Sobel, a former president of the New Jersey Society of CPAs, is one of the most prominent members of the New Jersey accounting profession. Formerly running SobelCo, the firm founded by his father, Sobel is now managing principal for New Jersey of CLA, following its acquisition.

In February, Sobel explained the rationale for the deal in an interview with NJBIZ. “Every four to five years as a firm we’ve always undertaken a strategic planning process, and this year was no different. We started this process in April and like many strategic planning processes, we go through a SWOT analysis,” he said. “We look at our strengths, we look at our weaknesses, the opportunities and threats.  … We really got focused on the threats that were really taking place in our industry overall. There are a lot of things happening … There’s a shortage of accountants in this industry, and so it’s causing a war for talent not like I’ve ever seen before. There is a tremendous amount of investment that’s required in technology, and whether it’s to fend off cybersecurity threats, or whether it’s the adoption of artificial intelligence to be able to better provide services to our clients, and we provide deeper analysis and data, analytics and things of that nature, whatever it may be. Technology was obviously the forefront as well, which comes up with a very huge price. And you know we were told by our consultants that we would should be prepared to spend, seven-figure type investments over the next three to four years. And probably that would continue for a long, long time.”

Hence the merger with Minneapolis-based CLA, a top-10 national firm, which became effective right in the middle of tax season. Sobel said the integration process went ahead, thanks in part to CLA’s experience with mergers.

Sobel insists that the combined firm will continue to serve New Jersey clients at the level they have come to expect. “Within our market, we will have a fair amount of flexibility to deliver our services, and the way we deliver it – in the way we go to market, in a way that really kind of meets the New Jersey unique marketplace,” he said. “And you and I both know that New Jersey is unique.”

Recognizing his historic role – and his new responsibilities – Sobel earned the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2023 NJBIZ Leaders in Finance event earlier this year.