Of course, there were reservations in the beginning; we’ve owned and operated Summit for 20 years. It’s like having a child who grows up and leaves the house. There’s an emotional attachment. The Merger YEAR ONE
Now that we’re part of a larger firm, there’s new complexities in terms of decision-making. Decisions affect a lot more people and there are a lot more stakeholders involved, so we have to slow down a little and think about the broader impact. That’s why it was so important for us to align ourselves with a place that was open to change and new ideas. My hope is that as things move forward, our cultures will align as much as they did in the initial merger conversations and Summit can main- tain its autonomy. A few months into the merger, it’s an exciting time—but we’re also doing the brunt of the hard work. First, there were a ton of administrative type things, like making sure employees got paid properly and vacation balances were transferred over. Then we had to figure out the nuts and bolts of how to bring our teams together (as I’ll discuss more in detail below). Now we’re excited to start to focus on supercharging our growth.
You don’t need to spend years in corporate accounting to discover that the stereo- types are right on: Traditional accounting is boring. It’s boring for the clients and, to be frank, it’s not much more exciting for the accountants. But why does that have to be the case?”
As we settle into the merger, Adam’s immediate focus is on assimilation and alignment—making sure that the integration plan goes well. It’s probably going to take six months to a year to feel like we’ve got our bearings and a good foundation under us. Once that is in place, we can focus on heavy growth. Even though it’s uncharted territory, we’re confident things will come together smoothly. We chose Anders because we didn’t want to simply fold into somebody’s culture and the way they do things; we see ourselves as a platform company and wanted to make sure we found a partner that would appreciate what we have built. One of the crucial elements of that culture is our ability to make decisions quickly. It has always been one of our competitive advantages, and one of the parts of working at Summit that our teams most appreciate. We want to make sure that stays true.
Here are some of the most important ways we plan to do that.
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