# Tanner LLC

**Type:** helper
**Status:** Draft
**Confidence:** Medium
**Focus:** accounting, audit/assurance, tax, M&A due diligence, SEC reporting, advisory
**Location:** Salt Lake City, UT (second office in Lehi)
**Updated:** 2026-06-18
**Layout:** field-guide

## Summary

Tanner LLC is a Salt Lake City public accounting firm founded in 1940, with a second office in Lehi. Its public materials describe it as one of the largest locally owned ("independent") accounting firms in Utah, working across technology, manufacturing, healthcare, construction, and nonprofit sectors. For a founder, the useful framing is: the established local choice when you need real audit, tax, and transaction-grade accounting rather than just bookkeeping.

Tanner is a firm, not a single accountant — so it belongs in `helpers/`, with the reader's next action being "I should talk to them about an audit, a tax position, or diligence."

## Impact

Accounting becomes a gating function at predictable moments: a venture round where the investor wants reviewed or audited financials, an acquisition where the buyer runs financial due diligence, an SEC-reporting obligation, or a tax structure that quietly costs the company money. A founder who waits until those moments to find a credible firm is negotiating from a weak position.

A firm that does audits, M&A due diligence, and SEC-reporting consultation can give a Utah company financials that survive outside scrutiny — which is exactly what raises and exits require.

## How They Help

From the firm's public service descriptions, Tanner LLC can help with:

- **Assurance / audit** — public and private company audits, employee-benefit-plan audits, reviews, and compilations.
- **Transaction support** — M&A due diligence and SEC reporting consultation.
- **Tax** — corporate, partnership, and individual tax filings and tax strategy.
- **Advisory and technology** — strategic planning plus technology and data-security consulting. [source:tanner-llc-official-website]

The firm publicly emphasizes that its independence lets it give objective, agile service to "Silicon Slopes" entrepreneurs.

## Best-Fit Founders

The strongest fit is a Utah company at the point where financial credibility matters to an outside party — a startup approaching a priced round that needs reviewed/audited financials, a company preparing for or going through an acquisition, a business with benefit-plan or SEC obligations, or a growth company that wants a serious local tax and advisory relationship.

It is more firm than a pre-revenue solo founder needs for basic books; that founder may start with bookkeeping plus [Utah SBDC](utah-sbdc.md) financial guidance and bring in Tanner when an audit, diligence, or complex tax question arrives.

## Cost / Engagement Model

Tanner is a full-service CPA firm; audit, tax, and advisory engagements are scoped and priced per engagement, not published as packages. Founders should ask whether the immediate need is an audit, a review, a tax engagement, or advisory work, and get a scoped estimate — the cost and timeline differ sharply between, say, a compilation and a full audit. Confirm capacity around busy season.

## Proof Points

- Public firm materials describe audit, due-diligence, tax, SEC-reporting-consultation, and advisory services, and membership in Allinial Global (an association of independent firms with international reach). [source:tanner-llc-official-website]
- Utah Business press coverage describes Tanner as one of the largest locally owned public accounting firms in Utah, founded in 1940 — a date-sensitive, press-reported claim.

## Good Matches

A good match is a Utah venture that has reached the stage where audited financials, transaction diligence, or sophisticated tax planning unlock the next step — a raise, an acquisition, or compliant growth. It pairs naturally with corporate counsel (e.g., [Kirton McConkie](kirton-mcconkie.md)) on a financing or M&A deal, where lawyers and accountants split the work.

## Cautions

This page describes public capabilities; it does not claim Tanner has agreed to take on any specific client or quoted a price. Audit independence rules can limit which other services a firm provides to the same client — discuss this if you want both audit and advisory work. Verify scope, fees, and timing (especially around tax/audit busy season) before relying on the firm for a deadline.

## Evidence

- [Tanner LLC Official Website](tanner-llc-official-website.md)

## Open Questions

- For an early-stage company, what is the realistic cost difference between a compilation, a review, and a full audit?
- Which engagements does Tanner take on for pre-revenue startups versus later-stage companies?
- How does it compare with a national firm like [Eide Bailly](eide-bailly-utah.md) for a Utah company weighing local independence against national-network breadth?