CliftonLarsonAllen, Minnesota’s largest accounting firm based on local certified public accountants, said Thursday that it has acquired three firms, including a consulting firm that specializes in mortgage compliance.
CliftonLarsonAllen bought Bankers Advisory, Inc., a Belmont, Massachusetts-based consulting firm that is “focused on helping mortgage institutions across the United States with regulatory compliance and quality control,” the firm said. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
CliftonLarsonAllen said it is gaining 35 employees from the transaction, including Bankers Advisory President Anna DeSimone, who founded Bankers Advisory in 1986. Bankers Advisory currently serves more than 100 banks and mortgage lenders nationally, including depository institutions with assets over $200 billion, according to CliftonLarsonAllen.
“We believe the financial services industry will feel the impact of regulation even more going forward as the industry responds to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rules on mortgage loans,” Jerry Felicelli, managing principal of CliftonLarsonAllen’s financial institutions practice, said in a statement. “We also believe there will be more regulatory enforcement pressure in 2014, prompting banks and credit unions to reassess their risk and compliance efforts.”
Felicelli added that Bankers Advisory “has earned an unprecedented reputation for providing premium federal and state compliance and fair lending consulting services,” and the acquisition will “greatly expand our ability to serve the ongoing complex needs of financial institutions.” The company also announced two other acquisitions. It bought OneSource Professional Services Group, a Gaithersburg, Maryland-based consulting, technology, accounting, and tax services firm "focused on emerging and medium-sized businesses." Too, it has acquired Sullivan, Rogers & Company, a Burlington, Massachusetts-based "CPA and consulting firm dedicated to the state and local government market."
CliftonLarsonAllen was formed following the 2012 merger of Minneapolis-based LarsonAllen, LLP, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based Clifton Gunderson, LLP. The combined firm initially operated under the direction of two chief executives, but in mid-2013, Clifton Gunderson’s Krista McMasters left the post-merger firm, leaving it in the hands of LarsonAllen’s Gordon Viere.