MEET SETH McDANIEL
Job: Managing partner of Frazier & Deeter accounting firm
Age: 44
Family: Married with two children
Education: BBA from Rhodes College in Memphis, Tenn.
Activities: Coaching youth baseball; board member of Metro Area Boy Scouts of America
Claim to fame: Winner of the 2012 Cobia World Championship for catching a fish weighing 93.6 pounds
When it comes to numbers, Seth McDaniel is passionate about precision, which is why he says the fish that gave him the 2012 Cobia World Championship weighed 93.6 pounds.
As managing partner of Atlanta-based Frazier & Deeter, a mid-sized but growing accounting firm, he oversees 263 people, including 108 CPAs and 34 partners.
One of McDaniel’s key challenges is to position his firm, No. 69 in the nation, to maneuver in the competitive landscape between the Big 4 giants and many smaller companies.
Q: How big is your firm?
A: We have over 1,200 business clients and then, of course, the individual clients on top of that.
Q: What is your annual revenue?
A: We estimate revenues this year of $53 million, up from $44.1 million in 2012, $37.3 million in 2011, $34.9 million in 2010.
For businesses, we do taxes, as well as audits of financial statements. We have experts who help with many complicated financial situations.
For individuals, we help with tax planning and preparing tax returns, as well as estate planning to make sure your family is taken care of should something ever happen to you.
Q: Do you give financial advice to companies or employees of companies?
A: We provide financial planning and investment advice to retirement plans, high-wealth families and non-profit organizations. We provide investment advice for 401(k) plans. We do not run the plans, but assist in picking investment options.
Q: Where do you do business?
A: We have clients in all 48 states and internationally. The majority are headquartered in Georgia.
Q: Where are your offices?
A: Atlanta, Alpharetta, Nashville and Philadelphia.
We are looking to continue to expand in offices we have, as well as add new locations. If we find a geographic location that makes sense or a skill set that our clients need, we would like to make an acquisition.
Q: Have you made acquisitions lately?
A: Yes. In 2011, Frazier & Deeter merged with Faucett, Taylor & Associates of Atlanta, growing to 200 professionals, and last year Work & Greer in Nashville. This year, we also launched two new business units.
Q: Your firm is considered mid-sized. What’s your niche?
A: We like to think of our firm as having world-class expertise that offers the responsiveness and service of a smaller firm, even though we are pretty big.
Our largest niche is real estate. And we have a fair number of manufacturing, technology and distribution clients.
Q: How do you compete with the bigger accounting firms?
A: Responsiveness is the key to competitiveness with the larger firms. Larger firms have to move upstream and don't have responsiveness that mid-sized firms have. Most of our partners have Big 4 backgrounds.
Q: How do you attract top talent when competing against the Big 4?
A: We've become an attractive alternative because of the talent we already have. In 2008, we were named the best mid-sized accounting firm to work for in the country by Accounting Today. That allows us to compete for talent. And there is a faster career track to become a partner.
Q: Were you hurt by the recession?
A: Our growth rate slowed, but people still have to file taxes and do their audit work. We didn't feel as much of an impact as some of our competitors.
We were also not in a lot of the industries that were highly impacted. We had little exposure to banking or the homebuilding industry. So our clients fared better than the average company. We had a couple go out of business, but not nearly what other accounting firms experienced.
Obviously, there is increased competition through all of that, as well.
Q: What’s your background?
A: I came to Frazier & Deeter eight-and-a-half years ago. I was at KPMG. I also worked at Deloitte & Touche for several years and also the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board as an associate director.
Q: Does an audit imply that something is wrong?
A: Nothing is wrong. In an audit, we have to look at the numbers and verify the numbers are reasonable, free of material mistakes. We'll do it for banks, investors and business owners who want to make sure their books are being kept appropriately.
An audit is not necessarily designed to detect fraud, though an audit could detect fraud.
We do some travel for audits. Sometimes, you just have to put your eyes on it. For example, if a company says they have 5,000 Apple computers, sometimes you’ve got to go count those computers if it is material to the financials.
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