CANFIELD – In a year where businesses likely spent more time looking at their finances than anything else, a newcomer led HBK CPAs & Consultants’ efforts to keep clients on top of the Paycheck Protection Program.
After joining the firm in late 2019, Amy Reynallt pivoted from her background in financial consulting for manufacturers to staying abreast of changes to the loan program, as well as other relief programs.
“She wrote articles and delivered webinars as each program evolved and at each new issuance of guidance from the governing agencies,” says client engagement director Carl Greenaway. “HBK professionals helped business clients determine eligibility, complete relief applications, and for those who had PPP loans, comply with the requirements and file for loan forgiveness.”
Internally, HBK sorted its professionals into “solutions groups” for seven industries, dedicating teams to each sector based on expertise and experience. “That enables our professionals to manage their practices in new and different ways, eventually resulting in new operating norms and cultural values,” Greenaway says.
At the onset of the pandemic, all 17 HBK offices began working remotely. With teleconferencing and digital processing, the transition was “seamless, without interruption or disruption of our services,” he adds.
HBK implemented the FibreCRM platform, a software system designed for CPA firms that allowed staff to “manage their practices in new and different ways, eventually resulting in new operating norms and cultural values,” Greenaway says.
In 2021, HBK plans to further advance its digital transformation, with FibreCRM becoming “a foundation of our operations,” he says. The firm will also invest in training for employees to ensure all staff know how to use the platform to “improve their decision-making in an environment of continuous and increasingly fast-paced change.’