Kernutt Stokes: Oregon CPA Firm Grows in Central Oregon While Celebrating 75 Years

Bend, Ore. – December 15, 2020: Celebrating 75 years, Kernutt Stokes is the sixth-largest CPA firm in Oregon with offices in Bend, Corvallis, Eugene, and Lake Oswego. Priding itself on the longevity of its team, the firm is comprised of 12 partners, 65+ CPAs, and 90+ staff. Kernutt became a part of the Central Oregon community two years ago when it acquired Spectrum. Today, the Bend office has a team of six serving a variety of accounting and consulting services. We spoke with Amy Delaney, Kernutt Stoke's Marketing & Business Development Manager, to learn more about the firm, the Bend office, the impact of the pandemic on them and their clients, how they've pivoted and more.

EDCO: Tell us more about Kernutt Stokes and the services you provide.

We provide strategic and personalized accounting, tax and consulting services to businesses in Oregon and strive to help our clients become more profitable, competitive, and successful. We do this by focusing on our core values: people come first, integrity is key, and excellence is expected.

EDCO: Who’s your ideal client?

We work with a range of businesses including local, multi-generational and family-owned, women-owned, private, individuals, and more with a variety of consulting and tax needs. We can also provide business services such as monthly accounting and fractional CFO services, retirement plan administration, and accounting software support. Additionally, we have a deep working knowledge of a number of industries, including construction, medical/dental, beverage, transportation, forest products, and real estate.

EDCO: Why did you choose to have a presence in Central Oregon?

Central Oregon is growing and the need for experienced assurance, tax and consulting expertise is growing along with the population and we can fill that need with a local, experienced team. As an employer, there are many benefits to having an office in Central Oregon – we can give our staff a variety of locations from which they can work (though most of us are working from home right now), it helps expand our hiring pool and provides additional visibility in this part of the state.

EDCO: How have you and your clients responded to the pandemic?

We have been affected by COVID-19 in a variety of ways. We have learned how to adapt and be more flexible than ever! Our offices are closed to the public. We are fortunate in that we already had the technology in place for our staff to work remotely, either from home or from another KS office, so it makes working away from the office seamless. We emphasize the use of secure electronic data delivery both for receiving client data as well as sending client information and are less reliant on paper documents and snail-mail. As a way to help support our employees, we implemented a technology reimbursement program to help them offset the cost to furnish a home office area while still maintaining their work set-up in our offices. Ultimately, our goal is for staff to return to the office when it is safe to do so in order to cultivate our culture and to strengthen relationships. While we have not experienced a decrease in productivity during this time, we know the importance of in-person relationships with both our staff and clients. Our clients have been affected as well. Many have experienced a decrease in business while others are doing well. Our quality of service has stayed the same while our technical knowledge has expanded to include small business loan expertise and PPP loan expertise, which has been extremely important for businesses, whether they are already a client or not.

EDCO: Have you worked on any COVID-19 related initiatives to support neighbors and the community?

Currently, we have been supporting our staff in a broader sense, including more flexible schedules to allow for homeschooling. As we continue to celebrate our 75th anniversary, we do have some exciting news that we'll be announcing soon that relates to neighbor and community support. Stay tuned!

EDCO: How do you support EDCO and why?

We support EDCO by being a member and attending events and hope to expand our partnership as we continue to grow in Central Oregon. We feel EDCO is an important local organization that enables professionals to cultivate relationships and learn about local businesses.