Other suitors have come to Frank P. Longobardi’s door at his Glastonbury office inquiring about the availability of his firm, but it wasn’t until last week that he and partner Robert M. Haggett announced that the company they founded together 23 years ago was joining a larger accounting firm.
That firm is New York City-based J.H. Cohn, which just last month moved further into New Jersey with its acquisition of Berenson LLP and now has found a foray into Connecticut that CEO Thomas J. Marino said he has been seeking for at least five years.
“We think Connecticut is an under-served market, where right now there is an alternative to the national firms,” Marino said.
He and Longobardi began discussing the idea generally in the fall, and after meeting each others’ staffs and getting through tax season, announced the deal June 5.
Longobardi believes becoming part of J.H. Cohn will allow his staff to draw upon the expertise and connections of Cohn’s other offices. He also thinks the larger firm’s financial backing, scope and name will help him recruit accounting talent in the future, an increasing challenge for many smaller and regional firms.
“I think the major thing that’s going to happen is that we will have the opportunity to add to our hiring,” Longobardi said.
“There’s no doubt from a college recruiting perspective it will be helpful having the horsepower and the name behind the effort.”
In past offers he has received, Longobardi would have had to merge his office with others, or completely lose his firm’s name. In this deal he does neither. Not only is he retaining his firm’s staff and adding none of Cohn’s, but he will shortly begin renting an additional 8,000 square feet at 180 Glastonbury Blvd., where the company’s office is.
Other mergers and acquisitions have fallen through when cutting or combining offices was involved. A deal that would have brought Carlin, Charron & Rosen, with offices in Glastonbury, into the fold at UHY Advisors fell through in March. UHY had planned to close its Hartford office and others, but they now remain open.
“The biggest concern I have was with merging of offices,” Longobardi said. “Any times you merge offices you have merging of egos, and that’s very difficult.”
“We wanted autonomy. We wanted the ability to grow Connecticut, to really be the face in Connecticut.”
The company’s name will become “Haggett Longobardi, A Division of J.H. Cohn LLP.” Longobardi, who grew his company to become the seventh largest in the state, with 36 CPAs and about 80 employees, will be managing partner and join Cohn’s executive committee.
