Wipfli LLP (Wipfli), one of the top 25 accounting and consulting firms in the United States, has announced that Steinberg Advisors, Ltd. (Steinberg Advisors) joined the firm effective January 1. Steinberg Advisors, a firm headquartered in Northbrook, Illinois, provides audit, tax and management consulting services to businesses and individuals in the Chicago area.
“Steinberg Advisors is a natural fit with Wipfli. Their culture and the services they provide complement Wipfli’s broad range of services,” said Rick Dreher, managing partner of Wipfli LLP. “This combination will add to the depth of our resources in the Chicago area.”
Gary Shutan, managing partner of Steinberg Advisors, commented, “Steinberg Advisors is pleased to join Wipfli. This will be a great combination of two strong firms that will position our firm to provide expanded services to our clients while continuing to provide the personal attention and exceptional client service they expect from our firm.”
As part of this combination, approximately 50 Steinberg Advisors professionals, including seven shareholders, have joined Wipfli, including Irwin Steinberg, the founder of Steinberg Advisors, Ltd. Founded in 1999, Steinberg Advisors is one of the leading accounting and consulting firms in the Chicago area. The firm has one full-service office located in Northbrook, Illinois.
The combined firm will have approximately 1,500 associates, including 181 partners, 32 U.S. office locations (three offices in the Chicago area), and two offices in India.
“This is huge for Wipfli as it makes a serious statement about their entering the commercial marketplace in Chicago and this will probably serve as a springboard to other mergers and strategic hires in the Chicago market,” said Allan D. Koltin, CEO of Koltin Consulting Group, who advised both firms on the merger commented. “Steinberg Advisors was courted by eight different firms over the past couple of years and chose Wipfli based on their culture and growth opportunities for their associates. Steinberg’s merger was purely strategic in that they had already figured out succession and were looking for a way to offer more resources and services to their clients. Outside of some friendly disagreements on whether the Bears or Packers had a better football team, the negotiations went as smoothly as any merger I can recall. I wouldn’t be surprised to see another Chicago merger added onto this one in the next 1-2 years.”
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