Best Accounting Firm: Pisenti & Brinker LLP

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“We all live and work in our communities. We also encourage all of our staff to volunteer in their communities. When you have a fun environment at work with great people, that feeling comes off to the client.” — John Meislahn, Director of Business Development

Pisenti & Brinker LLP is committed to providing genuine partnerships with its clients in the North Bay, while working to pair challenges with solutions.

Offering an array of accounting services including audit and assurance, income tax planning, compliance and outsourced accounting, the community-minded firm fills the middle niche between multibillion-dollar firms and small mom-and-pop businesses.

The Firm works with a variety of clients in various industries, including wineries, construction, real estate, restaurants, government and manufacturing. A lot of the Firm’s new business is client advisory and outsourced bookkeeping, something Director of Business Development John Meislahn has only increased since the pandemic, as office places closed and remote work allowed for clients outside the area.

“That’s probably our fastest growing division here. It doesn’t matter if you’re an established or new business—it’s expensive to hire staff. The assistance we can provide with client bookkeeping and outsourced controller needs are not limited by geography.” Meislahn says.

John Meislahn, director of business development

According to Meislahn staff were prepared for the pandemic after working through the North Bay wildfires of 2017. At that time, the Firm’s office located on Round Barn Circle was inaccessible during a four-week period.

Pisenti & Brinker has been in business for more than 56 years, with 90 employees in Petaluma and Santa Rosa. The firm is dedicated to philanthropic work and community volunteerism, says Meislahn, and that closeness to the community translates to client experience.

“When clients bring us in to help their company, we feel obliged to work with them closely,” Meislahn says. ““We all live and work in our communities. We also encourage all of our staff to volunteer in their communities. When you have a fun environment at work with great people, that feeling comes off to the client.”

Accessibility is also an important asset to the Firm’s client relationships, especially in times like these. “We get back to people right away. Our staff and partners are accessible. I think that means a lot, especially in the past 15 months. We also put a lot of time and effort in guiding our clients through the PPP loans. Our technical staff was dedicated to getting educated on the PPP process and passed this knowledge on to our clients” Meislahn says.

Right now, with many long-time CPAs choosing to retire following the passage of new tax laws over the past few years, Meislahn says the healthy firm’s biggest barrier to growth in the remote marketplace is finding qualified staff.

Still, Pisenti & Brinker is committed to selecting staff from the community when it can. It selects about 8-10 interns per year from Sonoma State University, many of whom the firm hires after the completion of their internship.

And having a younger staff provides clients with a sense of stability.

“They trust these people and they want to see that they’re going to be around for a long time. It makes the client feel pretty comfortable,” Meislahn says.

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Photo courtesy of Pisenti & Brinker LLP

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