Cherry Bekaert expands in Boston, Chicago

Cherry Bekaert has acquired growth and innovation firm Treacy & Co., expanding the North Carolina-based Top 25 Firm's presence in the Midwest and the Northeast.

T&Co. has offices in Boston and Chicago, and consults with clients in a wide range of industries on growth strategies, drawing on founder Michael Treacy's three decades of research on business performance. Apart from the geographic expansion, the deal is expected to strengthen Cherry Bekaert's industry depth in consumer products, manufacturing, automotive and health care.

"With the addition of T&Co's deep strategic skillset, we will be able to contribute more meaningfully to our clients' strategic needs, while attracting and retaining top talent to master the tools of growth and innovation," said Cherry Bekaert Advisory CEO Michelle Thompson, in a statement Thursday. "We are delighted to have their organization join us as they will be a real differentiator and help us better serve our clients holistically."

"Our leading innovation and growth offerings combined with Cherry Bekaert's broad portfolio of advisory services means we can provide end-to-end support for profitable growth to our clients," said T&Co. managing partner Josh Coleman in a statement. "Our clients need great strategy and the ability to then deploy and execute it."

"Treacy & Co. will help bolster our digital advisory services through their consultative, strategy-led approach. We meet the client where they are on their digital transformation journeys, applying proven methods, models, and strategic insight which drive innovative and digitally transformative solutions and outcomes," added Kevin Baril, Cherry Bekaert's digital advisory leader, in a statement.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Cherry Bekaert ranked No. 25 on Accounting Today's 2022 list of the Top 100 Firms, with $252 million in revenue and approximately 1,300 staff. T&Co. has just over 30 employees.

In June, Cherry Bekaert partnered with private equity firm Parthenon Capital, splitting the firm into two parts — Cherry Bekaert LLP for attest services and Cherry Bekaert Advisory LLC for non-attest work. (See our story.) This is the firm's first acquisition since that deal; its most recent combination before that was the acquisition of California's TaxGroup Partners, in November 2021.

Clearsight Advisors Inc. acted as sole financial advisor to T&Co.