Peter Greve, Charlotte Office Managing Partner, Frazier & Deeter Advisory, LLC

Invest: spoke with Peter Greve, Frazier & Deeter’s Charlotte office managing partner, about the firm’s expanded platform in Charlotte following its acquisition of local firm Pesta, Finnie & Associates.

Your previous firm was acquired by Frazier & Deeter. What stood out with this acquisition, and what are some of your immediate priorities?

Frazier & Deeter stood out from the first meeting. We were part of a smaller firm, Pesta, Finnie, & Associates, and we’ve been in Charlotte since 1991. When we were exploring the merger and acquisition space, what truly set FD apart was the people. You hear it all the time—culture, culture, culture—but you know it when you feel it. They were like us; FD had the same philosophy of treating clients right and treating people right.

Our goals right now are to integrate as effectively and efficiently as possible, which we are doing in the middle of tax season, and to grow our presence in Charlotte. We were a real estate tax firm previously, and we know that market, but as Charlotte grows across industries like manufacturing, logistics, private equity, financial services, and fintech, being part of a larger organization lets us pull resources that specialize in those areas and serve the market in a broader way.

What does this mean for your growth strategy within the region, and what industries are you targeting?

We’ll continue to lean into our real estate niche, but we’re going to holistically target the other areas mentioned as well. For example, as Pesta Finnie, we couldn’t fully pursue manufacturing and logistics clients because many of them needed audits, and we didn’t have that service line. Now, with Frazier & Deeter, we do. Longer term, it’s about being able to walk into a client relationship with tax, audit, and advisory working together, instead of having to hand parts of the work off to outside firms.

As we reflect on the past year, what shifts or trends are impacting your accounting businesses and advisory services?

The biggest trend is technology and AI. That’s definitely impacting us, and it was another reason to join a larger firm that has a team studying these tools. As a smaller firm, we didn’t have the resources to test technologies as they came into our space. I’ve already seen the benefits in accounting. It’s making us more efficient so we can spend more time with clients on the things that matter. It also changes the way our teams work, because the goal becomes less about churning through inputs and more about interpreting results, spotting issues earlier, and bringing recommendations forward.

How is this allowing your teams to have a more relationship-driven focus?

It gives us more time. You still have to be careful with AI because it can hallucinate, and you have to check what it’s telling you, but it is making us more efficient for clients who are truly looking to us to be trusted business advisers. The less time we spend on what can be done by technology, the more time we have to strategize, plan, and advise.

How does private equity activity affect the services clients need, and how are you positioned to serve them?

Previously, PE businesses were ones we could help on the tax side, but now we have advisory and audit in addition. Having those resources in-house helps us support more of what private equity-backed businesses need, whether that’s diligence and transaction support, ongoing reporting needs, or helping management teams plan around growth, capital structure, and compliance as they scale. 

Being part of a larger organization also helps because if there’s someone who isn’t in this building who can help, I have a whole team behind me in multiple locations. I’ve already seen the benefits. I had an international question come up that I might have struggled with before, but now that we have offices in London, Cambridge, and India, I was able to reach out quickly and bring in the appropriate international resource.

How would you characterize the talent landscape in Charlotte, and how does being part of a larger firm change recruiting and retention?

I’m a graduate of UNC Charlotte, so I’m partial to that university; it’s grown tremendously and continues to grow. We’ve always recruited there, and we’ll continue to do so. Being part of Frazier & Deeter, we can be more competitive with talent coming out of school than we were as a smaller firm.

There are also more opportunities for candidates. We’re not just a tax firm focused on real estate in Charlotte. We’re part of a Top 50, mid-sized firm with multiple service offerings and industries, and that helps attract talent. We recruit at other universities in the region as well, and Charlotte itself is a place where a lot of people want to live and build a career.

How are you approaching alignment and culture as you continue through the merger?

Frazier & Deeter did a great job of bringing us together. We had a conference for the whole Tax Practice, across offices, in Nashville this past January, and I think that was huge. Having different locations come together to network and share what they do was a real boost to the culture going into tax season. Anytime you go through a transition like this, there’s going to be some uneasiness from staff, so having people together in-person helped build comfort and momentum. I give kudos to the FD leadership team for making that happen.

What are your top priorities for the next two to three years for the Charlotte office?

My top priority is to grow into different sectors now that we have more resources available. We want to continue servicing the real estate industry but also others. We also want to build up the audit and advisory practices here in Charlotte so that we have a true, full-service offering.

We want to continue to grow our presence in Charlotte and be the best mid-sized firm here. Charlotte’s a destination now; it’s not just an emerging market. You see industries coming in, and that growth creates opportunity. That opportunity also creates complexity, and complexity is where we can help service our clients and be their trusted business advisers.