Pete Abner, Kirsch CPA Group CEO, said this transition allows the company to “maintain our culture.”
“We have an outstanding culture within our organization, one that promotes collaboration and teamwork, and also exceptional client service,” he said. “We’re really excited that our employees get to feel like they’re part of something bigger and really get involved and share in the success of the organization.”
While there are different types of ESOPs, Kirsch’s is through the employees’ retirement plan.
“The retirement plan will actually own the business, and each of the employees will get an allocation of their ownership each year they are a member of the team here,” Kirsch said. “It’s accomplished through a retirement plan that benefits the employees and their families on a long-term basis.
According to Forbes, a primary advantage of an ESOP is the sense of ownership and responsibility.
“When workers have a stake in the company’s performance, they are more likely to feel invested in its success,” according to the 2024 Forbes Advisor. “This can lead to increased motivation, higher productivity, and a stronger commitment to the organization’s long-term goals. Employees often view ESOPs as an additional form of compensation, which can be a powerful incentive to excel in their roles.
The CPA firm has helped several clients transition into an ESOP, including Hamilton employer Mantandy when it went through the process in 2022.
Over its 33-year history, Kirsch CPA Group has seen tremendous periods of growth. Founded in Oxford, they quickly outgrew their space and moved into Fairfield. They moved out of Fairfield a little more than six years ago because they needed more space. They are now at the corner of South Third Street and High Street in downtown Hamilton with plenty of room for growth.
“Over the past six to seven years we’ve experienced some significant growth, anywhere from 10% to 11% a year recently,” said Abner. “Going back four and five years, we were experiencing 18% and 22% growth. We doubled the size of the organization in a five-year period. And we would expect our growth the continue on a similar path to that.”
That means their current staff of 46 could be encroaching 100 in five to seven years, Kirsch said.
“We look at the ESOP as another tool in our chest to help recruit high-level talent that shares our vision and our core values, and shares our desire to serve our clients in a unique way,” Abner said.
They located to Hamilton because of the community, which Abner said “really embraced us and we’ve embraced it.”
Kirsch said they could have moved somewhere else because they have clients from Columbus to Kentucky, but the community is why they’re staying and growing.
“We wanted to be somewhere where there was this sense of community, and where we felt we could make a difference in the community,” he said. “Moving here was one of the best business decisions we made in 33 years.”
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