WOW … what a difference a year makes .
It ’ s hard to believe we remain in the midst of a pandemic , which has turned our lives upside-down . I remember packing up my office to work from home in late March 2020 and thinking that things would be back to normal in a few weeks . As I write this , it ’ s going on a year and it doesn ’ t look like it ’ s going to ease up anytime soon .
But we haven ’ t let the pandemic stop us . As we always do , we ’ ve embraced change and have tried to make the most of this situation . We ’ ve adapted to the new normal and , in many instances , we were ahead of the change and challenges that surfaced as a result of COVID-19 . For example , we had already invested in Zoom and upgraded our Skype licenses . We had already done a tax processing Lean engagement that allowed us to utilize a great deal of automation . When we sent everyone home in the heat of tax season , these investments in technology allowed us to continue serving our clients without missing a beat .
In a way , this has been a blessing because we have proven to ourselves that we can adapt and change rapidly . I ’ m proud of what we ’ ve accomplished and excited to see where our firm ’ s innovative spirit takes us next . I can confidently say that , after a year filled with ups and downs , we ’ re committed to remaining connected in all aspects of our business – including staying connected to our clients .
But most of all I just want to take a moment to say how proud I am of all of our employees – the people who work hard every day to serve our clients . It wasn ’ t easy for them to begin working from home , and it definitely wasn ’ t easy for the team members who were asked to remain on the front lines in our offices while we weathered this storm as an essential business .
Despite the craziness of 2020 , we grew significantly as a team in the last year – both in the sheer size of our team , and the professional growth of working together and responding to unprecedented challenges .
4 | 5