Rödl & Partner USA and VonLehman announce joint venture

Relationship forms region's premier professional services firm for foreign owned companies

Cincinnati (Ohio), USA, 18 November 20201: Rödl & Partner USA, part of the global professional services firm Rödl & Partner based in Germany, and VonLehman CPA & Advisory Firm, a regional accounting and advisory firm headquartered in Ft. Wright, Kentucky, have formed a joint venture to better serve the region's leading foreign owned companies. Known as Rödl & Partner | VL, the combination of global reach, interdisciplinary approach, and focus on foreign owned mid-sized companies makes the joint venture unique and will provide international companies across the region with better insights for their success.

The joint venture aligns with the growth of Rödl & Partner USA, who has been serving the accounting and tax needs of primarily German speaking and other foreign owned companies operating in the U.S. for more than 45 years throughout its eight offices. The new location in Cincinnati will provide enhanced opportunities to better meet the needs of the significant German and European business community in the Greater Cincinnati area and the bordering states of Kentucky and Indiana. The region's core industries Advanced Manufacturing, Aerospace, Automotive and Food benefit from a talented workforce of 1.3 million workers and a strong logistics industry. According to the Cincinnati Regional Chamber, the area already has attracted more than 450 foreign companies.

"Rödl & Partner in the U.S. serves very specific clients – entities located in the U.S. that are owned by foreign parent companies. VonLehman also has a concentration of these types of entities, which are often in the manufacturing and distribution space. This region continues to be a huge growth area for that industry," said Beth Vice, a Shareholder with VonLehman and leader of the joint venture.

"By combining forces, we will be able to elevate how we serve these entities. This includes offering services we have not had in-house previously, including transfer pricing studies, international structuring, and an in-depth understanding of differences in accounting and tax standards in the U.S. versus international standards. Equally important, the joint venture will be headquartered right here in Greater Cincinnati, so our presence and knowledge of the local landscape remains intact."

Celebrating its 75^th anniversary, VonLehman is a leading full-service CPA and business advisory firm with 140 employees. With offices in Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana, VonLehman takes a proactive approach to accounting, tax, and strategic business advice for closely-held businesses, nonprofits and governmental entities. The firm has a focus in manufacturing and distribution, construction and real estate, nonprofit, professional services, and high net-worth individuals. For decades, VonLehman has honed its expertise in the manufacturing and distribution sector specifically to serve international clients with U.S. locations.

"Rödl & Partner is always there where its primarily European based manufacturing and distribution clients see the potential for their business engagement in the U.S. VonLehman's excellent reputation in the market and their significant market share in serving foreign owned companies in the region allows us to complement each other perfectly," said Matthias Amberg, Partner with Rödl & Partner in Chicago, Illinois.

"Our multilingual professionals, as well as our interdisciplinary approach, let us understand and meet the companies' needs and enables us together to find solutions for their complex cross border challenges, such as expatriate tax consulting, US-GAAP audits, and group reporting conversions."

VonLehman's Beth Vice, Audit Shareholder, and Ryan Redleski, Senior Tax Manager, will join the joint venture. Both Vice and Redleski will continue to be employed by VonLehman while continuing to work out of the firm's Fort Wright, Kentucky office. Vice will lead the joint venture focusing on audit and consulting while Redleski provides specialization in international tax to the team. Christian Hock, a Partner with Rödl & Partner, will support the joint venture. Hock was born in Germany and works out of Rödl & Partner's Chicago, Illinois office. Hock specializes in audit and tax.