Maybe people were tryin”™ to put them down. Maybe it was their g-g-generation. Niles Citrin and Joel Cooperman in 1979 were still in their 20s when they founded their accounting-advisory firm Citrin Cooperman and, as related by Managing Partner Mark Fagan recently, business was slow. In perhaps the unlikeliest financial pairing in history, rockers The Who ”” whose members knew Cooperman from an earlier accounting gig ””offered an advance on professional fees to help the fledgling firm.
Thirty-five years and 35 mergers later, Fagan, 52, who runs Citrin Cooperman”™s Connecticut office in Norwalk, said that when the firm”™s working relationship with Moore Stephens International and its network of accounting firms is factored, Citrin Cooperman now is the 10th-largest accounting-advisory firm in the world. Its projected revenue across its six offices for 2014 is $160 million.
But Fagan, 52, begins his days with workouts and maintains his high-school, three-sport physique, and the firm still lists The Who as clients. He took his 18-year-old daughter to a Who show, her first concert.
“I”™m a big fan dating to college,” Fagan said, seated recently in his North Avenue, Norwalk, office, which dates to 2010 and where 25 people work. The company”™s White Plains, N.Y., office, which Fagan formerly co-directed with Alan Badey, employs 80.
Because Cooperman and Citrin at their company”™s birth were considered young, Fagan related, they set out on a strategic course to correct that perception.
“They found business owners weren”™t paying attention to them because of their youth,” he said. “So they hired some experience. But it was more than hiring white hair; they wanted to expand expertise and rev up business.”
The still-young company based its hiring on two factors that continue to underpin its ongoing acquisition process: focused knowledge and a non-negotiable get-on-board-with-our-culture dictate. Said Fagan, “The most important factor in a prospective merger is whether they can adapt to our culture.”
Besides the basic drive to benefit clients and maximize wealth, the Citrin Cooperman culture is deeply and creatively rooted in public service. “Jeans on Friday” is common among businesses; the twist at Citrin Cooperman is that wearing jeans Fridays costs the employee $5, which is matched for a charitable fund by the company. Every June, the computers go silent as the firm engages in a complete day of out-of-office service.
Fagan said most of Citrin Cooperman”™s 35 mergers have been in the last 15 years, including one completed July 1. One might expect exactitude of an accounting firm”™s vetting process, and Citrin Cooperman”™s efforts hark to the patience of a bygone era: nine months minimum, 10 months for this merger, three years for some, four years for others.
“We want to make absolutely sure they match our culture,” Fagan said. Merged companies, when all the documents are signed, begin using Citrin Cooperman stationery and work as Citrin Cooperman. Fagan is what is termed a lateral partner. He came from another firm in 2003 but that firm was not acquired by Citrin Cooperman.
The company”™s expertise spans 21 broad industry groupings that run alphabetically from apparel to women entrepreneurs and leaders. Fagan cited construction as an example of a need finding a match, with a firm with a construction bent now acting as Citrin Cooperman and attracting 50 percent more business in that sector. “We seek tremendous expertise,” he said. “That makes us different than if we had grown internally.” It also makes the firm what he termed “a consultative practice,” answering questions for businesses in its catchment zone of a $5 million to $75 million annual company revenue stream.
“If you own such a company, you may not have a CFO or other consultants in-house,” Fagan said. “But you want to send your kids to college. You want to live the life you want to live, buy a second home. We help you do that by advocating on behalf of your business and by making your business as profitable and as efficient as it can be.
“Every accounting firm can do the basics ”” audits and statements,” Fagan said. “We look to better the business owner”™s quality of life.”
Most of the firm”™s 620 employees (in six offices) are certified public accountants, as is Fagan, whose accounting degree is from Nichols College in Massachusetts. At any given moment, 40 college students are the beneficiaries of Citrin Cooperman scholarships of $4,000 each toward their four-year degrees, Fagan said. Other outreach includes food distribution and professional showcases like the packed-house CEO Evolution panel discussion the company hosted at the University of Connecticut”™s Stamford campus in January, the Above the Bar Awards for Westchester County, N.Y., lawyers, the “Driving Your Business” roundtable series and the Doctors of Distinction Awards.
Reflecting on that outreach, Fagan said, “I think business owners appreciate the fact we”™re a dynamic firm. What we do portrays us to what we are: advisers and not just accountants doing tax returns and financial statements.”
