Accounting firm has eagle-eye ambition
 |
Download story podcast | |
10:48 AM PDT on Friday, August 15, 2008
Many companies, particularly those in professional services, present themselves as tools that their clients can use to operate at their best.
The Riverside certified public accounting firm Ahern Adcock Devlin LLP, CPAs presents itself as a smart friend with a sharp set of eyes and a head for figures.
Ahern Adcock Devlin spends much of its time ensuring the accuracy of tax returns, financial statements and other documents it prepares for clients that include individuals, privately held companies, not-for-profit organizations, governmental agencies, pension plans, estates and trusts, partner Mike Adcock said.
Scrutiny is important in the firm's culture, he said, as it is often asked to perform financial audits for clients, which are used internally in privately held companies to evaluate performance and to offer potential lenders or buyers a picture of the company's strength.
"Lenders are looking for assurance that the borrower is reporting accurate operating and balance sheet results," Adcock said. "Many loans have restrictive covenants and benchmarks that need to be met to continue the loan, so the lender wants a CPA firm it trusts to provide the report card."
No tax return goes to the client for a signature unless it's been looked at by another CPA, Adcock said. Every three years, an outside firm does an audit of Ahern Adcock Devlin, including checking its performance on audits.
"It's done with a fine-toothed comb," Adcock said.
The firm's biggest challenge is staffing, Adcock said.
"Finding CPAs with recent audit experience can be difficult," he said. "But through extensive recruiting and training, we have been very lucky."
As of 2006, according to The Business Press Book of Lists, its 30-plus employees made it the second-largest accounting firm in Riverside County, behind RSM McGladrey Inc. in Riverside and the sixth-largest in the Inland region.
A number of Ahern Adcock Devlin's private-sector clients are in the health care and software fields. Customers are mostly within a 50-mile radius of Riverside, although some clients have retained the firm after moves to the desert areas. Ahern Adcock Devlin maintains an office in Redlands, where it meets with its easternmost clients.
The two major issues facing the accounting profession, according to industry publications, are staffing and succession planning, Adcock said.
"These are related issues. Experienced staff is sometimes difficult to find; there are fewer opportunities for a CPA firm to promote from within and allow the founders to retire," he said.
The Enron fiasco and similar cases reduced the number of college students who go into public accounting, Adcock said, and half of any graduating class will see it as a stepping stone, rather than a career path, which would have been the dominant thinking 20 years ago.
Those factors have made the search for experienced accountants even more important, he said.
"We've been very fortunate to acquire a high-quality staff," he said
Ahern Adcock Devlin started in 2000. Its founders had worked at B. R. Sharp and Co. CPA, Nora Teasley CPA, and Soren McAdam Bartells Inc.
Founders Tom Ahern, Mike Adcock, Linda Devlin, Nora Teasley and Wing Lau wanted to develop a reputation for putting employees first, and providing reasonably priced service, Adcock said.
"We wanted the freedom to perform service to our communities without undue pressure for billable hours," he said.
