Fiducial | We help your business grow and be profitable.

by Stephen Parezo

Diego Arioti

August 29, 2005—Having built a strong network in the Northwest, Southwest and the Midwest, Fiducial has now set its sights on increasing its market presence in Atlanta, GA, by acquiring individual accounting/tax preparation/financial services practices.

At the moment Fiducial has a scattered franchise presence in this thriving Southeast U.S. hub and has not yet secured a corporate presence there.

“We’re looking to establish a solid foothold in this expansive market,” said Diego Arioti, an acquisition specialist with Fiducial. “There are literally thousands of these practices in the area.”

Arioti believes this is a chance for Fiducial to focus on defining an anchor practice in the Atlanta market that can serve as a nucleus for expanding within that geographic location.

Anchor practices are characterized by very strong management teams that are looking to leverage the resources of a large organization such as Fiducial, to build their businesses further through organic growth with the capabilities Fiducial has to offer or through structured growth by further acquisitions in the market.

“An anchor practice can serve as a good base for bringing in other smaller practices that can be literally folded in,” he said. “So there’s value in identifying businesses that are willing to go to the next level.”

Fiducial’s expansion plans, Arioti says, shows the company’s dedication to its strategic plan of identifying professionals who are looking to join a stronger team—a team with Fiducial’s strengths.

“We are bolstering the efforts on the acquisition side which is in line with our strategy,” he said. “We’re also able to help our field personnel and support them on the acquisition side because they have little time to devote to this area.”

Creating win-win situations

With its Southeast push being launched, it’s further evidence that Fiducial is here to stay and committed to expanding the business as a whole.

“It’s also a question of spreading the Fiducial presence in the market where we haven’t previously been,” he said. “This will round out our presence throughout the country and to further balance our presence in this geographic area.”

There’s no doubt that a number of successful individual practices have been built in Atlanta that represent prime acquisition opportunities. But these practices need support in getting to the next level through expanded service offerings such as financial services and human resources.

“They’re looking to complement their very strong base in their core competencies with additional products,” Arioti said. “They’re looking for back-office help.”

These practices are also leveraging their operations to cash out since they may be close or getting to retirement and want to deal from a position of strength.

“They want their efforts to bear fruit,” he said.

Arioti added that when it comes to purchasing individual practices that Fiducial is generally a cash buyer.

“We’re very much in line with the industry as far as pricing goes,” he said. “We’re very fair in our evaluation of the strengths of the practice that we buy. When we’ve bought practices we’ve created win-win situations where the seller has found a partner to grow with and we’ve expanded our network.”

Stephen Parezo is the Media Manager for Fiducial.

Whatever your small business needs, your Fiducial tax and financial professional can analyze your situation and recommend an appropriate action plan. To locate a Fiducial office nearest you on fiducial.com, see the Zip Code Locator located in the upper right hand corner of the page. Do you have a particular topic that we should be writing about that can help your business? Please send your suggestions to: stephen.parezo@fiducial.com.

DISCLAIMER
Although we do our best to provide our users with useful and accurate information on our web site, we do not update this information which is derived from sources believed to be accurate. Users must understand that information presented does not serve as an endorsement of any particular company or individual and that this information changes frequently and is subject to differing interpretations. Users are hereby advised that they are responsible for ensuring that the facts and general advice obtained from our site are applicable to their specific situations and should discuss their specific tax, business, financial, and legal matters with pertinent professionals.