Oakville, Ont.-based accretive 360 Inc., the owner of Accretive Advisor, an online matchmaking service for financial advisors and potential clients, has acquired Toronto-based Advisor Impact Inc. in an effort to create synergy between the two firms.

As a part of the deal, Advisor Impact founder Julie Littlechild becomes managing director of research at Accretive Advisor, as well as a member of Accretive Advisor’s executive committee. She will also remain president and CEO of Advisor Impact, which will continue to operate under its existing name. Advisor Impact provides research and consulting services to financial advisors.

Becoming part of a larger company is a big transition for the entrepreneurial Littlechild, who has been running Advisor Impact independently since founding the firm in 1998.

“It’s a substantial change as a business owner,” she says. “The fact that I have sold my business to become a part of something larger is really a testament to what Accretive is doing.”

Launched this past January, Accretive Advisor operates similarly to the services provided by eHarmony Inc., which matches singles based on compatibility. In Accretive Advisor’s case, however, potential clients are matched up with financial advisors based on the preferences of both parties.

Investors complete online profiles describing themselves and the types of advisors they are seeking. Advisors fill out profiles describing their target market and perfect clients. Accretive Advisor then surveys both types of profiles and recommends two to three advisors for a potential client to contact.

Initially, Accretive Advisor had partnered with Littlechild in November 2010 to give advisors access to Advisor Impact’s Client Audit tool. By using Client Audit, a program that measures how effectively an advisor is serving his or her clients based on critical relationship criteria, an advi-sor with a high enough score becomes “Accretive Certified” and can post that company’s official seal on his or her online profile.

The partnership arrangement quickly turned into an acquisition when both Littlechild and Randy Ambrosie, Accretive 360’s founder and the former president of Toronto-based AGF Funds Inc., realized the synergy they could create if their businesses came together.

“Julie’s firm has more than a decade’s worth of experience in building scientific research around client/advisor relationships,” says Ambrosie. “That fits in with our goal at Accretive Advisor. We want to find a scientific way to ensure advisors and clients are better matched up from the beginning.”

In addition to the overlap between Accretive Advisor’s and Advisor Impact’s business objectives, the acquisition makes sense logistically. In fact, part of Accretive Ad-visor’s team has now moved into Advisor Im-pact’s downtown To-ronto offices, in the core of the financial district. Previously, Accretive Advisor’s team was prospecting for clients and managing relationships with existing clients from its Oakville office, which is approximately 40 kilometres west of downtown Toronto.

Advisor Impact also has several U.S.-based clients to which Accretive Advisor can pitch its matchmaking service when the latter firm expands south of the border later this year.

Over the years, Littlechild has received numerous acquisition and partnership offers for her firm, but she has always declined to this point.

“None of those business opportunities were the right fit,” says Littlechild. “Fit was the most important thing for me, because I wanted to ensure the integrity of my business.”

Investment industry experts, such as Dan Richards, president of Toronto-based Clientinsights, think that Advisor Impact and Accretive joining forces is a good idea. “The acquisition makes a lot of sense for Accretive Advisor and Advisor Impact,” says Richards, “because they are both promoting better client/advisor relationships. It’s going to be very positive for both parties.”

As for advisors who are worried that Littlechild will be making changes to Advisor Impact’s business model or products as a result of the acquisition, they can rest easy.

“Part of the reason I have agreed to this,” Littlechild says, “is because Advisor Impact will remain untouched and continue operating as it always has.” IE