Accounting
Cherry Bekaert acquires Spicer Jeffries
Cherry Bekaert, a Top 25 Firm based in Raleigh, North Carolina, has acquired Spicer Jeffries LLP, a Denver-based firm with an extensive business in fund audits.
Spicer Jeffries’ clients include hedge funds, private equity firms, venture capital firms, commodity funds, mutual funds, registered broker dealers, investment advisors and other investment entities. The firm ranks among the
The deal, which closed in March but was announced Tuesday, marks a major expansion of Cherry Bekaert’s financial services footprint as part of its private equity-fueled growth strategy.
The acquisition expands Cherry Bekaert’s geographic coverage to the Rocky Mountain region, including Denver. It also provides Cherry Bekaert the ability to audit funds registered with the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority through Spicer Jeffries’ affiliated firm, Spicer Jeffries (Cayman) Ltd.
“This is a transaction that we’re super excited about,” said Scott Moss, leader of private equity advisory services at Cherry Bekaert. “It’s a little bit different than some of the other transactions we’ve done, but it very much fits within our overall growth strategy. What makes it different is this is a core audit and tax firm, but they have been almost exclusively focused on a single industry: the asset management or fund audit and tax world, which includes things like hedge funds, private equity funds, venture capital funds, credit funds, broker dealers, family offices and the like.”
Financial terms of the latest deal were not disclosed. Cherry Bekaert ranked No. 20 on
“They’ve been around for roughly 30 years,” said Moss. “The original founder is still active in the firm, so we looked at it as a great opportunity to combine our talents and our practices in our broader financial services arena, which for us will include financial institutions, banks and credit unions, insurance entities, the asset management sector, and our private equity space.”
The two firms have been working on the transaction for the past 10 to 12 months. “Joining Cherry Bekaert is a significant step forward for us,” said Spicer Jeffries founder and managing partner Robert Yurglich in a statement Tuesday. “We are thrilled to bring our specialized industry knowledge to a firm that values growth and investor confidence. This partnership presents exciting growth opportunities for our people and enhances the value and services we provide to our clients.”
As is typical for private equity funded accounting firms that operate in alternative practice structures, the transaction consists of two acquisitions: Cherry Bekaert Advisory LLC acquired Spicer Jeffries LLP’s non-attest assets, which includes its tax team, while Cherry Bekaert LLP will acquire Spicer Jeffries LLP’s attest assets, which includes its audit team.
“This acquisition underscores our commitment to the financial services industry,” said Cherry Bekaert Advisory LLC CEO Michelle Thompson in a statement. “We value the relationships Spicer Jeffries has built with their clients, fund administrators, attorneys and other members in the investment community. We are excited to grow together.”
Moss sees it as an outgrowth of the PE-fueled growth strategy. “It’s really the culmination of some initiatives that we put in place about four years ago, when we looked around and said, we built a heck of a firm, very successful in serving private equity funds, but heavily focused on the advisory side,” he said. “We looked at our competition in the marketplace. A lot of the competition was trying to get into the advisory side, but they had built their success in the fund audit and tax arena. We look at this as a balancing out of the service lines within our overall fund and financial services sector.”
CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. said U.S. officials have asked for information related to the accounting of deals it’s made with some customers and said the cybersecurity firm is cooperating with the inquiry.
The Austin, Texas-based company said in a filing Wednesday that it has gotten “requests for information” from the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission “relating to the company’s recognition of revenue and reporting of ARR for transactions with certain customers.” ARR refers to annual recurring revenue, a measure of earnings from subscriptions.
The company said the federal officials have also sought information related to a CrowdStrike update last year that crashed Windows operating systems around the world.
“The company is cooperating and providing information in response to these requests,” the filing states.
U.S. prosecutors and regulators have been investigating a $32 million deal between CrowdStrike and a technology distributor, Carahsoft Technology Corp., to provide cybersecurity tools to the Internal Revenue Service, Bloomberg News first reported in February. The IRS never purchased or received the products, Bloomberg News
The investigators are probing what senior CrowdStrike executives may have known about the $32 million deal and are examining other transactions made by the cybersecurity firm, Bloomberg News
Asked for comment about the filing, CrowdStrike spokesperson Brian Merrill said, “As we have told Bloomberg repeatedly, this is old news and we stand by the accounting of the transaction.”
A lawyer for Carahsoft previously declined to comment on the federal investigations, and representatives didn’t respond to subsequent requests for comment about them.
Tech titan Elon Musk ratcheted up his offensive against Donald Trump’s signature tax bill on Wednesday, urging that Americans contact their lawmakers to “KILL” the legislation.
“Call your Senator, Call your Congressman,” Musk wrote in a
The post came one day after Musk lashed out at the tax bill, describing it as a budget-busting “disgusting abomination” as Republican fiscal hawks stepped up criticism of the massive fiscal package.
Trump hasn’t publicly responded to Musk’s comments, but the White House put out a statement Wednesday saying the legislation “unleashes an era of unprecedented economic growth.”
And House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters that Musk is “dead wrong” about the bill and that the tax cuts will pay for themselves through economic growth.
Musk’s public condemnation pits him against the president at a critical time as Trump is personally lobbying holdouts on the bill. His campaign against the legislation threatens to stiffen resistance and delay enactment of the tax cuts and debt ceiling increase.
Musk has attacked the legislation days after leaving a temporary assignment leading the administration’s Department of Government Efficiency initiative to cut federal spending. The Tesla Inc. chief executive officer’s high-profile role in the Trump administration eroded his business brand and sales of his company’s electric vehicles plunged.
The House-passed version of the tax and spending bill would add $2.4 trillion to U.S. budget deficits over the next decade, according to an
The CBO’s calculation reflects a $3.67 trillion decrease in expected revenues and a $1.25 trillion decline in spending over the decade through 2034, relative to baseline projections. The score doesn’t account for any potential boost to the economy from the bill, which Johnson and Trump argue would offset the revenue losses.
Musk, the world’s richest man with a net worth of about $377 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, has become a crucial financial backer of the Republican party. After making modest donations most years, Musk became the biggest U.S. political donor in 2024, giving more than $290 million.
Johnson said Musk had promised to help reelect Republicans just a day before savaging Trump’s bill. Musk did not respond to a request for comment.
Most of Musk’s giving was aimed at electing Trump but he also supported congressional candidates. America PAC, the super political action committee that Musk largely funded, spent $18.5 million in 17 separate House races. Though that total pales in comparison to the roughly $255 million he spent backing Trump, the spending means a lot in a congressional election, where challengers on average raise less than $1 million.
Control of the House will likely be decided by the outcome of fewer than two dozen close races in the 2026 midterm elections. The GOP’s chances of holding their majority would suffer a major blow if Musk were to withdraw his financial support.
Three private equity-backed firms have made deals: Carr, Riggs & Ingram has expanded into East Texas by merging in Axley & Rode; UHY is continuing its expansion in St. Louis by adding Sabino & Co.; and Prosperity Partners moved into Vermont by adding Danaher, Attig & Plante. Meanwhile, Top 100 Firm Sensiba has acquired Australia-based cybersecurity audit and risk assurance firm AssuranceLab.
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