SRG Plus Squar Milner Equals Bigger CPA Firm

Woodland Hills accounting firm SRG will be absorbed by Squar Milner, one of the largest independent accounting firms in California, the companies announced Nov. 15. The merger becomes effective Dec. 1, retaining the name Squar Milner and the SRG location in Woodland Hills. Squar Milner has an office in Encino, and the deal will make the combined Squar Milner the third largest accounting firm in the San Fernando Valley area. In addition to the SRG acquisition, Squar Milner announced an agreement to bring on BPE&H partners Scott Howard and Suzanne Jacobs as well as 14 other members from that accounting firm. BPE&H is also located in Woodland Hills. Assuming these new members are CPAs, the workforce total, 102, would rank Squar Milner No. 1 on the Business Journal’s list of accounting firms (published in February and ranked by CPAs), placing the firm ahead of Miller Kaplan Arase (98 CPAs) and Holthouse Carlin and Van Trigt (66). Irvine-based Squar Milner said it has more than $115 million in revenue and a total workforce of roughly 550 professionals and associates. SRG has $11 million in revenue and nearly 55 professionals at the time of the deal was announced. “We have built an incredible firm with fantastic clients and are very proud of our people and the clients we serve,” SRG Co-Managing Partner Drew Grey said in a statement. “The Squar Milner combination will give our people expanded opportunities to grow as well as provide our clients innovative and specialized resources and services.” Added SRG Co-Managing Partner Tina Lazaroff: “We’re excited to be joining forces with Squar Milner. Working together, we’ll be able to offer our clients an expanded knowledge base and additional resources to help them grow and manage their businesses.” Squar Milner Managing Partner Steve Milner welcomed SRG to the fold. “We will continue to work to become one of the preeminent and largest firms based in California and Los Angeles,” he said in a statement. “Last year, we were very pleased to expand our Bay Area presence by having two firms join our already robust practice there. This year our focus has been in L.A. We are thrilled to have the SRG team join us. They have a long history of providing expert services to their clients. Their culture was remarkably similar to our own. They have a sophisticated client base, talented people and a stellar reputation.” Stable leadership Grey and Lazaroff will stay on as managing partners of Squar Milner’s Woodland Hills office after the acquisition, the company said. Grey – the “G” in SRG – has worked as the chief financial officer at a lighting company, chief executive of a supplement manufacturer and as top accountant at a real estate brokerage – all while a partner at the firm. “The other partners and professional staff have been controllers and CFOs at companies and understand business,” he told the Business Journal in a 2015 interview. “When we consult with companies, we do it in a way unparalleled in the CPA industry.” At the time Grey said SRG’s competitive advantage was a tax minimization method he called “the emancipation of financial statements from tax planning.” Most small businesses structure their accounting methods to shink their profits and save on taxes. But the strategy proves counterproductive when it’s time for a loan “If bankers had a dollar for every time a customer told them, ‘I’m actually more profitable than I showed,’ they would be able to retire,” Grey said. “Most companies don’t understand that you have different methods of accounting that fairly state your financial condition to help lenders and others, but also minimize your taxes.”