BDO History
BDO has had a long and prosperous history. Since the firm's founding as Seidman & Seidman 100 years ago, BDO has prided itself on values such as competence, honesty and integrity, professionalism, responsibility and accountability and dedication - values which have been critical to our continued growth and success.
BDO was founded by Maximillian L. (M.L.) Seidman as Seidman and Seidman in New York City in 1910. At that time, the accounting profession was in its infancy, with fewer than 2,200 practicing CPAs in the United States. In 1913, the 16th amendment of the Constitution allowed income tax to be levied on individual Americans for the first time. M. L. Seidman quickly recognized the accountant's role in providing comprehensive tax planning to individuals. By 1917, Congress enacted the first revenue bills, and the U.S. entry into World War I created the need for corporate income and excess profit taxes. At the same time, federal spending rose to $18.9 billion - with 58 percent of the federal revenues provided from income taxes. M.L. Seidman and his siblings, who joined him in his new accounting firm, seized the opportunity to provide comprehensive tax planning not only to individuals, but now also to businesses.
An era of expansion began. Fostered by the federal government's conversion of furniture and woodworking companies to aircraft production for the war effort, the firm opened an office in Michigan in 1917. Seidman and Seidman quickly established itself as a leader in serving the furniture industry by developing the first effective furniture plant costing system.
The firm continued to grow, becoming a truly national firm by the 1960s and converting into a national general partnership. In 1963, the firm joined other accounting firms from Canada, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Germany in a movement to create an international organization under the name of Binder Seidman International Group (BSIG), the predecessor to BDO International.
In 1973, BSIG's partner firms proposed a new group, called BDO (Binder Dijker Otte & Co) after the founding members, which would have a strong European presence. The international organization they formed has since expanded into today's BDO International, the world's fifth largest international accounting and consulting network, with 1,138 Member Firm offices in 115 countries.
Today, BDO, the U.S. Member Firm of BDO International Limited, has 39 offices and more than 400 independent alliance locations nationwide.
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