Spotlight On: Ryan Mills, Office Managing Partner, Atlanta, CohnReznick
September 2025 — Ryan Mills, office managing partner, Atlanta, at leading professional services firm CohnReznick, spoke with Focus: about leveraging technology to adapt to changes in the accounting industry. “Our goal is to become as efficient as possible. This means leveraging AI and other technologies to empower our teams to work smarter and faster. We are also sharing resources nationally and building our collaboration tools to become leaner and more efficient in how we deliver our services,” Mills said.
Earlier this year, CohnReznick secured a strategic growth investment from Apax Funds. What are the firm’s ambitions for growth and expansion?
We are very excited about the partnership with Apax. We’re one of many public accounting firms securing private equity funding to drive our growth strategies. The goal of this transaction is to continue expanding our technologies, people, and locations. We want to continue to grow our presence throughout the United States. We are always looking for opportunities across the country, whether it be through acquisitions or mergers. The way we grow our market base has to make strategic sense. We need to find firms that are complementary to us or in an industry we are trying to enter. Internationally, we have large workforces in India and the Philippines. We continue to expand our operations in those countries, building those teams and their skillsets.
What are the strongest opportunities for CohnReznick, and are there any untapped areas of potential?
We are exploring other markets in the Southeast. The Florida region is a key focus area, including the larger cities on both coasts. We aren’t interested in entering a market blindly. It has to be something that makes sense for us strategically. Continued growth within our group is a priority. In Atlanta, we have a strong commercial real estate and affordable housing presence. We continue to look at more opportunities in the Southeast to continue growing in those areas. Our film credit practice is expanding, and we are looking to grow our opportunities within that industry.
What is your overview of the accounting landscape in Atlanta, and what are the emerging trends or market dynamics?
The labor market continues to be tight and fewer people are going into accounting. It is extremely competitive. Recruiting talent and expanding our work base is a challenge. It’s difficult to stay ahead of the market. This becomes a bit easier when you can attract the best talent available. A big area of focus is technology. Our goal is to become as efficient as possible so we can optimize our productivity and enhance our value proposition to our clients.
How is CohnReznick leveraging technology and innovation?
We recently made a large investment in technology. One of our main focuses is on resource management and sharing resources across all of our offices. Investing in technology has helped identify when a person has bandwidth or may be overutilized. This helps our people get the growth opportunities they deserve. We are also investing in technology on the audit and tax side through different platforms that make our processes more efficient. New auditing software allows us to be more efficient in providing a top-quality product. We’re also working on eliminating mundane tasks and finding ways to utilize technology to perform those tasks, freeing up our staff to focus on work that is moving the audit forward.
Which services and industries are driving growth, demand, and profitability?
The main industries that drive our revenue are affordable housing and commercial real estate. They are both growing, but currently not at the pace we would like. These industries, however, continue to be our leaders in terms of growth. We have an advisory practice that does transaction advisory and valuation work – both areas are seeing growth. There is a relative lack of transactions in the market due to the economy. We are hoping the coming years will bring more stability, transactions, and opportunities for growth.
What initiatives or innovations is CohnReznick implementing to address shifts in client expectations and enhance customer experience?
I work on the audit side, and our clients are coming to us for business advice that often extends beyond tax and audit work. They have other types of accounting and business issues, and they view us as a valued advisor for those issues. We may have someone within the firm who can help them, or we can access our network to help them find assistance. We are being brought in more often for general business transactions.
From the audit aspect of things, are you paying attention to any changes in the legal or regulatory landscape that could potentially affect the work that you do for your clients?
We are seeing more items in the news about working with the SEC or a regulated audit, where accounting firms are being slapped on the wrist for not performing services and audits appropriately. As we continue to grow, we are very aware of this and continue to proactively manage our risks. We stay up to date on all necessary standards. We take the correct steps to make sure we are working appropriately.
What are the primary challenges facing the accounting industry, and how is CohnReznick working to address these challenges?
We are seeing flatter growth within the economy. There were a couple of years when things were moving fast, and we saw significant growth, but it has flattened out. We’re addressing it by driving efficiency throughout our service lines and finding new ways to help our clients and prospects. We’ve shifted our mindset toward expanding services and making sure our clients and markets are aware of all we have to offer.
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