Cathy Werthan, Office Managing Director, CBIZ Nashville
CBIZ’s acquisition of Marcum has reshaped the firm’s direction and priorities, uniting two companies to form a single entity now among the top 10 national firms. “Our team just got bigger, and our talent pool is more extraordinary than ever,” Cathy Werthan, office managing director in Nashville, told Invest: while reflecting on the excitement and optimism surrounding the expanded opportunities for employees and clients alike.
What changes over the past year have most influenced the direction and priorities of your office?
In November last year, CBIZ acquired Marcum, bringing together two firms to form one of the top 10 national firms. That has shaped much of what’s been going on with CBIZ — integration and having leaders come together to share best practices and all that entails.
We have a lot going on, and many exciting things have already happened. There’s been a significant emphasis on our culture and supporting the communities that we live and work in. While our office culture remains strong, our team members are going through a lot of change, and the general attitude is one of excitement.
Our team just got bigger, and our talent pool is more extraordinary than ever. We are hyper-focused on continuing to serve our clients to the highest level possible.
How important is the consultative approach for your firm now?
While we can deliver excellent tax returns, financial statements, and other deliverables, the most important and impactful work we do is our consultative approach. We make sure we get to know our clients at a deep level to understand their pain points and determine how our team’s expertise can support their existing teams. We dig in and work together on modeling scenarios.
If a client is trying to make a change, we model different approaches and then meet to discuss how their goals can become reality and how we can support their endeavors. Those are the services clients value most. The transactional side of delivering tax returns is critical, of course, to remain in compliance, but the real impact comes from our other services.
In today’s environment, with all of the uncertainty that we’ve been experiencing, it’s particularly important to have a trusted partner with whom you can exchange ideas, discuss them, and make sure that you’re successful in the long term.
Are technologies like AI replacing that consultative capability?
Some of the challenges we face involve the introduction of AI and the fact that everyone now has Google at their fingertips. There’s a lot of false information that can come from those systems. We all need to use them, adapt, learn and grow, and allow them to enhance what we’re doing for each other.
The information gathered using AI needs to be properly researched and vetted. Often, my clients will hear something and email me or ask, “Is this true?” I always encourage my clients to fact check these statements with me. While I want them to do some of their own research for peace of mind, they should vet it through us so we can ensure the data is accurate and provide the thoroughly researched information they need to make informed decisions.
What are the biggest pressures or uncertainties that clients are facing today?
The most current topic everyone is talking about, of course, is tariffs. Now that we finally have a tax bill that has been passed, after much uncertainty about whether some benefits of the TCJA would be extended, how R&E expenses would be treated, and whether unintended consequences of previous changes would be addressed, we have some clarity.
With those answers, we can take a step in the right direction, helping our clients assess how the new bill will impact them and the decisions they make for the future. Some retroactive provisions in the bill mean we must model scenarios to determine whether we should amend prior years or apply changes in the future. There’s a lot of work to be done right now in response to this newly passed legislation.
And then there’s the ongoing conversation around tariffs and their impact on supply chains, inventory decisions, pricing, stockpiling, and the many other adjustments businesses must make in response to their changing environment and challenges.
How is the office and firm giving back to the region?
We encourage our team to extend outreach in the community. Many of us serve on local nonprofit boards and are very active in those roles, and CBIZ fully supports that.
Personally, I’m part of a women’s group, Impact 100, which I thoroughly enjoy. It’s a giving circle that awards annual grants to local nonprofits. Through it, I’ve met incredible women and learned about many organizations providing services I didn’t even know were needed, much less that we supported. Additionally, I serve on the boards of the Temple-Congregation Ohabai Sholom and Jewish Family Services.
It’s a good reminder that a lot of community outreach happens that many of us aren’t even aware of. That’s been my experience, but many people here are involved with all kinds of local nonprofits.
What are the top priorities for your office over the next three to five years?
We want to continue expanding our consultative services and ensuring that our professionals are prepared even at the earlier stages of their careers. We’re finding ways to make that happen much sooner. Too often, consultative work occurs only at the top level.
We need that approach to be consistent across the board, even early on, and well-supported. One way we do this is by identifying a “wing person.” When we hold a consultative meeting with a client, we bring along someone earlier in their career so they can hear and learn from those experiences much sooner.
This helps our team members engage and see firsthand how the process works, absorbing knowledge through the experience early in their careers. It strengthens our culture, makes it more inclusive, and has proven to be a successful approach. I’ve enjoyed the energy and enthusiasm that the team approach brings. It’s exciting to have more junior team members join us, learn and grow as we serve our clients.
