Global Accounting
...he intellectual capital and leverage of like firms of similar size," said Sacks, who assumed his role as executive director of the association on March 1. For now, the association's office is based in New York City. A permanent location has not yet been chosen. "At this point, we have eight firms with many prospects," Sacks said. "We want to be able to have a number that makes sense that will attract or encourage full participation by all the firms. Sometime you run into a situation where (larger associations) have 40 to 50 firms and you don't get full participation." A Web site for the association is expected to be operational by June. Will fill a void Allan Koltin, a Chicago-based accounting consultant with Milwaukee-area ties, also helped establish The Global Alliance. Koltin said the association will fill a need left in the aftermath of corporate financial scandals, the federal Sarbanes-Oxley rules and the mergers among the largest accounting firms. "When the Big Five became the Big Four, their focus shifted from going after large private companies to only wanting to serve large public companies," he said. "So (the Big Four) are shifting work to firms like Wipfli and others that now have to have national and international depth." The association is targeting certified public accounting firms with annual fees in excess of $15 million, and already includes firms such as Goodman & Co. in Virginia, Holthouse Carlin & Van Trigt in Los Angeles and Mahoney Cohen & Co. in New York City. "It's a fascinating time in the accounting profession," Koltin said. "In 25 years I've never seen such a trickle down. The larger accounting firms -- PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte & Touche, KPMG and Ernst & Young -- have started to shed their smaller publicly held companies and it is benefiting companies like Wipfli." Young said Wipfli has experienced significant growth among clients that are large, privately-held companies. He defined the specialized business market as companies with revenue between $20 million and $1 billion. "That's were these companies are in more complex business situations and where they need con...