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Bonadio Group contracts with Star Americas for new Practice Management system

Sustained growth and ambitious plans drive need for a next generation system for New York firm.

One of the North East USA’s leading accounting firms, The Bonadio Group, has placed a significant order with Star Americas for a new Practice Management system to replace its legacy system installed about 10 years ago.

The Bonadio Group is a group of accounting, business advisory, payroll, and personal financial services entities, including Bonadio & Co., LLP, (Bonadio), a nationally-ranked top 100 CPA firm. Founded in 1978, and now with offices in Rochester, Buffalo, Albany, Syracuse, Geneva and Perry, they have grown and diversified from a firm offering auditing and tax services to a multi-dimensional accounting, IT consulting, business advisory, and financial services organization serving the needs of commercial, small business, public, tax-exempt and individual clients. Bonadio is also associated with Moore Stephens International.

“Since we installed our previous system, the firm has grown exponentially and it was felt that we needed a new IT platform to support our plans for the future. We decided to look for a system that could meet our current and future requirements as we continue to expand,” says John Magee COO for Bonadio.

As well as meeting the demands of increased growth, the new system had also to handle the reporting requirements created by the corporate structure of Bonadio. The firm has around eight separate entities, and provides a wide range of client services, including software sales and support, accounting, business advisory, payroll, consulting and personal financial services.

“We cast the net wide, and started out by looking at a good number of different vendors, both domestic and overseas,” Magee adds. “Since we bought our previous system, Star has established itself as a major player within the US Top 100 CPA firms, and was frequently being mentioned by other members of the Boomer Technology Circle, so it made sense to include the company on our tender list. After a lengthy and thorough due diligence process we decided that Star was the company and the solution for us.”

The firm’s own expertise as a software vendor played a major role in the decision.

“Because Star is a specialist supplier to CPA firms, when we really looked in detail at the solution we could see that it was geared specifically to CPAs, whereas many of the alternatives were generic professional services or legal software solutions. The level of CPA related detail built into Star Practice Management was missing in other systems. ” Magee comments. “Moreover, Star’s staff demonstrated a higher level of experience and understanding of the CPA profession. We felt that this would pay big dividends.”

Bonadio CIO Mike Napieralski adds “Another aspect of the Star solution we liked is that it includes good functionality for areas like CRM and Job Budgeting. Previously these areas were all run as separate systems and having one application - and one database, that manages all of this is a great step forward – a real efficiency gain.”

CEO of Star Computers, Bernard Skalla adds “We are delighted to add The Bonadio Group to our client portfolio. They are a firm who are clearly going places and are well respected by their peers. Throughout the due diligence process we were impressed by their energy and commitment to the project. We’re looking forward to working with them over the installation period and to a successful long term relationship thereafter.”

Tom Bonadio, Managing Partner, laid the foundation for The Bonadio Group (Bonadio) at his kitchen table in 1978 with one partner and his mother as the accounting firm’s administrative support!

Bonadio’s growth is a product of the hard work, professionalism and dedication of partners and staff to going beyond client satisfaction to delivering extraordinary value. Whether helping clients with compliance needs and issues, or finding ways to grow and protect their assets, Bonadio is known throughout upstate New York for its “& More” accounting, business advisory, and financial services expertise.

Inside Public Accounting and Public Accounting Report named Bonadio as a Top 100 Firm in the U.S.
Other accolades include:

• Named by The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants’ as a “Firm to Watch”
• Recognized as an “Innovative CPA Firm” by Practical Accountant (2 Time Winner)
• Attained membership in the prestigious AICPA's Major Firms Group
• Honoured by CPA Wealth Provider for innovation in Financial Services
• “Best Places to Work” Award (2 Time Winner)

For more information please visit www.bonadio.com