Accounting firms Pisenti & Brinker, Zainer Rinehart Clarke to merge

Santa Rosa-based accounting firms Pisenti & Brinker LLP and Zainer Rinehart Clarke have formalized an agreement to merge, effective Jan. 1, according to both firms. The combined company, which will take the Pisenti & Brinker name and reside from its offices, will have approximately 80 employees, making it one of the largest-staffed accounting firms in the North Bay, according to both entities.

ZRC partners Betsy Stewart, Linda Kachiu and Danielle Sandoval will maintain their leadership positions in the new firm, along with P&B partners Jim Perez, Ray Pounds, Tim Moratto, Brett Bradford and Josh Moore, according to both firms.

The deal is the third in P&B’s history, Perez said. Two previous transactions were acquisitions of other accounting firms; the other was a merger with a sole practitioner who joined P&B.

ZRC wanted to merge with another firm mainly because of the difficulties in attracting and retaining qualified staff, Stewart said.

“Usually what happens is we hire people, train them and then they go somewhere else after five, six or seven years of experience,” she said. “They move on to something bigger and better that they don’t see exists at an independent firm of our size.”

ZRC is financially stable, Stewart said, but merging also allows the company to become a bigger player in the marketplace. “As business planners, what we do for clients is look forward and we’re doing the same thing for ourselves,” she said.

Perez said the alliance positions the new P&B with greater leverage when it comes to hiring in a tight and competitive labor market.

“Being a larger firm with a larger presence and footprint is going to be more attractive to students who are graduating from (college) with degrees in accounting, finance or math, and who might be looking for solid career opportunities,” Perez said. “And having the skills and knowledge in the firm to be able to train and mentor our young people is another reason that this merger made so much sense.”

And there are more reasons the partnership works.

“The somewhat unspoken part of this, which I think is critical because it speaks to what both firms want to do, is our focus on developing gender and ethnic diversity to align our people with the composition of the community,” Perez said, adding that, together, the new company will be one-third larger. ZRC is a solely women-owned firm, while P&B is owned by men. “Increasing our gender and ethnic diversity not only creates more visible career paths for our people, but also allows us to have Spanish-speaking accountants and advisers available to work with businesses whose owners and employees don’t use English as a first language.”

The merged firm will continue to provide audit, tax and consulting services for businesses and individuals across a wide range of industries, and continue to serve multiple industries, including wine, food and beverage, construction, real estate, manufacturing and retail.

Stewart said the search for a partnership began approximately 18 months ago. About halfway through the process, she broached the idea with her one-time boss and 45-year accounting veteran Jim Andersen, a partner at Hemming Morse, LLP in Santa Rosa.

“I had been basically helping Betsy with some succession planning issues the last seven or eight months,” Andersen said. He mentioned a couple of firms that could be a good match for a merger, including P&B, which he described as having “lots of strength.” He also has known Perez since the 1990s, so ended up bringing the two firms together and brokering the deal.

“From the beginning, it was clear that Jim Perez had a cohesive idea of what we could bring to each other’s practices,” Stewart said. “Probably more importantly, our younger partners really hit it off. In public accounting, it’s about making sure your firm has a succession plan, so for us, having partners who see eye to eye and want the same things for their futures was important.”

The new P&B has a combined 92-year history in the region and, in addition to its headquarters in Santa Rosa, will have offices in Petaluma, Napa and St. Helena.

And more offices could open in the future.

“I wouldn’t rule out expanding to Marin,” Perez said, noting P&B had an office there in the mid-90s but closed it because it made more sense to service those clients from Petaluma. “The landscape has changed a lot over the past 20 years so if the right opportunity arose, we would look very seriously at Marin.”

Currently the two Santa Rosa firms are within walking distance of each other, which will make the move over to P&B’s offices a smoother process, Stewart said. But it might be a while before everyone is working under one roof.

“It will more likely be a year before everyone comes over and for us to acquire the additional space we’ll need,” Perez said. “We made a request through our landlord to see if there’s additional space in the building. Then our Plan B is we’d have to find another location close to where we are that can fit both firms.”

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