Rehmann, a Top 40 Firm based in Troy, Michigan, is continuing to expand its footprint in Florida by adding Vestal & Wiler, a firm based in Orlando, effective Nov. 1, 2022.
Vestal & Wiler has been serving clients in the Orlando area since 1993, working mostly with middle-market companies, offering tax, audit and advisory services. The firm currently has 57 associates, including 10 owners, along with an annual revenue of $13 million and $11 million in net fees for 2021. Rehmann has more than 850 total associates and 134 principals, including 56 equity principals and owners. Rehmann earned $170.4 million in revenue for 2021. The firm ranked No. 36 on Accounting Today's 2022 list of the Top 100 Firms.
Rehmann opened its first office in Florida about 13 years ago and has been expanding in the state ever since. Orlando seemed like a natural city to move to next.
"Historically, at the time we were a Michigan firm, and we were pretty saturated in Michigan, so we said, where do we want to go next?," said Rehmann CEO Randy Rupp. "And we interviewed some of our top people, and it was a consensus for Florida. We considered Texas and other locales, and Florida was just the predominant pick. We had a young man, a brand new partner, that really wanted to move down there, so we started an office in Naples, and through the years, along came growth in Vero Beach, Stuart, Jupiter, Bonita Springs, and it was great for us. With what's gone on in the economy and the demographics in the country, it just turned out to be a good decision. We wanted to continue that growth, and Orlando appealed to us for a number of reasons. Geographically, if you look at the map, boy, wouldn't it be nice to put an office in the middle of the state for the footprint there. And in Orlando, we thought we would have way better access to the University of Central Florida, historically one of the largest universities in the country."
He also saw a fit with the middle-market businesses in the Orlando area that Rehmann has traditionally served in Michigan. Rupp was introduced to Steve Castino, a partner at Vestal & Wiler, about a year ago, and they began discussions on a merger, meeting at a restaurant in Winter Park, Florida.
"We were founded in 1993 and then a handful of us partners bought the firm about 13 years ago from our founder, a gentleman named Terry Wiler, who retired," said Castino. "Our focus since 1993 has always been serving middle-market for-profit companies with between $10 million to over $1 billion in revenue. We've continued to grow since we bought the firm and had a lot of success in doing that. And we serve a high percentage of the middle-market companies here in central Florida and then around the country now because our geographic client base has expanded so much due to a large percentage of our clients are also private equity owned, so we have some really strong private equity relationships with and then we're working on their portfolio companies as well."
Vestal & Wiler's clients include businesses in the construction, real estate, automobile and health care sectors.
Rehmann has expanded over the years in Florida and other parts of the country as well. In 2018, it added
Rupp noted that when his firm merges in another firm, it keeps all the employees for at least a year before making any changes and allows them to specialize in the areas where they can flourish.
"I know that's different from some other firms in merger situations," he added. "We retain 100% of the associates and then for a year we do not make any changes unless the Vestal & Wiler leadership agrees in the normal course of business. With the talent situation out there, it just reinforces what we've done."
Castino sees opportunities for his staff at Rehmann and is checking on their well-being as they deal with the impact of Hurricane Ian in Florida.
"I feel like they will be better off at Rehmann for many reasons, and one is upward mobility," he said. "They're going to have so many opportunities to be leaders at Rehmann and it's going to be better for our clients. They're going to have the same team that they had serving them before, but now we're going to have more depth and expertise added."
