Today we’d like to introduce you to Dennis Duban.
Hi Dennis, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I really appreciate the opportunity to participate in this interview, so thank you so very much for that. I graduated from USC with a major in accounting and went on to specialize in tax with a major national CPA firm. I started my CPA business in 1979 with my sister Helene as my administrative team and a handful of clients. Over the next 40 years we grew solely by word of mouth, never advertising nor acquiring other firms or hiring CPA‘s with a book of business that they took from another firm. We committed ourselves to providing superior service, a very personal touch, and we promised to hear each client’s wishes and dreams so we could help them achieve their goals. We aimed to help our clients attain financial independence and security. We were rewarded with loyal clients who referred their family and friends and we have the same core values today as we did then. We now represent over 1,500 clients in a variety of businesses and industries. We have a broad base of diversified clientele who want to build wealth and minimize tax burdens. We do this in a setting that nurtures the team and celebrates a diverse culture. To this day, our firm still feels like a family.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Growing by word of mouth takes time; but the payoff is knowing that the clients are a good fit, having been recommended by existing clients. In recruiting both clients and staff we are in competition with the bigger firms. In order to attract the brightest graduates and young CPA‘s, we must offer our potential staff members a professional yet intimate environment and expansive, varied and higher level responsibilities earlier in their careers as compared to the larger CPA firms. Most younger accountants are encouraged to begin their careers with a large national CPA firm because it will look good on future resumes, however we believe that there is an advantage to a smaller firm wherein you will be challenged with a greater scope of responsibilities earlier in your career.
We believe that a smaller firm can also provide benefits in the future due to the sophistication of the work assigned. The big firm mystique is something that we also experience with our tax and our business management division where we provide back office services to high profile entertainers and entertainment industry professionals. There is a perception that when one makes it to a certain level of success, they should be with one of the bigger well-known firms rather than a smaller firm where they would be considered a very big fish in a much smaller pond, getting certainly the same or better expertise with much more personalized service.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
We plan to continue to grow as we have in the past through recommendations and personal word of mouth. We are not against obtaining new clients through social media or advertising but we find with boutique firms that offer hands-on attention, and personal service, that our fees are not comparable if you are only looking for basic tax return preparation.
We understand that the mere preparation of a 1040 can be done for a lot less than the full service fee we would charge, as we offer year round consulting, access to our staff and communications concerning our clients’ questions throughout the year for no additional cost. We believe this is a major distinction between our firm and other firms. By not charging for each phone call or email, it puts the client and us on the same side. Rather than making their own decisions to understandably avoid an additional invoice, we are encouraging them to reach out. It makes us a partnership.
If someone is not interested in any of those services then perhaps doing a return on one’s own software would be sufficient. We would take on engagements like that but we would need to adjust our business model to accommodate those clients. Typically we offer a holistic approach to financial wealth building and all phases of income tax planning and compliance. We believe in tax planning throughout the year; not during tax return preparation time when it is too late to do anything for the prior year. We offer accounting services to small businesses, even those using software products, wherein we can facilitate compliance with generally accepted accounting principals and select accounting methods that maximize tax deductions.
Our business management services are open to anyone who believes that their time may be more valuable than doing their own bill paying and bookkeeping, and for those who want accurate financial records every step of the way. We encourage estate planning early in one’s professional life, and we assist with choice of entity and family ownership decisions and strategies. I believe we probably offer more services to fewer clients rather than the other way around. And now with my son in law joining the firm with his CPA and a Masters Degree in business taxation from USC, we can continue to expand our services to even higher levels of sophisticated tax applications. We will always strive to offer additional areas of expertise and specialties as all of our team members are committed to their continuing education and expansion of their own areas of interest.
Any big plans?
Yes, actually. Our mission for our clients is to build wealth, and to do it tax efficiently. Recently, we have assembled a group of companies under our control and influence that can help our clients in all phases of wealth building. We currently have engaged these entities so that they can help our clients achieve their financial security while we as their independent CPA’s have input into their investments as we are intimately familiar with their unique situations and their long term goals.
We have not only our CPA firm where we offer tax return preparation and compliance, including individual partnership and corporate tax return preparation and planning, but also estate planning, gift tax and retirement planning. We offer accounting and payroll services and full business management where we charge according to our time, not the client’s income.
And now, thanks to these strategies, in order to help our client base, we have a full service real estate brokerage affiliate that includes an Engel & Völkers shop in Los Angeles, operating as MDW Estates Group, to assist our clients in buying and selling properties – both personal residences and multi family and commercial investments. Then, for those clients who do not wish to be burdened with the management of their real estate holdings, we have a MDW Property Management, a separate subsidiary that will take on the property management for residential and commercial properties.
Additionally, we have a licensed Capital Management investment advisory services affiliate (RIA) that can help our clients invest their retirement and non retirement funds, diversify their stock and bond portfolios and build their wealth tax efficiently because the CPA is working side by side with the investment manager to make decisions that consider the tax implication of every investment trade. This, together with our estate planning expertise, allows our clients access to wealth building techniques in all financial and real estate markets, the tax efficiency to maximize after tax income and wealth accumulation and very importantly, the ability to pass that wealth to future generations, minimizing the income tax and estate tax exposure along the way.
I believe that this vertical integration into the financial markets, with all these companies under a common sphere of influence, located in the same building with like minded team members and familial ownership gives us a global picture of a client’s journey toward financial independence and security with an approach that is provided by a group of professionals in total alignment with those goals.
Thanks again for this opportunity!
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: http://www.dldcpas.com/
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