Five of the profession's top, hands-on consultants are joining together to create FrontLine Consultants. The group differentiates itself in that each consultant actually implements strategies in firms' functional areas: IT systems, external technology consulting, practice management, marketing and sales, H.R. and operations.

The consultants are Robert Gallagher, R.J. Gallagher & Associates, Pittsburgh; Roman Kepcyzk; InfoTech Partners North America, Phoenix; Tom Davis, Davis Nichols & Associates, Valdosta, Ga.; Jeffrey Pawlow, The Growth Partnership, St. Louis; and Peter Middlemass, Upstream Academy, Helena, Mont. Each has years of experience with CPA firms, from consulting with MPs to installing solutions.

Each functional area is a critical component of a firm's overall financial health, says Kepcyzk, but most fall beyond the core competencies of today's CPA. "FrontLine's approach is that you have experts in each functional area lending support to firms," says Middlemass. "Our core competency as a group is helping firms achieve sustainable, profitable growth by leading the development of their vital but noncore activities."

FrontLine is a collaboration of skills. "Each of these functional areas is in some way interrelated," says Gallagher. "That gives FrontLine, and our clients, a competitive advantage. As a group, we are able to assist a firm in a 360-degree fashion, focusing on the health of the entire organization, not just the symptoms of a specific part."

EDITOR'S NOTE: For phone numbers and email addresses of each consultant, please send an email, with "FrontLine Contacts" in the subject line, to Ikoontz@hs-bowmans.com.