Sciarabba Walker has had a busy year of growth

ITHACA, N.Y. — Sciarabba Walker & Co., LLP is keeping busy in 2023 with the addition of a new building and at least nine new employees as the accounting and business consulting firm continues to grow.

“We started about five years ago experiencing meaningful growth,” says Dave Iles, managing partner. With growth exceeding Sciarabba Walker’s annual projections, he attributes the increase to the firm being more intentional in serving clients and adding new clients.

Growth also came out of the pandemic, especially as businesses were struggling to understand the different government programs and resources available to them, he adds, and the growth has just continued from there.

In 2013, Sciarabba Walker moved into its existing building at 410 East Upland Road in Ithaca. Right from the start, the firm fully occupied the building, Iles says, so the challenge was how to grow and add employees within that space.

The firm approached the owner of the building next door with interest in purchasing it if the owner ever sold, and about three years ago, the owner was ready to move forward.

Plans were paused for a time during the pandemic, but Sciarabba Walker ultimately decided to tear down the existing building and start fresh with a new net-zero energy building. In late March, the firm opened the new building, where it occupies about 2,300 square feet for its growing outsourced accounting team. The remaining 3,200 square feet are currently leased to the Greater Tompkins County Municipal Health Insurance Consortium and provide space for future firm growth if needed.

Sciarabba Walker’s outsourced accounting department, which serves as a traditional CPA firm handling things like taxes and audits, has grown from about seven people doing some bookkeeping for clients to a team of nearly 20 now.

“We provide the back-office accounting and finance functions for our clients,” Iles says. Particularly with the region’s workforce shortages, Sciarabba Walker has seen tremendous growth in the need for those services. “A lot of our clients are struggling,” he says. Outsourcing the work allows businesses to function when they can’t find someone to fill that CFO position.

For other companies, the service allows them to scale their business. Maybe the companies don’t need an in-house, full-time person in the role right now, Iles says. They can work with Sciarabba Walker and scale up as the business grows.

Along with the outsourced accounting team, Sciarabba Walker has also seen growth within its audit and tax teams.

Iles attributes the growth — in employees, in clients, and in revenue — to being client-service and employee focused. That means spending the time to learn clients’ needs and delivering on those and putting equal energy into employees, especially in terms of job satisfaction and career hopes.

He credits a hybrid work environment for part of that job satisfaction. It’s something Sciarabba Walker has been doing for about 15 years, long before the pandemic sent everyone home to work. In fact, the company had announced to employees in January 2020 that it was promoting a flexible work schedule. When the pandemic caused the shift to remote work, Sciarabba Walker was well prepared for it, Iles notes.

The firm also worked hard during that time to make sure that employees still felt connected and involved and put a priority on mental health as everyone worked to cope with the difficult time. That was vital to operations during the pandemic, Iles says.

Founded in 1976 by Andrew J. Sciarabba and J. Kenneth Walker, the firm employs about 60 people. Accounting and business-advisory services include consulting, audits, finance and accounting services, peer reviews, and business and individual tax services.