Jeff Call, Managing Partner & CEO, Bennett Thrasher

In an interview with Focus:, Jeff Call, managing partner and CEO of accounting and advisory firm Bennett Thrasher, discussed the firm’s continued expansion across key growth markets, why it has chosen to remain independent amid widespread consolidation in the accounting industry, and how AI is reshaping advisory services. “AI represents both an opportunity and a disruption, and firms that continue investing in it will be better positioned,” Call said.

How would you describe the past 12 months for Bennett Thrasher, and how does that reflect the state of the accounting and advisory industry?

Our firm has been doing quite well. We’ve grown about 10% over the last year while continuing to expand our business. We’ve brought on new practices and lateral partners, expanding our service offerings. Our main markets are Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, and, most recently, Tampa. We’re continuing to see growth across all four markets, and we’re fortunate they’re all supported by strong economies.

Dallas and Denver have experienced faster growth because they’re newer offices. Dallas launched in 2021 and Denver in 2023, and we’ve continued building teams in both markets with new partners and experienced leaders.

Across the accounting industry, there have been significant mergers and acquisitions, with many firms taking private equity investment. We’ve remained committed to staying independent because we believe it’s the best path for us. We’re now the largest independent accounting firm in Georgia outside the Big Four that does not have private equity backing, and we’re the 65th-largest accounting firm in the United States.

Our focus continues to be growing the business with a people-first mindset. If we take great care of our people, they’ll take great care of our clients, and that helps fuel our growth.

What advantages does remaining independent bring to the firm, your team members, and your clients?

We believe our culture is one of our biggest differentiators, and it’s more challenging to preserve when you have outside investors pushing  an agenda. Our people-first mindset is one of our north stars..  We have high expectations and hold people accountable, and believe those standards can coexist with genuine care for our people

Remaining independent has also allowed us to maintain a strong focus on delivering five-star client service. We’ve heard from clients who felt service declined after their firms became private equity-backed, and we’ve been able to earn new business because we’ve stayed focused on serving clients.

It’s also helped us attract talented professionals who wanted an alternative after becoming dissatisfied with changes at private equity-backed firms. Our culture has been an important differentiator in attracting both clients and talented professionals.

What trends are shaping the accounting and advisory industry?

AI is already impacting  our industry. Over the past year, we’ve been focused on embedding it into our business and all of our people have access to Microsoft Copilot. We’re also evaluating tools like Claude through pilot groups.

My view is that AI is a great tool, but it’s not perfect. It can produce a strong first draft, but experienced professionals still need to review the work, so we’ve established protocols to ensure quality and avoid inaccurate outputs.

I believe AI will allow younger professionals to become more advisory-oriented earlier in their careers. Traditionally, accounting has followed an apprenticeship model where people spend years developing technical skills before becoming advisors. As repetitive work becomes more efficient through AI, our people can spend more time learning advisory skills and providing greater value to clients.

Our goal isn’t to eliminate positions. We want to use AI to elevate our people, accelerate their development, and create more opportunities to advise clients. The technology is advancing rapidly, and we’re already seeing workflows become much more efficient than they were even a year ago.

How are you approaching recruiting and retention as AI changes the skills needed in the workforce?

We like seeing young professionals who already have experience using AI because they understand prompts and how to use these tools effectively. If they don’t, we’re happy to train them. More importantly, we look for people who are smart, who know how to think through problems, and think outside the box. We can provide the technical tools they need to develop into stronger advisors.

We’re going to continue hiring young professionals because they’ll become our future staff, managers, and partners. AI should help them become more productive more quickly while giving them more time to develop advisory skills.

Our goal is to become the most trusted advisor to our clients. The more our people can focus on developing  client relationships and providing meaningful guidance, the stronger our firm will be over the long term.

How has being headquartered in Atlanta supported Bennett Thrasher’s growth, especially compared with the other markets where you’re expanding?

Atlanta has been a tremendous market for us throughout our 46-year history. It’s a strong, vibrant economy that continues attracting Fortune 500 companies and large private businesses, and that has been a major contributor to our growth.

Dallas, Denver, and Tampa are attractive because they’re markets receiving significant business investment and population growth. We’re fortunate that all four of our markets have strong economic fundamentals, but Atlanta has been instrumental in fueling our success over the past four decades.

Based on your clients’ needs, what services are seeing the highest demand right now?

Some of our fastest-growing areas are business valuation, transaction advisory services, and risk advisory services, which include cybersecurity and technology frameworks. Those have been among our strongest growth areas, although many other parts of the business are also performing well.

Our outsourced accounting practice has grown significantly, as have our technology services. Beyond cybersecurity and controls, we also provide managed technology services for companies that want to outsource their IT operations, as well as consulting around AI and automation.

Both traditional audit and tax practices are  growing in the high single digits to around 10%. We’re fortunate that demand is strong across many parts of our business.

Many of our middle-market clients are trying to determine how to use AI and automation more effectively. Being able to help them build those capabilities and serve as a resource has become an important part of what we do.

What is your outlook for Bennett Thrasher over the next three to five years?

I believe the industry will remain strong over the next three to five years. AI represents both an opportunity and a disruption, and firms that continue investing in it will be better positioned. Being a Top 100 firm gives us the ability to make those investments and stay on the cutting edge.

Weare fortunate to operate in markets with strong economic fundamentals. Our primary focus is continuing to expand in the markets where we already have a presence, particularly Dallas, Denver, and Tampa. We may enter additional markets in the future, but we don’t have anything specific planned today. A few years ago, we identified markets where we’d like to have a presence, and some of those remain on our radar.

Our philosophy is that expansion begins with people. We won’t enter a new market unless we have the people and cultural fit needed to build around. If that opportunity presents itself, we’ll pursue it. Otherwise, we’re confident we can continue growing significantly by expanding within our existing markets.

If we can build Dallas and Denver to the scale of our Atlanta operation, that alone would make us a firm more than two-and-a-half times our current size. We see substantial opportunity in the markets where we’re currently operating, and we’ll remain opportunistic if the right people or acquisition opportunities come along.