Sparks, Md.
Raffa Washington, D.C.
Yount, Hyde & Barbour Winchester, Va.
Brown, Edwards & Co.† Bluefield, W. Va.
Keiter, Stephens, Hurst, Gary & Shreaves†
Glen Allen, Va.
Johnson Lambert & Co. Falls Church, Va.
Gelman, Rosenberg & Freedman† Bethesda, Md.
Smith Elliott Kearns & Co. Hagerstown, Md.
KatzAbosch Timonium, Md.
Gross, Mendelsohn & Associates Baltimore
Arnett & Foster Charleston, W.Va.
Rev.
mn.
202.50
79.78
52.15
50.20
50.00
49.62
33.00
23.86
23.85
Profess- Total
chg. Offices Partners ionals emps.
5.73 10 106 652 967
10. 12 2 13 248 358
10. 14 1 27 136 198
9. 13 4 16 204 235
NC 3 25 175 240
7. 17 3 20 207 265
-0.78 2 18 180 224
-2.25 6 19 86 125
2.01 7 23 NA NA
———— Fee split ————
A&A Tax MAS Other
57 29 13 1
71 0 29 0
42 32 15 11
22 23 55 0
31 44 23 2
17 48 35 0
59 18 23 0
42 44 14 0
NA NA NA NA
21.04
20.05
18.00
16. 20
15.00
13.39
13.01
1.01
-0.84
1.98
1.06
7. 14
2.92
0.46
2
8
1
4
3
1
2
20
13
12
20
21
13
17
NA
107
NA
97
41
51
55
NA
135
NA
137
83
84
88
NA NA NA NA
85 14 1 0
NA NA NA NA
57 31 5 7
39 48 5 8
49 29 22 0
46 20 34 0
