HBK, a Top 50 U.S. accounting firm and NJBIA member, has consolidated the operations of two New Jersey offices and set up its Mid-Atlantic regional headquarters in Holmdel’s historic Bell Works.
The firm cited as reasons for the move an increasingly vibrant Holmdel business community, the renovation of Bell Works, and, not coincidentally, that Holmdel resident Thomas M. Angelo, CPA, CITP, will be the firm’s managing principal and CEO as of Jan. 1, 2024.
Angelo, who grew up in Linden and has lived in Monmouth County for more than 20 years, the last three in Holmdel, had been directing HBK’s Mid-Atlantic regional operations as principal-in-charge of the firm’s Clark office since 2018. With the consolidation of the firm’s Clark and Princeton offices, the combined staff began operating out Bell Works on May 1, 2023.
On the heels of his graduation from St. John’s University in 1995, Angelo began his accounting career in Clark with AV Salerno & Company. He became a partner at age 28 and was the driving force of the firm’s growth from a staff of four in 1995 to a staff of 19, then through a lateral merger in 2012 and the resulting Spire Group.
Among his initiatives, Angelo started the firm’s information technology (IT) practice in 2011. “I talked to the partners about requests I was getting from clients for help with their IT,” he said. “I thought we could launch an IT support business as part of the CPA firm.”
The technology practice grew to 10 employees by 2018 when Angelo merged the Spire Group with HBK and joined HBK as principal of the firm’s offices in Clark. Operating as HBK IT, the firm’s technology practice continued to grow substantially, particularly as the COVID crisis required businesses to rely increasingly on remote communications and their digital networks.
The practice added another technology company, Unicom, in 2019. Then, in August 2021, it acquired Pittsburgh-based managed services provider (MSP) Vertical Solutions, with the combined businesses generating $10 million in annual revenue.
HBK provides small- to mid-market businesses and their owners and operators a wide range of financial solutions, including accounting, tax, and audit services; wealth management; business valuation; corporate finance; forensic accounting; litigation support services; and business consulting, with broad expertise in a number of major industries.
The CPA firm dates back to 1949 and added its wealth management practice in 2001. In addition to its new offices in Holmdel, HBK CPAs & Consultants and HBKS Wealth Advisors serve clients locally out of offices in Columbus and Youngstown, Ohio; Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Erie, Hermitage, Meadville, and Blue Bell, Pennsylvania; and Fort Myers, Naples, Stuart, Sarasota, and West Palm Beach, Florida. HBK ranks in the Top 50 on Accounting Today’s list of the largest U.S. CPA firms. HBKS Wealth Advisors is a Top 100 registered investment advisory.
HBK professionals provide traditional accounting, tax, and audit services, but well beyond compliance, with deep-rooted expertise in multiple industries that include manufacturing, healthcare, construction, dealerships, nonprofits, and cannabis, as well as in delivering IT support.
“We will continue to work in that direction, to go narrow and deep into our clients’ industries,” Angelo said, “and to be involved in their finance, accounting, and tax planning; their wealth management and succession planning; to work with them on structuring debt, on executing mergers and acquisitions, to help them through their digital transition, to focus on their industry niche and deliver comprehensive solutions – all things they need but can’t build internally. That’s our future here in Holmdel and across our regions: providing the expertise to help small businesses grow beyond even what they might imagine for themselves.”
Tom Angelo and HBK’s Holmdel-based professionals and staff are located in the Bell Works building at 101 Crawfords Corner Road, Suite 2216, Holmdel, NJ 07733. They can be reached by phone at 732-381-8887 or email Tom at tangelo@hbkcpa.com.
