Tag: Moss Adams

Moss Adams Announces Combination with a Non-Grant Thornton Firm

Back in the spring, any chances of a GranMA merger that originally cropped up back in January were put to rest. This was after an impassioned denial by Moss Adams CEO Rick Anderson to his fellow partners.

And maybe all the GranMA talk was just that- talk. But what’s not talk is that Moss is moving into the midwest combination with Overland Park, Kansas-based Warinner, Gesinger & Associates LLC (“WGA”).


WGA focuses on telecommunications clients, which will allow MA to expand its own telecom practice outside the west. WGA principals Bill Warinner and Jarret Rea will join Moss Adams as partners, and Andrew Denzer will join as a director. You want quotes from the particulars? You got it!

“We look forward to helping our clients further strengthen their financial operations,” Warinner said. “This is a challenging time for the telecom industry and we are excited to deepen our telecom practice. In addition, Moss Adams provides a full spectrum of telecom and value-added services that our clients will enjoy.”

For Moss Adams, the combination demonstrates the firm’s commitment to strengthening its telecom offerings and to growing the Moss Adams team. According to Rick Betts, chair of the Moss Adams telecom practice, “Moss Adams is focused on providing premier client service. A strong Moss Adams presence in the Midwest means our telecom clients have more resources at their fingertips.”

So sorry GT, Moss Adams has moved on, officially. Hope you have too.

Moss Adams Freshens Up Their Look

It’s spring, which means change is in the air; flowers are blooming, the air is warm, animals are frisky, all that crap. And perhaps because it is such a refreshing time of year, Moss Adams has rolled out a refreshed image, updating their colors, adding a tagl website a new look and feel. The firm officially rolled out its new and improved look today and Moss Adams CEO Rick Anderson was kind enough to speak to us about it.

Going Concern: So why the face lift (or does this simply qualify as Botox injections)? Is it because the firm is getting up in there in age and it’s not feeling as desirable as it once did?

Rick Anderson: As you know, a brand is an intangible asset with economic value that requires management to help it appreciate. The last refresh we did was in 2006-2007 and much has changed since then. The current updates to our colors, our tagline, and our graphic elements represent the energy and thought leadership we put into every relationship and engagement.

GC: The changes appear to be more subtle than, say, another firm that comes to mind – was that a conscious choice? Was anyone involved in the creative process dropping ideas that revolved around Legos or October foliage?

RA: Our creative team presented several options ranging from a small tweak to a full scale rebrand. Because Moss Adams is built on such a solid foundation, we decided that our vision, mission, and values would remain intact. And so would our logo, as we wanted easy recognition of our brand and we wanted to preserve the equity already built. So we are calling our new look and feel a “refresh” instead of a rebrand because it continues to focus on many of our historical strengths.

GC: Okay, sounds like simply “ma” could have been on the table. Moving on… The new tagline is “Acumen. Agility. Answers.” Do these merits have special meaning for MA or did they happen upon someone flipping through the A section of the dictionary?

RA: We created the tagline to reinforce important aspects of our brand that our clients called out in our client satisfaction survey. “Acumen. Agility. Answers.” is a simple, benefit-driven tagline that conveys three important attributes of the service we provide our clients: Acumen – Keen insight we deliver; Agility – Our ability to respond quickly; Answers – Correct and valuable responses to questions and problems.

GC: So the clients are the wordsmiths. Got it. What’s the feedback been so far? Are you expecting excitement at first followed by some sort of Charlie Sheen-esque backlash?

RA: We have been rolling out the new sales and marketing materials for the past few months, initially internally and then externally, and the response is favorable. People like the refreshed look. The new website just launched and focuses more heavily on valuable resources for our visitors. It is a bit early to gauge our metrics on that.

GC: In other words: WINNING! That’s wonderful. What other new and exciting things can we expect to see from MA this year? Office openings? More work-life balance initiatives? A new dancing partner?

RA: We are off to a good start to 2011. Our annual firm leadership meeting is in a few weeks and our focus will continue to be on taking care of our existing clients and personnel while continuing to focus on growth to provide more opportunities for our people and more resources for our clients. We are seeing some positive signs and are looking forward to a good 2011.

It’s Unlikely You’ll Hear More Rumors About a Grant Thornton and Moss Adams Merger

That’s because a source close to GT has told us “the deal with Moss Adams is dead.”

You’ll recall we first heard this rumor back in January which was denied by Moss Adams internally (GT was its typical mute self).

As for the why, our source told us, “The feedback from the Moss Adams board was that the MA partnership would not adequately support the merger.” Whether or not that’s true doesn’t take away from the fact that MA squeezed by GT in the GC Coolest Accounting Firm bracket and, thus, no MA partner worth their salt would want to join forces with GT and have to decipher hand-written notes from Stephen Chipman.

Despite this setback, that doesn’t mean GT isn’t on the prowl but we’ve got no idea who they might have their eye on, so we’d invite you to speculate on who that might be and get in touch if you know anything.