The accounting and consulting firms of Alerding CPA Group (Indianapolis, Indiana) and Blue & Co., LLC (Carmel, Indiana) have announced their merger. The combined firm will operate as Blue & Co., LLC (Blue & Co.), effective Dec. 1, 2022.

This acquisition will provide Blue & Co. with a greater market share in the Indianapolis metropolitan area. Blue & Co. will be adding more than 20 employees from Alerding, including four Directors (partners) with expertise in Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) consulting, trustee services, mergers and acquisitions, succession planning, and business and personal tax strategies. Alerding brings extensive niche experience serving the needs of Manufacturing, Construction, Not-for-Profit, Professional Services, and Tech industries in the Midwest.

“We are thrilled to announce this merger with the Alerding CPA Group, a 2022 Inside Public Accounting Top 500 Firm,” said Brad Shaw, managing director of Blue & Co., LLC. “Michael (Mike) Staton and Dave Garrett were both former employees at Blue, so it has been very exciting to welcome them back. We are confident that the addition of the outstanding team from Alerding will help us deepen our ability to serve our clients throughout the Midwest, especially in Indianapolis. Alerding is a perfect fit for Blue and our firm’s growth strategy. We continue to look for accounting and consulting firms with cultures similar to Blue & Co., including a passionate focus on client experience and service.”

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Mike Staton is one of the founding members of Alerding CPA Group and is a graduate of Marian University where he received his B.S. in Accounting. He is a current member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and the Indiana CPA Society and is the treasurer of the Indiana State Certified Development Corporation. Staton has been in public accounting for 36 years.

“We’ve always tried to put our clients’ needs ahead of everything else and it is for that reason that we ultimately came to this decision to join a prestigious firm like Blue & Co.,” said Staton. “While we are ecstatic about this tremendous expansion opportunity, we want our clients to rest assured that they will still enjoy the same local, personalized service that they have come to value with the added benefit of a large network of resources.”

Dave Garrett is a graduate of Radford University in Virginia where he received his B.S. in Accounting. He is a current member of the AICPA and the Indiana CPA Society and provides financial guidance to the Center for Victim and Human Rights. Garrett has been in public accounting for 30 years.

In addition to Staton and Garrett, Jered Fuquay and Sarah Gregory will join Blue as Directors and Lou Ann Taylor will join Blue as a Director Emeritus.

Jered Fuquay is a graduate of Indiana University where he received his B.S. in Accounting and Finance and The University of Texas where he received his M.S. in Professional Accounting. He is a current member of the AICPA, the Indiana CPA Society, and the Institute of Internal Auditors. Fuquay has been in public accounting for 20 years. He has served on multiple audit and finance committees of local and national not-for-profit organizations, including committee roles with the Ronald McDonald House of Indiana, Mother Theodore Catholic Academies, and the United Spinal Association.

Sarah Gregory is a graduate of Indiana University where she received her B.S. in Accounting and Finance. She is a current member of the AICPA, the Indiana CPA Society, and the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners. Gregory is a Finance Committee Member for Dress for Success Indianapolis and has been in public accounting for 16 years.

Lou Ann Taylor is a graduate of Old Dominion University where she received her B.S. in Accounting. She is a current member of the AICPA and the Indiana CPA Society. Taylor has been in public accounting for more than 25 years.

This team and their staff bring more than 126 years of experience to Blue and will total more than 480 professionals in 10 offices across three states.

To learn more, visit www.blueandco.com/alerding-merger.