SANTA ROSA -- Hungry accountants?
Pisenti & Brinker, LLP, feeds its employees well, especially during busy times. “We keep our kitchens stocked with Safeway deliveries,” said Ray Pounds, the company’s senior partner, who works out of the Petaluma office and has been with the firm since 1979.
Three to five times a year, Mr. Pounds cooks a lunch for the employees -- tri-tip steak, sausage or chicken. “It turns out pretty well. I don’t know if I’m a good cook, but I know how to use the equipment I have,” Mr. Pounds said of his counter-top oven. “They all seem to enjoy it -- at least they tell me that.”
When he cooks, the aroma swirls into the rest of the office.
With 40 employees spread among three offices in Santa Rosa, Petaluma and Napa, Pisenti & Brinker can still manage to pull the group together as a big, friendly family. Of the total, 18 are CPAs.
The company was started in 1965. Many employees maintain friendships that go outside work hours, he said.
“Like most professional businesses, there’s a lot of demand placed on employees,” Mr. Pounds said. “Our whole focus is on client-centric services. We have to meet their expectations.”
Pisenti & Brinker encourages employees to get away from the work and take time off when they can to help smooth out the ebb and flow of work, especially tax preparation. “Sometimes it gets a little tight with client needs,” Mr. Pounds said. “We try to be fair with them so they get time off.”
Some of the firm’s services includes tax planning, consulting and transactions, not just tax return preparation. Other partners work on accounting and auditing.
“The real intense months are February, March, April, September and October,” Mr. Pounds said. “The industry sounds crazy at times because of the amount of work people put into it.”
He expects employees to constantly develop themselves with training and education. “It’s pretty demanding,” he said, “but fairly rewarding. You can burn people out easily.”
Many of the administrative staff members have been with the firm many years; the average is 15 years.
Pisenti & Brinker holds an annual picnic and golf tournament, along with a Christmas lunch. On April 15, the firm’s employees hold a decompression dinner. “People are kind of tired,” Mr. Pounds said, laughing. “It’s pretty low pressure.”
