Ascend announced on Nov. 3 that it has added accounting firm BiggsKofford, a Colorado accounting firm founded in 1982, to its platform.
With offices in Colorado Springs and Denver, the firm brings nine partners and more than 40 staff to Ascend and adds Colorado to its fast-growing national footprint. Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.
Backed by private equity firm Alpine Investors, Ascend partners with regional accounting firms but allows them to stay independent while providing the firms resources to help them grow. The partner firms relinquish their traditional partnership structures in order to join Ascend’s platform.
Ascend provides access to growth capital, talent acquisition and training, management resources, best-of-breed technology, artificial intelligence tools, an offshore captive, shared back-office services, a catalytic leadership system, and modernized equity incentives to its partner firms.
“Our mission at Ascend is to provide independent, entrepreneurial firms with every advantage as they serve their middle-market clients with excellence and create abundant opportunity for their people,” Nishaad (Nish) Ruparel, president of Ascend, said in a statement. “Our success in this mission hinges on finding the right firms to partner with—leadership that holds fast to its independence, culture that jumps off the page, a talent strategy that sees around corners, and a client service philosophy that is personal but strategic. BiggsKofford is that firm. Over four decades, their team has earned a reputation as trusted advisors to Colorado business owners by fusing tax, CAS, and transaction advisory into a single, lifecycle-driven client experience. Their approach has created a distinct offering and a wonderful place to build a career. We are proud to build upon that legacy together.”
Recommended Articles
“Our partnership with Ascend is designed to strengthen, not change, how we serve our clients and our local community,” added BiggsKofford CEO Chris Blees. “We didn’t want to give up our independence, yet we know we need national-level recruiting, technology, and back-office resources to remain competitive. Ascend provides us with the perfect balance of those key ingredients, giving us the resources we need to thrive while allowing us to independently maintain our client relationships and manage our team and our work.”
As is common in private equity deals with CPA firms, BiggsKofford has adopted an alternative practice structure separating non-attest and attest services. Tax and business advisory services will be provided by BiggsKofford Advisors LLC, a new entity affiliated with Ascend. Attest services will be provided by an independently owned and licensed CPA firm.
“Partnering with Ascend allows us to continue operating independently while gaining the large firm support and resources we need to serve our clients well and continue growing, but which we couldn’t accomplish alone,” Blees said. “They have a world-class recruiting team and some exciting incentive programs that will move the needle on our ability to attract and retain great people, which will translate to an even better client experience. At the same time, we preserve our ability to independently manage our employees’ day-to-day workload and performance. We think this strikes the perfect balance of large firm benefits and small firm atmosphere.”
Ascend platform firms are currently operating in more than a dozen states nationwide.
Thanks for reading CPA Practice Advisor!
Subscribe Already registered? Log In
Need more information? Read the FAQs
