Interview: Kerensa Butler, Office

Caring is critical

Caring about people in addition to their business creates a deeper connection

Kerensa Butler

Office Leader, Fort Lauderdale – RSM US LLP

What are your firm’s major takeaways from 2020? As an audit, tax and consulting firm we were highly concerned that our clients would have a difficult time navigating the dramatic changes caused by the global pandemic.

This past year we learned a lot but, most importantly, we learned that the value-based culture of our firm is strong. It takes a long time to build a culture that is not only diverse and inclusive but one that attracts people and supports them. Pivoting from in-person engagement to virtual connectivity put our culture at risk. It is just not as much fun to have a happy hour online as it is in person, and the personal interactions are less impactful.

We are proud that at RSM, we entered the pandemic with a strong culture and have maintained it every step through these unprecedented days. We also found that caring is a critical component of our business. As first-choice advisers, we apply a focused approach to how we operate, which includes what we call our 5Cs – caring, curiosity, critical thinking, courage and collaboration. During 2020, we found that caring, not just about our client’s business but about them as people and the struggles they were facing created a deeper connection with them and between our team members. And, finally, agility is key. Like so many others, we affirmed that being agile is the key to maintaining a successful business.

Which among your services have grown in demand in Broward County? We saw a significant increase in cybersecurity-related services. As everybody switched to work from home, control over a company’s cyber environment increased in importance. We also saw a lot of consulting services increase, whether it was for technology, business analytics or cash flow analysis purposes. There was also a significant uptick in moving toward automation. What regulations are you keeping a close eye on? We expect the Biden administration will be changing tax regulations. We think that will have a big effect on us, as well as our clientele. A couple of years ago, we had tax reform under the Trump administration, so we expect to have to deal with all that again over the next four years. We expect further expansion of data privacy laws. We have had a sizable move on a global scale regarding the requirements in that area, particularly in the European Union. That has affected all of our affiliates across the world. We expect the United States to catch up to all of that, especially with ongoing discussions about social media in Congress. We anticipate our cybersecurity and artificial intelligence divisions to see expediential growth due to these pending changes.