December 1999

Marks Shron and Paneth Haber Zimmerman Announce Merger

Marks Shron & Co. LLP and Paneth Haber Zimmerman LLP announced that the two CPA firms will merge effective January 1, 2000.

The new entity, Marks Paneth & Shron LLP, will have approximately 220 employees and $28 million in revenues, and will be the seventh largest independent accounting practice, according to sources at the firms.

The merger reflects ongoing consolidation in the accounting profession but bucks the recent trend of several mid-sized firms that have sold their practices to companies outside the profession. In the past few years, publicly-traded companies such as American Express Tax and Business Services, H&R Block, and Century Business Services, have acquired the nonattest assets of CPA firms of similar sizes to Marks Shron & Co. LLP and Paneth Haber Zimmerman LLP.

The managing partners of the two CPA firms said that their merger is a way to grow while continuing to operate independently.

"Many mid-sized firms are taking a different route, selling out to financial conglomerates and transferring a lifetime of trust and client relationships to huge corporations," said Steven C. Baum, managing partner of Paneth Haber Zimmerman LLP and a past NYSSCPA president. "We believe that trusted relationships are not commodities to be bought and sold."

"By coming together, Marks Paneth & Shron LLP can draw on a deeper pool of resources to solve the increasing complex challenges that businesses face today," said Arnold A. Gruber, managing partner of Marks Shron & Co. LLP. *