Australia’s Kelly+Partners bags award for fast growth in US market
Fast-growing Australian accounting and consulting firm Kelly+Partners is also experiencing rapid growth abroad, rocketing into the top 50 of the Los Angeles Business Journal’s annual industry list.
Established in North Sydney in 2006 with a team of just six, Kelly+Partners entered the US market in 2023 through an office in Malibu, immediately entering the Los Angeles Business Journal’s local annual list of the ‘100 largest accounting firms’ in 71st place.
With further offices since established in Newport Beach and Woodland Hills through local partnerships, Kelly+Partners has now jumped 27 spots on the list to enter the top 50 in 44th place, driven by its Californian headcount more than doubling to 50 professionals in the space of twelve months.
“It’s great to be recognised in L.A. in our third year of US operations,” stated founder and CEO Brett Kelly. “This recognition reflects the trust and commitment from our two maiden partnerships in Southern California, with Mike Landau and Nate Foersch from Landau, Swartz & McCarty, and Jeff Neumeister from Neumeister & Associates.”
The remarkable growth in the US, which includes further outlets in Texas, Florida, and North Carolina, has mirrored the firm’s rapid recent rise back at home, with consistent year-on-year growth around of 30 percent seeing firm-wide revenues climb above the $100 million mark, further fuelled by its recent expansion to India and its existing operations in Hong Kong.
Built on an acquisitive strategy (the firm’s office network now spans 36 local and international locations, with 70-plus purchases made since its inception), this approach has also seen Kelly+Partners force its way into the top 20 of the AFR’s equivalent list of Australia’s largest accountancies, jumping the likes of more established global brands such as Moore.
In addition to its ongoing expansion in the US, Kelly+Partners last year added new locations in Griffith in New South Wales and Bundall in Queensland – taking its partnership beyond 100 and overall staff count past 600, including 30-plus professionals now in India – with the firm also keenly eyeing a move into the UK market.
“Kelly+Partners continues to work diligently to become the buyer of choice to founders of leading accounting firms that want a permanent partnership rather than a transaction that seeks to buy them only to sell later,” Kelly said following last year’s results. “We have also invested heavily in our structure, people, and brand, as well as our digital infrastructure to facilitate this growth.”
