In business differentiating yourself from the competition is an important factor in winning business. Therefore, much time is dedicated to the rhetoric of branding, marketing and differentiating. It is one thing to talk the talk and another to walk the walk. I truly feel our firm is much different than other small firms.
Our largest distinguishing factor is our staff. Most of the staff has been with the firm since it started in 2000 and the majority of those people have been together much longer than that in one of the two firms that combined to make PRR. Most of our workforce began their careers with large international firms where they gained valuable knowledge, skills and an excellent work ethic. However, they eventually found that they wanted a different lifestyle closer to home, primarily to start a family. Working for PRR affords them the opportunity to balance a family life and a professional career.
Our people came for the promise of life quality and they stay because we deliver on our promises. Everyone appreciates the flexibility our firm provides but realizes that the clients need to be served and work needs to get done. As a result, we all work together as a team to meet these goals.
In addition to longevity with our firm, you will find that our staff has acquired valuable professional experience prior to joining PRR. Furthermore, almost all of the staff are certified public accountants, some with master's degrees and all who keep current by maintaining continuing education hours annually. Our personnel learned specialized skills, brought those to PRR and then applied their proficiencies to other more general and diverse projects. Therefore, as a team, we collaborate to quickly understand a client’s situation and offer sound expert advice.
While other firms typically staff accounting and audit engagements with people who have less than two years experience; our workforce is seasoned and requires minimal instruction. With trained and knowledgeable people, we are able to hurdle the learning curve that so often requires substantial time and disruption to the client’s employees. Our approach is comparatively seamless, particularly because we strive to schedule jobs with the same staff year after year.
The diverse professional background of our staff and the services we are therefore able to provide also set us apart. It is rare to see a firm our size offer the expanse of services we do. Through the skills of our staff we are able to provide extensive accounting, auditing, tax and management advisory services.
For example Elaine Renzi and myself have broad experience in audits for non-profits including organizations that receive federal funds. I also manage the firm's audits of broker dealers reporting to FINRA and have amassed considerable technology systems knowledge. Glenn Anderson is our management advisor consultant and is extremely talented at digging into your books detail. Karla Hopkins is our tax partner and has extensive experience in all aspects of taxation including multi-state taxation. Laticia Michelson is multi-talented practicing in all areas including taxation, auditing and management advisory services. Carolyn Flaherty is our partnership specialist and also a talented writer. Andrea Hottleman is involved in our accounting and auditing practice but also holds a masters degree in taxation. We are a PCAOB registered firm and Members of the American Horse Council. Our staff is always eager to take on new assignments that challenge them professionally.
Another factor that separates us from our competition is our commitment to utilizing the latest technology to service our clients. This past year we launched a client portal to allow for secure exchange of data between ourselves and our clients; we rolled out a social media campaign before many firms had considered it, (follow us on your favorite social platform: we are on Linked In, Facebook and Twitter); we were at the forefront of paperless engagements while many firms are just starting to adopt, and we have developed a communication structure that allows us to quickly respond to clients. We take pride in finding innovative ways to make the client experience more efficient and enjoyable.
Finally, we all take the team approach very seriously. The atmosphere at PRR is a caring environment. We do not compete with each other, but work to make the firm better as a whole. The staff willingly assists with each other's assignments and supports each other. We all ensure that when one member of the team is unavailable for personal or professional reasons, their clients are serviced and cared for as if they were their own; sort of our own "no client gets left behind" policy! When you do business with any one member of PRR, you gain access to the whole team and all our expertise.
To learn more about our firm check out our website at www.prrllc.net.
No comments:
Post a Comment