The year was 1944. Home from WWII, Sidney Padgett was ready to fulfill a lifelong dream-establishing his own accounting practice. Sidney recognized the need for good financial support services for the small businesses that formed the backbone of San Antonio’s financial community. These were the people he was dedicated to serving. In 1958, Sidney Padgett, Jr. joined his father, forming the firm Padgett & Padgett, located in the heart of downtown. A decade later, Ray Berend joined the firm, increasing the partnership to three.

As San Antonio began to feel the effects of a strong growth surge, the firm’s desire to meet and serve the needs of the growing construction business resulted in a merger with sole practitioner Malcolm Stratemann and the establishment of the firm’s first service niche. The well-planned merger was indeed fortuitous. The four partners of the newly named Padgett & Stratemann accounting firm shared the same business philosophy-uncompromising service to the client.

By the 1970s, Padgett & Stratemann grew from 7 to 19 professionals and support staff and relocated to the Northeast section of the city. However, during that decade, tragedy struck the growing firm - the death of Sidney Padgett, Sr., and within 18 months, the death of Sidney Padgett, Jr. This personal and professional loss reinforced the team’s resolve to ensure the continuation of the firm’s founding philosophy of client service.

As clients’ businesses grew, so did Padgett & Stratemann. The firm moved to a larger location and changed its name to Padgett, Stratemann & Co., L.L.P. (PS&Co.). While a group of similar size local accounting firms was merging with national firms, PS&Co. remained as one of only a handful of independent local firms serving the South Texas business and professional community. Guided by its commitment to clients, the firm focused on industry niches, working hard to deliver accounting and financial services with the quality that continues to be its trademark.

The firm was an early participant, beginning in 1977, in the voluntary triennial peer review under the stringent quality control standards set by the AICPA, a practice that remains part of the firm’s high standards today. It has been a member of the AICPA SEC, and Private Practice sections since their inception.

From the late 1970s through the 1980s, six new partners brought additional expertise in the areas of banking, medical practice, wholesale and manufacturing - niches that spoke directly to the needs of the South Texas economy. The 1990s brought many changes for PS&Co. with the acquisition of the San Antonio office of Grant Thornton International, strengthening the governmental service niche.

Additionally, in 1995 the firm joined the RSM McGladrey Network with invaluable access to the expertise and resources of RSM McGladrey, Inc., one of the nation’s largest accounting, tax, and consulting firms. Through our RSM McGladrey Network membership, our firm is also a member of RSM International, the world’s eighth-largest accounting and consulting organization. This international network enables the firm to think and respond globally. Through RSM International, including ten firms in Mexico, our professionals can access affiliated offices all over the world by computer or telephone, and their responses can be communicated to clients in a variety of languages.

But some elements never change, and for good reason. The team concepts that have been an integral part of the firm’s growth and expansion of the service niches are still characteristic today. Even though PS&Co. sees itself as a home-grown firm with all the local knowledge businesses need to thrive, it also has the sophistication, expertise, and global contacts of an international firm. In this way, clients are offered the best of both worlds. Many have been with the firm for more than four decades, and they have come to rely on the same business philosophy upon which the firm was founded many years ago:

"Service…More Than Expected!"