Merger & Acquisition Services For Today's Practitioner...
Today's
public accounting firm has a wide range of specialist
needs:
Keeping
the existing client base intact
Finding
new clients
Providing
exceptional service to generate client loyalty
and increased referrals
Providing
additional services to these clients during
the course of the year
Finding
exceptional people to service these clients
Developing
the office environment so that great people
stay and develop their public accounting careers
Seeking
opportunities to acquire additional blocks of
fees or entire practices
Succession
planning for partners
We can help in each of these areas,
not from theory, but from our own practical experience
during the last 30+ years.
Steve's book:"The
Succession Planning Toolkit"
Published
by the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants,
available exclusively from their bookstore
and on-line at knotia.ca. This book is full of useful tips, guidelines and examples and comes with a CD full of example forms to use when planning your own exit strategy.
Our
founder has been in or around the public accounting
domain his entire career, from raw junior to
partner in a public accounting firm, where he handled
the purchase of several practices and blocks of
fees, recruited many talented CAs and was involved
in the sale of two public accounting firms.
His
recruiting experience was at a boutique recruiting
firm at Queen & Bay in downtown Toronto, and
then as Vice President of one of Canada's largest
executive search firms, working with Canada's CAs,
CGAs and CMAs. This gave him the 'HR' piece of the
jigsaw puzzle and the insights needed to help you
make the right 'people' decisions as part of an
exit strategy.
And
don't forget to read Steve McIntyre-Smith's
regular public accounting column in every
issue of The Bottom Line, covering:
recruiting tips
essential
human resources issues
creative
practice development ideas
practical
succession planning comments
and
many other issues, as they affect today's
practitioner.
We
got ‘married’ and Steve McIntyre-Smith
was our ‘match-maker’.
'When
we first approached Steve McIntyre-Smith to help us find a smaller firm
to acquire or merge with, he gave us the straight
goods; ‘It’s not quick, and it
’s not easy’ he told us.
‘You’ve
got to kiss a lot of frogs along the way to
finding your handsome prince’ he added.
And he was right.
Although it’s debatable if we found
a ‘handsome’ one, our ‘prince’
was certainly a gem, in the form of Jordan
Gould! Jordan immediately brought the average
partner age down a few points, and our average
I.Q. way up!
All joking aside, we’re delighted that
Jordan and all his staff and clients made
the move, and we’re looking for more!
We couldn’t be happier since the merger.'
- Cary Selby, CA - Managing Partner,
SBLR Chartered Accountants
'When I first met Steve, I was, to put it mildly, somewhat anxious about merging with another firm, but I realized that the days of the sizeable sole practitioner are numbered.
With two partners retiring, if I wanted to take my practice to the next level, where I had an administrator, a human resources department, IT services and quality assurance systems in place, then I had to find a like-minded firm that had already invented the wheel, so to speak.
Steve McIntyre-Smith introduced me to a number of firms, but I think we both knew that SBLR would end up being the ‘one’.
Our work habits, approach to client service, philosophy and many other attributes were so compatible that I don’t think either party could believe their luck.
Since the merger I have realized numerous benefits, too many to list here, but suffice to say that my practice continues to grow at a very healthy rate and it’s great to have such a fine bunch of peers to bounce ideas off from time to time.
If you’re thinking of selling or merging, I’d recommend that you speak to Steve.'
- Jordan Gould, CA- Partner, SBLR Chartered Accountants
(Formerly Managing partner of Freedman Gould LLP)
“Being
something of a history buff, it was great that Steve
found me a practice to acquire that was steeped in
history, it even had the original CA membership certificate
of the founder dating back to 1934 on the wall –
and it hangs there now as a proud artifact and a great
conversation starter!”
-
Michael Keltz, CA
"When I engaged Steve to go out to the market
to find me a small practice to acquire, a colleague
advised me that the retainer he charged me might turn
out to be one of the wisest investments I made that
year. Turns out they were right!
Steve’s optimism and enthusiasm never waned,
even when it looked like we’d never find the
right deal.
He persevered and eventually found the partners at
Robert W Adams & Co, not a million miles away
from my own office, ready to retire.
In their late 60’s Ron and Gary had grown up
in this firm, from young ‘whipper-snappers’
to mature professionals, and were anxious to see their
clients handed on to someone who would look after
them as well as they had over the previous 40 years
or so.
We had several meetings to establish if this was the
right fit for both parties and then we sat down and
negotiated a deal.
Steve’s help in finding this practice for me
and then dealing with the negotiations saved me a
lot of grief and time, and helped all of us arrive
at a deal we were happy with.
Sure, there was some give and take on both sides during
the negotiations, and that’s where Steve’s
advice and assistance paid dividends in areas such
as help in putting together a confidentiality agreement,
a letter of intent, and even a draft sale/purchase
agreement and especially regarding client file retention,
which were all key issues for me.
Well worth the fees charged!
If you’re looking to buy a practice or grow
by merger, give yourself an advantage, get Steve McIntyre-Smith
and his team on your side.
I sure am glad I did."
Steve McIntyre-Smith wishes to thank Michael
Keltz, CA for his willing participation in this case
study.
In recent years Steve has helped
numerous Canadian accounting firms to grow and prosper through his consulting work.
He
is an established columnist for Canada's financial
newspaper, The Bottom Line, a regular guest writer
for the ever popular AccountingWEB.com and is a
popular speaker at CA District Association meetings
and conducts seminars for the Ontario Institute
of Chartered Accountants.
In
addition to this, he is the author of five best-selling
practice development eBooks and author of a
comprehensive client service program, 'Towards
Awesome Client Service' - now in
use by accounting firms around the world.
Whether
buying or selling a small block of fees, or looking
for a $10million acquisition, Steve has earned a
reputation for integrity, timeliness, relaibility
and honesty. He has recently been appointed to the
faculty of the Ontario Institute of Chartered Accountants,
and his speaking work takes him around the world,
addressing large audiences of public accounting
firm members.
We
have broken this site down into seven simple pages,
each one focusing on one specific topic, in order
to help you get the most out of your visit with
us.
We
ONLY work with public accounting firms, and we know
the market inside-out. Who better, then, to turn
to when you're ready to consider the sale, merger
or purchase of a practice?
Please
explore our site by using menu at the top of each
page and take advantage of the resources available
or simply call us at 905-842-2284.
