LBMC Expands as Kentucky Based Strothman & Co Joins Firm

Transaction Adds Enhanced Service Offerings and Strengthens Southeast Presence

LBMC, the Southeast’s third largest business consulting and financial services firm and top 35 firm in the nation, proudly announces that Strothman & Co, an accounting firm based in Louisville, Kentucky, has reached an agreement to join the firm effective Nov. 1. This strategic growth transaction expands LBMC’s geographic footprint across multiple states, amplifying the firm’s capacity to provide an extensive range of services and augmenting the organization’s talent pool.

The Strothman & Co transaction adds 60 professionals and brings LBMC to a total of five locations, with more than 850 team members, serving more than 11,000 clients across the nation.

“While LBMC’s growth over the past 40+ years has been primarily organic, our firm is now aggressively opportunistic about adding talent, skills, and filling gaps in our service offerings to ensure we continue to evolve as the firm of the future,” said LBMC CEO Jeff Drummonds. “The Strothman & Co team further enhances our service offerings and allows us to expand our Kentucky presence, where we currently serve over 100 clients across the state.”

In addition to adding strong healthcare industry knowledge, LBMC brings expanded expertise around advisory services such as human resources, technology solutions, staffing/recruiting services, cybersecurity, consulting/business intelligence, wealth advisory services and procurement to the Strothman & Co client base. Healthcare currently comprises 30% of LBMC’s business, along with other core verticals including private equity, manufacturing and distribution, technology, and high net worth families.

“We are very excited to be joining a nationally renowned team of experts, who bring complementary strengths to the table while being fully aligned on core values, exceptional client experience and culture,” said Bill Meyer, Managing Partner of Strothman & Co. “We believe this transaction will bring numerous benefits to both our team members and valued clients.”

MEDIA: LBMC moves into Louisville through merger with area firm

Originally posted on Nashville Business Journal.

Nashville-based accounting firm LBMC today announced that Louisville-based Strothman & Co. will join the company starting Nov. 1, after which Strothman & Co. will operate under the LBMC name.

The addition of the Strothman & Co. team adds 60 professionals to LBMC’s team, for a total of more than 850 members, who serve 11,000 clients across the country from five different locations. The addition will give LBMC its first brick-and-mortar location in Kentucky.

LBMC CEO Jeff Drummonds said it’s the right time for LBMC to grow “intentionally.” He started meeting with Strothman’s leadership in January, after he was introduced to the firm through a mutual connection familiar with both companies.

“We’re a very unique firm in in the public accounting space in that about 60% of our practice is advisory, meaning that 2/3 of our business basically is not traditional [accounting] services,” Drummonds said. “If we find a market where we can introduce those services, and we have a partner that shares our vision on how to do business and how to create opportunities for our teams, then we are enthusiastically pursuing those opportunities.”

Strothman and Co.’s managing director Bill Meyer said LBMC’s non-accounting services are exactly what made the prospect of joining the company appealing — his firm won’t have to start from scratch to learn how to offer similar services.

Meyer’s team has lessons to offer LBMC as well, he said.

“One thing LBMC doesn’t do is governmental entities. We’ve got quite a large governmental client base, and we do some very large governments. The city of Louisville is a client of ours, as is Lexington,” Meyer said. “I think they see a way to leverage that into maybe having some governmental clients in Tennessee.”

LBMC made headlines recently with the news that Drummonds would be stepping down from leadership at the end of the year. He plans to stay on with the company, but said the news of his impending departure was a speedbump in early talks about the merger.

“What could have been a negative turned out to be a positive. As I told the Strothman team yesterday, I’ve got another year and a half with LBMC as part of my transition, and I need a job,” Drummonds said. “One of my primary roles is focusing on making this combination successful, so I plan on spending a significant amount of time in the Louisville market and doing all that I can to make this successful.”

Meyer said he was initially concerned, because all his conversations had been with Drummonds, but upon meeting his successor, James Meade Jr. he was confident the two could work together.

“I kind of had became attached to Jeff already. Then Jeff and Jim and me and a couple of my partners had dinner, and Jim is wonderful. I hit it off with Jim really well because he came up through the audit side of LBMC, and that’s my background as well,” Meyer said.

LBMC, one of Forbes Best Tax and Accounting Firms of 2023, is one of the largest accounting and business consulting firms in the Southeast and is the second-largest accounting firm in Nashville based on the number of professionals, according to Business Journals research.

MEDIA: LBMC acquires Louisville peer

Originally posted in Nashville Post.

Brentwood accounting firm pays undisclosed sum for Strothman & Co.

By: William Williams

Brentwood-based accounting and business consulting company LBMC announced Thursday the acquisition of Louisville accounting firm Strothman & Co.

Terms of the deal, effective Nov. 1, were not disclosed in a release.

Strothman & Co. will operate as LBMC. Bill Meyer, Strothman & Co. managing director, will remain with the company in the Louisville office.

The Strothman & Co transaction adds 60 professionals to LBMC and gives the firm five locations (including Chattanooga, Knoxville and Charlotte), with more than 850 employees serving approximately 11,000 clients nationwide.

“While LBMC’s growth over the past 40-plus years has been primarily organic, our firm is now aggressively opportunistic about adding talent, skills and filling gaps in our service offerings to ensure we continue to evolve as the firm of the future,” LBMC CEO and Managing Shareholder Jeff Drummonds said in the release. “The Strothman & Co team further enhances our service offerings and allows us to expand our Kentucky presence, where we currently serve over 100 clients across the state.”

The acquisition follows LBMC having recently announced Drummonds will shift his focus to “strategic growth efforts,” with veteran company leader Jim Meade to serve as CEO and managing shareholder (read here). The move will be effective Jan. 1, 2024.

Accounting Today ranked LBMC the Southeast No. 3 accounting firm based on revenue ($192.5 million) this year.

LBMC focuses its work on the health care industry (about 30 percent of the firm’s business) along with private equity, manufacturing and distribution, technology and high-net-worth clients. The company’s advisory services include human resources, technology solutions, staffing/recruiting services, cybersecurity, consulting/business intelligence, wealth advisory services and procurement.

MEDIA: LBMC merges in Strothman & Co.

Originally posted in Accounting Today.

LBMC, a Top 50 Firm based in Brentwood, Tennessee, is adding Strothman & Co., a firm based in Louisville, Kentucky, effective Nov. 1.

The deal will expand LBMC’s footprint to Kentucky and Indiana. LBMC has more than 800 team members, with offices in Chattanooga, Brentwood, and Knoxville, Tennessee, as well as Charlotte, North Carolina. Strothman has offices in Louisville and Middletown, Kentucky, along with Jeffersonville, Indiana.

LBMC has 58 shareholders and a total of 800 employees, while Strothman has nine shareholders a total of 65 employees. They will be serving more than 11,000 clients across the country.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. LBMC, which ranked No. 35 on Accounting Today‘s 2023 list of the Top 100 Firms, earned $206 million in annual revenue, while Strothman & Co. earned $14 million in revenue.

“While LBMC’s growth over the past 40-plus years has been primarily organic, our firm is now aggressively opportunistic about adding talent, skills, and filling gaps in our service offerings to ensure we continue to evolve as the firm of the future,” said LBMC CEO Jeff Drummonds in a statement Friday. “The Strothman & Co. team further enhances our service offerings and allows us to expand our Kentucky presence, where we currently serve over 100 clients across the state.”

LBMC specializes in serving clients in the health care sector, who make up about 30% of its business. The firm also serves clients in the private equity, manufacturing, distribution and technology sectors, as well as high-net-worth families. It will be able to offer advisory services such as human resources, technology solutions, staffing, recruiting, cybersecurity, consulting, business intelligence, wealth advisory and procurement to Strothman’s client base.

“We are very excited to be joining a nationally renowned team of experts, who bring complementary strengths to the table while being fully aligned on core values, exceptional client experience and culture,” said Strothman managing director Bill Meyer in a statement. “We believe this transaction will bring numerous benefits to both our team members and valued clients.”

In 2019, LBMC acquired Think Data Insights, a data analytics company in Nashville, and in 2017 it bought W Squared, a Tennessee-based outsourcing company, and Pivotal Bridge’s Intacct practice in Atlanta.

Michael Cohn, Editor-in-chief, AccountingToday.com

About LBMC

LBMC is a 2023 Forbes Best Tax and Accounting Firm, one of the Southeast’s largest accounting and business consulting firms, and an Accounting Today Top Firm in the Nation serving approximately 10,000 clients with diverse needs across a spectrum of industries. Primary client groups include privately-owned middle market companies in the healthcare, manufacturing, technology, and private equity space. LBMC has more than 800 team members, with offices in Chattanooga, Nashville (Brentwood), and Knoxville, Tennessee, and Charlotte, North Carolina. Founded in 1984 as a traditional accounting firm, LBMC today offers a broad range of advisory and business consulting services for its client base. Named an Inc. Best in Business company, LBMC is an industry leader in financial, human resources, technology, cybersecurity, and wealth advisory services for businesses and individuals. For more information on LBMC’s experts and comprehensive services, visit lbmc.com or call 615.377.4600. LBMC is growing, and job opportunities can be found on our careers page.

About Strothman & Co

Strothman & Co is a full-service accounting and advisory firm serving clients in Kentucky, Indiana, and beyond. The firm also offers a wide range of services to organizations and individuals, including audit, assurance, tax planning, outsourced accounting, strategic advisory, wealth management, and more.

MEDIA: LBMC moves into Louisville through merger with area firm

MEDIA: LBMC acquires Louisville peer

MEDIA: LBMC merges in Strothman & Co.

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