One of the reasons more accounting firms are accepting remote partners — whether they are brought directly into the firm or promoted from within — is they can act as an initial beachhead into new markets, allowing even smaller firms to establish a multistate presence.
This is not always the intention from the start. Andrew Pitt, a Buffalo, New York-based accountant who was hired as a tax partner for Los Angeles-headquartered GHJ, sought out the Top 100 Firm not so much for its growth strategy, but for its culture. At the time, the firm had very little presence on the East Coast, and while he did bring with him several new clients from the Buffalo and New York City area, most of his time was spent with California-based clients. However, as time went on Pitt began handling more work for East Coast clients as well until, earlier this year, the firm made the decision to open a Buffalo office with him positioned as the lead partner there. At this point, he is eager to help his firm expand into this new territory.
"The Buffalo marketplace has a really strong talent pool, really hard workers and nowadays it doesn't really matter where you sit or where your clients sit; you can service on a very high level regardless of location, but we will shift gears and focus more on this market and the New York market hub. It's hard to find good talent and companies need to go where the talent is," said Pitt.
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Sometimes remote partners can deepen a firm's reach in a market where it already has some presence. Tabatha Broussard, a Louisiana-based tax partner with Oklahoma-based HoganTaylor, did not really begin with a specific geography in mind but an industry: energy.
"For the most part my clients are where the oil is, so it's spread across Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas and Louisiana," she said. "I think our goal, as a firm, is to best service the client regardless of what office they're at — any industry, any partner, remote or whatever office, how do we best serve the client?"
However, as time has gone on, she has been bringing in more clients from around the Pelican State, supported by the five-person team in Louisiana that formed after she was hired as partner.
"She is certainly a pioneer," said HoganTaylor CEO Randy Nail. "That all started with Tabatha. … We have grown a Louisiana presence now."
Broussard recently signed a deal on a meeting space for her team. "Not so much an official office, but a place where they can go," Nail explained.
Kimberly Hastings, a Colorado-based audit partner for Los Angeles-based Holthouse Carlin & Van Trigt, is on a similar path. While there are no specific plans so far, she said the Top 100 Firm may expand into her home state. Right now she works primarily with clients — mostly affordable housing nonprofits — from various places in Southern California. While she has no Colorado clients yet, she has been busy networking there through the state CPA society, which has opened her to "a whole new world of clients."
"I am the leader of a niche practice, so I'm excited to expand for not-for-profits and affordable housing providers in Colorado," she said. "We don't have an office here yet, but if things grow, then maybe that is something the partner group will consider going forward."
The firm's hybrid work policy balances remote work with in-person engagement, she noted.
Tim Cofrin, a New Hampshire-based tax partner with Atlanta-based Aprio, said while a lot of his clients are in other countries, he too is working to develop clients in his area, with an eye toward possible expansion for his Top 100 Firm.
"I do network and I do build business in New Hampshire," he said. "The irony is I spend most of my time taking opportunities and leads from wherever they come from, but I'm big in my Chamber of Commerce and try to build relationships there, so I'm connected with my local business network. It's bubbling up. I'd like to expand the brand up north and I would expect to see Aprio expand more into the New England region next."
But not everyone is the tip of the spear for a new market initiative. Danielle McGee, a Michigan-based tax partner with California-based Katz Cassidy, works primarily with the restaurant and entertainment industries. This means most of her clients are in major cities like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Las Vegas. While some are from Michigan, her work is more about the practice area than the geographic area.
"LA lends itself to some fantastic restaurants, so the bulk of my clients are in California, most of them around LA," she said. "With restaurants, you inevitably have clients in Vegas, Chicago, New York, the big key places. And my other strong point is the entertainment industry, so that lends itself to California as well. And it makes a good excuse to fly out and visit clients and eat my way through the city."
This is becoming more common among firms looking to expand. Jennifer Wilson, co-founder of Convergence Coaching, a leadership and management coaching and consulting firm that focuses on remote work, said firms are increasingly seeing how remote partners can achieve their growth strategies by entering new markets. The lack of a physical office is not nearly the impediment it once was, so it's becoming easier for firms to plant their flags in other locales and build their presence little by little.
"I'd almost say they're building these little hubs," said Wilson. "I get a partner and then start adding some staff and suddenly we've got seven people in Denver, 10 people in Buffalo. Now we have a little hub. It doesn't have to be an office. It could be, but firms shouldn't be thinking about that … We can think smaller and think of utility, what will we use [space] for, not like when we would lease and buy cubicles, because that is the old way of doing business."
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