This continued growth has enabled ITI to grow its employee base from 25 in 2011 to 28 in 2013, with plans to expand the Latin American division, add a new shop and additional office space in Woodland and build office space and add full-time staff in Edmonton. By 2015, ITI expects to employ at least 35 people.
Fastest Growing Company 10+ Years Finalists
NWCPA Nanette Walker, CPA
“Good times or bad – people always need us.” That, said Nanette Walker, CPA, owner of NWCPA, is one of the good things about the accounting business. Walker, who has owned her business in Ridgefield since 1994, has doubled her team from three to six in the last two years, and has grown her client base from 240 to 542 in the same time period. She predicts gross sales and net income to also double this year compared to 2012.
In the fall of 2012, Walker brought in a second full-time CPA as part of her succession planning strategy, and added a satellite office in an executive suite in the Temple Financial Building in Camas. She invested in signage on the building’s monument sign inside and was “amazed at how much business it generated.” Walker said that since then, her firm’s Camas clientele has “probably more than doubled.” She also said that, based on her firm’s growth, she is “sorry we didn’t take two suites!” In 2013, Walker bought another CPA’s practice in Vancouver.
Opsahl Dawson
Dubbing his company a “new age accounting firm,” shareholder Aaron Dawson said Opsahl Dawson focuses on timeliness, communication and quality staff. In an industry often marked by complaints about uncommunicativeness, said Dawson, “communication has made us grow.” It would seem that Vancouverites agree. In December 2013, Opsahl Dawson was voted Best in Business in the accounting industry by VBJ readers.
When Dawson bought the company in 2009 it consisted of a couple employees in Vancouver. The firm now employs 23 – nine in Vancouver and 14 in Longview. The company bought its own building last year and is renovating 1,500 additional square feet, enabling them to eventually hire 10 more CPAs.
Dawson said the firm has gained several hundred Vancouver clients each year for the past three to four years and “it doesn’t appear to be slowing down.” Revenue has grown steadily at about 20 percent annually.
As the company grows, said Dawson, keeping up with technology and “tirelessly” interviewing every professional on the market to ensure the firm hires “the best of the best” can be challenging. But, it has also enabled his company to give back to the community, such as through the company’s Community Service Day.
Next: 2013 Start-up of the Year
{jathumbnail off}
