Announcing...HBM's Merger with Eide Bailly

This is a "Guest Post" written by David about one of the big changes coming our way. Read on...


Hansen, Barnett, & Maxwell was founded in 1965 when Keith Hansen, Keith Barnett, and Paul Maxwell merged their practices. Since then the firm has continued its growth and now has 9 partners and more than 50 employees. In the fall of 2010 Shantel and I went through the recruiting process to determine which firm we would choose to work for. Our final two options came down to Deloitte (a large National firm) and Hansen, Barnett, & Maxwell (HBM).

We really liked Deloitte and I had a lot of good friends that were going to work there. However, working at one of the "big 4" accounting firms requires a lot more hours and a lot less time at home. I knew that if I joined Deloitte, I probably would not want to work there for more than 2 or 3 years at most. In retrospect, I don't know if I would have lasted that long. They require a lot of hours and I wouldn't even get to see my family much during busy season. However, HBM was the perfect fit. We really liked the culture and the people we met. While busy season is certainly busy, they don't require the same kind of hours and have a much better work/life balance. HBM also has a great client base where I would have the opportunity to work on some really good clients. In addition, all the partners started their careers with HBM and I knew that if I wanted, I could start and finish my career with HBM.

We made our decision to join HBM and knew right from the start that it was the right choice. In January, I will have been with HBM for 3 years. Shantel and I are so grateful to work for such a great company. I really enjoy my co-workers and we have fantastic partners who really care about the employees.

With that being said, I am happy to announce that on September 1, 2013, HBM will merge with Eide Bailly, a large regional firm based in North Dakota. You can check out their website and the big announcement. Over the years, HBM was approached by numerous firms about merging and never even got past initial discussions because the culture and fit did not work. When Eide Bailly approached HBM they felt like it was a much better fit and after a ton of due diligence, knew that it would be a fantastic opportunity. Joining Eide Bailly will allow our firm to provide more services to our customers and allow the partners more time to focus on doing what they love, which is providing great service to our clients. The merger will make Eide Bailly the first regional firm in Utah.

The merger came as quite a shock to most people in our firm. Shantel and I were a little hesitant (Shantel is still a little hesitant) to embrace the change, but having met with numerous Eide Bailly people and talking to HBM's partners, we can see what a great opportunity this will be. Eide Bailly is one of the 25 largest accounting firms in the nation with about 1300 employees (including HBM).

With the merger comes a lot of changes, but more importantly, a lot of things will stay the same.

The Same:
Office (for now we will be in the same office although we be moving in the next year or two as we will be combining with Lake Hill Myer, another recent Eide Bailly acquisition)
Partners- We will continue to work for the same great partners.
Clients
Co-workers
Software- Eide Bailly and HBM both use Prosystems Engagement, so no big change.

Different:
The name
The CPE location (for the first 5 years of CPE is usually in Fargo, ND and other trainings are often held in Minneapolis, which I am excited about as I have never been to either of those cities.)

Overall it is going to be a fantastic thing. Although I must admit the change has made things quite crazy at work. We have had numerous meetings about the transition and trying to get ready. Plus I help a ton with recruiting which means that we have to get everything ready knowing that come September when recruiting starts we will be Eide Bailly.

We are grateful for the many partners from HBM (current and past) who did so much to establish such a great firm. As we say goodbye to HBM, we give them our thanks. We are excited for our future with Eide Bailly and are grateful to have a job with such a great company.