Avantax, a tax-focused financial planning and wealth management firm that’s part of Cetera Holdings, has acquired the assets of Sweeney Kovar LLP, a wealth management and accounting firm that’s already affiliated with Avantax.

Sweeney Kovar was founded in 1984 by Kevin Sweeney and Joseph Kovar. Their firm’s wealth management business had approximately $180 million in assets under management as of Sept. 30, 2024, while the tax and accounting business processed 2,000 tax returns annually. Kovar and the firm’s staff of 12 became Avantax employees as part of the deal, and are continuing to operate from their current offices in Danville, California, east of San Francisco. Sweeney continues to work with the wealth management business, supported by his wealth management assistant who joined Avantax as an employee.

“We’re proud of the business we built, but we wanted succession to be about more than just our future retirement,” Sweeney said in a statement. “Our main goal was consistency for our clients, many of whom have been with us for 35 years, and our staff so selling to Avantax was the right choice. Choosing anyone but Avantax could mean a drop-off in service for our clients, and changes for our team that probably wouldn’t be a good fit. With Avantax, it’s the same level of client service and the same culture for our staff — it’s a real blessing.”

The Sweeney Kovar founders approached their succession plan with comprehensive tax-focused financial planning services in mind.

“Adding wealth management to our practice many years ago made us better CPAs because we go beyond the tax returns, we know more about the client’s family and what’s important to them so we can plan for their future and help them get in the right place to achieve their goals and objectives,” Kovar stated. “We looked at other firms, but sticking with Avantax was better all the way around.”

“Joe and Kevin sought out our Corporate Development team at our National Conference to discuss creating a succession option that checked all their boxes while keeping their truly outstanding business within the Avantax Community,” Watts said. “I know Joe and Kevin would agree that it’s best when advisors start thinking about succession planning many years before they want to retire so the process can happen thoughtfully, with every detail covered, enabling us to collectively create the best possible outcome for the advisors, their teams and their clients.”

Last year, Avantax acquired GA Investment Management, a wealth management firm based in Seven Fields, Pennsylvania, with satellite offices in Pittsburgh, and Houston-based Integrated Tax & Wealth Strategies, one of Avantax’s largest affiliates, with $760 million in total client assets. The financial planning firm Cetera acquired Avantax for approximately $1.2 billion in 2023. Avantax was formerly known as Blucora, which rebranded as Avantax after Blucora sold off its TaxAct tax preparation software to a private equity firm in 2022 to focus instead on its Avantax financial planning and wealth management business. Blucora created Avantax Wealth Management in 2019 after acquiring HD Vest and 1st Global, two financial planning firms that partnered with CPA firms around the country to offer wealth management services, and combining them under the Avantax name.

Practice management software provider Ignition announced that Ignition’s global president, Greg Strickland, is the new CEO as the current head, co-founder Guy Pearson, transitions into an executive chairman role to focus more on strategy. 

Strickland has been president since March of last year. Prior to that, he led product management software provider ProductBoard and was also a leader in content management platform Box. Given this experience in the business software world, as well as his recent performance as Ignition’s president, Pearson expressed strong confidence in his successor. 

“Greg has been with Ignition since 2024 based out of San Francisco and brings all the things I don’t have to the table,” said Pearson in the announcement, “He’s worked at a software company before (actually been COO at a number of them); he understands the U.S. tax market—our historical core market (family member is a U.S. CPA) and general SMBs; he knows why paper cheques/checks still exist in the U.S. If that’s not enough, he lives our values and we think in a very similar way on business model vs. value exchange and trying to serve our customers and build what they need to be successful and serve their clients.” 

Ignition also welcomed Amy Foo as its new chief financial officer. As CFO, Foo will be responsible for managing the company’s financial health and operations. She will drive financial planning, manage capital to maximize ROI, and ensure operational efficiency to support Ignition’s ambitious growth. She most recently served as senior vice president of finance and revenue operations for employee engagement and performance platform Culture Amp, and prior to that she spent eight years as senior vice president of global finance operations and managing director for Australia/New Zealand for customer experience platform Zendesk.

“I’m incredibly excited to be joining Ignition,” said Foo. “This is a company that empowers customers, drives business value, and is focused on strategic growth. All things that align perfectly with my experience and passions. Joining Ignition at this crucial stage allows me to leverage my experience in scaling high-growth businesses to help grow the team and organization. By fostering agility and efficiency, I think we can achieve ambitious goals, deliver value, and sustain ongoing success.”

Pearson said stepping away from the CEO role reflects the advice he has long given to others. 

“When you start a business, you aim to solve a problem for a market, build a business model that makes sense (and scales), then remove yourself as the last bottleneck of the processes in the business and become an owner and thought partner for the operators of the business,” he said. “This is what I used to talk about with my clients when I ran my accounting firm (Scendar) and what I’ve preached on webinars, talks and keynotes around the world at conferences and online over the last 10+ years. It’d be a shame not to follow my own advice.”

The limits of DOGE; big pharma and the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act; soda tax misaimed; and other highlights from our favorite tax bloggers.

Keeping It Straight

• HBK (https://hbkcpa.com/insights/): In the latest lob of the ball back over the net, the Supreme Court says it will allow the Corporate Transparency Act and beneficial ownership reporting.
• Eide Bailly (https://www.eidebailly.com/taxblog): Basically, on Jan. 23, the Supreme Court stayed an injunction on reporting, pending consideration by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. “However, there is another nationwide order issued by a different federal district court that remains in place, and the government states ‘reporting companies are not currently required to file beneficial ownership information with FinCEN despite the Supreme Court’s action’.” 
• Taxable Talk (http://www.taxabletalk.com/): More on BOI reporting, with wittily placed strikethroughs.
• Tax Vox (https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox): DOGE could end up missing some of the largest government programs — because they’re hidden in the Tax Code and run by the IRS.

Making an impression

We need to talk

• Tax Notes (https://www.taxnotes.com/procedurally-taxing): First-time blogger Abdulrahman Azzouni addresses when “Alternate Dispute Resolution Meets FOIA: Resolving Disputes Through Mediation.”
• Palm Beach Accounting and Financial Services (https://www.pbafs.com/blog): Credit Where It Isn’t Due Dept.: What to remind them about the most common scams of IRS impersonators.
• Tax Pro Center (https://accountants.intuit.com/taxprocenter/): Per the IRS, a rundown on ever-popular gift card scams.
• Boyum & Barenscheer (https://www.myboyum.com/blog/): What nonprofit clients need to know — but might not want to tackle — about cost allocation.
• Current Federal Tax Developments (https://www.currentfederaltaxdevelopments.com/): There are big events in life and then there are big events in taxes: The IRS has denied tax-exempt status under Sec. 501(c)(3) to an organization that planned to provide assistance, primarily to its members in need, in the event of death, marriage or birthday.
• Dean Dorton (https://deandorton.com/insights/): Favorite opening of the week: “If your idea of financial leadership involves staring at spreadsheets until your eyes glaze over, we need to talk.”