This article was published in the San Antonio Business Journal on July 16, 2021.
Summer 2021 marks the 30th year anniversary of San Antonio’s largest, locally owned public accounting firm.
ADKF’s founding partners, still active with the firm, Tom Akin, David Doherty, & Howard Klein, established the framework for success when they founded ADKF in 1991. Since then, the firm has grown organically to a staff of 86 strong and a partner group of ten, totaling nearly 100 employees! Remaining dedicated to furthering the founders’ legacy through extraordinary personal service has led the charge with a recent rebrand and new mantra, “With You All the Way.”
When I asked the founders to share thoughts and feelings about the past 30 years, the consensus was that growing a business that has affected so many people’s lives in a positive way has been a gratifying, blessed, and humbling experience resulting from hard work and dedication. David shared, “I never dreamed we would have grown to the size we are today. Our vision was never expressed or thought about in terms of number of employees. We simply wanted to pick up clients and service them better and timelier than anyone else. That vision hasn’t changed over the years. We take pride in our long-term relationships with clients that have been nurtured over the last 30 years. If you treat people and clients the way you personally want to be treated yourself, you will be successful.” Howard echoed his thoughts stating, “Our vision was simple, our profession is simple, we decided to service our clients, help them in any way we could, have fun and enjoy what we do daily. It was also a goal to keep our priorities straight, which are God, family, faith, work, and recreation. Yes, work is fourth. We didn’t always do that well, but that was our goal. We still have the same vision we started with.” Tom remarked, “... seeing a staff accountant start out as an intern and progress to partner or start out as a receptionist and advance to firm administrator – that really feels good and makes me proud. When we started this firm our biggest concerns were paying our house mortgages – now we are responsible for about 90 house mortgages! And it goes without saying seeing our staff sit for and pass the CPA exam, and then maybe move on to become a CFO and then become a client of our firm – well that’s kind of cool too and was certainly not in the plans for ADKF in 1991.”
The past few years have brought many changes our way. In 2019, Scott Kopecky, CPA was named Managing Partner & Joe Hernandez, CPA named Chief Operating Officer. In 2020, we underwent a complete rebranding, changing our name to simply ADKF and refocusing on our values and mission to be an eternal part of our community. At the same time, one founder, Tom Akin, moved into retirement, while David Doherty is set to retire in late 2021, and Howard Klein in 2023.
We're committed to doing everything in our power to continue the legacy of our founders by working hard and delivering superior client service and employee support. We thank our founders and look forward to the next 30 years.