CIANJ Commerce Magazine September 2020 Live | Page 10

ANNUAL BEST PRACTICES GUIDE
New Jersey’s Top CEOs and Business
Leaders Reinvented Their Firms
to Better Serve Clients
COVID‐19 has changed how we do business. Here’s how to thrive in the new normal
using technology, new paradigms and innovations.
Compiled by Miles Z. Epstein
Editor, COMMERCE
ACCOUNTING
Accounting Practice Sales
By Bradley K. Holmes, CPA,
President
Much of our business has not
changed in marketing as we
are most often working with
e-mail, phone, Internet and
mail. However, the biggest change has come
from technology. We revamped our website
to be more user friendly and created a portal
for individual users through our CRM on the
cloud. We have participated in Zoom meetings
versus face-to-face and all of our staff
are currently working from home. We also
have taken advantage of a new VPN phone
system and remote access to our server, so it
feels as though we are sitting in offices next
to each other.
Citrin Cooperman
By Alex Serrano, CPA
Office Managing Partner
For several years, ideas like
disruption, innovation and
change were used to describe
the business climate. While
not wrong, the true meaning behind these
ideas were never imagined with the urgency
needed for them today. The impact of
COVID‐19 has hit hard, turning “business
as usual” into a foreign concept as business
owners were forced to rapidly evolve, transition,
and reinvent themselves to ensure
their survival. Being evolution ready, Citrin
Cooperman was structured to adapt quickly
to change. Our clients needed us more than
ever, so we created the COVID‐19 Response
Unit (CRU)—a dedicated team of professionals
and resources to address clients’ critical
needs and deliver timely solutions, from crisis
through transition. The CRU works 24/7
to comprehend new guidance and maintains
a dedicated resource portal. Additionally, we
created the COVID‐19 Transition Playbook
with key steps and ideas for a business to survive
and thrive in any outcome.
CohnReznick LLP
By Steven Schinella, CPA,
Roseland Office
Managing Partner
On March 13, CohnReznick
made the decision to stop
working from our offices.
Within 48 hours, we were all working remotely
with minimal disruption to our business
and our clients. Our people have been amazingly
resilient and resourceful. Our clients
have had many questions about managing
the impact of COVID‐19 on their businesses,
so staying in close contact with them has been
crucial. Using videoconferencing technology
like Microsoft Teams has allowed us to maintain
as much face-to-face interaction as possible
and continue providing world-class client
service. We have also assembled a national
SBA Task Force to assist our clients with filing
for CARES Act loans and navigating the
forgiveness component of the Paycheck Protection
Program. Our advisory teams are also
helping businesses manage their liquidity and
access to capital through more-agile financial
forecasting and modeling.
8 COMMERCE www. commercemagnj.com
Continued On Page 10