For WizardKim-VDPR2

Instructions: Respond to the video discussion post below. 3 substantial paragraphs, and 3 peer reviewed authoritative sources, not including the textbook, cited properly in APA format.

 For the majority of my life, I have worked summer jobs as a swim coach or lifeguard. However, at the start of my senior year, I felt I needed to pursue a career and not just fun summer jobs with my friends. I began this process by reaching out to an accounting firm located a short distance from my apartment. After interviewing and meeting the entire staff, they hired me as an intern in January. In the past nine months, I have been through an extended tax season, and worked from home for nearly two months. Despite working from home, I have become very close with my boss and he has taught me a great deal about the accounting profession. In less than 20 years, my boss built an award winning, full-service Certified Public Accounting, and Business Advisory firm (Calhoon & Fuoco, 2020). Through the acquisition of preexisting firms, the company has expanded to five locations location across New York and Florida. Furthermore, as I mentioned in last week’s discussion, my boss and the company recently bought a competitor in a nearby city and I will be a part of the consolidation effort. With this knowledge in mind, I was amazed to find a video that discusses the key considerations when selling a CPA practice for this week’s discussion.

            As many of you are aware, I usually post on Monday, but after watching the video I wanted to speak with my boss and managers about the video and see if they agreed with what Raleigh Cutrer had to say. Mr. Cutrer begins the video by explaining that before a CPA practice sells out, they should ensure the buying company has a reputation of taking excellent care of their clients, is a good fit for your client base, and the buyer has the expertise to satisfy the clients’ needs (Cutrer, 2020). He then explains, to be a good fit, the buyer must be in the correct location and have the expertise that can satisfy and perhaps enhance or upgrade the client experience through additional expertise technology or staffing. Lastly, he explains the seller should ensure the transition runs smoothly, and their employees are taken care of after the acquisition (Cutrer, 2020).

            After watching the video with my boss and managers at lunch today, I asked each one of them individually to explain whether they agreed with the video. I started with my boss, Lou. He began by explaining he has never sold a business of his own, but what Mr. Cutrer described sound much more like the buyer’s considerations than the sellers (Calhoon & Fuoco, 2020). For example, the buyer would want to make sure the seller has a reputation of taking excellent care of their clients, because the buyer would want to ensure they are not getting themselves into a bad situation. Furthermore, it is not the seller’s sole responsibility to make sure the merger goes smoothly; it takes the work of both parties to ensure this process. I then asked my Manager, Michele, who was the manager of the company my boss bought out five years ago and has since become the manager of this branch as well (Calhoon & Fuoco, 2020). Michele explained when a company is bought, the seller is primarily focused on ensuring jobs for their employees and receiving a fair price. She continued that despite the expectation to work together for a smooth transition, more often than not, the seller will just dump everything on the buyer in a big tangled mess (Calhoon & Fuoco, 2020). In an effort to find more clarification, I found many experts advise the buying company buy the selling company in cash and move quickly to avoid client loss or the seller cherry picking clients when they inform them they have been bought out (Poe, 2015).