Effective January 4, 2016, Proper & Associates (Proper), a Beachwood-based CPA and management consulting firm, has merged with Pease & Associates (Pease), one of Cleveland’s leading accounting and business advisory firms.
Bill Proper will join Pease as a partner and his entire staff will be joining Pease. With a combined staff of more than 60 at offices in downtown Cleveland and Beachwood, the firm will be able to offer expanded services to clients ranging from start-ups to multi-generational businesses, while supporting public initiatives in these growing communities. The firm will continue to offer traditional services, including tax and business planning, accounting, tax preparation and reporting, as well as expanding our small business, mergers & acquisitions and healthcare practice groups. The Proper Analysis, a financial advisory firm located in the same Beachwood office, was not part of the merger.
“The collaboration with Bill Proper and his team is an exciting endeavor for us,” shares Joe Pease, CEO and managing partner of Pease. “Bill has built a very successful firm, one that shares our values and is focused on providing highly personalized accounting services to their clients. Together, we will be able to expand our offerings as well as serve our collective client base with added expertise along with the convenience of multiple locations.”
Both firms have enjoyed a professional relationship for several years. Proper was founded in 1987 and has experienced steady growth, currently employing five accounting professionals. “We’ve built an exceptional practice here in Beachwood and enjoy a large customer base,” says Bill Proper, partner and founder. “My staff and I are excited to join the Pease team. During our exploratory talks, it became clear that merging with Pease would afford both businesses added resources, benefitting our clientele from our augmented expertise and offerings.”
At the core of Pease is their accounting and tax practice serving entrepreneurial businesses throughout Northeast Ohio as well as niche industries in other markets with a multifaceted expertise in regulatory matters, financial reporting and forecasting. Pease is among the top CPA firms in Northeast Ohio and is the current and seven time recipient of the Northcoast 99 “Great Places to Work” award, an honor designating top workplaces in the region. Pease was one of only 60 accounting firms nationwide to be named one of the 2015 Best of the Best CPA firms by Inside Public Accounting.
The combined firm will continue to provide accounting and business advisory services to privately-held businesses specializing in manufacturing, healthcare, construction, professional services, as well as non-profit organizations.
“The core objectives of our firm will remain steadfastly focused on helping clients reduce risk and manage uncertainty by anticipating the future, not just reviewing accounting of the past,” states Chris Umerley, Pease’s president. “As we look to the future, we plan to expand our firm’s expertise in niche sectors as well as expand our client services, all of which necessitates the recruiting and hiring of top talent for each of our offices.”
