Strategic advice | July 2024 Supporting a future-focused advisory firm through accelerated growth

• Aprio wanted to acquire other CPA firms via equity transaction, which required access to significant amounts of working capital.
• Aprio needed funds to remodel its office space, which was leased and therefore not a source of collateral.
•  The firm needs ongoing working capital and treasury solutions to support its continued expansion.

• Truist increased Aprio’s revolving line of credit to $40 million to improve the firm’s access to working capital.
• Truist approved a $13.5 million leasehold loan to upgrade Aprio’s new office space.
• Truist established a $15 million term loan to support Aprio’s ongoing acquisition activity.
• Truist provides Aprio with lockbox service, a digital payment processing tool that helps speed up payment collection and improve cash flow.

Since 2007, Aprio has closed 27 M&A deals in a whirlwind period of growth that’s included a revamped strategic vision, a culture shift, and a forward-thinking rebranding. For Richard Kopelman, managing partner and CEO, it’s all about living Aprio’s tagline: “Passion for what’s next.”

“We have a vision for what we want to be, and that’s a brand that’s fresh and innovative—one that breaks the mold,” says Richard.

Truist has been helping Aprio realize this vision with financial support and business advisory solutions since 2009. Richard says that partnership—and the guidance of relationship manager Kristen Schmidt—have been key factors in Aprio’s success so far.

“We’ve moved fast,” says Richard, “and Truist has moved fast with us.”

Before its rebranding, Aprio had been run like most other CPA firms, right down to how it was named—HA&W, for its founding partners. For Richard, who became CEO in 2013, building a new future meant starting at the foundational level. He worked with a rebranding agency to change the company’s name—which he says is grounded in the root words for “head” and “heart.”

It was an update Richard believed in so strongly that he went to great lengths to ensure it happened.

“Certain states, such as North Carolina, require the name of a CPA firm to include the name of an owner or founding partner,” says Richard. “When I discovered that, I knew there was only one thing to do. My second middle name is now Aprio.”

At the same time, Aprio implemented a culture shift that the team has embraced and practices daily. It’s based on a set of 31 fundamentals of behavior, including “act with integrity,” “honor commitments,” “celebrate success,” and “value differences.”

“Every week, we focus on one fundamental,” says Richard. “We do all 31, and then we start over again. I think we’re on our eighth or ninth cycle now.”

For Kristen, all these changes have resulted in a dramatically different company from the one that became her client more than 12 years ago.

“Until recently, Aprio would have been viewed as a very traditional CPA firm,” says Kristen. “Over the years, they’ve evolved to help their clients in so many ways across all stages of the business lifecycle.”

After looking at various ways to expand, Aprio engaged in M&A in geographic areas based on the specific industries that predominate there. Richard says it’s helpful that Truist also has industry expertise in many of the same areas, and he appreciates having an advisory partner that provides such specialized input.

“We’re not looking so much at other states so we can expand geographically, but so we can expand our capabilities,” says Richard. “For example, in January 2023, we expanded our government contractor expertise to serve in Washington, D.C.—where Truist also has that ‘govcon’ presence. We very much think of Truist as an enterprisewide partner who helps us build connections where our markets and sectors overlap.”

Aprio’s acquisition strategy is partly made possible with the help of a $15 million term loan Truist provided to support ongoing acquisition activity. As a result, Aprio has been able to expand its range of services to include digital transformation and cybersecurity, blockchain accounting, international tax, and wealth management—and offer those to a broader range of customers.

“Each merger allows us to have a footprint where we can continue building out these segments on a national basis,” says Richard.

Another innovative growth opportunity arose during the COVID-19 pandemic. When the U.S. government began offering assistance programs like the Employee Retention Credit and the Provider Relief Fund, Aprio recognized that many of its clients would need help navigating them. Aprio expanded its services by putting dedicated teams in place to educate clients on complex eligibility requirements and to help them maximize their benefits.

“Aprio really wanted their clients to be able to understand and take advantage of these programs,” says Kristen. “And I’m happy that Truist could help them do that with confidence by increasing their line of credit—and access to working capital—during that uncertain time.”

In addition to providing and increasing Aprio’s revolving line of credit over the years, Truist approved a $13.5 million leasehold loan to fund improvements to Aprio’s reimagined office space.

“Our old space was a beige cubicle farm,” says Richard. “The new space is open and collaborative. Our designers showed it to another client and they were shocked to learn the space belongs to an accounting firm. They assumed we were a tech company.”

Kristen says her long-standing relationship with Aprio played a role in Truist approving the loan.

“Because they lease the space, they didn’t have physical collateral,” she says. “But because we’re very familiar with the strength of the business, we were comfortable providing them the loan.”

Another facet of Aprio’s strategic growth plan is to be a digital-first company. To help with that effort, Truist provides Aprio with lockbox service, which digitizes payment collections for faster, safer receivables.

“We’ve been working together to perfect the technology so the information goes directly to our accounting system,” says Richard. “It’s a tremendous timesaver.”

Richard and Kristen agree that the relationship between Truist and Aprio is a perfect example of the importance of having trusted advisors who know your business inside and out.

“Our constant dialogue helps me better understand Aprio and their goals,” says Kristen, “so I can bring in the right teammates to find solutions that will help them keep evolving their business.”

Richard notes just how far that partnership has brought Aprio. “In 2009, when we opened our first account with Truist, we had about $53 million in annual revenue. In 2023, we’ll finish the year at nearly 10 times that amount. Truist has been with us every step of the way,” he says.