By: Luke Nathan - Reporter, Albany Business Review
Accounting firm BST & Co. CPAs is partnering with Dopkins Wealth Management, an investment advisory firm based in Buffalo.
As part of the deal, BST transferred its wealth management clients to Dopkins Wealth. In return, BST will share in the fees paid by those clients to Dopkins Wealth.
“This collaboration will offer clients comprehensive wealth management strategies while enhancing referral opportunities for both firms," Ron Guzior, BST's managing partner, said in a statement. "Our current and future clients will reap the benefits of an extensive and strategic suite of services that this new alliance will make possible.”
BST and Dopkins & Co., an accounting firm whose partners own Dopkins Wealth, were already acquainted with one another because they are both members of RSM US Alliance, an affiliation of independent accounting and consulting firms, according to Thomas Emmerling, managing member of Dopkins Wealth.
The partnership with BST gives Dopkins Wealth entrée to the Capital Region market, a more attractive option than opening a new office and building a client base from scratch, explained Emmerling.
BST's wealth-management division was significantly smaller than Dopkins Wealth, which brings "a deeper bench and more knowledge" to the partnership, Guzior said.
With the addition of BST's wealth management clients, Dopkins Wealth now has about $800 million in assets under management as of Dec. 31, according to Emmerling. The advisory firm was founded in 1999.
BST's headquarters are located at 10 British American Boulevard in Latham, where it has a 25,000-square-foot office. The company is one of the largest CPA firms in the Albany area, according to The List.
The firm's portfolio of services includes accounting and auditing, tax, consulting, valuation, forensic accounting and litigation support. It also has an outsourcing division.
As first seen in the Albany Business Review.
