HHM CPAs grows its mission through COVID-19 crisis

› Founded: 1981

› Employees: 200, with 150 in Chattanooga

› Why this is a Best Place to Work: HHM doesn’t just provide employees with paychecks – HHM provides them with opportunities for growth, advancement and fulfillment while helping them strike the delicate but important balance of a successful career with a satisfying quality of life.

› Online: hhmcpas.com

A lot had to change in a hurry in the early days of the pandemic, but Jon Paul Davis, a partner at HHM CPAs, said change is nothing new for the 40-year-old accounting and financial firm.

“Anyone can ask any question, and our answer to our clients is always, yes, we will find the way,” he said. “We didn’t have to reinvent ourselves to do this. It was in our DNA.”

Chief Operating Officer Beverly Edge joined the firm in January 2020, and a few months later found herself at Sam’s Club buying every printer they had so employees could all go home to work.

“It literally was day-by-day,” she said. “We made decisions as things progressed.”

That agility put the firm in a good position to help its clients weather the pandemic, and to become a resource for the complex financial legislation that began rolling out within days.

“It was tax season, but we went from it’s tax season to we have to understand what this means for our clients to help them move forward,” said partner Will Clegg.

The firm had also moved to the cloud in November 2018, and could move quickly to access files and client information from anywhere. “We were ready for this,” Davis said.

Demand for the firm’s work grew rapidly, and their experts hosted webinars and learning sessions for virtual audiences from clients to bankers, he adds. The firm reopened after about six weeks for people who wanted to return, and plans are to get back to the office and keep the team together.

“The ability to walk into an office and brainstorm is hard to replicate in a Zoom environment,” Davis said. “There’s a lot of opportunity for flexibility, and it’s a great tool, but we see the benefit of being in the office.”