By ALLISSA KLINE
Business First

The Bonadio Group is making its way across New York state.

The CPA firm's merger last week with an Albany-based firm, The DR Group, brings the total number of Bonadio staff to about 350 people across six markets: Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Geneva, Albany and Perry in Wyoming County.

It is the firm's third merger in three years - and it won't be the last, according to Phil Mann, managing partner of the Buffalo office.

"We're looking to become a mega-regional accounting firm, and our goal is to have at least 100 people in four major offices within the next three years," he said. "We're actively seeking mergers on a daily basis."

First announced in July, the deal with The DR Group means an additional 65 to 70 former DR Group employees now work for The Bonadio Group. Annual revenues are expected to approach $45 million.

The merger enhances the firm's expertise in construction, government and tax-exemption accounting services and adds three new products - human-resources consulting, valuations and appraisals, and medical and dental practices - to its list of services, Mann said. HR consulting and valuations were formerly outsourced.

The Bonadio Group plans to expand its four main offices - in Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Albany - through mergers, Mann said. Right now, about 180 staff work in Rochester, 50 to 60 work in Buffalo and 30 work in Syracuse, he said.

Merging will "give us better economies of scale and better expertise in the areas we practice," he said.

"Clients want specialists. They don't want generalists anymore," he said. "We think if we have 100 people per office, we'll have enough bench strength per office to manage our major areas of expertise."

The Bonadio Group first merged with Buffalo-based Fiddler and Co. in 2005. Two years later, it brought in the Loguidice & Kamide firm in Syracuse.

The most recent merger is not a buyout, Mann added. "We're taking their assets and combining them with our assets," he said.