The purchase of Stonefield Josephson is a major step in Marcum's plan to move from a New York-based firm to a national one and compete with accounting's Big Four, according to the Long Island Business News.

 

Marcum Managing Partner Jeffrey M. Weiner said the Stonefield Josephson merger is Marcum's fifth since 2008 when an expansion plan was put in place. It is Marcum's first foray on the West Coast. Firms in New Jersey, Miami, Philadelphia, and Boston already have been added to the Marcum portfolio, and its offices total 21 nationwide. In 2011, continuing its aggressive growth strategy, Marcum will be looking at Chicago, Atlanta, Washington, D.C., and Dallas.

 

"Part of our plan is to be in the top 10 markets in the country," Weiner told the Long Island Business News.

 

Effective with the merger, Stonefield Josephson will change its name to MarcumStonefield. All 150 members of Stonefield Josephson will join Marcum, and the combined firm now has more than 1,100 professionals, including 150 partners in 21 locations.

 

Recognized as one of the nation's top 15 accounting firms by Inside Public Accounting, Marcum said in a press release that it will "continue to seek deliberate growth opportunities aligned with its culture and commitment to client services that enables it to supplement and enhance the services it offers clients."