Entrepreneur Wolfgang Stamnitz passed away on Sunday, April 18, 202 from cardiac arrest. At his desk. Suddenly and unexpectedly.
Wolfgang Stamnitz was chairman of the board of ACCONSIS in Munich. Together with his partners Stefan Herzer and Dr. Andreas Hofner, he was a pioneer of modern client-oriented tax and legal consulting and auditing. Raising “client satisfaction” to the top level of priorities was unusual in this industry. Transferring management know-how and skills such as controlling to law firm operations was also new.
Number and sense
In the trio of the then young management, Wolfgang Stamnitz was an exceptional champion of industry renewal, and in the firm, the celebrated and tireless advocate for new ideas. He was passionate about his work, set high goals and pushed for continuous progress.
The professional focus and, above all, the personalities of the three partners were so different – and yet the three were so complementary that they shared an implicit understanding of fundamendal values and strategic issues. In the quarter century of intensive collaboration, a deep trust grew.
It became clear that the enthusiastic competitor, who never avoided confrontation, had a keen sense of community: where the WE ends, the fun ends. That was a matter close to his heart. He could get carried away. The community must become better, for everyone, preferably every day, he believed numbers are not a value in themselves, according to his credo, but they are existential- they only arise in togetherness.
Growth through togetherness
The high demand for togetherness has an impact on the firm’s day-to-day business and opens up special growth opportunities. The fact that ACCONSIS and its Munich-based predecessor firm have expanded continuously over the past 25 years is due not only to the acquisition of law firms but also to the fact that their integration into the firm has been so effective and harmonious. The employees played a significant role in this. They were committed to helping new colleagues find a new home at the firm, introducing them to unwritten rules and forging camaraderie with them. At times, the expansion took place on an annual basis; the colleagues who were still new yesterday were already helping to introduce the “newcomers” to the firm. ACCONSIS is a living community.
Leading a firm on a growth course for a quarter of a century requires constant negotiations and decision-making. The cheerful and exciting cooperation of the management trio formed the basis for a success story in the market of legal and tax consulting and auditing.
Their collaboration began in the mid-nineties as young managing partners of Consilia Munich. Its co-founder, Edgar Herzer, continued to be involved in operations for a long time. As a corporate culture leader, he introduced the three “young savages” to the value-oriented dimension of entrepreneurship.
The decisive stage
The master stage began in 2016, when the three partners, with Wolfgang Stamnitz as the initiator, acquired the Munich location of the Consilia Group in a management buyout and reestablished it as ACCONSIS.
In the years since, new areas of expertise and services have been developed and integrated into the client service, such as “Startup & New Businesses” and “Private Solutions” for high net worth clients.
With the establishment of the “ACCONSIS Future Workshop”, looking to the future has been made a professional topic for all employees. All developments affecting the firm’s field of expertise are critically reflected upon in the workshop and put into practical relation to ACCONSIS and its clients. The performance profile and the operational infrastructures have been brought up to date. Numerous awards attest to this, from Manager Magazin, Focus Money and Handelsblatt to DATEV, which honored ACCONSIS as a “Digital Law Firm” in 2019 and 2020.
Last but not least, a young management team has been built up that is already proving itself in the largely independent operational management of ACCONSIS. Leadership succession is proceeding in an orderly fashion.
All of this promoted expansion: in merely five years, ACCONSIS has grown by nearly 100%. The number of employees rose from around 60 in 2016 to 120 today.
He will be missed
Wolfgang Stamnitz turned 61 years old. He is survived by his wife Ursula, who is a teacher, and two adult children. Family was the center of his life. He lived for them, and probably through them.
He remains irreplaceable, for friends and close companions, even for many people who had “only” a business relationship with him, Wolfgang Stamnitz leaves lasting memories and connections.