Another 10% to 15% of revenue comes from institutional clients such as employer retirement plans, endowments, trusts and foundations where myCIO provides investment consulting, writes the investment policy and helps choose asset allocations and individual funds. The rest comes from retired executives, entrepreneurs and high-net-worth individuals and families.

MyCIO essentially came about thanks to the changing regulatory landscape. Even before Sarbanes-Oxley, E&Y saw potential for conflicts of interest when its investment advisory practice gave financial planning advice to clients who were executives at--and had stock options and stock positions with-companies whose financial statements were being audited by E&Y, says Biles, 41, who was the firm's regional leader for wealth advisory services.

And when Sarbanes-Oxley happened, E&Y saw potential conflicts regarding its role as the biggest auditor of public, open-end mutual fund companies. "They didn't want us recommending funds they audited," Biles says. "We couldn't be objective [as advisors] in that environment."

Ultimately, E&Y decided to spin off its entire investment advisory group. "They shopped us nationally and various people were interested in buying the practice, including Goldman Sachs, HSBC and Fidelity," Lees says. He adds that Merrill Lynch made a firm offer, but when it began talking to clients during its due diligence process and asked if they'd follow their advisors to Merrill, they got a less-than-enthusiastic response. "Clients realized that if we were the ultra-high-net-worth business of Merrill, we'd be asked to provide Merrill Lynch products. They value our independence and they weren't happy with that."

When that deal fell through and no other buyers stepped in, E&Y offered the business to the partner group. Lees was a partner and national director of the firm's wealth advisory services. Biles was a senior manager and a significant producer at E&Y who had worked with Lees for many years. The two got together to evaluate their options. "We had the biggest and what we thought was the most profitable practice," Lees says. "And since we were the younger folks in the practice, we thought it best we went out on our own."

They needed a name for their new business. "We thought about myCFO, but that was already taken," Lees says. They substituted an "I" for an "F," and myCIO was born. Lees says the name goes to the heart of what the firm is all about: serving as the chief investment officer for its clients, and providing comprehensive, independent and objective (CIO) advisory services.

When PwC later decided to spin off its own investment advisory group, it let each local office buy its respective practice from the firm. Bracaglia's office in Philadelphia was the largest practice within that group, and he says his team thought about hanging out their own shingle. He also initiated contact with several high-end firms in the area, including myCIO.

"The RIA industry is relatively small at the high end, so I was well aware of Dave and his group when I was at PwC and he was at E&Y, and he was aware of us," Bracaglia says. "Although we never found ourselves competing directly against each other for a prospective client, we knew they practiced the business as we did and considered them formidable competition. We knew they were fully versed in financial planning areas in addition to investment management. That was a given coming out of the accounting world."

With their similar operational and philosophical MOs, it was clear to both sides they were on the same page. And they hit it off socially, which was no small feat considering Bracaglia is a die-hard New York Giants fan and Lees and Biles are big Philadelphia Eagles fans.

"The funny part was that unlike most potential mergers where the details of coming together can be tricky and confrontational, in our case it was easy," Bracaglia says. "We talked philosophically about what we felt was fair, and because I think we both wanted the merger to happen we negotiated in good faith and the details were easy to agree to."