Practice Area Title
Practice description.
Deliverables Deliverables summary.
Best suited for Ideal For Description
Alder & Quinn Des Moines, Iowa Monday – Friday: 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM (CT)
Tax, bookkeeping, and straight answers for owner-run businesses.
A two-partner CPA firm in Des Moines. Eighty clients, most of them referrals, most of them with us a decade or more. You talk to the partner doing your work, never a call center.
Most of the work is unglamorous and that is the point: returns filed on time, ledgers that reconcile, and a partner who can tell you in one sentence what a purchase or a hire will cost you in tax. When a question is outside what we do well, we say so and point you at someone who does it better.
The room
Eighty clients, two partners, one floor.
The firm has stayed one office on purpose. Files do not move between departments, work does not get handed down to whoever is free, and the person who signs your return is the person who prepared the plan behind it.
Read the partner notes Standing rules
How the firm is run, in writing.
- Credential
- Partner on Every Engagement
- Fixed Fees Agreed in Writing
- A Direct Line to Your Accountant
- Answers Within One Business Day
Article II
Full practice scope Practice index
Every engagement starts with a short call to confirm we're the right firm for it.
Small-Business Tax & Planning
Annual entity returns, quarterly estimated filings, payroll tax compliance, and entity structure reviews explained in plain English before anything is submitted.
Deliverables Form 1120-S / 1065 prep, multi-state allocation schedules, quarterly tax projections
Best suited for Owner-managed companies with $500k to $15M in gross annual revenue.
Full-Charge Bookkeeping & Close
Monthly closes you can actually read. Bank and merchant reconciliations, vendor ledger cleanups, and clean financial statements delivered by the 10th of every month.
Deliverables Monthly balance sheet, P&L by department, cash-flow summary, 1099 annual filings
Best suited for Businesses needing reliable accounting without full-time internal controller overhead.
Advisory, Valuation & Succession
Purchasing commercial real estate, restructuring equity, bringing in a minority partner, or preparing for an owner buyout. We model the real cash and tax impact before you commit.
Deliverables Scenario cash-flow models, buyout structure blueprints, basis calculations
Best suited for Founders planning an exit, recapitalization, or major capital expansion within 1–3 years.
IRS & State Audit Defense
Direct partner representation before state revenue departments and the IRS. We review historical returns, handle all formal audit correspondence, and resolve penalty notices.
Deliverables Power of attorney filings, documentation bundles, formal response briefs
Best suited for Companies facing state sales-tax audits, nexus disputes, or federal audit letters.
They caught a depreciation error that saved us eleven thousand dollars. Our last firm missed it three years running.
R. Whitfield, Whitfield Logistics
Article III
Full roster Partner notes
Every engagement is overseen by Sarah Alder or David Quinn. Their direct lines are the same ones on the masthead.
Partner Name
Managing Partner CPA, Degrees, CertificationsBiographical background and specializations.
Focus Corporate compliance
Sarah Alder, CPA
Managing Partner & Tax Lead CPA, MST (Master of Science in Taxation), University of IowaSpecializes in pass-through entity tax strategy, multi-state apportionment, and capital gains planning for owner-operated logistics, agriculture, and construction firms.
Focus Corporate tax compliance, entity elections, state nexus analysis
David Quinn, CPA
Partner & Advisory Director CPA, B.B.A. Accounting, Drake UniversityLeads client accounting operations, monthly controllership, and business valuation modeling. Former senior manager at regional audit firm before founding Alder & Quinn in 2012.
Focus Financial reporting, cash flow modeling, owner succession planning
Rachel Vance
Senior Accountant & Payroll Lead Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor, B.S. AccountingManages monthly ledger closes, quarterly payroll filings, and client software integrations for 50+ regional business accounts.
Focus Monthly bookkeeping closes, sales tax filings, payroll audits
Article V
Talk to a partner this week.
A short call, no charge. We'll tell you honestly whether you need a firm like ours and, if you don't, what to do instead.