Private equity investment firm grows company with trusted real estate guidance

Our client’s need

This leading global investment firm has more than 35 years of deep real estate industry knowledge and experience. They span three segments: private equity, credit, and investment solutions. Within their private equity segment, they have more than $160 billion in assets under management. Baker Tilly has worked with this client for nearly 20 years, growing together and building a trusted relationship while guiding them through new obstacles as they expanded their business.

The investment firm was previously using a Big Four accounting firm to do their tax work. Costs were skyrocketing, but they were not achieving the results they wanted. The accounting firm’s team underwent numerous changes lacking consistency; thus, projects were not getting done on time. Feeling stuck and frustrated, the investment firm desired consistent and better results.

Baker Tilly solution and results

After positive experiences working with Baker Tilly on audits, the investment firm trusted Baker Tilly with their tax work as well. Baker Tilly invested time to understand the company’s process and challenges. Having both audit and tax work with the same advisor made the investment firm’s day-to-day tasks easier and created more efficiencies so they could focus on other aspects of their business.  

By being responsive and providing solution-driven services, Baker Tilly became their valued business advisor. When the investment firm started a real estate investment trust (REIT), Baker Tilly assisted with the compliance and testing complexities REIT funds require. Having the knowledge and background of the company’s properties, Baker Tilly was able to handle the requirements with ease while demonstrating a borderless communication approach on projects with other accounting firms serving the investment firm to collaboratively produce solutions.  

Baker Tilly became the investment firm’s first call and a one-stop-shop for their business advisory needs. Growing with the investment firm, Baker Tilly has provided and continues providing additional consulting work, including 

• Due diligence on asset purchases 
• Cyber assessments 
• Fraud inspection and recovery
• A tableau dashboard for REIT testing  
• Digital solutions for qualitative data collection  
• An automated system for aggregating and standardizing trial balance data  
• Construction risk management services 
• State and local tax consulting  
• JV compliance scoring

For more information on this topic, or to learn how Baker Tilly specialists can help, contact our team.