Ryan Sievers, CPA

Bio

Ryan has over 14 years of experience providing tax consulting and compliance services, with an emphasis on real estate and alternative investment structures, including real estate investment funds, REITs, private equity funds and hedge funds. He has a thorough understanding of the full life cycle of investments and entities, including formation, operation and restructuring, and disposition/liquidation, and the tax considerations and issues at each phase.

He has deep expertise with complex partnership taxation issues, including income and debt allocations, distribution waterfall calculations, carried interest considerations, and structuring and transactional analysis.

Ryan holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona and a Master of Business Taxation from the University of Southern California. He is a certified public accountant in California and Texas and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Texas Society of CPAs.

Experience

Associations

American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA)
Texas Society of CPAs

Education

California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
University of Southern California

Experience

HCVT
KPMG
Maverick Capital
EY

Q&A

Sometimes life has a way of telling you what you’re meant to do. I was all set to study engineering until I took an introductory accounting class; it was interesting and second nature to me, and the rest is history.

I’ve worked in all kinds of environments, but what drew me to Armanino is its progressive mindset. The firm empowers its partners and staff to use innovative and creative thinking to help clients, without all the bureaucracy. I have access to both interesting and sophisticated clients and experts in a variety of industries and practice areas who can assist clients with nearly any issue.

My favorite clients are ones who are involved in the work we do and create a truly collaborative process where we aren’t just considering tax issues, but also the business impact and economics of a deal. I want to understand what a client is trying to achieve and what their goals are, then work backwards from there to map out how best to make that happen.

I work at a high pace and can be pretty intense. I’m always thinking about how to align client needs with the right people for projects.

David Erard, a partner at the firm, is somebody I’ve worked with for half my career, and I attribute a lot of where I am today to him. Early in my career, he invested heavily in making sure I understood the “why” and not just “what.” He also taught me the value in mastering difficult work, and that it can prove more rewarding than the easy route.

I get a sense of achievement from successful projects, a job well done. I enjoy being a helpful resource to my clients.