Which Side of the Deal Should You Be On?

Source: CPA Trendlines

Following are excerpts from an April 12, 2010, blog post by Rick Telberg, reproduced with permission.

According to CPA Ira Rosenbloom, in this world of "angst and agitation, many CPAs could be making huge strategic decisions at their firm retreats this year. Rosenbloom was managing partner of Mintz Rosenfeld, a prominent New Jersey firm, before it merged into J.H. Cohn. Today Rosenbloom runs his own consulting practice for CPA firms, Optimum Strategies LLC in West Caldwell, N.J.

Front and center will be the question of mergers and acquisitions. "We're already seeing a very hot market in mergers and acquisitions," Rosenbloom says. "And there's a bunch of practitioners out there who aren't getting any younger. They know that they will need to hook up with another firm. But they're just not sure how to take the first steps."

Indeed, many firm owners get hung up on the question of whether they want to be a buyer or a seller. In fact, Rosenbloom says, that's the wrong question. He should know. While at Mintz Rosenfeld, Rosenbloom engineered his share of deals. And he was still in an acquisition posture when J.H. Cohn came courting. Making the shift, personally and organizationally, mentally and practically, wasn't easy.

So whether you think you're a buyer or a seller, immediately after tax season run your SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis and be sure to list the strengths and weaknesses of every other CPA firm in your market. Not only will the analysis help you compete, but it could also help you identify a potential new partner.

Ultimately, it may not matter whether your firm is a buyer or a seller, just that you hook up with the right firm for the right reasons.

To read the entire post, click here.

From CPA Trendlines, http://cpatrendlines.com, April 12, 2010, "Feeling the Urge to Merge? First, Consider the Angles."