Farmington, Michigan-based UHY LLP said it’s expanding into Massachusetts with the acquisition of Wayland, Massachusetts-based Paresky Flitt & Co., a small public accounting firm founded in 1987.
The combination of UHY, which has over 1,600 professionals in 36 U.S. offices, and Paresky Flitt, which has 25 employees, will broaden UHY’s geographical reach beyond its existing 10 Northeast U.S. locations in New York, Connecticut and New Hampshire, according to a company release sent to CFO Dive.
While some accounting industry merger and acquisition activity has been driven by the accounting talent shortage that has made it harder for some smaller firms to compete for staff, Paresky Flitt Managing Partner David Lorenzi said that was not a factor in this deal. Instead, he said the combination was of interest to his firm because it will enable them to offer a wider array of services as well as to help the firm keep up to speed with new technologies.
“Going with a company of UHY’s size helps us ensure we’ll be up to date with all the latest technology and ready to take on AI,” Lorenzi said, noting that the firm plans to expand the number of services it can offer to include cost segregation studies, audits of employee benefit plans and research and development tax credit studies. No jobs will be trimmed due to the acquisition, he said.
The deal, which closed Jan. 1, comes as the sluggish M&A market could be poised for a rebound this year, with artificial intelligence playing a key role, CFO Dive previously reported.
UHY LLP, a licensed CPA firm founded in 1986, operates in an alternative practice structure with UHY Advisors, which provides tax and advisory services, principally to middle market firms. UHY Advisors was ranked 28th in Accounting Today’s 2023 top firms.
UHY has been growing through acquisitions, expanding into New Hampshire last year. The latest addition will add to UHY real estate industry expertise, according to a statement provided by a UHY spokesperson. The company declined to provide the deal’s financial details.
“We are thrilled to now have a presence in Massachusetts with a reputable firm that takes client service as seriously as we do and is ranked as one of the largest accounting firms in Massachusetts,” Michael Mahoney, Northeast Region Managing director for UHY, said in the release.
UHY isn’t the only accounting firm in the M&A market: Big Four accounting firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers has also looked to grow through transactions. Last year, PwC was shopping for new capabilities and using M&A to boost its advisory services business. Among its buys was Sagence, which PwC acquired as part of its effort to build up its expertise in AI and data science.
