Accounting firm to nearly triple office space ahead of acquisition

A Lutherville accounting firm will nearly triple its office space this year ahead of an acquisition.

L&H Business Consulting will move from its longtime home at 1212 York Road in Lutherville this fall to the Executive Plaza complex in Hunt Valley. The firm will take almost 12,000 square feet, nearly triple its current footprint, said Carly Peters, a principal at the firm. That extra space will be needed almost right away: L&H is in the process of acquiring Owings Mills-based Taurus CPA, whose three employees will join the firm in December.

“We’ve been growing a little bit each year, slow and steady, and ran out of space,” Peters said. “We are out of offices, out of space for interns, and we needed to make more room.”

A key part of L&H’s growth over the past decade has involved buying up smaller local accounting firms like Taurus. L&H has acquired a half-dozen firms ranging from $50,000 in annual revenue up to $1.5 million. These firms are usually run by solo practitioners who are either looking to join a larger firm or want to retire. This past December, for example, L&H acquired the three-person practice of John B. Barry, an industry veteran with more than four decades of experience.

L&H can pull off these deals because of its strong pipeline of young talent. Experienced CPAs in need of a succession plan can sell their book of business to L&H and then work with the firm during a transition period. A younger accountant at L&H will then take over those clients when the experienced accountant is ready to retire.

Peters said the firm draws heavily from Towson University’s accounting program, and currently has five interns. A few of those students will start full-time with L&H when they graduate in the fall.

L&H has also seen growth due to consolidation in the local accounting industry in recent years. The firm has been able to add new clients and employees who “weren’t happy” with the transition they saw after national private equity companies came into the market, Peters said.

The new digs at Executive Plaza have plenty of room for further expansion, too. The firm was founded by Dominic Levis and Nick Hollander in 2009 and has since grown to 32 employees. Peters said the new space in Hunt Valley includes 28 offices and room for 16 employees in cubicles.

“Right now we are on two separate floors, and we are moving everyone onto one floor,” Peters said. “There is also 4,000 square feet of space we didn’t take, so if we want to expand further, we will have the first option to take that.”

The firm decided to leave its current space because its lease was set to expire. Peters said L&H didn’t want to move too far from its current location, and that the Executive Plaza space at 11350 McCormick Road “was the right fit.” The building’s amenities, which include a gym, a hair salon, a deli and a daycare, were also a draw, she said.

Source: Baltimore Business Journal