Built to last

Alvin Katz and John Abosch started from scratch. This year their firm — KAWG&F — turns 35.

member spotlight

Alvin D. Katz, CPA, and John P. Abosch, CPA, PFS, CFP, CVA
Partners, KAWG&F

By Bill Sheridan
Statement Editor

TOWSON — Other firms are larger, better known, more affluent. But how many can say they were founded by professional rivals, one of whom may or may not have had brain damage at the time?

That's just one of the many claims that perhaps only KAWG&F can make.

The Towson-based firm turns 35 this year with a growing reputation as a groundbreaker. It was doing advanced planning for clients long before such services were the norm. It is among the first in Maryland to fully embrace "paperless" technologies as a matter of course. And its staff-centric philosophy keeps turnover low and morale high.

Today, the firm has three locations (Bel Air, Columbia and its main office, which is moving from Towson to Timonium in October) and 75 employees. That's 73 more than the day in 1969 when Alvin Katz asked John Abosch to go into business with him.

"It took a lot of courage on Alvin's part, because at the time I was recovering from an automobile accident," Abosch said. "I had a concussion, and the doctor actually believed that I had suffered some brain damage - and Alvin still wanted me to be his partner. Of course, he was negotiating with me when I was defenseless."

For Katz, the choice was obvious.

"I sought John out because I completely respected his intelligence and ability - and I still do," he said. "Of all the people I knew, there was only one person whom I thought would be an appropriate choice to partner with."

A rough start

Katz and Abosch didn't always see eye to eye. They met in Baltimore as teen-agers, then worked together in the mid-1960s at the Baltimore firm Offit and Borris. Theirs wasn't the most cordial of business relationships.

"We didn't get along well," Katz said. "It was a youthful jealousy thing — we were jealous of each other, for a variety of reasons. But I think we were rather mature in the beginning to see through that. We respected each other."

Eventually, each left the firm. Not long after, Katz decided to form his own business, and history aside, he knew whom he wanted as his partner.

"Despite the fact that we hadn't worked well together, we saw something in each other," he said. "When it came time to form our firm, we were able to push that far enough to the side to get to work."

Turning the wheel

And work they did. With annual billings at the start of no more than $5,000, they set about trying to build a list of clients — not an easy thing to do in those days, thanks to AICPA ethics restrictions that prohibited CPAs from soliciting business.

"We couldn't knock on doors, we couldn't send out advertisements," Katz said. "What we could do was meet with bankers, attorneys, insurance people, anybody, and (ask them) to refer business to us."

"When we weren't that busy, we used to walk the streets downtown," Abosch said, smiling. "Sometimes we'd have two breakfasts and two lunches in one day. We put on a lot of weight.

"But our vision," he added, "was to build an accounting practice."

'Very thankful'

Mission accomplished. Consider:

In its first year the firm hit $90,000 in gross fees — a figure that quickly doubled, then doubled again, and again, until doubling was no longer a realistic goal. Last year KAWG&F did $10 million in business for the first time.
In 1974, Katz and Abosch admitted their first partner. Today, the firm has 22 partners, eight of them women. In the past 30 years, only three partners have left the firm.

Turnover is impressively low throughout the rest of the firm as well. Katz and Abosch have made the staff's needs a priority. As a result, it's not unusual to run into employees who have been with the firm for 15 years or more.

"We've been able to build a business in which we can provide a nice livelihood and a nice environment in which to work for about 75 people, and that's a good feeling," Abosch said. "We try to treat people as we would like to be treated."

The firm's stability extends beyond the staff. Its main office has been at 40 York Road in Towson for nearly 17 years, and it has had the same phone number for 34 years.

The address will change, though, when the firm moves to Deereco Road in Timonium. The move will culminate a 35th anniversary that has the firm's founders glancing fondly at its past, looking eagerly to the future — and regretting nothing.

"I'm very thankful for having approached John 35 years ago," Katz said. "I consider him a confidant and would share anything with him. We've had our differences of opinion and we don't always think the same way, but I have complete faith, trust and confidence in him. I have never regretted the fact that he and I started this business and have built it together."

Contact this Author: < William Sheridan > bill@macpa.org

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