In this video, Deanna Salo, Managing Principal at Cray Kaiser, shares the story behind the firm’s relationship with Russell Bedford International, a global network of independent accounting and consulting firms. Deanna explains how Cray Kaiser’s commitment to supporting clients with international needs led them to seek out a network that offered trusted partnerships across the globe. From cross-border transactions to international tax planning, Russell Bedford has empowered Cray Kaiser to expand its reach while staying true to its values. Learn how this collaboration has deepened the firm’s bench, strengthened its global perspective, and enhanced the services offered to clients both locally and internationally.

Transcript:

My name is Deanna Salo and I’m the managing principal here at Cray Kaiser, Limited CPAs. I’m here today to talk to you about our relationship with Russell Bedford International Network and basically how we came to find this network and how it serves us in assisting us to serve our clients. So about 15 years ago, our clients were starting to grow in shape and size, dipping their toes if you will across the pond in deciding where they’re going to do business globally. Many of our clients have been doing business globally, but we’ve been able to serve them by leaning on attorneys or other affiliations. Through other networks, we were able to serve them. Our tax department has always done an exemplary job in being able to look up treaties and determine tax treatments and making sure that our clients were compliant in all the necessary pieces of their annual filing, whether they were doing business here in the States or whether they were doing business afar.

About 10 years ago, we decided to join a different group, another network, an international network that was based in the Chicago land area that we felt very aligned with. We were going to help them when they needed it, and they were going to help us when we needed it. About two years into that relationship, that organization ended up rolling up into a national firm. And it was very soon thereafter that we basically did not feel the same connection, access, and just compliance and alignment of how we wanted to serve our clients and our access to those technical things we needed when dealing with international business.

So, we received a phone call with a British accent on the other side of it asking us if we’d like to join an international network and we were surprised because of the very lovely British accent on the other line of the phone. At the same time, he said, “I’ll be in Chicago. Would you like to have a chat?” And we said, “Of course, come on by.” So, we met with the membership development person at Russell Bedford International. It was in September of that year in 2017. And they were having their annual meeting in New York City in October of that same year. And we said, “Sure, let’s go try it out. Let’s go meet and greet.” This is their global annual meeting. So people are coming from all over the world to attend this annual meeting. So I got the wonderful opportunity to hit New York City Times Square and meet what were some of the most amazing, relatable, independently owned and operated CPA firms from across the globe. And it was almost love at first sight. We had collaboration, sharing stories, sharing skills, determining how we could do business with one another without feeling a need to tit for tat and give and take, which is kind of how we felt in these other relationships we’ve had.

So since 2018, fast forward to now, we have received a number of referrals from Russell Bedford, which was not the reason why we joined. We specifically joined our intent was always to deepen our bench in our understanding of international tax law. So when I have a client who’s buying a property in Tuscany, Italy, I could pick up the phone and have somebody on the other end willing and ready to technically assist my client, language, find attorneys, find land surveyors, find whatever I needed, you know, time zones away from where I’m sitting. And so the ability to do that, the ability to serve, even though it was no increased billings for Cray Kaiser, the ability to provide resources to our clients in their moments of need, transactionally, educationally, networking-wise.

It’s been a profound impact not only to our ability to serve our clients but also even with our staff. When we’re recruiting for employees and to be able to say you’re working in our size of our firm in Chicago at an international CPA firm and you will be doing some international work is a really interesting thing for many people. They like to savor international tax law, or just the opportunity to be talking with people, networking with people from not just your area, but literally from across the globe. So our reason to join was really to deepen our bench. Certainly from a recruiting perspective, it was a fantastic roadmap to getting new staff here. And we also had the opportunity to have exchange students, some college graduates from Spain that were coming to the United States and wanted to intern with us. We’ve had those opportunities to exchange some personnel and again fast forward to 2019, I was asked to be on the board of Russell Bedford International and so since then I’ve had the opportunity to sit amongst some extremely brilliant individuals. My perspective of how we do business here in the United States has been enhanced globally by really understanding boots on the ground, what’s happening in the world, in business, as these other practitioners are trying to serve their clients amidst economic downturn, war, social responsibility, global warming, all the various impacts that other parts of the world are far more sensitive to than what we might be here in the United States. So, the perspective gained by this relationship has profoundly impacted how I’m able to serve our clients here at Cray Kaiser.

Some of the statistics that I just want to share a few of just to understand the size of Russell Bedford International because here in the United States it’s not as well-known as some of the other global alliances which are typically supported by the big four CPA firms. They rank in the top 20 global networks around the world. This past year, we ranked 17th among the top 20. I have 110 countries that I can call upon literally picking up the phone or dropping an email and having what is otherwise real-time or next-day responses if those folks can help my clients. There are 375 offices around the world and almost 10,000 people at these other firms globally that are ready and waiting to assist us. Conversely, one of the new things that we’ve been able to do, not really new, but it’s been a wonderful enhancement to our relationship, is we’re getting called upon to assist their clients here in the United States. There’s a lot of business that wants to be done here in the United States, so we have clients that are now ours from Ireland. We have clients that are now ours from Spain, from the UK. And while those other CPA firms host the relationship, we’re used to assist in getting those companies set up here in the United States to do business here in the United States. And so we not only have the referral from that other firm in those other countries, but we now get the opportunity to work alongside them to help secure their relationship as well. Because on both sides we want to keep our clients happy and well served as well with the resources that they need to keep their businesses going. So it’s a win-win across the board.

One of the other things that I think felt very in well-alignment with our firm was really their vision and their mission and their vision is why we exist, to be the global network of choice for independent professional service firms committed to sharing core values and to enable their clients to do better business globally. And that’s really what we’re all trying to do, is do better business globally. Not every one of Cray Kaiser’s clients needs a global representative, but at some point in time, they might and we’ll be ready by being able to leverage our relationship with Russell Bedford.

Their mission is also to take clients further to a better future and that again, similar to Cray Kaiser, we want a better future for our clients and we want to see them to and through their transactions. So Russell Bedford for Cray Kaiser has been a fantastic alignment, very resourceful, growing our business, growing our people, and certainly growing relationships abroad.

Russell Bedford has empowered Cray Kaiser to serve our clients domestically and globally in an enhanced position than we’ve ever had before. And as I said earlier, it’s because of the commitment to serving each other, whether it’s a tax question, a transactional question, I need somebody, do you have the resources, and trusting that the person on the other end of that email or phone call is going to deliver. It’s no different than how we make referrals here in the states, but having an international alliance network to deepen our bench, to enhance our employees’ experiences in doing the work that they do here, enhance our education, our perspectives, our awareness of what’s happening globally and locally is really why Russell Bedford has been such an amazing colleague and companion to Cray Kaiser over the past handful of years. In summary, if you want more information about how we can help you with your international or local accounting or tax or advisory services, you can check us out at www.craykaiser.com and Russell Bedford and Cray Kaiser’s team would be welcome to have you give us a call.