Pictured: Stuart Kessler and Jonathan Moore

PKF O'Connor Davies, one of the nation's largest accounting, tax and advisory practices, announced that its subsidiary, PKF Clear Thinking, integrated under the PKF O'Connor Davies name, effective January 29, 2025. PKF Clear Thinking's business lifecycle advisory solutions was rebranded as "Turnaround and Restructuring Services" within PKF O'Connor Davies' Strategy and Transaction Advisory practice, reflecting the organization’s ongoing commitment to delivering innovative and specialized advisory solutions.  TSL Express’ senior editor sat down with Stuart Kessler, senior advisor at PKF O’Connor Davies and Jonathan Moore, partner-in-charge of Advisory Services at PKF O'Connor Davies, to discuss the integration and how combining the expertise of both firms creates added value.

TSL: Can you provide an overview of the transition of PKF Clear Thinking’s business being rebranded as "Turnaround and Restructuring Services" within PKF O'Connor Davies' Strategy and Transaction Advisory practice? What led to this decision?

Jonathan Moore: As partner-in-charge of Advisory Services, I was reviewing our client service offerings, and it became clear that there were additional opportunities for us to expand our advisory vertical. We saw what the Clear Thinking team was doing from a value preservation and value creation standpoint, and realized that there was a lot of overlap with what we were doing. It was an opportunity to bring the full power of the organization to the table to help with clients and projects.

By improving alignment, especially from a strategy and transaction advisory perspective, as well as from a forensic and bankruptcy standpoint, the organization had a lot more to offer, which may have previously been overlooked.

Stuart Kessler: Adding to Jon’s point, we’ve been around for so long, 20-plus years that I’ll admit to, and I think people had a preconceived notion of what Clear Thinking was. In conversations with Jon and the team, we thought that we had a greater opportunity to speak to what the organization really was in its entirety. We wanted to shift the perception from, "We've known them for 20 years, and this is what Clear Thinking does," to a broader understanding of the organization as a whole.

What are the primary objectives of this integration, and how do you see it benefiting PKF O’Connor Davies’ clients?

Moore: One thing we've realized over the years from working with the Clear Thinking team is that, when strategically advising companies or stakeholders through a distressed time period, people sometimes would get dropped into a silo. However, the knowledge and skillset of the Clear Thinking team could be more broadly leveraged across many of our traditional accounting and tax clients, as well as within our advisory services. We do extensive work with large founder led companies, private equity and venture capital firms, and I believe it's important to adopt a more holistic view of the full breadth and depth of skills that the team offers. Many team members and leaders bring diverse backgrounds, having worked on large, complex projects and multinational engagements, which means their experience goes far beyond just the local level.

Kessler: Another point we discussed is our goal to continue expansion under a full-service umbrella. We want everybody to understand we can and do handle any size assignment. We’ve got the breadth, the depth and the experience. We are working to streamline the services and become more personally involved, as you would expect, while leveraging the full range of our resources and services.

Being part of PKF O’Connor Davies, we can enhance efficiency and reduce costs because we have the support of an investment banking team and a transaction advisory team. As Jon mentioned, we provide several services under one umbrella. When working on an assignment, we don’t have to expend effort bringing external partners up to speed. We have the experts available in-house which allows for greater improvement from a timing perspective and from a cost perspective because there’s no need to stop and start. We are one organization that can handle everything, up to and including a Recruiting andHuman Resources Consulting Services team that works as an outsourced HR consulting firm and offers expertise to companies in the search for and hiring of qualified accounting and finance professionals. 

Those resources weren’t necessarily attributable to Clear Thinking, but are part of PKF O’Connor Davies. We think it adds significant value for clients working in secured finance.

Moore: Historically, there was more awareness around the Clear Thinking team’s work in the consumer retail industry. As a firm, we have deep sector expertise in the financial services industry. In addition to working with private equity and venture capital funds, we are active within the healthcare, construction and manufacturing industries. These cyclical industries tend to be heavily reliant on financing sources and have a lot of capital needs. The ability to apply skillsets from a services perspective coupled with deep sector expertise creates additional benefits for clients. It also creates numerous career opportunities, offering individuals various pathways to pursue.

In the U.S., PKF O’Connor Davies has 19 offices with over 200 partners and 1,500 professionals. PKF Global has representatives in 150 countries, in more than 400 cities and 30,000 professionals globally. Many of us in PKF Global have spent time working on large multinational complex engagements and know first-hand that we have the full power of 30,000 people globally to really support our clients.

How will this consolidation enhance the service offerings for businesses in the secured finance industry?

Kessler: First and foremost, the comprehensive service offerings and the combined capabilities we bring as a unified organization will benefit the industry at large. We were speaking with an ABL lender recently who said, “I wish I had someone we could talk to because I’ve got some questions about China and tariffs.” I pointed to the Asia desk and our PKF Global offices in China to help contextualize the other side of what they are seeing, including its potential impact on the supply chain and collateral. We think that’s going to add a great deal of value because our global strength and the services we offer help set us apart.

Forensic work is another great example, and the service offerings become a substantial benefit when you’re considering some of the asset-based loan issues that have occurred. These are going to come to the forefront when you talk about tariffs and drawbacks, along with other topics that are going to be trending for the next several years relative to the industry. It’s clearly something that we look at as an advantage.

Additionally, when we become involved in turnaround situations, it’s often because one side or the other has lost confidence in their finance team. The benefit of the PKF O’Connor Davies relationship is being able to have access to a broad range of professionals to assist as needed.

What changes should clients expect in terms of service delivery, team structure, or engagement processes?

Moore: It should be a positive and seamless experience. Stu is transitioning to a senior advisor role. Pat Diercks and Joe Marchese, both partners at PKF O'Connor Davies Advisory LLC, have been with the team for 15 to 20 years and are well-versed in the industry. The continuity remains, and I think it will result in direct access to a broader array of subject matter experts.

You touched on this with tariffs, but in other areas affected by the current economic climate, how would this position PKF O’Connor Davies to better support distressed companies and turnaround situations?

Kessler: The integrated offering provides a substantial benefit to distressed companies and referral sources. We can come in and cover several different disciplines under one roof and that’s going to, in our opinion, reduce time and expenses. When we get involved in distressed situations, the two things we find lacking are capital and time. With this integrated offering, we expect we’ll be able to maximize both and increase our partnership.

What we're seeking is not just a relationship with a distressed company, but an opportunity to leverage our innovative offerings to support their restructuring efforts. Once they transition to the next phase, we can assist with everything from cybersecurity and tax solutions to operational improvements. We’re looking to build long-term relationships, not necessarily just a one-off where we’re referred into a client and it’s the inherent adversarial relationship.

Moore: That is a great point, Stu. I also think both firms have always been very relationship-focused with our referral sources and clients. Even when we’re working on an engagement with a company that might not have been our client initially, we prioritize helping them navigate their challenges, building a relationship that ensures continuity of services in the future.

Are there any specific trends that you’re seeing now within restructuring and financial advisory? What are your predictions for the coming year?

Kessler: The digital transformation is huge, both on the lending and company side, with restructuring teams. The industry will have to look at how AI is going to be used and what that really means. I think 2025 and beyond is going to bring dramatic change to the industry.

We’re looking at the whole entrée of private credit, what that means and how that works within a restructuring perspective. Certainly, I think regulatory changes are going to be dramatic in the industry. I think we’re going to see less regulation. What does that mean for the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) regulated lenders, to private credit and how does that impact restructuring? Recently, many troubled companies have found they can’t borrow their way out of trouble due to high interest rates and hesitation from some OCC-regulated lenders. Given today’s economic landscape, there’s tremendous opportunity to leverage developments in Washington, D.C. At the same time, there’s growing reluctance to pursue bankruptcy due to the high costs involved. As a result, we’re seeing more out-of-court restructurings, and this trend will likely continue.

Moore: Separately, there is an ongoing trend for more leverage on outsourcing or fractional roles, and I think that’s an area where we are able to tap a larger talent pool and can provide more resources for our clients. PKF O’Connor Davies operates four offices in India with nearly 200 employees, many of whom are client-facing. Our expanded team can offer cost-effective solutions to both our clients and referral sources.