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Friday, Mar 29, 2024

Satellites Make Sense for CPAs

Because Southland workers often live vast distances from their employers, commuting in Los Angeles is typically reflected in the adage “If the mountain can’t come to Mohammed, Mohammed must go to the mountain.” The certified public accountant and business consultancy firm of Moss Adams LLP has moved the mountain to Woodland Hills, metaphorically speaking. They recently opened an office in the Valley, a satellite of their 170-person facility on the Westside. Robert Greenspan is the managing partner for both locations. “We want to ease the burden for our people,” he said. “We have been able to save an hour-and-a-half to two hours a day of commuting for some of our people.” Additionally, Greenspan said, the Valley location makes the firm more attractive to potential employees. “We’ve only been open a month and we’ve seen some initial successes,” he said. A resident of Encino, Greenspan is about midway between the two sites, thus “I don’t have a problem,” he said, getting to both offices. “It’s important.” He said he spends at least a day a week in the new office. “People want to deal directly with the people they report to,” Greenspan said. “Everybody’s committed to the people.” Samantha Deeder, the firm’s marketing manager, said the new office makes “everything a little more sane” for her and her family. “It makes a world of difference,” she said, allowing her to avoid a five-days-a-week commute the entire way to the Westside from her home in Santa Clarita. “I get more time with my family. Every couple days I get to have breakfast with my kids,” Deeder said, adding that it takes some of the strain off of her husband being the one having to always get the kids ready for school. The Warner Center Towers site is a mix of private offices and open cubicle work stations, with a large conference room. Greenspan added, “It’s quiet with nice views.” The office suite has space for 32 people 18 are working there now, and the plan is to be filled in four years “by hiring people who would not have otherwise joined our firm,” he said. If successful, Greenspan said, Moss Adams will consider other satellite offices in the region. To decide upon the West Valley location, Moss Adams was diligent in its research, Greenspan said. “We looked where our people lived, and we mapped that. We looked where our clients were, and we mapped that. We got ZIP codes of CPAs in the region and we mapped that. We looked where our main competitors are, and we mapped that,” Greenspan said. “With homework and due diligence,” he said, taking measure of the matrix of that data, “we found that Woodland Hills was the obvious location.” It has been an obvious location for other expanding business services firms as well; Singer Lewak Greenbaum & Goldstein LLP and Grant Thornton LLP previously expanded into the same neighborhood. The goal, said Stephen Masterson of Grant Thornton, is to “get your people closer to where your clients are going to be and keep them off the freeways.” SLGG’s expansion has been a “great step,” said partner Sally Aubury. “We have recruited and attracted people at all levels and expanded our client base,” she said, noting it validates the business model by having the office about double in size during the 14 months since expanding from their Westside location. The Moss Adams satellite office “has all the resources and expertise” offered by the main office, Greenspan said, serving clients in taxation, assurance, royalty compliance, consulting, and business and financial management. Additionally they offer services for not-for-profit organizations and employee benefit plans. Besides the ease it offers their clients by not having to go over the mountain and fight the traffic on the Westside and fighting traffic to get to the Westside Greenspan affirmed Moss Adams’ expressed goals of attracting and retaining experienced talent through the expansion. “It’s about the balance of life,” he said.

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