Merger transforms accounting firm, move in works

ServiceMaster owner Adam Kinser has used Cheryl Edington’s accounting firm since 2002, and he quickly saw the upside of changes made at Baer & Edington LLC since last year’s merger.
When he and Edington met for their quarterly review of his company’s financial reports, she told him they were not only going to review the figures, but she was also going to help him understand the reports and tax procedures so he could plan better.
“That brought a smile to my face,” Kinser said. The result? When one of his vans started to break down, he’d already planned to buy a new vehicle. Business activity is up 38 percent this year at the company, which provides cleaning and water and fire restoration services.
“They keep me on track and help me set goals to get to where I want to be,” Kinser said. He said he had always been happy with their straightforward, honest and proactive approach, but now he’s even more pleased. “We sit down and talk, and she tells me, ‘Here are some things to look at.’ She’s definitely set my mind          at ease.”
Another change at the company is on the horizon. Near the end of this year, Baer & Edington will move to a building the company purchased Aug. 12 on Chinaberry Lane, the former location of the now closed Sylvan Learning Center.
The move is part of Baer & Edington’s efforts to heighten the new identity of the firm, which was created when J. Baer & Associates of Jackson, Mo., merged with Moeller-Williams-Edington PC of Columbia.
Along with a name change and new location, the firm will continue increasing its focus on customer education and service.
This increased guidance and support is part of a trend in the business of accounting firms, but the company is also using more sophisticated technology as a result of the merger with Jeffrey Baer’s firm in Jackson.

High-tech improvements
The result can be seen on Edington’s desk.
“I went from one (computer) monitor on my desk to three,” said Edington, who has more than 25 years of experience in public accounting, a field of the profession in which accountants serve clients and individuals rather than work as an employee for a particular company.
Since starting in the business in 1985, she’s seen accounting go from entering numbers in a ledger and using paper-tape calculators to having a special clerk enter the information into a computer.
Now her company is taking the next step: going paperless and having clients input their information themselves with access via a password-protected portal and cloud computing.
Edington grew up in New Florence, Mo., a small town halfway between Columbia and St. Louis, where her father owned a small GMC dealership and her mother did the bookkeeping. After graduating from Milligan College, where she met her husband, Greg, the two of them moved to the East Coast, where she began her career. In 1990, Edington and her husband moved to Columbia so he could pursue a master’s degree at MU. Greg is now a supervisor at Boone County Public Works. They have two children: Ryan, 17, a junior at Rock Bridge High School; and Tara, 23, who graduated from Lindenwood University and is now preparing for pharmacy school.
“I’ve always loved public accounting,” Edington said. While working with Mary Moeller, whom Edington calls one of the best tax minds she’s ever worked with, Edington learned she loved working with clients as well.
“I like helping clients solve problems with what I know,” Edington said. She also likes using her skills to help the community. She’s involved with Pascale’s Pals, which provides help for children with leukemia; the Columbia Public School Board Foundation; the Women’s Network of the Chamber of Commerce; and the Assistance League of Missouri, which helps support local women’s shelter True North.
When Moeller decided to leave the firm to take a position as the controller for a local firm and partner Rose Williams was nearing retirement, Edington didn’t have to look far for a new partner. She’d been meeting with Baer for years and shared ideas and discussed new directions for accounting procedures.
Baer, for example, introduced her to an electronic system for charging clients three years ago that made it easier to provide fair and accurate billing.
The merger brought other changes to the Columbia office. After everyone received new computers, employees at both offices had to learn to share software and procedures that allow them to work on projects from either area, which makes the three-hour distance disappear, Baer said.
Baer’s ultimate goal is to have a completely paperless work environment in three years. Using portals and cloud computing is somewhat rare for Columbia’s accounting firms, Baer said.
The portal, he said, will offer more than the convenience of not having to take reports to the office. With the password- protected information, clients can access information from anywhere, even when the accountant’s office is closed. They can allow chosen firms, such as their bankers, to access the information.
But clients will still be able to get a real person on the phone. Baer & Edington will continue to offer free telephone consultations and face-to-face meetings.
“We’re using technology to make things easier,” Baer said, “but we want you to call us. That’s what we’re here for.”