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As we have all seen, the opportunities for growth have never been greater for accounting firms. The fallout from the demise of Andersen and the implementation of Sarbanes-Oxley provided more low hanging fruit than most regional firms could handle. Add to that scenario a shortage of accountants to do the work, and you have what many referred to as a "perfect storm."

Regional accounting firms across the country reacted to this opportunity in different ways. There was a flurry of merger activity as firms scrambled to find the bandwith to do all the new work. Others absorbed whole practice groups from the now-defunct Andersen, hiring partners who brought substantial books of business with them.

These solutions can, and did, work, no doubt. But they also brought challenges in the form of culture shifts, uneasiness and dissatisfaction among current staff, along with the overuse of valuable administrative resources and often excessive legal effort and costs. In addition, the time a merger or acquisition takes to be fully functional can be lengthy, during which period opportunities can be lost forever.

Amper, Politziner & Mattia, LLP (Amper), a 40-year-old entrepreneurial firm that consistently ranks among the top firms in the country, took a different approach. And it's one that has paid off, as evidenced by Amper's ranking as one of the fastest growing regional firms in the country over the past two years – all of its growth completely organic.

After evaluating the marketplace as part of its formal Strategic Planning process, firm leadership performed a detailed analysis of the firm's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (a SWOT analysis) and decided to focus Amper's resources on the opportunities that were the best fit with its long-term goals.

Already one of the country's leading public company auditors, Amper knew that the circumstances were extremely favorable to expand its SEC practice significantly. Clearly, the work was there; just as clearly, however, current partner levels were deemed inadequate to properly service many more of these complex and increasingly regulated engagements. Additional qualified partners had to be added for the practice to grow.

"We were confident enough in our Public Company practice to believe that if we found great people, the work would follow," said Howard Cohen, partner-in-charge of the firm's Edison office. "So we made a conscious decision to recruit talented, skilled partners who were a great fit with our culture. What we did not require was that they bring a large book of business with them. That's what raised some eyebrows among our colleagues in other firms."

It also provided a terrific working environment for a number of new partners who could spend their first year or two at Amper focusing on serving the client without the added pressure of business development.

"Organic growth at Amper is not an accident," according to Phil Politziner, president and CEO. "Being able to respond to market pressures quickly in order to grow organically was possible because of the strong operational infrastructure that was already in place to support the growth. This includes our Marketing, Human Resources, Information Technology and Finance departments. Every one of these was in place to support thoughtful, sustainable organic growth."

Since the inception of the company in 1965, Amper has always had a pro-marketing philosophy. And in 1981 they backed it up with the official creation of their marketing department and the hiring of their first marketing director. "Our historically strong marketing culture is clearly one very important factor that has facilitated our organic growth," said Alfonse Mattia, a founding partner of the firm. "That includes planting seeds and building relationships, all of which take time to bear fruit. When the time is right, you can more easily call on those whose trust and confidence you've built over the years – attorneys, bankers, other CPAs."

Profile of Amper, Politziner & Mattia, LLP
No Mergers—Organic Growth
Year-end	# of Equity Partners	# of Non-Equity Partners	# of Employees	Revenue
3/31/04	35	5	260	$39m
3/31/05	38	8	324	$52m
3/31/06	40	7	374	$66m
3/31/07 (estimated)	41	17	430	$78m
Average Involuntary Turnover of 8 Percent Partner Turnover of only 5 in 40 Years

As the firm continued its strong growth and expansion into new geographic markets, additional marketing professionals were added to help drive the growth. Over the past 5 years, the marketing department grew from four professionals to 10.

"When the department began, our functions were basic: writing proposals and press releases and designing marketing materials," says Michael Mattia, Amper's director of marketing since 1994. "Over time, as the business climate changed, marketing became a more integral and strategic part of the overall development of the firm."

Encouraging the efforts of younger staff is another strategy Amper has used to foster organic growth through the years. "If someone has a real passion for some aspect of accounting or business consulting, be assured that we will support that endeavor 100 percent," said Al Mattia. That was the goal of the Famous Program, a firmwide intitiative that used an extensive questionnaire and interview process to elicit people's interests and translate them into potential new niches Instituted at Amper 15 years ago, it has resulted in some of Amper's most successful niches, including the Pension Audit practice, headed by Diane Wasser. "The Famous Program provided me with the support and courage to pursue building a niche in the area of employee benefit plan audits.  I saw it as a great way to go above and beyond normal routines, become visible in the firm and maybe even make the firm some money.  I never imagined the great feeling I would have upon the realization of each of those things and more!"

Building on its strengths and capitalizing on opportunities was the "secret" behind the success of another industry practice. In the late 1990s, Amper had developed a small, specialized niche performing financial condition examinations of insurance companies for the State of New Jersey. With the demise of Andersen, the Big 4 were being more selective in pursuing those opportunities. The firm made an offer to the former head of Andersen's Northeast Insurance Practice, Tom Mulhare, and Amper's Insurance Industry Practice was formalized and strengthened. Under Tom's leadership, the practice has grown from annual revenues of $1 million to $5 million in three years. And, perhaps most importantly to organic growth, the expansion of the practice offered Amper's professional staff the chance to develop new skills and a strong focus on a practice segment that would continue to grow and enhance their professional development.

Amper further strengthens its culture by employing a strategy of promoting from within. In 2006, seven new partners were named from among the ranks.

Responding to client needs led to the formalization of another service offering at Amper. As more and more clients showed interest in expanding their operations overseas and the firm added clients with significant business interests abroad, Amper's leadership decided to develop a strategic plan for international services and devote resources to be able to capitalize on available and future opportunities.

Staff with international experience was added and two current partners – Rich Sackin, tax, and Brian Downey, audit, were named to lead the group. Planned to promote the expertise and services of the group, its inaugural event – "Doing Business in Asia" – was held in New York and attracted 100 executives. Amper is a member of Baker Tilly International, and the guest speakers were partners from Baker Tilly firms in India and China. "As a member of Baker Tilly International," Sackin says, "we are able to offer our clients the global reach of an international accounting firm, without having to maintain offices worldwide. We can integrate services across borders seamlessly, while giving the client one dedicated relationship partner locally, here at Amper."

Services the group offers include tax compliance, transfer pricing, mergers and acquisitions, audit, income tax and trusts, all to both public and private companies. "We are also working with companies looking to go public on a foreign exchange, such as the London AIM, and assisting individuals with international trust and estate planning."

"We continue to hone our skills and encourage participation from among our professional staff," said Brian Downey. "Right now, I am in discussion with two clients regarding expanding their operations abroad, and working with a foreign company expanding into the U.S. International services are clearly a growth area for many businesses, and certainly for Amper." Currently, the firm is working with clients in locations such as Dubai, Scotland, Ireland, Hungary, Spain, Germany, Canada, Mexico, England and China, among others.

Although the firm has been responding to those client needs for quite a while, Amper's International Services Group was not formalized until a recent annual Partners' Advance.

While organic growth has worked for Amper, the firm does not rule out the possibility of acquiring another firm or two down the road. "Sometimes that makes the most sense," said Politziner, "particularly if you want to expand into new geographic areas. For us, the most important consideration is that it has to be just the right fit and it has to provide new opportunities for everyone. I'm extraordinarily proud of our people, the work they do and the firm we've built together; I wouldn't compromise that for anything."