Baer & Edington celebrates five years

Baer & Edington, LLC, Certified Public Accountants and Consultants celebrated their five year anniversary in Columbia on Thursday, Oct. 30 with a Chamber ribbon cutting and open house.

Jeff Baer and Associates of Jackson and Cheryl Edington, formerly of Moeller-Williams-Edington, in Columbia merged their firms in 2009. This allowed expansion in both markets, and introduced the Columbia firm to paperless and integrated software.

“Columbia has been a very good place to live and work,” Edington said. “The business community is thriving.”

Edington says the merge has been mutually beneficial for both her and Baer, and has changed the original firm significantly.

Today her teams’ main focus is on proactive communication – sitting down with clients and going over information in person, and talking to clients year-round – instead of the typical approach of only completing a tax return for the deadline.

Edington says the firm’s biggest accomplishment directly after the merge was that her team successfully learned how to use Thomson Reuters UltraTax program, which Baer’s firm was already using. Today, she’s most proud of the relationships that team members have wit clients. She says that today, clients call Baer & Edington first when a question comes up about their business.

Edington’s favorite memory from the past five years is the first time one of her clients said, “Oh my gosh, I’m so glad that we met. Now I know what my tax liability is and how to reduce it.” She loves knowing that she can help her clients save time and money.