Gardiner Thomsen Celebrates 45 Years!
By: Gardiner Thomsen CPAs | email
It started with Dan Gardiner, who early in his college career at Drake University in Des Moines, decided to take a job as a bookkeeper at a local cooperative elevator. It was in this occupation that he learned of his passion for working at coops, as well as the accounting industry. As he recalls, the "Board of Directors and the management at the coop were very professional" and he enjoyed doing business with them.
In 1955, after temporarily leaving college for a two-year period in the United States Army as a warehouse engineer, Dan took full advantage of the GI Bill and returned to Drake University to finish his accounting degree. During those remaining college years, he held a total of five part-time jobs to keep himself busy. On top of continuing to keep the books at the local coop elevator, he assisted with the assembly and delivery of the Sunday Register, worked as a bookkeeper for a shoe store and a gas station, and even dug graves, where he earned not only $125 per month plus $25 per grave, but he also earned the nickname "Digger."
After graduating from Drake in 1957, Dan joined a local accounting firm and became a full-time auditor, auditing grain elevators. During the nearly seven years he spent there, Dan married his wife, Mary.
In 1963, he left the accounting firm to continue auditing elsewhere. Eventually, he joined a large cooperative association auditing grain elevators. However, in 1964, the association discontinued their auditing sector. It was then that Dan decided to go into business for himself.
On October 19, 1964, Dan opened the firm under the name Dan Gardiner, CPA in Des Moines, Iowa. Since business was just starting up, his wife Mary would act as secretary and would type audit reports every night after the kids went to bed, sometimes staying up until 2 A.M. to be able to finish them on time.
He continued business by himself until 1974, when he hired some partners. Dan Gardiner, CPA then became Gardiner Nail Davis. Throughout the course of this transition, three offices were added: one in Nebraska, one in Eagle Grove, Iowa and the other in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
In 1981, Dan separated from the firm and started Gardiner and Company. The company was then incorporated in 1982. Dan, along with partner Dave Thomsen, has had a few other individuals as partners throughout the years.
In 2003, after continuing as Gardiner and Company for 21 years, two new partners were added: sons, Daniel Mark Gardiner and Dennis Gardiner, both of whom have worked at the firm since graduating from college. The firm's name became Gardiner Thomsen, and continues as such today.
Having started as just an auditing-only firm, such services as corporate and personal tax return preparation and tax planning, mergers and consolidations and business consulting have been added over the years in order to more efficiently meet our clients' needs. Also, between four partners and our staff, there are over 200 years of combined experience in the cooperative industry, and we operate from four different offices: Des Moines, Iowa; Lincoln, Nebraska; Charles City, Iowa and Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
In speaking with Dan, he remembers why he stuck with the farmers' cooperative industry throughout the years: it was because of that first bookkeeping job where he learned how much he enjoyed working for a coop. What he has enjoyed most throughout his years of being an accountant has been the ability to work with the clients and make sure that their business needs are met, "because without them, we have no business."
Although there are challenging aspects to owning and maintaining an accounting firm, such as keeping up with accounting laws and regulations for several different industries, for Dan the most rewarding aspect of owning the firm all these years has been the fact that he has had the opportunity to train and pass on his knowledge and love for the cooperative industry to many young accountants who have worked at the firm.
Thank you to all our employees, past and present, and especially our loyal customers who have supported us for the last 45 years! We look forward to continuing to serve you!
