CliftonLarsonAllen consolidates in new Moses Lake office

MOSES LAKE — CliftonLarsonAllen has a new home in the Columbia Basin. 

The accounting firm, which has had offices in Moses Lake, Quincy and Othello, is consolidating those offices into a single location on Yonezawa Boulevard in Moses Lake. The company cut the ribbon on its new building Wednesday in a ceremony with the Moses Lake Chamber of Commerce.  

“It was an issue of staffing more than anything else,” Principal David Thomsen said at the ribbon-cutting. “It's easier to staff in Moses Lake than some of the others. And as time goes on and the technology's there, we didn't really need (an office) every thirty miles.” 

The new facility, called the Columbia Basin office, will house about 35 employees, Signing Director Ashleigh Babak said. In addition, some of the employees from the other branch offices will work remotely and just come in to Moses Lake a couple of times a week. 

The new office is decorated in muted gray and black tones, featuring a large open area for employee stations and several conference rooms of various sizes. The rooms bear distinctly Northwest-inspired names: Cascade, Columbia Gorge, Grand Coulee. The art on the walls also has a Northwest motif, and most of the artists are local, Thomsen said. 

CLA’s history in the Basin is long and involves several names and incarnations. It begins with the Spokane-based LeMaster Daniels accounting firm, which was formed in 1908, according to its former website. LeMaster Daniels came to Moses Lake, Quincy and Othello in the 1970s, Thomsen said. The firm merged with LarsonAllen in 2010, according to the CLA website, and that firm merged with Wisconsin-based Clifton Gunderson to form CliftonLarsonAllen LLP in 2012. 

CliftonLarsonAllen handles traditional taxes and financial statements, Thomsen said, and specializes in agriculture, which is important in the Columbia Basin.  

“We also have a wealth management division and a digital division that works on different aspects of technology relating to accounting software,” he said. 

CLA’s previous office in Moses Lake was much smaller, Thomsen said, and had two people to an individual office, which wasn’t conducive to meeting with clients. The new arrangement will be much more efficient, he said. 

“In today’s world, where everything is electronic and there’s less paper, the conference room is the way to go,” he said. “Each conference room has large monitors, so it’s easy to share information with the client … And we're not always meeting with clients anymore. A lot of times, we’re meeting with them over Teams or Zoom calls and they’re done remotely.” 

“This office has a lot of technology upgrades from our old office,” Babak added. 

CliftonLarsonAllen is the first tenant in the brand-new 15,000-square-foot Moberg Professional Building on Yonezawa Boulevard.  CLA had been there about a week and a half, Thomsen said, and occupies half of the building.  

The other side is still being finished up, said owner Corbin Moberg, and will be ready by the first of December. There’s a tenant lined up that will occupy the building by the end of the year, he said. 

“We’re excited to see Moses Lake grow,” he said. 

    Some of the staff of CliftonLarsonAllen’s new Columbia Basin office, formed by combining the Moses lake, Quincy and Othello offices. About 35 people will work in the building, said Sining Director Ashleigh Babak.