Borland Benefield celebrates 100 years

When William Howard Borland Sr. hung his name on a door in what is now the City Federal building in downtown Birmingham in 1922, he had no way of knowing he was starting an accounting practice that would last 100 years.

But that’s exactly what happened.

The Borland Benefield firm, now headquartered in the Synovus building on a plot of unincorporated land off Shades Creek Parkway between Mountain Brook and Homewood, is celebrating its centennial.

Sixty-five percent of businesses fail during the first 10 years, and only 25% of businesses last 15 years or more, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Economist Chris Mayer said there are only about 1,000 companies in the United States that have survived 100 years, and that’s out of more than 32.5 million companies around today.

John Wilson, the current president and managing director for Borland Benefield, said the firm’s emphasis on taking care of clients and putting quality first are what helped make it successful.

“That’s how Howard Borland did it. That’s how Joe Benefield did it,” Wilson said. “We’re following their lead.”

In the early days, the firm’s clientele included personal taxes and commercial accounts in the industrial and manufacturing sector, reflecting the business landscape in Birmingham at the time.

Borland became an early leader in the Alabama Society of CPAs, helping grow the reputation of the company and expand the business. He served as president of the group in 1948, according to a history of the company on its website.

In 1951, Borland formed a partnership with his son, and the firm operated as William Howard Borland & Son for the next 20 years.

The 1970s brought a lot of change. In 1971, Joseph Benefield became a partner, and the firm became Borland, Borland & Benefield. However, a little over a year later, the elder Borland died, leaving his son and Benefield. The younger Borland soon withdrew from the firm to pursue Christian ministry.

Benefield in 1972 crafted a partnership with David Crawford but kept the name as Borland, Benefield & Crawford. As part of the change, the firm moved to Office Park in Mountain Brook and a few years later bought an office building on Highland Avenue in Birmingham.

Alice Helms, who joined the firm as secretary and administrative assistant in 1950 and stayed with it for 58 years until her retirement in 2008, said she loved working there. She also was one of seven investors in the building on Highland Avenue.

“Mr. Borland was just one of the sweetest men you could ever hope to know,” she said. “And Mr. Benefield was the ultimate gentleman. He never raised his voice, at least not at me.”

Working for Borland was a joy, but he also demanded high-quality work, Helms said. “Mr. Borland didn’t like mistakes. You learned that you had to do it right the first time so you wouldn’t have to do it over,” she said. “You didn’t do a sloppy job and get by with it. Somebody checked what you did. It was well run.”

The office was always very professional but not stiff, Helms said. “We had fun.”

In 1977, Sheldon Webster joined the firm as a partner and helped modernize it, creating an audit department and a tax department. Webster, an adventurer who liked to travel, also helped the firm establish an affiliation with BKR International, a worldwide association of independent accounting firms. That gave Borland, Benefield, Crawford & Webster an international reach and helped it expand its services into securities trades and other arenas. Webster eventually became chairman of BKR International in 2003.

William Jeffares and Allen Collins came on board as shareholders in the 1970s and ’80s, and in 1984, the firm opened a satellite office in Florence. In 1985, Jeffares unexpectedly died, and Benefield retired after more than 35 years as a shareholder.

In the 1990s, the firm merged with Michael Johnson, and Jeffery Chandler became a shareholder. To accommodate the growth, the firm moved to Southbridge Parkway and shortened its name to Borland Benefield.

There were several major changes in 2003: Benefield died, Webster became the worldwide chairman of BKR, Chandler was named president and managing director for Borland Benefield and Wilson became a shareholder.

There are not many firms that can say they have that sort of longevity.

John Wilson

The next decade brought the retirements of Crawford and Webster and several promotions. Dena Davis became a shareholder and took charge of the Florence office, and the firm brought Dede Hutcheson on as chief operating officer. In 2009, the firm moved to an office on Highland Avenue, where it would stay for 10 years until moving to its current location at the Synovus building in 2019.

However, before that move, in 2017 Borland Benefield went through a major merger with Lovoy, Summerville & Shelton, which effectively doubled the size of the firm and added three new shareholders — Michelle Granberry, Jeff O’Neal and Lloyd Shelton. The firm gained an office in Auburn with that merger, and its overall staff grew from about 30 people to 50, Wilson said.

Wilson, who became managing director about more than a year ago, said the firm’s clientele has changed over the decades as Birmingham’s economy has evolved to include more health care and service companies.

Borland Benefield also started a group to serve nonprofits about 20 years ago and has a strong hold with more than 50 clients in that arena, Wilson said.

One of the biggest changes the firm has undergone is in technology, he said. Borland Benefield was one of the first firms in the area to use mobile computers in the 1990s, he said. The first mobile computers were carried around in giant trunks, which is much different than the laptops carried around in backpacks today, he said.

Also, Borland Benefield a couple of years ago started an accounting services group that greatly automates bookkeeping for clients, with direct downloads from clients’ banks and credit card companies, he said.

Borland Benefield today has thousands of clients, with about 75% in Alabama and more than 50% in the Birmingham area, Wilson said. There also are some international clients, and the continued affiliation with BKR helps serve those, he said.

The pandemic slowed down some of the solidification of the last merger, but “we’re really at a point now where we’re poised to grow again,” Wilson said.

There are huge possibilities for another merger, he said. There are a lot of CPAs who will be retiring in the next 10 to 15 years, and some may not have succession plans and may want to combine or sell their firms, he said.

Borland Benefield has talked to a number of people the past few years, but “the right thing has to present itself,” Wilson said. “If the culture doesn’t work, then it can be really hard to accomplish.”

Borland Benefield also certainly likes to see organic growth and has a full-time recruiting team, Wilson said.

“The barrier to entry to get into accounting for young people is pretty high,” he said. “We’re spending a lot of time looking for bright, young people, but we’re doing a good job of it.”

Part of the culture at Borland Benefield is having a work/life balance, he said. “A lot of people pay lip service to that, but we pride ourselves in not being a sweatshop,” he said.

Sometimes you hear horror stories of accountants working late nights and drinking coffee all weekend, but “we try not to do that,” he said. Instead, Borland Benefield gives a lot of its people flex time and alternating remote work days, he said.

While Borland and Benefield themselves have been gone for a long time, the firm keeps their names because of the good name recognition and the history of quality work, Wilson said.

“We’re proud of it,” he said. “There are not many firms that can say they have that sort of longevity.”

And he thinks the Borlands and Benefield would be proud of what the firm has become, he said. “I think they’d be pleased with the size we are now and the things we’re doing.”