Spotlight On: Tyson Gaenzel, Partner, ADKF
June 2025 — In an interview with Invest:, Tyson Gaenzel, partner at ADKF, highlighted the firm’s strategic growth in San Antonio’s booming construction sector and its commitment to staying local and independent amid industry consolidation. Emphasizing hands-on service, he noted, “San Antonio likes to keep things local, and we’re a local CPA firm.”
What aspects make San Antonio an ideal location for ADKF, and how does the city differentiate itself from other markets?
San Antonio still feels like a small, local community. The business community is tight — everybody knows each other. I worked in Houston before this, and it’s a big environment. There are hundreds of accounting firms there, and you don’t know everyone. Here, we all know each other. It’s local, it’s relationship-based, and that’s who we are at ADKF. Every partner has that mindset when we go out and serve clients. It’s about relationships, and that’s how we get new clients — through existing relationships or referrals from third parties like attorneys or bankers. San Antonio likes to keep things local, and we’re a local CPA firm.
What have been some of ADKF’s most significant milestones or achievements over the past year?
This year, we’ve focused on growing our construction practice. San Antonio has a large construction presence with a lot of government activity — there’s always something being built. Now, there are data centers going up with Microsoft and others. Construction has been a real growth area for us. We enjoy it; it plays to our firm’s strengths and has been a strategic focus. We’ve grown in that area, and we’re proud of it.
Which services or sectors are seeing the highest demand, and what growth opportunities do you anticipate?
There’s been a lot of private equity coming into public accounting firms across the United States. San Antonio is still a local market with privately owned and family-run companies. As outside money comes in, we’ve seen businesses that want to stay local migrate to us. That’s driven firmwide growth. There aren’t many local firms left that can say they’re independently owned and operated. All our ownership is here, and most of our staff are here. We do have some who’ve moved — this is a military city, and people move with their spouses — but we’re still a local presence. We believe in hands-on service. We want to be in our clients’ offices, serving them directly. We don’t outsource that to someone in a different part of the country or the world.
What other trends are shaping your services and creating new opportunities?
We’ve gotten a lot of calls from contractors whose banks now require audits or reviews. They’ve never needed one before, so when the bank asks, that’s when I get involved. I’m an audit partner and head of our construction practice. We help them through their first audit or review and make it manageable. Locally, the growth in construction has continued since COVID, and government spending has fueled that. It’s hard to say how long that will last. If that money dries up, it could impact a lot of our nonprofit clients. That’s a risk we’re watching.
How is industry consolidation affecting independent firms like ADKF?
I think it’s helped us. As national firms and private equity come in, we’ve grown. It’s happened before, but now it’s picked up speed. We’ve seen strong San Antonio firms go through private equity deals. The firms that stay independent and local will benefit. This is a relationship market, more so than Houston or Dallas. You’ve got to know the families, know the people. They’ll all be sitting around the table, and you have to sell them. They know who we are. We can go to their office, respond quickly, and meet their deadlines because we’re here.
How is the current economic climate influencing your firm’s strategy and client advisement?
We have a lot of nonprofit clients that receive federal money, and it looks like that’s being targeted by the current administration. There’s going to be some pivoting. A lot of people may find themselves out of work now or in the next year. Hopefully, they’ll find new opportunities. San Antonio’s still growing, and the job market here has been strong. In public accounting, the talent shortage has been an issue for the past 10 years, and it’s worsened over the past five years. But we think people will be able to move forward. This is a good city for that.
How are you addressing the accounting talent shortage and ensuring long-term staff retention?
About two years ago, we changed how we compensate our employees. We updated our incentive model, and since then, turnover has been low. We’ve been able to hire and keep people. We’re not overstaffed, but we’re in good shape. A lot of firms are struggling, but we went back and reimagined how we work with our employees, and it has been successful. I’ve also resisted the trend of offshoring. Our clients don’t want their information sent overseas, and I don’t think that’s good for the long-term health of our firm or the profession. I’d rather invest in local talent. I want to hire graduates from UTSA, train them, and help them grow. That’s how I plan to pass the firm on, just like the original partners did for us. If I go the offshore route, I won’t be able to do that. We want ADKF to stay ADKF and grow from here.
How is ADKF approaching AI and automation in accounting?
We’re counting on it. There’s already some great technology out there that we’re using, and it’s helping us, especially in our accounting services department. With a small team, we can run back-office accounting for multiple large businesses — and do it more affordably than they could in-house. AI helps by recognizing and posting transactions automatically. Our team just has to review and approve. It saves time and allows us to scale. Every time something new comes out, we’re jumping on calls with vendors to see what’s possible. Some of it works, some of it doesn’t, but we’re excited about where it’s going.
How does the firm give back to the San Antonio community?
We have a volunteer committee that organizes monthly events with nonprofits, many of whom are our own clients. We’ve worked at clothing donation centers, cooked food at the Food Bank, volunteered at animal shelters — whatever they need. Around Christmas, we wrap presents for the Children’s Shelter or support Blue Santa. We try to get 10 to 20 people involved each time. We also attend a lot of galas, but our volunteer committee focuses on hands-on service.
What are your top priorities for the next two to three years, and what is your outlook for the firm?
The outlook is great. We’ve got a young group of partners — young to me, at least — who understand client service. If we deliver a great client experience, we’ll keep growing. That’s our focus: making sure clients feel supported and get the service they deserve.
San Antonio is a market that keeps growing, but it’s still local at its core. We’ve been here a long time — since 1991. One of our first clients is still with us. That’s pretty unique. We’ve also had interns rise to partners. I remember them scanning documents, and now they’re leading the firm. I started here as a senior and made partner. When we talk about staff retention and opportunity, that’s real here. To keep that going, we have to keep growing and keep focusing on client service. We see a lot of opportunity in this market, and we’re excited about the future.
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