Gary Shamis is a CPA who seems to have a sixth sense for sound business decisions. Ten years ago he merged his family’s practice with another local firm to begin what is now known as SS&G Financial Services. Since then, Gary’s revenues have increased more than 40 times over. He has 150 employees in three offices (Cleveland, Akron and Cincinnati), and his company provides a large number of comprehensive services through four entities.

Gary shrugs off any notion of happenstance. Simply put, this managing partner gives the people what they want-at the exact time they are ready to receive it. While he still delivers traditional accounting services, he has found a niche by providing clients a “one-stop” shopping experience that offers a full-circle approach to their financial needs.

“The most significant thing we’ve done is to stop looking at ourselves as a CPA firm, but rather as a financial services company,” says Gary. “What makes us unique is that we have accomplished what large firms have in a much smaller environment, and in many ways we are ahead.”

A Road Paved With Surprises
As an undergraduate attending Tulane University in the mid-’70s, Gary majored in biology with every intention of continuing his training in medical school. However, after spending a year getting his feet wet working in a hospital, he realized medicine was not for him, and decided to pursue a career in accounting. At the time, accounting was neither foreign nor something he had not considered; his father owned a small practice in Cleveland and he had taken several courses at Tulane. He soon graduated first in his class with a master’s in accounting from Ohio State University.

“Accounting seemed to be easy and it was kind of like a game,” he says. “I got immediate gratification from doing tax returns and other engagements because I could see the results. Today, I don’t like traditional accounting. I enjoy business much more. Still, the skills I developed have made me into what I think is a very good business person-and I am recognized for those abilities.”

Gary spent several years with Touche Ross and seven in his father’s tax and accounting practice. Through what he called “aggressive marketing,” he doubled the size of the family’s firm from $300,000 in annual revenues with a staff of eight, to revenues of $650,000 and a staff of 14. In 1987, following his father’s retirement, he merged the practice with Akron CPA Mark Goldfarb because they shared operating philosophies and a penchant for breaking out of the mold to discover new ways to deliver services.

This year, the company plans to realize revenues of $12 million through the four entities that fall under the umbrella of SS&G Financial Services. Beginning with a foundation of delivering traditional services, over the years, the company added SS&G Consulting Services with engagements in human resource consulting, mergers and acquisitions, retirement administration and information technology. SS&G Investment Services was then created, as well as SS&G Payroll Services that processes payroll for more than 800 businesses.

Focusing on Sales and Service
Gary attributes the success of SS&G to a careful eye toward sustained growth and creating services that prove saleable to his existing client base in areas he knew he could do better than competitors. After the firms merged and the new decade began, Gary and his partners felt the impending erosion of traditional services and knew they should venture into non-traditional arenas. Seven years ago, retirement administration was the first specialty area to be added, primarily because he felt plan administrators couldn’t serve their customers the way he could.

“We had a number of clients who needed assistance in estate and retirement planning, and when we started looking for providers, we were very disappointed with what we found because there was a lack of service, little attention to detail and no creativity. So we decided to do it ourselves, and now employ 10 professionals who provide plan administration.”

The same formula he used to create retirement services held true for many of the other service lines. SS&G provides so many different services that clients are able to receive advice on how to run all aspects of their business through continuous contact with the firm. To ensure the service mix is accurate, the company holds focus groups and gauges the next move based on client needs and the current marketplace.

“It’s risky, as well as very expensive, for us to get involved in new areas, and it requires an investment from all of our partners,” he says. “But if you think you can give your client a service better than the marketplace, you should do it.”

Gary also attributes the company’s success to finding ways to succeed in a world that revolves around technology and consolidators. He admits that SS&G is reaching a saturation level in the variety of services it offers. To address this, instead of adding new services, the company focuses on developing vertical markets. One niche industry his firm accelerates in is hospitality, an arena that many CPAs, he says, are afraid to touch because consulting for restaurants and related entities is too risky.

“We recognize the risk, but we have minimum standards. We don’t want to deal with Mom and Pop restaurants who don’t put all their receipts in the cash register. We are probably the only firm in the United States that has found an industry where there is no competition. Our growth has been incredible. Not a week goes by that I don’t get two to three phone calls with regional and national restaurant opportunities. We have a solid reputation in the industry and the way we handle our clients.”

Gary has been featured in the Journal of Accountancy and The Wall Street Journal for developing and implementing the nation’s first Employee Stock Ownership Program for an accounting firm, and currently serves as chairman of AICPA’s MAP Committee. For more information on SS&G, visit the company’s Web site at www.ssandg.com, or send Gary an e-mail to gshamis@ssandg.com.