Natalie: I feel like we all really care about each other, which is a really good feeling to have at a
place where you’re working hard. You also want to enjoy the people that you work with,
and I feel that that environment exists here at Cray Kaiser.

Dan: We want to make sure that you continue to grow, you continue to learn. By doing so, we
help the client, we help you, and we help each other.

Micah: It’s almost more of a family in this group. We have a lot of involvement in each other’s
lives. Everybody asks, how are you doing? How is your weekend? How is so and so, your
wife? How is so and so, your dog. Very involved with each other, and I would say that we
care a lot about each other as people. Which really speaks to one of our core values at
Cray Kaiser.

Natalie: We really, really value every piece of input that somebody offers here at Cray Kaiser, and I
feel that that’s truly embodied in our day-to-day activities at the firm. We also value our
clients, and I think they feel that, and they feel that we care about them. Whether it’s their
business success, personal success, I feel that people are what’s important here at Cray
Kaiser. Another thing I’ve seen is diversity, which I think for a firm in Oakbrook and for our
size, we have so much diversity here.

Micah: We’re in a relationship business, and the fact that we really make a point of saying, we
focus on people. I’m happy to be a part of a firm that does that.

Micah: I think one of the great things about working at Cray Kaiser is being a trusted advisor with
our clients. Being that strategic partner, that really helps them get to the next level. To
either their next transaction or get past their next goal, whether that’s operationally,
whether that’s business transition, whether that is tax minimization and tax mitigation.
We have solutions for all of those things. We really work with each individual client to
determine what is their biggest need, what are their needs currently, what are their needs
in the future. Then deliver individualized, personalized solutions for each of those needs
and needs in the future.

Natalie: The trusted advisor role from a tax standpoint typically is either helping them with
transactions, helping them to minimize tax. Going above and beyond just preparing a tax
return, reviewing a tax return compliance work, but actually doing some planning to help
minimize.

Dan: So being a team member here at Cray Kaiser means yes, we’re going to work some long,
hard hours and it will be stressful from time to time. The relationships you build with your
team members and the relationships you build with the client will make it all worthwhile
in the end.

Micah: This environment, when you’re working, what sometimes may be longer hours, under
deadlines, that sort of thing, you really need to rely on other people to get you through
your day. You rely on other people to get their task done; you rely on other people to get
you what you need to get the job done. Having that trust with other people and having
that collaboration, I think is the best part of being on this team at Cray Kaiser.

My name is Eva Koziel and my job title is supervisor of accounting services. I have been at Cray Kaiser for
five years. What makes Cray Kaiser different from other firms that I’ve worked with is they have a small
community feel, and what I mean by that is you don’t feel threatened to go and ask a partner a question.
It is definitely a team effort here, and we all work together to accomplish all our goals.

My name is Aaron McWilliams and my job title is a senior account. I have been a CK team member for
about 10 years now. What enticed me about Cray Kaiser is, I really liked the team atmosphere that CK
had. I also liked the fact that I would be given the opportunity to work in many different areas of
accounting, rather than just one specific area. I’ve stayed at Cray Kaiser, because I really feel like the
culture here is very good corporate culture. Everybody is really striving towards the same goal and
everyone takes pride in the work that we put out there every day.

My name is Maria Gordon, and I am a tax senior here at Cray Kaiser. I just finished my fifth tax season at
Cray Kaiser. Cray Kaiser’s culture is like a big family, and I know that might sound cliché to say that, but
the environment here is very relational. You constantly hear people around the office talking with one
another, not only about work issues, but really genuinely caring about what’s going on in one another’s
lives. We joke around a fair amount. There’s a good amount of laughter that we have here, and it helps
to keep things light and fun. It doesn’t detract from us being able to get our work done, which is really
fabulous. It seems to just add to the energy level in the office.

My name is Joshua Auskalnis and my job title is In-Charge Accountant. I originally started as an intern
during tech season of 2020, and I’ve just now reached my one-year mark as a full-time CK team member.
What originally, I was looking for was to join the public accounting field, and so I was kind of looking for
smaller firms as I wanted to be able to know people and not just be another face in the crowd. That was
the beautiful thing that Cray Kaiser offered, was that I would be able to work in public accounting and
still be at a small firm. I basically get to experience all the different types of returns between S Corps,
partnerships, basically anything that Cray Kaiser prepares, I get a chance to experience that.

My name is Karen Hoban and I’m an accountant in the accounting services department. I’ve been with
Cray Kaiser just about two years. I joined in August of 2019. We have a few clients in accounting services
that come to us, they’re very small business people that have a good handle on their own small
business, but they don’t have a lot of resources. They certainly don’t have a lot of educational
background in the accounting or financial side of their business. So, it can be very rewarding to feel like
are helping the client, but in the process also teaching them and empowering them to take over some of
the processes that I think that they’re usually very intimidated by. Once they have learned how to take
on some of those tasks themselves, that they feel that they understand their business even more.

My name is Priyangiben Patel, and I have been interning with Cray Kaiser for almost seven months now.
My biggest takeaway from my internship was being able to apply the practical knowledge that I gained
from this internship working in the office to the classroom knowledge that I’m currently having. During
tax season, I did not have any experience with any tax returns, so it was nice that I was taking a tax class
and doing tax returns at the same time. Which helped me understand the concept better.

Before applying at CK for an internship, I did not know what I wanted to do, especially in the accounting
field, because there are so many options and different departments to work with. I was mostly confused
between insurance and taxation. With working at CK during tax season, it really helped me understand
that taxation is something that I would like to focus is on, especially for my masters.

I’m forever grateful for that. I did not know much before doing the internship here and it feels like I have
learned a lot from the time that I started to the time I’ll end. It’s nice to know that whatever I have
learned in terms of filing returns, helping the accounting services team with the PPP and ERC credits,
helping the audit team, I will be able to apply all of it to my college experience and job.

I think CK’s culture is very diverse and friendly. From the time that I have joined the firm, I was treated
very nicely by everyone. When I was unsure about something, it felt like I was able to go to anyone for
help, whether it was the partners or coworkers or supervisors, my questions were being answered nicely.
One thing I would like someone who’s considering joining the CK intern team to know is that at the
internship role definitely helps them understand the accounting world better in terms of whether they
want to focus on one field, one aspect of accounting or focus on many other things.

Then, I also want them to know that they will feel very welcomed and welcomed by the entire CK team,
as they’re very helpful. If I were to rate my overall experience at Cray Kaiser, I would definitely give it a 10
out of 10 because it was amazing to work with the team here. Before interning here, don’t be afraid that
you don’t know much about accounting, from what I have learned, I think you will definitely understand
a lot more after joining this team here. They will help you answer your questions and help you
understand the accounting world better.