For Kathy Ryan, the formula for success at Newark, Calif., finance and accounting firm RoseRyan Inc. can be summed up in one word.
“Flexibility is what makes any consulting firm,” said CEO and founder Ryan. “You can’t be rigid. You have to listen to your client and really assess what they need. Sometimes they’re not even sure what they need.”
Ryan points to her firm’s flexibility in hiring, with remote workers all over the world, and in RoseRyan’s business model, which now includes a subsidiary serving the cannabis industry. The company also cultivates a collaborative and flexible culture. As a result, the 100-person company continues to expand, with revenue growing 10 percent from 2016 to 2017 and 17 percent from 2017 to 2018. Ryan’s goal is to double the company’s size over the next four years.
RoseRyan’s positive culture contributes to its success, said Pat Voll, the firm’s vice president. It’s a marked contrast to some of Voll’s previous roles.
“I have been in a place where your dream job could change into your nightmare job in a heartbeat,” Voll said. “And it really depends on the corporate culture that you’re in.”
Ryan is thoughtful about how she grows the company, Voll said, which means hiring great people, being open to their input and taking risks.
“The talent pool is pretty tight,” Ryan said. So the firm has expanded by relying on remote workers. Today the company has workers in six states and two employees in Malaysia. But most of the firm’s employees are in the Bay Area.
In March, RoseRyan launched Kukuza Associates, a subsidiary focused on providing finance consulting for companies in the cannabis industry. Marijuana sales in California are expected to reach $3.1 billion this year, according to Arcview Market Research and BDS Analytics.
Many of RoseRyan’s more than 800 clients since its founding in 1993 have been in the technology, life sciences and private equity industries. For startups, RoseRyan is their outsourced accounting departments. For Fortune 500 companies, the firm focuses on projects that could be tied to M&A activity and SEC work.
Ryan also works to attract and retain quality clients. The best clients, she said, are CEOs who respect finance and RoseRyan’s services. “We’re not bean counters. We bring a service and a talent and ideas to the team,” she said.
Sourced from Biz Women - written by Mark Calvey & Alisha Green