Beall Tolls Loud for Firm at 39

Randy Philpot, managing member of Beall & Barclay PLLC, said most of the Fort Smith firm’s 3,614 clients probably don’t realize it’s so big.

“Even though we’re as large as we are,” Philpot said, “we still operate our practice like it’s a small firm. We take pride in that. We emphasize personal service, but because of our size we can offer additional services that most smaller firms can’t.”

Beall, founded in 1963, is the largest certified public accounting firm in the Arkansas River Valley and Northwest Arkansas. It boasts 50 professionals including 29 CPAs. About 46 percent of its clients (1,672) are made up of corporations, trusts, retirement plans, partnerships and non-profit entities.

(Click here for the complete list of CPA firms in northwest Arkansas.)

Beall is the fourth largest statewide, following three firms that are either based in Little Rock or that have their statewide headquarters there.

Ten people work out of Beall’s Rogers office, and about 47 work out of the main office in Fort Smith. The Clarksville facility is staffed part-time.

Excluding the river valley, Ervin & Co. CPAs P.A. is king of the mountain. Ervin has 19 professionals, including 13 CPAs, between its Fayetteville and Harrison offices. It’s the only other firm from Arkansas’ northwest corridor to crack the statewide Top 10 largest CPA firms at No. 10. Complete listings are available online at www.arkansasbusiness.com.

Philpot said Beall’s average billing per partner has increased 60 percent in each of the last five years. He attributes that kind of phenomenal success to taking good care of Beall’s primary client base — small businesses.

“We’ve grown by taking care of Mom and Pop,” Philpot said. “Whether their business is retail, wholesale, construction or whatever, we do quite a bit of monthly book-keeping work. Since that means we’re familiar with a lot of local companies, those relationships have grown into additional business and consulting work for those firms.

“Then, of course, when it’s time to do their year-end tax planning, we do that, too. And we’re not just for the corporations. We also do a lot of work for individuals, estate planning and so on.”

With annual billings of more than $5 million, Beall is easily the top revenue producer among firms in this area. Ervin & Co. is approaching the $2 million mark.