The Commuter Factor

Over the more than three years I’ve been privileged to have this space, I’ve often expounded on the very real M&A roadblock of client fears.

Once a CPA firm client hears wind of a merger, it ultimately travels faster than a middle-school rumor and the traditional questions arise:

1. Is the person I trust still there?
2. Are my fees going to go up?
3. Will I now have to travel farther to see my accountant?

While the first two are certainly reasonable concerns, even I was surprised at how heavily the travel time weighed on client retention or, for that matter, become a deal breaker altogether.

Case in point: Last year, our company was in the final stages of a deal closing in the Midwest, when suddenly the mergee determined that the majority of his clientele would not make the trek to the successor firm’s office, despite it being just five miles away.

The reason?

The firm was located on the southern corner of one of the busier roads in the area with sparse opportunities for left hand turns. He concluded that both clients and visitors would have to travel up to a half mile out of their way to turn around if they were approaching from the opposite direction.

So the deal stopped as suddenly as bumper to bumper traffic on the Long Island Expressway if you’ll excuse the bad pun.

By coincidence I recently came across an online article which detailed 50 of the worst auto commutes in America.

Some of the cities that earned a spot on this dubious roster surprised me, such as McKinney, Texas, and Port St. Lucie, Fla., while others such as Boston, Newark NJ, and New York, obviously did not. As someone whose territorial responsibility covers New York, New Jersey and New England, I can readily vouch for those selections.

It also came as little surprise that nearly 30 of the 50 were in California, although I never would have lumped the cities of Palmdale and Temecula in the same commuter nightmare category as Los Angeles.

After the Midwestern CPA merger collapse, I’m careful now to Google the distance between potential merger candidates in the early stages of meetings and negotiations.

Trust me that saves a lot of time and potential pain points.

Either that or I suggest both parties get travel tips from AAA.