Relationships make the difference

PULLING TOGETHER: BlumShapiro invests in client relationships as well as staff development. Here, from left, Monica Motta, partner, Pat McAssey, principal, Nancy Gregory, director, and Fred Guarino, principal, demonstrate the team approach ingrained in firm culture. / PBN PHOTO/RUPERT WHITELEY
PULLING TOGETHER: BlumShapiro invests in client relationships as well as staff development. Here, from left, Monica Motta, partner, Pat McAssey, principal, Nancy Gregory, director, and Fred Guarino, principal, demonstrate the team approach ingrained in firm culture. / PBN PHOTO/RUPERT WHITELEY

Merging four companies in as many years is no small feat, but doing so with little turnover of clients or staff is testament to good business practice and dedication to clients and employees.

BlumShapiro, the largest regional accounting, tax and business consulting firm in New England, has successfully navigated back-to-back mergers by focusing on one clear goal.

“If our clients are successful and happy, we will be successful and happy,” said Gregory Cabral, managing partner of the firm’s Providence office. “If employees are happy … they will try to make other people around them successful.”

With more than 400 employees dispersed over offices in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut, BlumShapiro prides itself on having staff that helps clients with a range of needs, including auditing, accounting, tax and business advisory services. But BlumShapiro also wants to make sure its clients are successful across the business spectrum. To that end, the firm offers assistance with nontax-related issues as well, including succession and estate planning, business technology services, employee benefit plan audits, litigation support and valuation.

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The approach works so well that BlumShapiro was named to Inc. Magazine’s 2015 Inc. 5000 list as one of the fastest-growing private U.S. companies. BlumShapiro is able to recruit and attract top talent, leading to their 14 percent employee growth and 12 percent net revenue growth in the Rhode Island office.

The relationships that develop over the years are essential to BlumShapiro’s personal approach to clients. “We become part of their team, helping them make day-to-day management decisions over and above tax questions,” said Cabral. “The more successful they are, the more successful we are.”

BlumShapiro staff have the option to specialize in a niche they love or to explore several areas. As employees begin to specialize, they get a bird’s-eye view of all the nuances that impact specific businesses, he said. “As you get to know clients, you learn their hot buttons, and you know what keeps them up at night,” said Cabral.

While teams work with clients, they can leverage experience throughout BlumShapiro’s network. That way, clients have access to a range of expertise, and staff can learn from colleagues with deep knowledge in a particular field.

Given the firm’s deadline-driven industry, Cabral says the company is very aware of giving employees a healthy work-life balance. They want happy employees, but they also want successful employees.

During the January to April tax rush, it’s all hands on deck. But for the rest of the year, BlumShapiro employees enjoy four-day work-weeks. Employees spend several weeks working Monday through Thursday and then switch to a Tuesday-through-Friday schedule for several weeks. The office remains open five days, but employees appreciate the flexibility of a four-day workweek. “They have time off to spend time at home and to decompress,” said Cabral.

New employees are assigned a mentor at the company upon their hiring, and BlumShapiro encourages leadership-program participation. “It really helps them identify what to do next to get them to the next level,” said Cabral. There’s even tuition assistance – and time off to fulfill the class requirements.

BlumShapiro believes in continuity. “We try not to have staff revolve with different clients,” said Cabral. Many new staff members begin with clients from the outset and remain on that team even as they climb the professional ladder at BlumShapiro.

“Clients value that we are a partner with them,” said Cabral. “Our approach is unique and it does differentiate us.” •

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