During 2021, SSB reaffirmed our vision statement—Our vision is to nurture an environment of trust, respect and collaboration while helping our team and our clients to thrive. We strive to quickly adapt to change and to provide the best culture for our team. The culture at SSB is important to us because, when you work with SSB, you’re not working with just one person—you’re working with all of us!
Our business experienced growth because we embraced our clients’ needs and focused on being their trusted advisors during a challenging time. As a result, we are excited to welcome two team accountants, four interns and two administrative team members to our SSB team. We are growing our management team in a different way—through leadership development. We believe that great leaders are students of leadership and leading takes practice. We have created a focus group with each member being personally committed to improving as leaders.
For us, the past year was a time of strengthening relationships. Our clients leaned on us more through the pandemic, and we were able to pull through stronger as a result of everyone’s efforts. We listened and put their needs above our own. We helped them adapt, and we provided the support to guide them through the economic stimulus programs. We were candid with our advice, which our clients appreciated. We recently hosted a workshop for our clients spotlighting ideas for growing their business. Why? Because we want them to succeed!
A fun service area continues to be our brewery division. The brewery industry is a fast-developing niche that has us extending our reach to many new breweries, even in out-of-state locales, and we enjoy working with owners in this industry. Our CAAS (comprehensive accounting and advisory services) division has experienced significant growth as more business owners are outsourcing their bookkeeping needs. Finding employees has been a challenge for many businesses this year, and SSB’s CAAS division has assisted clients with bookkeeping duties as a way to fill these roles. We have also expanded our wealth management services. We consider ourselves an extension of our clients’ businesses, and we partner with them throughout the year as we set the foundation for growth.
SSB launched our new website in 2021 with a platform that allows us to effectively reach our audience through social media platforms. The site is user friendly and provides our clients access to their portals for ease of secure information transfer. Technology continued to play a role in 2021 for SSB, as we have adopted new and innovative workflow programs to improve efficiencies and scheduling processes.
Our SSB team members are community minded and participate as volunteers, serving on boards and providing services to many Valley organizations, including the Better Business Bureau, Salem Chamber of Commerce, Salem Regional Medical Center, Sight for All United, Students Motivated by the Arts (SMARTS), Stambaugh Auditorium, United Way of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley, Youngstown Symphony Foundation and others. We are proud to support these organizations that define our community spirit!
This was a year of reconnection for our community. It was a year where we came together to support each other. As we look forward to 2022, we are excited for the opportunities the upcoming year will bring. We are happy to be a part of such a dynamic community!