About us

Cotlar PLLC is a Houston, TX CPA firm led by Miriam Cotlar and her husband Ben Cotlar, CPA, a fourth-generation Houstonian. We collectively bring nearly twenty years of experience in public accounting, and our distinguishing characteristic from other firms is in the personal attention our clients receive. We’re never further than a phone call, text message, or email away.

Cotlar PLLC began years before it was a business, when Ben and Miriam completed tax returns for family and friends at no charge. As the requests grew, it stopped being feasible to do that work for free while both held full-time roles at larger accounting firms. At the same time, smaller attest engagements were often turned away elsewhere because they fell below a typical firm’s minimum fee. Cotlar PLLC became the way to solve both of those problems.

Most accounting work can be done competently by any accredited accountant. What sets one small firm apart from another is the level of service you receive. With Ben and Miriam, you get team members who stand beside you and aim to make the process smooth, enjoyable, and value-adding — with constant partner-level access rather than being handed off to staff. We leverage AI responsibly to work efficiently, while every piece of its output gets the same partner-level review as any staff work at a traditional accounting-firm arrangement, so our accountability remains paramount. The obvious benefit to the client is that the engagement team remains consistent, without rotating staff and seniors. On audits and reviews especially, our goal is to take as much of the engagement as possible off your plate, so you spend less time facilitating it. As Cotlar PLLC grows, our aim is to do it without stepping back from that direct, partner-level involvement.