ATLANTA | September 8, 2025– In 1980, Rick Bennett and Ken Thrasher were two young accountants at Price Waterhouse in Atlanta who wanted something different — a firm that valued people and family as much as technical excellence. “We wanted to raise our families in Atlanta,” Bennett recalled. Price Waterhouse was “transferring people from where they lived to other places, to try to, I guess, populate other places with new ideas. But we didn’t want to do that.” That September, seated at Bennett’s dining room table with their wives’ support, they decided to launch Bennett Thrasher LLP. Their goal: create a “positive work environment” built on collaboration, flexibility, and deep client relationships.
The firm grew steadily through the 1980s and ’90s, establishing a reputation as an alternative to the “taxing” corporate culture of the Big Four. When the Enron scandal rocked the accounting world and led to the fall of Arthur Andersen in 2002, Bennett Thrasher’s people-first values helped it thrive. “It was a tragedy,” said Thrasher. “But then, some of those [Arthur Andersen] partners started coming to us. That opened new channels of clients and new channels of talent.” During that time, Jeff Call, then a manager at Arthur Andersen, joined Bennett Thrasher to start its high-net-worth personal financial services practice – later becoming CEO in 2022. “I had a young family,” Call said. “I had been working 80-100 hours a week at Arthur Andersen, and was attracted by the flexibility of working at Bennett Thrasher.”
When the Great Recession hit, Bennett Thrasher again stood out for its people-first principles. “We made a decision as a partner group … that we were not going to do any staff cuts,” Bennett said. “We reduced our own [compensation] so we could hold our team in place. Then, when the economy came back, we went up like a hockey stick because we had our team in place to do it.” Today, the firm has nearly 500 employees and $125 million in annual revenue — one of the largest accounting and advisory firms based in Atlanta.
Now headquartered in the Riverwood 200 building in the Cumberland area, Bennett Thrasher has expanded with offices in Dallas and Denver, continuing to attract top talent and diverse clients across industries such as technology, real estate, manufacturing, distribution, and entertainment. “The Big Four is going to work people harder,” Call said. “Maybe their partners make a little bit more money than we do. But we think that it’s more important to have the quality of life.” That same principle guides the firm’s investment in people and innovation. “Taking care of our clients, but taking care of our families,” Call emphasized, remains at the core of Bennett Thrasher’s identity.
A symbol of the firm’s origins – Bennett’s dining table – now sits in the Founders Library at the Atlanta office, where Bennett, 72, and Thrasher, 74, still maintain offices. “We had an idea,” Bennett reflected. “We thought, we’ll give this a shot.” Four and a half decades later, that idea has become a thriving, nationally recognized firm built on trust, teamwork, and the belief that business success should never come at the expense of people.
About Bennett Thrasher
For more than four decades, Bennett Thrasher has provided businesses and individuals with strategic business guidance and solutions through professional tax, audit, advisory and outsourcing services. Our bold curiosity is at the heart of everything we do. Whether you’re a client or an associate, we help transform your vision into unprecedented success. Our approach has catapulted us into the ranks of the largest and fastest growing public accounting and advisory firms. Bennett Thrasher operates globally from our headquarters in Atlanta and is committed to diversity and the communities we serve. To learn more about Bennett Thrasher, visit us at www.btcpa.net.
Back to news
Never miss an update. Sign up to receive our monthly newsletter to unlock our experts' insights.
Subscribe Now