Modera Wealth Management, a fee-only registered investment advisor overseeing $15.5 billion in client assets, has acquired a tax practice to bring tax and accounting services in-house.
Westwood, N.J.-based Modera made a deal with Ferrentino & Associates to bolster its tax planning, preparation and consulting for high-net-worth individuals, small businesses, estates and trusts. Modera had been working with Ferrentino over the years in a referral capacity and has its own tax practice based in Asheville, N.C., with which the firm will join forces.
“We typically gather tax documents for clients and then ship them off to the accounting firm as they come in; controlling all parts of this process is easier and can reduce mistakes, confusion, and time,” said Modera CEO Tom Orecchio.
Orecchio listed some of the benefits of having an in-house practice as seeing the entirety of the client’s financial life, spotting tax planning opportunities, giving clients one point of contact for tax compliance and allowing the firm to work more closely with the client and their remaining outside professionals.
Modera Wealth is the latest in a trend of RIAs or RIA-investors seeking to more closely link adjacent tax services to wealth management rather than operating on an external CPA referral system.
Ferrentino & Associates, founded by CEO Gary Ferrentino in 2005 and based in Oradell, N.J., offers tax preparation, accounting and bookkeeping services.
“Gary and I have worked together for more than 25 years,” Orecchio said. “This is a formalization of a relationship built on shared purpose.”
Ferrentino will now be the director of tax services with Modera, guiding the firm’s tax strategy and working with advisors to offer tax planning.
“I feel strongly that a client is best served when their investment advisor and accountant are in close communication,” Ferrentino said in a statement. “By joining Modera, we are able to provide additional opportunities for our team and attract talented professionals in new markets. My vision is to look beyond the tax practice to offer estate administration and other services that will benefit our clients.”
Orecchio added that Modera’s clients have told them that their tax services have been frustrated by specialists selling off to larger firms, retiring without a good succession plan or being unable to recruit new professionals.
“We have witnessed this first-hand,” he said. “Bringing the service in-house helps to alleviate these and other issues that our clients are running into with their outside tax professionals.”
Modera is majority owned by its employees, who work with over 6,000 clients. It has minority ownership from Tria Capital Partners, an RIA M&A and succession planning firm.
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