Dealership buy/sell advisory firm Kerrigan Advisors this week hired a new vice president who has been involved in accounting consulting to more than 150 dealerships across the country.

Kerrigan Advisors announced that Mercedes Hendricks has joined the firm as vice president, bringing extensive certified public accountant expertise and a deep understanding of the dealership industry to the company.

Hendricks will work directly with Kerrigan Advisors’ clients as they prepare their dealerships for sale, adjusting their financials to better reflect their true earnings and identifying opportunities for business improvement. In addition, she will spearhead Kerrigan Advisors’ new consulting services, which launched this summer.

“We are delighted to have Mercedes join the Kerrigan Advisors team,” said Ryan Kerrigan, managing director of Kerrigan Advisors. “We have worked with Mercedes for years and have always considered her among the very best in the industry. Her deep knowledge, and decades of experience, nicely enhance our firm’s capabilities.”

The firm highlighted those capabilities will be put to work with a new suite of consulting services for Kerrigan Advisors’ expanding roster of clients, including open point applications, transactional due diligence, litigation support and pre/post-closing accounting services.

“In addition to our sell-side work, we are often called upon by our clients to do various strategic consulting projects and to be a thought partner for key business decisions,” said Erin Kerrigan, founder and managing director of Kerrigan Advisors. “The addition of Mercedes to our team will further expand the scope of these activities and enhance our ability to offer the automotive industry the highest level of service through our new Kerrigan Advisors Consulting Services division.”

Prior to Kerrigan Advisors, Hendricks provided public accounting expertise in the areas of assurance and consulting. She also spent nine years with Crowe Horwath in their dealership services group. There she managed large projects ranging from traditional audit and review engagements to non-traditional consulting engagements, such as due diligence services in mergers and acquisitions, consolidations, reviews of internal controls and tests of compliance.

“She was a mentor and supervisor for teams and individuals from across the nation, and is considered a key thought leader in the automotive accounting services space,” Kerrigan Advisors said about Hendricks.

Founded in 2015, Kerrigan Advisors has represented transactions totaling more than $2.5 billion in automotive, private equity and investment banking, including the sale of 51 dealerships.