A Bowling Green business with a 75-year history is answering the phone with a new greeting today.

Holland CPAs, with offices in Bowling Green and in Russellville, now answers the phone “CRI” after a merger between Holland and Alabama-based Carr, Riggs & Ingram was approved this month.

“I know people are thinking, ‘Oh, he’s getting older and ready to retire so this is a sellout,’ but that’s not the case,” said Steve Wheeler, chairman of Holland’s board.

“This is like a marriage … when you each had a car and now you each have two cars,” Wheeler said. “It’s a merger of assets, not a buyout.”

All the employees will remain the same, including Wheeler and the other partners, Cliff Long, Lanny White and Laurie Holloway, and will become partners in CRI.

Wheeler said CRI brings breadth and depth of expertise that previously wasn’t available to Holland clients.

Bill Carr, managing partner for CRI, said his company has 600 employees in eight states, including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas, not including its partners. Its offices are in both metropolitan areas, such as Nashville, and smaller communities, such as Bowling Green. Holland had 44 employees.

Not only will all employees remain on board, Carr said he envisions opportunities to hire more employees here as the office takes on new clients.

Wheeler said they will become more aggressive in pursuing larger accounts that they haven’t been able to service in the past, such as larger universities, industrial clients and an expanded base in the construction industry.

“We were restrained because of our capacity to seek new clients,” Wheeler said. “We will also be able to serve our existing clients more completely.”

CRI is the nation’s 32nd largest CPA firm, providing auditing and accounting, tax and business consulting services to customers that include 100 banks and 400 contractors, Carr said.

Wheeler said government regulations have become more complex, making the day-to-day operation of business, tax reporting and the auditing of those operations more complex.

“We wanted to put some more tools in the tool box,” Wheeler said.

After an exhaustive search of other firms, Wheeler said the two companies “courted” each other to see if a merger made sense.

Wheeler said CRI had what they wanted, with a presence in larger markets but yet had “not lost the personal touch with their clients.

“It’s really a compliment to Bowling Green for us to be able to attract a business such as CRI,” Wheeler said.

Carr said in addition to a large staff, his company brings to the table the resources needed for continued professional and leadership development to keep up with those changing regulations.

White said the association also will provide more opportunities for Western Kentucky University accounting and business graduates to stay in Bowling Green if they wish.

Carr said the company makes it a point to be involved with universities where it is located and will be recruiting for firm employees companywide at each of those locations.