Scott Dietzen, CEO of LeMaster Daniels PLLC, says the Spokane-based accounting firm, which is celebrating its centennial anniversary this year, has nearly doubled its annual revenues since 2003, growing from about $24 million to an expected $40 million in revenue for its 2009 fiscal year that ends next May 31. That figure is up about 8 percent from the previous year.

LeMaster Daniels employs a total of about 300 people at 13 offices in Washington and Idaho. The largest share of those employees, 103, are located in its Spokane office, followed by Bellevue, with about 54 people, and Yakima, with 30. The firm also has smaller offices in Colfax, Grandview, Moses Lake, Omak, Othello, Quincy, the Tri-Cities, Walla Walla, Wenatchee, and Boise, Idaho.

Dietzen says LeMaster Daniels's success and longevity has been a result of the firm's commitment to building a business that can survive changes in the accounting industry and the economy.

"The owners have always been willing to invest in the future and avoid the temptation to look at the short-term" results as the barometer for success, he says. Currently, 27 members of the firm have ownership interests in it.

Dietzen says the softening economy hasn't hurt LeMaster Daniels, and he doesn't think that it will, adding that the need for accounting services can increase during difficult economic times. "That's when they (clients) really want a sounding board" to bounce ideas and questions off of, he says.

He also says the agricultural industry in Washington, which is the largest industry LeMaster Daniels serves, is still very strong.

"Our clients are still experiencing modest growth," says Dietzen.

Marketing Director Pamela Pyrc says that aside from the agricultural industry, the firm also is heavily involved in the public sector, including government agencies and nonprofits, and the manufacturing industry. The firm also has large numbers of clients in the technology, hospitality, and health-care fields, she says.

Many of those business relationships are longstanding, says Harley Reckord, the firm's chief operating officer. Reckord and Dietzen prefer not to disclose the names of clients, but say some businesses in the area have been using LeMaster Daniels' services since the 1920s, and quite a few automobile dealerships have been working with the firm since the 1950s.

Dietzen says the firm places an emphasis on making lasting relationships with family-owned businesses that are passed down from generation to generation. He says CPAs should know what the present and future goals of a business are, and adds they "have to be very aware of the needs of their clients."

Reckord says that many of the CPAs at LeMaster Daniels have become specialists in the taxation and accounting fields that pertain to their clients, which keeps the firm competitive and is beneficial to clients. CPAs at a smaller full-service accounting firm might not have the time or a large enough client base to focus primarily on one area, such as tribal issues, benefit plan audits, or 401(k) planning, he says.

LeMaster Daniels keeps its accountants up to date on changes in the accounting industry by offering accredited continuing professional education classes through an internal program that it operates called LeMaster Daniels University, or LDU, says Reckord.

LeMaster Daniels also can attribute its financial growth over the course of the last 100 years to its commitment to expanding into new markets. The firm first began expanding outside of the Spokane market in 1960 when it opened an office in Colfax, and its latest expansion occurred in November 2007, when it purchased Bellevue-based Abramson Pendergast & Co. for an undisclosed sum.

Dietzen says LeMaster Daniels doesn't have any immediate plans to expand into other new markets, but adds it always is on the lookout for opportunities to broaden its reach. He says the retirement of numerous baby boomer CPAs is ushering in a "critical time" for the accounting industry, and the private practices that those retiring CPAs operate are prime acquisition targets for LeMaster Daniels.

"I've never been as optimistic as I am right now," says Dietzen.

In recent years, LeMaster Daniels has diversified its business interests and begun offering wealth-management and information-technology services through separate companies it has created called Prospera Wealth Management LLC and TROI IT Solutions.

Prospera Wealth Management was founded here in 2002 and aims to help clients manage their financial portfolios and plan adequately for the future. The company, which employs 10 people and has offices at LeMaster Daniels' Spokane, Bellevue, Wenatchee, Yakima, and Boise locations, works independently of the accounting firm, but the financial planners there sometimes work with LeMaster Daniels accountants and share information at the request of clients, Dietzen says. Having accounting and wealth-management professionals work together has become more common in accounting firms, he says.

He says Prospera has been successful so far and is expanding as the demand for its services grow.

The other company, TROI IT Solutions, was created in 2006 and operates out of a Spokane office in the Bank of America Building, where LeMaster Daniels also has its offices, with a staff of about 24, which is up from 10 people just 15 months ago. TROI IT installs and manages IT systems for customers and also offers consulting services. Dietzen says the company began as part of LeMaster Daniels, where it helped install and maintain the accounting firm's own technology infrastructure throughout its different offices. That infrastructure includes computer networks, telephone systems, and other business technologies.

Dietzen say it's not very common for an accounting firm to be affiliated with an IT company, but LeMaster Daniels saw an opportunity and a business niche that could be filled.

Prospera Wealth Management and TROI IT are each expected to have annual revenues of around $2.5 million this year, separate from LeMaster Daniels' expected revenue.

The next 100 years

The accounting firm's roots in Spokane can be traced back to 1908, before the federal income tax was enacted. Ellis LeMaster formed an accounting firm here that year with Thomas Cannon and named it LeMaster, Cannon & Co. By 1922, Clair Daniels had merged his practice with the firm, forming LeMaster, Cannon & Daniels, and by 1938 the name had been changed to LeMaster & Daniels. It was shortened to LeMaster Daniels in 2006 as part of a rebranding

Dietzen believes the future of the firm is bright. Being around as long as it has, there could be a "tendency to rely on a reputation," he says, and that's something the members of the firm want to avoid.