Marshall Solomon, who received a bachelor’s degree in history, finds himself this year as the head of the largest accounting firm based in Orange County.
Deloitte LLP, the largest accounting firm operating in Orange County, in February named the 48-year-old Solomon as Orange County managing partner.
Of course, Solomon has more background than the history degree that he earned at the University of Virginia. He also holds a master’s degree in accountancy from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and is a certified public accountant and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and CA Society of CPAs.
“I was very interested in history,” Solomon said, explaining why he chose that undergraduate degree before becoming an accountant. “My dad’s a CPA. That piqued my interest.”
“What I like about the industry is we love helping people, whatever business situation that they’re encountering,” he said. “Over the course of my career, having that positive influence on others has stood out the most.”
Solomon succeeds Tim Brandt, who left Deloitte after 30 years to become global chief financial officer of Santa Ana-based Allied Universal, the world’s seventh largest private employer with more than 800,000 employees.
“Tim had a great opportunity with a well-respected Orange County company,” Solomon said. “We’re happy for Tim.”
Tax Expert
Solomon, born and raised in Newport Beach, attended Corona del Mar High School. After he returned to Orange County following college, he began working at Deloitte, where he’s spent his entire career.
Marshall’s specialty is corporate taxation, working as the lead tax partner and lead client service partner for several multi-national based corporations headquartered in Southern California in the financial services and technology, media and telecommunications industries.
Prior to becoming the managing partner, he served as the Office Tax managing partner of Deloitte’s Orange County tax practice, a role he continues to hold.
In his new role, Solomon oversees the effort to help drive client business growth and improve Deloitte’s positioning in the Orange County marketplace. Marshall oversees four key business areas: audit, tax, consulting, and advisory services and leads marketplace and community activities.
“Lot of people think of us just as an accounting firm,” Solomon said.
“What we do is solve complex problems. It could be technology related or strategy and operations. We’re historically known, we bring credibility to companies, and we help them meet regulations.
“If you have a business issue, we have people who are here and helping you to identify it and solve the problem.
The 175-year-old Deloitte is the largest professional services firm in the world with 333,000 employees in 150 countries, including 115,000 in the U.S. alone.
In Orange County, Solomon oversees a staff of 847 employees, a figure that is down 14% from a year ago. Its number of CPAs rose 5% to 189 while its number of OC partners declined 6.5% to 116.
He is a board member and treasurer at Big Canyon Country Club and an active supporter of various local charities, such as the Newport Harbor Educational Foundation and Share Our Selves, among others.
He emphasizes Deloitte employees perform charitable work, particularly in education.
“Our ability to have a really positive influence on the community at large is critically important to me,” he said.
The Trends
He said Deloitte is actively tracking three large trends.
• Cybersecurity has risen as private corporations are being hacked and forced to pay ransomware.
“There is incredible demand,” Solomon said. “We’re leaders in cybersecurity.”
• The coronavirus has of course changed the way companies are operating.
“The pandemic has been a great accelerator of change within business. The need to be digital and have technology has accelerated during the pandemic. We won’t go backwards. There will certainly be a much more remote work force.”
• The discussions in Washington D.C. about increasing taxes has caused a flurry of activity among accountants.
“We’re expecting tax changes to be made in 2021,” Solomon said. “The world isn’t getting less complicated. It’s getting more complicated each year.”
