Spokane Valley-based investment advising and accounting firm Griffiths, Dreher & Evans PS CPAs has acquired a smaller accounting firm with clients here and in Cheney.

Deanna Dreher, a certified public accountant and shareholder at Griffiths, Dreher & Evans, says the firm has been considering acquiring Janice Penar CPA/PFS CFP PS since April 2022.

Janice Penar, a CPA and the acquired firm’s namesake, is retiring at the end of this year. Until then, Penar will work alongside the Griffiths, Dreher & Evans team through the tax season and on an as-needed basis afterward.

Established here in 1992, Griffiths, Dreher & Evans is located at 408 N. Mullan, in Spokane Valley.

Penar has provided services to clients in Cheney on Fridays at a shared office space. Dreher says she and another CPA at the firm will continue to meet with clients at the Cheney office.

“The Cheney client base really loves the in-person experience,” Dreher says. “So we want to continue that, for the time being.”

Penar had about 75 clients. Following the acquisition, Griffiths, Dreher & Evans serves about 1,500 individual and 500 business tax clients, Dreher says.

Dreher says Penar’s forward-looking att–itude was attractive to the Valley firm.

“CPAs, by nature, are historians,” Dreher says. “While taxes and financial statements are past documentation, which is a lot of what CPAs do, she’s spent the time to focus on future planning, and not a lot of accountants do that.”

Looking to the future is important for Griffiths, Dreher & Evans, because the firm provides financial planning, investment planning, and business valuation services, she says.

“It’s so much more gratifying than just doing tax returns and looking at last year’s performance results,” Dreher says. 

Griffiths, Dreher & Evans has 20 staff members, 18 of whom are CPAs, she says.

“Just within the last couple of years, we’ve exploded in staff growth, which is a good indication of growth for the firm and of the extra clientele we’re bringing on,” Dreher says.