Your Partner in Growth
Your Partner in Growth
Expanding Client and Talent Solutions: KRD, Ltd.’s Partnership with Aprio
September 29, 2025
5 minutes read
Table of Contents
The Background
Carrying the weight of an excessive workload and needing stronger talent, this Chicago-based firm reached out to Aprio for assistance.
Meet KRD, Ltd.KRD, Ltd. (KRD) joined Aprio in the beginning of January 2025 with a shared vision to scale the business and enhance the firm’s growth. Serving clients for more than four decades, KRD was a Chicago-based accounting firm that provided a comprehensive range of accounting and business advisory services. The firm’s team of CPAs, tax specialists, audit professionals, and Certified Financial Planner™ professionals collaborated to serve clients throughout Chicagoland and nationwide. At the head of KRD was Jon Segal, a seasoned accounting executive who had led the firm for over 13 years, overseeing nearly 110 partners and accounting professionals. Under his leadership, KRD expanded its specialties to serve clients across the real estate, manufacturing, distribution, construction, nonprofit, and professional services industries. The firm also served individual clients, providing financial planning, wealth planning, assurance, tax, consulting, and outsourced accounting services tailored for high-net-worth families, businesses, and various nonprofit organizations. Before integration plans took shape, KRD already had a four-year relationship with Aprio. The firm has shared its breadth of knowledge and services with KRD to help the team better serve clients’ evolving needs. As KRD’s future goals evolved, Jon says integrating with Aprio made sense. |
The Brief
Industry Specialty: Merged with Aprio: January 2025 |
But while Jon and his leadership team were excited about the opportunities that integration with Aprio presented, he also had some reservations — particularly around the firm’s size, which was significantly larger than KRD. But soon enough, his fears were relieved.
“The partner group at Aprio is very strong, inclusive, collaborative, and helpful,” says Jon, who is now Aprio’s Midwest regional leader encompassing Chicago, Schaumburg and Libertyville offices.
“They’re definitely a team, and I felt — and still feel — that my partners were incredibly engaged and dedicated to supporting me and my team during the integration process.”
The Opportunity
As Jon and his team navigated the integration with Aprio, he was initially concerned that once the merger was finalized, the hands-on support they received would fade. Fortunately, that wasn’t the case. Jon says Aprio’s partner group reinforces a strong sense of teamwork, which made him confident in their continued support.
Once KRD onboarded to Aprio, the firm conducted in-depth training sessions and instituted a comprehensive transition period for team members. Aside from participating in the sessions, Jon has felt empowered to share feedback about his experiences and even opportunities for improvement based on learnings gleaned from his team’s own integration journey.
He says this is a testament to Aprio’s culture of collaboration. “Aprio is entrepreneurial, high-energy, and growth-oriented,” Jon continues, citing the firm’s 31 Fundamentals and its commitment to embodying them from the top down.
“We quickly found the culture to be team-driven and positive, where everybody has a voice.”
Results & Growth
Since the merger was finalized, the KRD team has already experienced rapid growth. At an individual level, Jon has successfully cross-sold specialty tax services — including research and development (R&D) and cost segregation services — as well as business valuation solutions, Aprio EMS, and SALT studies.
What’s more, Jon and his team have referred work to other Aprio teams that have more experience in fintech and investment funds. “I have been able to reach out to people with strong technical abilities to get help in multiple segments,” says Jon.
“I’ve already brought more closed business to Aprio in 6 months by twofold than I ever did at KRD in a year.”
Jon attributes most of this success to Aprio’s diverse services and its strong team of technical specialists. Aprio’s cross-functional, single-source growth support significantly impacted the integration, providing the KRD team with the help and bench of talent it needed to reduce workloads, prioritize strategy, and scale faster.
Bottom LinePost-merger, Jon is proud of the growth and success his team has achieved. As he considers the future, Jon recognizes that Aprio offers the right opportunities for team members (from associates to C-level executives) to succeed and . He also cites Aprio’s commitment to recruiting the next generation of accounting and business advisory talent. “Looking forward, we are excited to leverage Aprio’s capabilities to hire some new partners for the Chicago area to help drive growth.” He also shares some advice for companies navigating a merger with Aprio: “Get well-acquainted with Aprio’s service lines and help share education and information, from senior managers to partners,” he says. “It’s also important to integrate your team members sooner and encourage them to visit other offices so they can meet other specialists in the firm from different industries and technical areas.” “The partner group is a strong, collaborative, entrepreneurial team. I know that if I need help with anything, one of my partners will be there to improve results,” Jon adds. Is your firm facing challenges in retaining top talent while keeping up with client growth? Contact Jon Segal to get started. Visit grow.aprio.com for more information. |
Goals Achieved
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