Gardner & Capparelli CPAs add seasoned CPA, open Boston office

SYRACUSE — Gardner & Capparelli CPAs, LLP, a boutique Syracuse accounting firm, has recently added a veteran certified public accountant (CPA) to its staff and secured office space in Boston to serve clients in that market.

Matt Gardner and Jim Capparelli started the firm in June 2016. It operates in a 2,000-square-foot office at 304 S. Franklin St. in Syracuse.

Gardner graduated from West Genesee High School in 2003, and from SUNY Oswego in 2007, with a bachelor’s degree in accounting.

Capparelli graduated from Cicero-North Syracuse High School in 2005, and from Le Moyne College in 2009, also with a bachelor’s degree in accounting.

Acquisition

Gardner & Capparelli CPAs acquired Kenneth Cardarelli CPA in a deal that closed Nov. 1. The owners declined to disclose any terms of the acquisition agreement.

Cardarelli says he’s known Gardner and his family “for many years.”

Cardarelli has operated as a sole practitioner in the Syracuse area since 1998 when he worked from an office at 100 Weatheridge Drive  in Camillus. He eventually moved from that space into his own home office.

In his role for the Gardner & Capparelli firm, Cardarelli either works from his home or in the South Franklin Street office.

“It depends [on] what the need is,” says Cardarelli. He spoke over a phone during an interview that CNYBJ conducted with the firm’s principals at their office on Feb. 8.

When asked about any legal guidance they had in pursuing the acquisition deal, all three men noted that attorneys were involved but they declined to name them.

In the deal, Cardarelli brought about 50 business clients to the Gardner & Capparelli firm. Those clients generated about 20 percent growth in the firm’s business, the firm’s principals say. 

Cardarelli had been servicing clients in sectors that included construction, equipment leasing, food and beverage, manufacturing, professional services, real-estate development/leasing and wholesale distribution. 

Before becoming a sole practitioner, Cardarelli had previously served as a partner at Pasquale & Bowers, a Syracuse CPA firm. 

Cardarelli had also served as a mentor to Gardner and Capparelli before and during the startup of their accounting firm in June 2016 “because I had done [the same thing] myself.”

Managing the business, balancing compliance work, and securing clients is a “different experience” than when you’re in a firm with multiple partners and staff. “You’re going to wear a lot more hats when you’re a smaller firm than [when you’re part of] a highly structured, stratified firm,” says Cardarelli.

About the firm

Gardner and Capparelli operate a business that they don’t see as a “stereotypical” accounting firm. 

“We just had this vision that we could modernize it, bring the industry into the 21st century, do it differently,” says Gardner. “We aren’t wearing suits and ties. We’re all very comfortable. I think that makes us very approachable and very attractive to a certain clientele.”

The principals most recently worked at Fust Charles Chambers, a Syracuse CPA firm.

Gardner & Capparelli has 13 employees, including the owners. They rent their space from David Hoyne, publican at Kitty Hoynes Irish Pub & Restaurant at 301 W. Fayette St. in Syracuse.

The firm specializes in servicing small and mid-sized business through virtual CFO and outsourced accounting solutions, tax and compliance services, and business consulting.

Gardner & Capparelli offers its services under what are legally separate limited-liability companies operating under the Gardner & Capparelli name, says Gardner.

They include a “traditional” tax and attestation company, which is “very much like every other accounting firm” which services about 200 clients.

It also offers a virtual CFO and accounting services company that Gardner describes as “essentially the entire back office and the chief financial person” for about 35 companies.

“The majority of our growth and the majority of our people” are working with that subsidiary, he adds.

The third company is a human-resources company, which Gardner & Capparelli started recently to “complement the accounting-services business.” The firm needed a way to address “some needs” on the HR side for “a lot” of its clients so it hired someone with the proper experience to handle those issues for 15 clients. 

“All of our accounting-service clients are also tax clients. All of our HR clients are also accounting-services clients and tax clients … It’s like a one-stop shop,” says Gardner.

Boston office

Gardner & Capparelli in November signed a rental agreement and opened an office in the Boston location of Global Silicon Valley Labs, or GSV Labs. 

The firm’s target market is upstate New York along the Thruway corridor, which Gardner and Capparelli wanted to extend into the Boston market. 

“We can work Rochester, Buffalo, and we can work the Capital Region very easily from Syracuse. Boston is a really good book-end for us,” says Gardner. 

The firm had a client who Gardner described as a “great resource”, who ended up in Boston and started working out of the same GSV Labs venue. The client introduced Gardner and Capparelli to the CEO, who liked their vision.

“He essentially invited us to host office hours there and offered to let us work out of there,” says Gardner.

Though not currently staffed, the Boston office provides a space where the firm’s principals can meet with and service clients when they fly in for a visit, he adds. Gardner envisions the firm will eventually hire an account manager for the Boston office.

SYRACUSE — Gardner & Capparelli CPAs, LLP, a boutique Syracuse accounting firm, has recently added a veteran certified public accountant (CPA) to its staff and secured office space in Boston to serve clients in that market.

Matt Gardner and Jim Capparelli started the firm in June 2016. It operates in a 2,000-square-foot office at 304 S. Franklin St. in Syracuse.

Gardner graduated from West Genesee High School in 2003, and from SUNY Oswego in 2007, with a bachelor’s degree in accounting.

Capparelli graduated from Cicero-North Syracuse High School in 2005, and from Le Moyne College in 2009, also with a bachelor’s degree in accounting.

Acquisition

Gardner & Capparelli CPAs acquired Kenneth Cardarelli CPA in a deal that closed Nov. 1. The owners declined to disclose any terms of the acquisition agreement.

Cardarelli says he’s known Gardner and his family “for many years.”

Cardarelli has operated as a sole practitioner in the Syracuse area since 1998 when he worked from an office at 100 Weatheridge Drive  in Camillus. He eventually moved from that space into his own home office.

In his role for the Gardner & Capparelli firm, Cardarelli either works from his home or in the South Franklin Street office.

“It depends [on] what the need is,” says Cardarelli. He spoke over a phone during an interview that CNYBJ conducted with the firm’s principals at their office on Feb. 8.

When asked about any legal guidance they had in pursuing the acquisition deal, all three men noted that attorneys were involved but they declined to name them.

In the deal, Cardarelli brought about 50 business clients to the Gardner & Capparelli firm. Those clients generated about 20 percent growth in the firm’s business, the firm’s principals say. 

Cardarelli had been servicing clients in sectors that included construction, equipment leasing, food and beverage, manufacturing, professional services, real-estate development/leasing and wholesale distribution. 

Before becoming a sole practitioner, Cardarelli had previously served as a partner at Pasquale & Bowers, a Syracuse CPA firm. 

Cardarelli had also served as a mentor to Gardner and Capparelli before and during the startup of their accounting firm in June 2016 “because I had done [the same thing] myself.”

Managing the business, balancing compliance work, and securing clients is a “different experience” than when you’re in a firm with multiple partners and staff. “You’re going to wear a lot more hats when you’re a smaller firm than [when you’re part of] a highly structured, stratified firm,” says Cardarelli.

About the firm

Gardner and Capparelli operate a business that they don’t see as a “stereotypical” accounting firm. 

“We just had this vision that we could modernize it, bring the industry into the 21st century, do it differently,” says Gardner. “We aren’t wearing suits and ties. We’re all very comfortable. I think that makes us very approachable and very attractive to a certain clientele.”

The principals most recently worked at Fust Charles Chambers, a Syracuse CPA firm.

Gardner & Capparelli has 13 employees, including the owners. They rent their space from David Hoyne, publican at Kitty Hoynes Irish Pub & Restaurant at 301 W. Fayette St. in Syracuse.

The firm specializes in servicing small and mid-sized business through virtual CFO and outsourced accounting solutions, tax and compliance services, and business consulting.

Gardner & Capparelli offers its services under what are legally separate limited-liability companies operating under the Gardner & Capparelli name, says Gardner.

They include a “traditional” tax and attestation company, which is “very much like every other accounting firm” which services about 200 clients.

It also offers a virtual CFO and accounting services company that Gardner describes as “essentially the entire back office and the chief financial person” for about 35 companies.

“The majority of our growth and the majority of our people” are working with that subsidiary, he adds.

The third company is a human-resources company, which Gardner & Capparelli started recently to “complement the accounting-services business.” The firm needed a way to address “some needs” on the HR side for “a lot” of its clients so it hired someone with the proper experience to handle those issues for 15 clients. 

“All of our accounting-service clients are also tax clients. All of our HR clients are also accounting-services clients and tax clients … It’s like a one-stop shop,” says Gardner.

Boston office

Gardner & Capparelli in November signed a rental agreement and opened an office in the Boston location of Global Silicon Valley Labs, or GSV Labs. 

The firm’s target market is upstate New York along the Thruway corridor, which Gardner and Capparelli wanted to extend into the Boston market. 

“We can work Rochester, Buffalo, and we can work the Capital Region very easily from Syracuse. Boston is a really good book-end for us,” says Gardner. 

The firm had a client who Gardner described as a “great resource”, who ended up in Boston and started working out of the same GSV Labs venue. The client introduced Gardner and Capparelli to the CEO, who liked their vision.

“He essentially invited us to host office hours there and offered to let us work out of there,” says Gardner.

Though not currently staffed, the Boston office provides a space where the firm’s principals can meet with and service clients when they fly in for a visit, he adds. Gardner envisions the firm will eventually hire an account manager for the Boston office.