Promotion Watch ’20: Dixon Hughes Goodman Anointed 8 New Partners and Principals
TPTB at DHG announced last week the top 20 firm’s newest class of six partners and two principals. The class of 2020 is a bit larger than the seven who earned their stripes last year but smaller than the 13 new partners and principals in 2018, 11 in 2017, nine in 2016, 16 in 2015, and 12 in […]
Layoff Watch ’20: Dixon Hughes Goodman Is Letting Go of 125 Mostly Furloughed Employees (UPDATE)
[Updated on July 23 with additional information.] Another day, another round of layoffs at a top accounting firm in the U.S. This time it’s No. 17 in your scorecard, Dixon Hughes Goodman, which announced on Wednesday that it’s letting go of 125 employees, nearly all of whom were furloughed by the firm on May 1, […]
Pay Cut Watch ’20: Dixon Hughes Goodman Is Furloughing Some, Reducing Salaries For All
So, some stuff went down at Dixon Hughes Goodman today. No layoffs, according to a source, so that’s the good news. The bad news is there are DHGers who are being furloughed, plus everybody’s getting a pay cut. Here’s what we know right now: 1. Furloughs: According to our source, 17% of DHG’s workforce is […]
DHG Poaches Someone From KPMG and Issues a Press Release, Part II
You gotta hand it to Dixon Hughes Goodman. I don’t know what they’re offering—decent compensation packages, a big enough commitment to work-life balance that it moves people to tears, a perk better than Omaha Steaks—but they sure have been landing a lot of ex-Big 4 lately, including former KPMGers. While it’s not a glitzy hire […]
DHG Poaches Someone From KPMG and Issues a Press Release, Part I
It’s been quite the summer for Dixon Hughes Goodman. The firm promoted seven individuals who oozed out the most DHGness to the partnership in early June, joined some lame alliance with Mazars in July, and was recently named the 17th top accounting firm in the U.S. by both Accounting Today and INSIDE Public Accounting. The […]
Promotion Watch ’19: DHG Admits 7 New Partners, New MP and 11 Partners at Wipfli, BDO U.K. Adds 14 New Partners
New partners were deified recently at DHG, Wipfli, and BDO U.K., plus new leaders were named at Wipfli and PwC in South Africa. Dixon Hughes Goodman admits seven new partners and principals Seven lucky boys and girls got their seat at the big kids table on June 1, but the class of 2019 is smaller […]
DHG Poaches Someone From EY and Issues a Press Release, Part I
Whoa, look at Dixon Hughes Goodman, picking off a transfer pricing executive from EY. And he’s a former KPMGer. And he used to be an auditor at the IRS. Dixon Hughes Goodman, a U.S. top 20 public accounting and advisory firm, is pleased to announce that Samit Shah has joined the firm as a Principal in the […]
Competitive Poaching Isn’t Just for Big 4 Firms; Dixon Hughes Goodman Picks Up an Aronson Senior Partner
We’ve chronicled many cases of poaching in these pages, focusing mainly on PwC’s harvest of KPMG partners. You may have thought that this type of competition occurred between the top firms with the occasional outlier of an obscure firm catching a Big 4 fish. Not so! Accounting Today reports that a super-regional [?] firm also doesn’t mind mixing it up with its smaller rivals:
Lisa J. Cines, CPA, has joined super-regional firm Dixon Hughes Goodman LLP as managing partner of the firm’s Rockville office. Previously, Cines had spent almost 30 years with Top 100 Firm Aronson, including serving as managing officer from 2001 to 2010. Most recently she was partner-in-charge of business and corporate development.
Thirty years at a firm including nine years as a managing officer isn’t anything to sneeze at, so this jump from Rockville, MD-based Aronson – a firm with approximately $56 million in revenues – to DHG who has roughly $280 in revenues (both numbers based on the most recent stats) this late in one’s career makes us wonder. Perhaps you can read between the lines for us:
“Dixon Hughes Goodman represents the future of accounting – a firm with a commitment to market niches and depth within its areas of service,” she said. “I look forward to this new phase of my career with such a dynamic organization.”
Maybe pinstripes are a little too prevalent at Aronson? That’s the theory we’re going with at the moment. If you’ve got other ideas, let us know.
(UPDATE) Accounting Firm Merger Monday: Dixon Hughes, Goodman & Co. Combine to Form Dixon Hughes Goodman
~ Update includes Goodman & Co. quote in fourth paragraph.
Late last week we heard some rumbling about a merger between High Point, NC-based DIxon Hughes and Virginia Beach, VA-based Goodman & Co. and lo and behold, this morning the press teams from both firms have dropped us the press release announcing the merger and a link to this page that includes details on the merger, a letter to clients, a list of office locations and FAQs.
The combination, effective March 1, will make Dixon Hughes Goodman the 13th largest firm (by revenue) in the U.S. with a combined revenues of over $280 million. This places them one spot ahead of Baker Tilly Virchow Krause and behind directly behind Plante & Moran (this is going by Accounting Today‘s count). The combined firm of Dixon Hughes Goodman will have 30 offices (with HQ in Charlotte), in 11 states with 1,700 professionals. The firm’s leadership will consist of Thomas H. Wilson, Managing Partner of Goodman & Company, as the Deputy Chairman and Chief Operating Officer, Charles Edgar Sams, Jr., Chairman of Dixon Hughes, will continue to serve as Chairman and Kenneth M. Hughes, Chief Executive Officer of Dixon Hughes, will also remain in that position.
Both firms ranked very high in Vault’s Accounting 50, with Dixon Hughes coming in at #5 and Goodman & Co. landing at #15. Goodman ranked very high in some notable categories including #2 in compensation, #3 in business outlook and #1 in green initiatives.
The press release states that Goodman & Co. “retain all of its existing Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C. offices,” which we interpret as “no reductions in headcount” but we’re waiting to confirm and we’ve confirmed this with Goodman’s Gary Thomson who said, “we anticipate an increase in the near term as we take new industry specialties to our new markets.”
On a far more exciting note, Goodman & Co., by virtue of this merger, has broken into the Elvis-impersonation market, of which Dixon enjoys a sterling reputation.
Congrats to both firms on the merger and we wish them many happy years together. Obviously, the honeymoon will have to wait – busy season and all. We’ll keep you updated on any further developments.