BPM Accountants & Consultants has been voted Best Accounting Firm in the 2011 NorthBay biz readers poll.
When Andersen & Company, LLP, merged with Burr Pilger Mayer to create Burr Pilger Mayer Inc. (BPM) two years ago, “the company’s personality stayed the same, but our value proposition to the North Bay business community became completely different,” says Carol O’Hara, managing partner of the company’s North Bay offices located in Santa Rosa and Novato. “We now offer the resources, experience and know-how of a large firm with the responsiveness and accessibility of a local firm.”
Andersen had 35 employees at the time of the merger. BPM is now the largest Northern California-based accounting firm, with six offices throughout the Bay Area, 52 partners and a staff of 360. Combining the smaller company with deep roots in the local community with the larger firm and its additional resources created a special synergy. It’s not surprising that BPM was selected Best Accounting Firm this year, as Andersen was in 2009.
Many of the partners came from the four largest national CPA firms (Price Waterhouse Coopers, Ernst and Young, KPMG and Deloitte), and they bring a Big Four level of experience, says O’Hara, who spent 18 years at KPMG, seven as a partner. She moved her family to Sebastopol 13 years ago and joined BPM soon after the merger. Because of the company’s size, Northern California focus and depth and breadth of experience represented in BPM’s partners and employees, it can specialize in particular business sectors in a way smaller firms can’t.
BPM provides full-service assurance, tax, consulting and wealth management services. BPM has three partners specializing in international tax, since an increasing number of North Bay businesses are involved in the international marketplace. BPM’s industry sector specialization includes food and wine, high-tech, life sciences, manufacturing, automotive, nonprofits, real estate and construction. BPM also continues to deliver the other specialized consulting services for which it was well known pre-merger, including financial advisory, succession planning, business valuation and corporate turnaround services. Former Managing Partner Jim Andersen is now in charge of the firm-wide business succession planning and litigation services divisions.
To ring in its 25-year anniversary (firm managing partner Steve Mayer founded BPM in 1986 with Curtis Burr and Henry Pilger), BPM became the only California CPA firm to be a completely funded ESOP (employee stock ownership plan), says Ted Grafe, BPM’s North Bay marketing, business development and community relations manager. “All BPM employees now share in the growth and prosperity of the firm,” he says. “It’s great for our clients, because every person working on their account from BPM is an owner, either directly or indirectly, through the ESOP.”
“We’re very proud of our culture and mission,” says O’Hara. “Our founding principles include commitment to the community, full service and fun.” She says that by having offices in six cities (Santa Rosa, Novato, San Francisco, Palo Alto, Walnut Creek and San Jose), the company is better able to preserve work-life balance among its employees, and its clients enjoy being served by people who are an integral part of their community.
Central to what BPM stands for is a strong commitment to improving the community. Each year, BPM staffers lead Because People Matter Day, or BPM Day. The entire firm volunteers at two nonprofits in each of its communities. BPM Day activities have ranged from painting, cleaning and maintenance to habitat restoration and building sets for a local community theater. The success of the company culture is demonstrated by the fact that it’s chosen as one of the Best Places to Work in the North Bay year after year. “We’re fortunate to have minimal turnover,” says O’Hara. “This helps our clients with continuity in service. We build valued relationships over the years.”
