Started as alternative to taxing corporate culture, Atlanta audit firm turns 45

Rick Bennett and Ken Thrasher were accountants working at Price Waterhouse in Atlanta, when each found themselves wanting something different from what they had in corporate life.

“We wanted to raise our families in Atlanta,” Bennett said. Price Waterhouse was “transferring people from where they lived to other places, to try to, I guess, populate other places with new ideas. But we didn’t want to do that.”

Figurines of Rich Bennett and Ken Thrasher are on display inside the Bennett Thrasher offices on Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2025, in Atlanta. (Arvin Temkar/AJC)

But working at those major international firms can be demanding, with long hours and rigorous travel schedules.

“At Price Waterhouse, someone could walk in your office one day and say, ‘Hey, we want you to go to San Diego. … It’s gonna be a great career move,’” Thrasher said. “I mean, there were a lot of companies like that.”

It was at Bennett’s dining table that the two sat down with their wives “to find out what our spouses thought about what we wanted to do.”

“They were very supportive of us,” Bennett said.

So Bennett Thrasher began, with an ethos of offering a “positive work environment” and valuing family — and it grew steadily for a couple of decades.

“It was a tragedy,” Thrasher said.

But then, “Some of those (Arthur Andersen) partners started coming to us.”

“That opened new channels of clients and new channels of talent,” he said. “We grew very, very fast over that period of time,” doubling the size of the firm in five years.

Then, “when the economy came back, we went up like a hockey stick because we had our team in place to do it,” he said.

Jeff Call, Bennett Thrasher’s current CEO, was a manager at Arthur Andersen before its meltdown. Then in mid-2022 he found himself at Deloitte, which acquired Arthur Andersen’s practice in Atlanta.

Jeff Call, Bennett Thrasher’s current CEO, was a manager at Arthur Andersen before its meltdown. Call joined the Atlanta-based firm to start its practice in high net worth personal financial services, and worked his way up to take the helm of the company in 2022. (Arvin Temkar/AJC)

Shortly thereafter, a headhunter for Bennett Thrasher came calling, and Call was intrigued by the culture at the Atlanta-based firm.

He said the firm’s culture still means “taking care of our clients, but taking care of our families.”

“The Big Four is going to work people harder,” Call said. “Maybe their partners make a little bit more money than we do. But we think that it’s more important to have the quality of life.”

Jeff Call, CEO of Bennett Thrasher, says the firm’s culture still means “taking care of our clients, but taking care of our families.” He had been working 80-100 hours a week at Arthur Andersen, and was attracted by the flexibility of working at Bennett Thrasher. (Arvin Temkar/AJC)

Bennett Thrasher also has niche lines of business such as in entertainment, advising firms on how to take advantage of film tax credits.

And in its consulting business, the firm specializes in business valuation and transaction advisory services — advising firms in mergers and acquisitions.

“Firms like Bennett Thrasher thrive by staying agile, investing in talent, and embracing technology — qualities that have positioned them as influential players in a rapidly evolving industry,” said Tony Szczepaniak, CEO of LEA Global, an accounting firm association that has Bennett Thrasher as a member, in a written statement.

Since its beginnings 45 years ago, the field of accounting has changed tremendously. Technology makes accountants more efficient, Call said, but the laws have become significantly more complex.

“We had an idea,” Bennett said. “We thought, we’ll give this a shot.”