Gabriel Partners Valuation Practice Joins Forces with BMF

See article in Crain’s Cleveland Business

BMF is pleased to announce that the leadership team from Gabriel Partners Valuation and Corporate Services Practice has joined BMF’s Valuation Advisory Services Practice. Moving to BMF are Zachary Schweda, former Managing Director/Partner at Gabriel Partners along with Michael Bigrigg, CPA/ABV, former Senior Manager within the practice. Schweda joins BMF as a Partner, and Bigrigg joins as a Senior Manager with BMF. The move became effective on January 3, 2018; both Schweda and Bigrigg will be located in our Cleveland office.

After Gabriel Partners was acquired recently, Schweda said he made the decision to identify a new firm that would be a better strategic fit for his client base, a firm that ideally focused on growing and supporting a national valuation practice.

“Building upon our already strong valuation business has long been a strategic focus for our firm, so we see a tremendous opportunity to add to our portfolio of services with the addition of Zak and Mike,” explained Mark B. Bober, partner in charge of BMF’s Valuation and Transaction Advisory Practice. “While our existing practice focuses on what’s often referred to as the ‘front end’ of valuation and dispute resolution services, Zak and Mike provide a very unique and complementary service that will bring deep expertise in ‘back end’ valuation techniques for valuing identifiable intangibles, goodwill, stock options and a variety of financial and tax reporting-related services. Further, their deep valuation services expertise related to business combination accounting (ASC 805) complements our national transaction advisory services practice.”

Bober said he was familiar with the quality and depth of Schweda’s and Bigrigg’s work, since BMF had partnered with their prior firm to provide certain valuation services that included purchase price allocations (ASC 805), goodwill and asset impairment (ASC 350/360), stock options (ASC 718) and IRC Section 409A.

Schweda noted that affiliating with an established accounting firm will provide an important set of additional financial advisory knowledge and services that will be important to his client base.

“BMF’s traditional strength in audit and tax regulations and compliance will be highly valued by our clients,” he noted. “Audit and tax are constantly evolving and changing fields of practice, with particular complexity in a wide variety of compliance matters. BMF’s historic focus and strong practice will be a significant enhancement to the services we’re providing clients today.”

Schweda, a resident of Medina, joined BPP/Gabriel in 2005 after graduating from Brown University with a bachelor’s degree in business economics.  He consults extensively with corporate clients, external auditors, and attorneys on valuation topics within a wide range of industries. His valuation opinions are often used to effect M&A transactions by providing a third-party opinion as to the reasonableness of a proposed purchase or sale and provide the accounting and tax support necessary to document executed transactions in accordance with the regulatory guidance.

Bigrigg has worked with a variety of financial and accounting firms since graduating from Kent State University in 2006 with a bachelor’s degree in accounting.  A resident of Lakewood, he assists law firms, corporations, lenders and public institutions with analysis, understanding, and resolution of complex financial issues. Mike brings valuable skills to assist clients with complex financial issues such as financial and tax reporting, business succession planning, and economic damages analysis. He also has significant valuation experience related to shareholder disputes, estate and gift tax reporting, business succession, and risk management.

See the release on Business Wire.