Count it

Accountants Dick Kerkering and Allan Barberio grew tired of big-firm bureaucracy, so in 1972 they launched their own firm.

At first they worked out of a small office on St. Armands Circle in Sarasota. They used desktop adding machines. They typed financial statements.

The pair flourished in multiple ways, from growing the client base to creating an entrepreneurial comfort zone for bright, non-conformist accountants to being involved in the community. They were so successful that Sarasota-based Kerkering Barberio is now one of the largest independently owned accounting firms on the Gulf Coast and a top 200 firm nationwide.