Going Public Consultation & Coordination

Going public is perhaps one of the most critical moments in a company’s life. Generally speaking, you only have one chance to get it right—make the right connections, raise the right kind of capital, tell the right story to establish your “financial brand.”

You’ll need the help of an entire range of professionals to successfully embark on an initial public offering (IPO) or alternative public offering (APO). Your team of professionals might include accountants, attorneys, an investment banker, investor relations and public relations professionals. How do you reach the people you need? How do you deal with them? How do you know what needs to happen first?

“The knowledge that we have gained taking clients public over the past 15 years is invaluable to the process of getting the deal done.”

—Nicholas R. Bottini, partner

Plenty of expertise, very little pain

EFP Rotenberg brings a 150-person firm to your effort, distinguished by particular depth in our public company practice. Over the years we have helped guide hundreds of companies through the sensitive “going public” process. We currently have more than 70 public company clients. We are currently in the top 20 PCAOB registered public accounting firms, when ranked by the number of public companies for which we perform audits.

“We’ve made our mark helping private companies achieve the sophistication levels required to be public companies, as painlessly as possible,” says Bottini. “We thrive on the process of pulling the team together, meeting the challenge of quickly getting a company up to speed, and ready for the offering. It’s a huge challenge, and we love every minute of it.”

Because EFP Rotenberg is a full-service accounting firm, public company practice members regularly tap the talents of their colleagues in tax, auditing and other departments. Often, we’re able to make suggestions around crucial business practice, or even recommend key executive additions, that bring a nearly public company up to the more rigorous standards required for public firms.

A rational alternative to the Big Four

For many companies, the automatic association with “going public” is to think of the Big Four. But there are a number of reasons to consider a regional firm with significant IPO expertise:

Reasonable fees

Big Four fees can be prohibitively high for companies at the start of a public career. EFP Rotenberg has less overhead and a considerably lower cost structure which allow us to offer first-class services at a very reasonable rate.

Personal attention from partners and senior managers

Unlike national firms, our partners and high-level managers roll up their sleeves and go to work on your engagement. You won’t be bombarded by first-year accountants, with the experienced staff showing up only at the last moment.

Speed and a streamlined process for competitive advantage

Because of our size and lean approach, we can be agile and quick. We don’t have to “call the national office” to get an answer to a question. There’s no bureaucracy for us to untangle. We can make decisions on the spot. And that means a faster trip to the market for you.

A practical approach

We take a true risk-based practical approach. We know how to drill down to what you need to do. We start with a top-down approach to identify risks and plan your audit accordingly.

Strategy scaled to your size

We find we are a “best fit” for companies in the small to mid-size range. We have handled a number of pre-revenue development stage entities, all the way to our largest IPO client with approximately $250 million in revenue. After the initial public offering, we are often retained to provide financial statement audits and internal control over financial reporting.

Will you outgrow us? Some of our clients have, indeed, grown to the point where they needed the services of a large, national accounting firm. We often refer those clients to our affiliate, BDO Seidman, in which case we are often able to continue working on the account with BDO support. Some clients have gone on to work with the Big Four, and tell us they miss the personal service and agile performance that we provided them.

Person-to-person

One of the most important advantages of having EFP Rotenberg at your side as you navigate your public offering is the support of a genuine member of your team. No matter how exciting the prospect of going public can be, it’s still a stressful time, and it’s good to have a friendly advocate.

“We develop relationships, our clients know we’ll work hard for them, and get it done for them, and they can enjoy working with us,” says Bottini.

“We decided to stay the course of being a regional accounting firm with the flexibility to provide personal service,” says partner William Friedman. “In the end, we do business with people, not businesses. It’s more fun that way, and it delivers greater value to our clients.”

Experience across the globe

EFP Rotenberg has provided registrant service to companies in the U.S. and Canada, as well as many companies in China. We have several bilingual, Mandarin-speaking employees on staff, which streamlines the entire process and assures that we are fully understanding and meeting your needs. Read more about our international business services.