MOUNT VERNON — Keeping it local was the driving factor when owner Renee McDaniel considered a succession plan for her firm, McDaniel CPA.
That’s why she sold to Derek Shunk, owner of Mount Vernon CPA. The sale became effective Jan. 1.
“It was important to be locally owned and have local employees working here,” McDaniel said.
As a sole owner for 10 years, McDaniel wanted a succession plan.
“I have aging parents who live next door to me, and they’ll need more and more care,” she said. “I started to realize that if something happened during tax season, I didn’t have enough help.
“So that’s when I started thinking I needed needed an exit plan.”
McDaniel said she worked on a succession plan from several different angles.
“Originally, I was hoping I could promote a staff person to take over, but I think my staff watched the hours that I put in, and they didn’t want that,” she said.
“I could have sold to H&R Block; that didn’t appeal to me. I could have tried to attract someone from out of the area, but that didn’t appeal to me.”
Shunk moved to Mount Vernon in 2023 to join the CPA firm David Perry & Associates. He bought the company from Perry in 2025 and renamed it Mount Vernon CPA.
McDaniel and Shunk met through the small circle of CPAs in Knox County.
“We just want to be super community focused.”
Derek Shunk, owner Mount Vernon CPA
Shunk noted that many firms get bought by private equity firms.
“We’re keeping it in the community, and that’s huge,” he said.
‘Stronger, bigger, better’
McDaniel’s staff came with her to Mount Vernon CPA.
“That was important to me. I wanted to make sure I was taking care of my staff and taking care of my clients with this transition,” she said.
“My staff will still continue to work with the same clients that they’ve always worked with.”
Mount Vernon CPA relocated from East Ohio Avenue to McDaniel’s location on West Ohio Avenue. The firm now numbers around 25 employees.
“I’m a planner, so this was all just fitting right into my personality. I needed to have a plan, and I needed to have a transition. I want the clients to be comfortable.”
Renee McDaniel, CPA
“Being a single owner is no easy track, and I’m lucky because I have Renee and Dave next to me still, but that wasn’t what I was looking for. I was hoping to grow enough to bring people along with me to do the journey with,” Shunk said.
“We have three current CPAs, and hopefully we’ll have seven in the next year and a half because we have four staff members studying for it.”
However, he said his takeaway is how can we serve our clients the best?
“I think we’re going to be much stronger, bigger, and better to serve the community. I’m excited Renee or Dave didn’t sell to some big outfit. Now we can still be a small-town deal,” Shunk said.
“I hope someday I’m not the only owner. I hope other people can have what they [Renee and Dave] did for me. That was my goal in all of it.”
High standards, community-focused
When Shunk bought David Perry & Associates, Perry stepped back from full-time work but agreed to work part-time for two years.
McDaniel will work full-time for a couple of years and transition to working during tax season when Shunk has staff to replace her.
“It’s just my personality. I needed a slow transition. I can’t just stop; I needed to be eased into it,” McDaniel said.
“I’m hopeful it’ll be a really long transition,” Shunk said with a smile.
Shunk emphasized that not much will change within the firm.
“The standards aren’t changing,” he said. “I really want the firm to be more a part of the community in as many ways as we can. So this location is perfect for it. We’re right here in the heart of everything.”
McDaniel CPA won Main Street Mount Vernon’s Small Business of the Year Award in 2019.
McDaniel moved her business to 20 W. Ohio Ave. after purchasing the former Colonial Music building in 2017.
