A Passion for Compliance
C Q & A Consulting, LLC is a multi-generational family owned and operated firm that provides licensing, product / brand management, tax reporting, and business consulting compliance services for wineries in the alcoholic beverage industry regardless of size and complexity.
Our team is passionate about supporting our clients with a “No Shortcuts, No Excuses” approach. We strive to provide timely, fact based, and risk averse compliance services that equip our clients with confidence and knowledge to ensure that they are able to best serve their customers while complying with all applicable laws and regulations.
Founded by Deanna Leon in 2009, C Q & A Consulting, LLC has been providing Full-Service Compliance service since before the current day alcohol beverage compliance industry existed. Deanna has been involved in all aspects of the shipping, logistics, and compliance of wine since the first bottle was shipped online in the late 1990s. She was instrumental in providing training and guidance to hundreds of clients when new markets were opened for them with the passage of the Granholm v. Heald Supreme Court Ruling (2005), which created the groundwork for the Direct-to-Consumer alcoholic beverage industry we know today. When South Dakota v. Wayfair ruling was passed (2018) and our industry was introduced to Economic Nexus. Again Deanna and the C Q & A Consulting, LLC team were up for the challenge and at the forefront of identifying the impact and helping our clients make the changes needed to adapt.
Deanna has worked alongside some of the most successful families, wineries, and winemakers our industry has ever known and provides fact based timely consult while treating each of our clients like a member of our extended family as she always has.
Deanna is a proud mom and grandmother to three beautiful grandchildren and enjoys relaxing when she is able to in Palm Springs and Hawaii.
Deanna’s passion for the alcoholic beverage industry and our clients extends to her son Jim Spaugh who joined C Q & A Consulting, LLC in 2018. Prior to joining, Jim had a successful career in Public Accounting, where he obtained his CPA and CIA licenses, before departing to work for two of the most successful Fortune 500 companies in the world implementing SAP FICO as a global tax expert. His responsibilities introduced him to continuous process improvement as a management style and also reiterated the necessity for ongoing training that anyone can understand. In the end, Jim obtained his Six Sigma certification while leading multiple SAP FICO implementation projects in Asia, Europe, Africa, and the United States.
After years of leading SAP FICO implementations, Jim was called to the family business and has thrown himself into the alcoholic beverage industry with both feet. His passion for continuous process improvement, effective training and a desire to provide exceptional customer service is engrained in everything he does to support our clients.
Jim, his wife Jennifer, and their three children will be the next generation managing our family business based on the principles that Deanna worked so hard to instill upon the family decades ago.
Our team, working alongside Deanna in California and Jim in Texas, respectively, possesses multiple years of experience and has been trained to ensure proficiency in all aspects of alcohol compliance. We are confident that our team can assist your organization regardless of size and complexity in becoming and staying compliant with all applicable Federal and State laws and regulations. Additionally, we can help you expand your business and better serve your customers by allowing us to handle your compliance needs. We sincerely appreciate the trust and confidence that is placed in us to support our clients in all they do.
The Pinole, California office, led by Deanna Leon, has primary responsibility for obtaining, renewing, and maintaining required alcoholic beverage licenses in order to legally ship three-tier and/or direct-to-consumer based on client structure and needs. License applications, renewals, product / brand registrations, distributor and territory assignments, bottling and/or Primary American Source letters, and price posting are among the other services performed in the Pinole, CA office.
The Roanoke, Texas office, led by Jim Spaugh, has primary responsibility for processing three-tier and direct-to-consumer monthly, quarterly, semi-annual, and annual reporting for sales & use tax, excise tax, and state mandated direct ship reports. Management of the ShipCompliant Reporting module, Administration of client Google Drives, and accounting of funds expended are among the other services performed in the Roanoke, TX office.
Our team focuses on educating winery employees in their area of expertise, but we work together across service areas due to the impact of business decisions made in various areas. The power of our internal communication allows us to comprehend the larger perspective of decisions made and reduce the need for clients to communicate with multiple of our team members to address their constantly changing needs.
Our Team
Our dedicated team of compliance experts is co-located in Pinole, California and Roanoke, Texas to better service all of our clients needs regardless of where they are. This allows our team to provide near around the clock support when it is needed most. Furthermore, we believe in constantly training all our staff members and as a result our clients are able to get answers to any of their compliance questions regardless of who they communicate with in a timely and effective manner.
