PorteBrownFeatureStory_FINAL

1 Porte Brown Wealth Management, LLC www.1stGlobal.com © 1st Global 2015

Firm Success Story

Successful CPA firms often struggle with the concept of incorporating a wealth management practice into their overall business plans. The hesitance is understandable. CPAs are confident in their technical abilities, completely knowledgeable about tax laws and regulations, and expect revenues to flow in lockstep with timetables set in stone. Their business is one of almost certainty. Contrast that to wealth management, where they often deal with the unknown. Accountants provide immediate results; wealth managers may offer solutions that will not come to fruition for years.

When firms struggle with the idea

of establishing wealth management practices, a deep dive into uncertainty comes as no surprise. What if they fail? What if the new venture doesn’t turn out as planned? What if they don’t duplicate the success they achieved on the tax side?

These questions are natural, and it takes a brilliant leader and an exceptional firm to see the great value a thriving wealth management component offers clients, partners and the overall firm. It takes a firm like Porte Brown LLC and its Managing Partner Bruce Jones, CPA, who immersed themselves in a concerted effort to take 1st Global’s wealth management best practices to

their highest levels.

As a result, Porte Brown experienced rapid success, establishing a thriving wealth management division in a relatively short period of time. Credit the firm’s strong culture, commitment to process and efficiency, and its leveraging of 1st Global resources.

“We know from experience the highest correlation of success occurs when firms fully buy into the value of wealth management, and all of the partners become licensed [to sell investments],” 1st Global Vice President of Strategic Relationships Al Prentice said.

Process, Culture and Commitment Spur Explosive Growth The Story of Porte Brown Wealth ManagementBy Jack Fehr

Bruce G. Jones, CPA, Managing Partner Porte Brown LLC, Elk Grove Village, IL


Firm Success Story

Porte Brown’s buy-in to wealth management as a method for adding value to clients is not extraordinary for 1st Global firms. However, the all-in approach for an accounting firm of its size and commitment to starting a wealth management practice during the midst of the Great Recession is uniquely exceptional.

History will show the growing Illinois-based practice, which had already demonstrated its acumen with a series of strategic acquisitions that helped fuel its growth, became the fastest 1st Global firm to reach $1 million in gross revenues on a rolling 12-month basis. History will also show that Porte Brown Wealth Management’s production grew 429 percent from its start in 2009 and nearly 48 percent since 2011. The firm’s advisory business is up 1,050 percent since 2009 and 57 percent since 2011.

Total Dedication from the StartWith more than $1.6 million in net production from financial services last year, it is not a surprise that Porte Brown eagerly adopted 1st Global’s best practices and applied what it learned by growing a midsized CPA practice. On its website, the firm describes Jones as “the champion partner for Porte Brown Wealth Management,” which might be an understatement.

“Over time, with client demand and our ability to provide solutions, it became clear we needed a wealth management element,” Jones said. “We had considered this for years.”

Jones and what were then nine partners believed wealth management would become another value-added service that would fit neatly among the firm’s business valuation, transition planning, consulting, tax and other practice groups. Jones also believed having an expert to lean upon would help jumpstart this practice.

Enter Ron Manso, CFP®, Porte Brown’s Partner and Director of Financial Services. The 30-year financial services veteran was running his own practice, housed in a Porte Brown office, when the firm began to contemplate adding a wealth management component.

“The partners realized building the wealth management practice would go more quickly with an experienced advisor,” Manso recalls. “I was a tenant in their office for 11 years and worked with some of their clients and administered their profit-sharing plan. Bruce approached me and asked if I would become a partner and run the firm’s wealth management arm. I was happy to, and I rolled my business into the Porte Brown brand.”

It wasn’t, of course, as easy as that. Porte Brown’s partners had considered starting a wealth management practice for years.

“I went to a 2020 Group seminar at which 1st Global presented,” Jones said. “That got me interested in wealth management, and Al came out to visit us shortly after. We were figuring out whether to do this on our own or with help, and 1st Global and Ron had the expertise we didn’t have. So we took advantage of that.”

“I met with Porte Brown’s principals and was immediately impressed with its leadership — it really differentiates them,” Prentice added. “When a firm — especially of this size — is a partnership, you must have a managing partner with vision, a strong will and the respect of the other partners. You must have a person who can get everyone to move in the same direction. Bruce was that person. He wanted to know what he could do for his firm and clients, and then he asked for next steps.”

The next step was actually a series of steps, and Porte Brown’s zeal in taking these steps still has Prentice shaking his head in admiration today.

“The firm already had Ron as a full-time advisor, so the partners were on the right path,” Prentice recalls. “I flew up to Chicago and was flabbergasted. Bruce had all nine partners ready to go. He had a mound of licensing paperwork and stacks of study materials for each of the three securities exams the partners needed to take.

“Next, he scheduled each partner individually with me for 30 minutes. I fingerprinted them and helped them fill out applications. Then Bruce gave them each a deadline to take exams, something like 90 to 120 days. There was no dissension in the ranks.

“The key to Porte Brown’s buy-in was it was tangible and immediate. Bruce took our processes to heart better than anyone I have ever seen.”


Firm Success Story

Full Firm Buy-inTo get the new venture off to a good start, Prentice brought a team of 1st Global professionals to Chicago for a two-day work session. The program included everything from how CPAs can introduce wealth management to clients to showcasing the abundance of 1st Global resources Porte Brown could tap into as needed.

“They did everything we recommend most of our firms do, and they did it at 100 percent,” Prentice said. “That was — and is —unusual.”

Another key factor was Porte Brown’s integration of its well-established culture of learning into its wealth management practice. The firm integrated its four cornerstones — define, implement, evaluate and repeat the process — into its new practice area.

“The people at Porte Brown are focused and are always looking out for their clients,” Bill Snyder, a 1st Global practice consultant who specializes in ensemble firms, said. “We share best practices and identify up front the challenges they may face. As part of the process, we act as accountability partners to help them do what they need to do. They are very communicative — more so than others in the accounting business — and this translates to superior customer service.”

The result? A firm culture with the client at the center. That’s the Porte Brown way and helps determine the value for the service each client needs. With 13 Partners, 12 licensed advisors and 105 employees, the firm has been named a “Best Place to Work” by several area and national publications, including Accounting Today.

Because partners are licensed, they have knowledge other tax practitioners don’t possess, as well as the ability to talk with prospects, recognize opportunities and refer them to the wealth management side.

The successful integration of the tax and wealth management practices has big benefits — the accounting practice has referred 44 percent of wealth management’s revenues.

“The CPA practice provides a strong pipeline of client opportunities,” Jones said. “It is a natural part of a tax planning conversation. It gives us a big advantage and ensures our clients receive better service.”

Starting Strong, Growing StrongerToday, both the accounting and wealth management sides of Porte Brown have succession plans, ensuring there is opportunity for future leaders of the firm to emerge.

Porte Brown’s wealth management arm is on pace to meet or beat last year’s revenue, with business spread across securities, advisory, annuities and insurance. Manso now has four employees serving the wealth management division, including another full-time licensed advisor.

Through all of the growth, Porte Brown’s various practices continue to thrive. Porte Brown merged with Brown, Kaplan + Liss LLP last December to continue its growth, named a new partner in January and was named a Great Lakes Regional Leader in the 2015 issue of Accounting Today’s Top 100 Firms.

“Our philosophy is that wealth management is another part of what we offer clients,” Jones said. “We have accounting, business valuation, transition planning, consulting, tax and other practice groups. Why not a wealth management group?”

The firm also works seamlessly with 1st Global. Jones was quoted in a recent publication, “We consider 1st Global to be a critical extension of our team. Their practice development expertise and back-end support has allowed us to confidently grow our wealth management book of business while continually serving the long-term financial needs of our clients.”

“One of the great benefits of working with 1st Global is how it separates itself by looking at the whole picture, including taxes, retirement and estate planning,” Manso said. “They take a holistic approach to wealth management, a philosophy that coincides with what I believe in as a Certified Financial PlannerTM and what Porte Brown believes in, as well. The people at 1st Global never lose sight of this.”

“At the end of the day, I refer people to 1st Global,” Jones said. “It’s easy to be passionate about our relationship because we care deeply about our clients and their long-term financial success.”

From left to right: Abe Chidalek, Madeline Terrett, Nicky Mackowiak, & Ronald Manso


Firm Success Story

Bruce Jones, Managing Partner of Porte Brown, may have been happy running the large regional accounting firm with a sizable tax practice, but as the leader of a firm that has grown significantly, both organically and through acquisitions, he understood the value a wealth management practice could bring to clients and the firm.

“In a typical firm, a successful wealth management practice is two to three times more profitable than the accounting side and builds enterprise resale value three to four times greater,” 1st Global Vice President of Strategic Partnerships Al Prentice said.

Even when confronted by this financial opportunity, CPAs by nature are conservative and not always open to the idea of blending wealth management with their typical services. While the majority of Porte Brown’s partners were receptive to the idea when the firm first considered adding this valuable service, a couple needed convincing.

“Initially, one or two thought that offering wealth management might be against our philosophy,” Jones said. “It wasn’t easy to get everyone on board, but what made it work was starting with a book of business and an expert to make the transition easier.”

The expert was Ron Manso. Ron operated a solo wealth management practice for more than 20 years prior to merging his book of clients into Porte Brown.

“At this point, it became obvious that we could bundle wealth management with our traditional services,” Jones said. “Traditionally, tax, audit and compliance are below the line because they look backward. Wealth management is above the line, a brilliant value-add that looks forward. Wealth management became an aligned service, and the partners were definitely on board. More importantly, we could offer clients a one-stop shop convenience.”

Jones shares a typical scenario about how wealth management fits so well into Porte Brown’s overall philosophy about client service.

“Perhaps we need to ask a client about the need for a buy-sell agreement,” he said. “This is forward-thinking but perhaps not something we would address on the accounting side. Now, our CPAs can send clients over to Ron’s side, where they typically

have a discovery meeting that reveals so much more about financial challenges than we might have uncovered before. This relationship gives us a different level of understanding and a deeper relationship we don’t always get on the accounting side. This is how we differentiate ourselves.”

Porte Brown’s differentiation starts at the top, according to Prentice.

“One of the keys to their success is having a leader with the vision to see beyond today and tomorrow and next week,” he said. “He has the respect and cooperation of partners to move ahead in introducing aligned products and services and geographic regions. Bruce is a dynamic, visionary leader. This was clear the first time I met him.”

In Good Company: Why Taxes and Wealth Management Make a Great Pair

• Named “Best Accounting Firms to Work for” by Accounting Today (2012, 2013)

• Named “Best Place to Work in Illinois” by The Daily Herald Business Ledger (2013, 2014 and 2015)

• Great Lakes Regional Leader in Accounting Today’s 2015 list of Top 100 Firms

• Achieved the Highest Rating Possible for Financial Statement Audit and Review Practices in a 2014 Peer Review as part of a practice-monitoring program approved by the AICPA

• Recipient of the “Brian H. Burke Business of the Year Award” from the Schaumburg Business Association (2014)

Recent Accolades for Porte Brown


Firm Success Story

About Porte BrownPorte Brown LLC is a full-service accounting and consulting firm headquartered in the Chicago suburb of Elk Grove Village, Illinois. For more than 65 years, Porte Brown has focused on providing the highest level of service to individuals, businesses and organizations throughout the region. In addition to the traditional accounting services such as tax planning and preparation, audit, business valuations, and retirement plan administration, Porte Brown also provides strategic consulting and leading-edge technology implementation for clients in cloud and non-cloud environments. Wealth management services are provided by Porte Brown Wealth Management LLC.*

Porte Brown serves accounting and consulting clients from offices in Illinois, Indiana, Texas and Oregon. For more information, visit www.portebrown.com, or call 847-956-1040.

About 1st Global1st Global was founded in 1992 by CPAs who believe that accounting, tax and estate planning firms are uniquely qualified to provide comprehensive wealth management services to their clients. 1st Global provides CPA, tax and estate planning firms the education, technology, business-building framework and client solutions that make these firms leaders in their professions through dedicated professional client relationships built around wealth management.

More than 400 firms have chosen to affiliate with 1st Global, making us one of the largest financial services partners for the tax, accounting and legal professions.

The Diamond Eagle award is given to firms based on the criterion of the firm’s production volume across all product lines.

1st Global Capital Corp. is a member of FINRA and SIPC and is headquartered at 12750 Merit Dr., Suite 1200 in Dallas, Texas, 75251; 214-294-5000. Investment advisory services offered through 1st Global Advisors, Inc., an SEC-Registered

Investment Adviser. Additional information about 1st Global is available via the Internet at 1stGlobal.com

Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc. owns the certification marks CFP®, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ and federally registered CFP (with flame logo), which it awards to individuals who successfully complete

initial and ongoing certification requirements.

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