Midwest firm acquires LeMaster Daniels

LarsonAllen LLP, a large Midwest-based accounting firm, is buying the assets of Spokane’s LeMaster Daniels PLLC, the companies said Thursday. Terms of the sale have not been disclosed.

LarsonAllen has been ranked a top-20 CPA firm by the Public Accounting Report. It has nearly 1,500 employees with locations in 10 states and in Washington, D.C.

LeMaster Daniels, with 12 offices in Washington and Idaho, has roughly 300 employees, including about 80 in downtown Spokane.

Scott Dietzen, CEO of LeMaster Daniels, said the sale will have no impact on the company’s operations or on its employees.

The acquisition will likely close by Nov. 1; LeMaster Daniels will change its name to LarsonAllen.

Both companies see the deal as opening the door to future growth across the Pacific Northwest, where LarsonAllen until now had no operations. In part that growth will result from the chance to acquire CPA firms whose owners are baby boomers looking to sell their companies to larger operations, said Dietzen.

LeMaster Daniels had revenue of around $40 million last year. Combined with LarsonAllen’s, the total revenue of the companies grows to about $270 million, Dietzen said. That now makes the company not much smaller than Moss Adams, one of Seattle’s larger CPA companies, he said.

Both firms have a range of similar practice areas, including financial services, health care, construction and professional services.

LarsonAllen spokesperson Janey Kiryluik said the purchase of LeMaster Daniels is the largest acquisition the privately held Minneapolis firm has undertaken.

Founded in 1908, LeMaster Daniels has also been expanding, moving into Boise in 2005 and into Bellevue, Wash., in 2007.