Being ACCOUNTable: A Spotlight on KA’s Accounting Team

by Brenden Nickels

Brenden Nickels is Senior Office Assistant at Kraus-Anderson headquarters, and a member of KA’s Green Team.

While accounting departments may not be as high profile as the Project Managers or Project Coordinators, but they, like everyone else here, are still a very important part of our team. In fact, it’s part of their mission statement, to communicate the most accurate financial information and help be leaders to their colleagues here at KA and to our clients.

“Accounting is a trusted partner in our day to day business dealings.” said Executive Vice President Rich Jacobson. “In addition to monitoring the overall budget, we depend on the well-qualified and efficient staff to help our jobs run smoothly, keep track of our costs and billings, and assist us with difficult decisions. The diversity of the services they provide and their expertise is appreciated by everyone on the construction build team. It would be impossible to function without them.”

Our Accounting Superheroes

As KA’s controller, Logan Carter has many duties to fulfill for the company. This includes providing important financial data to the executives to assist them with data-driven decisions, as well managing the treasury, overseeing internal controls, and prepping info for our banks and surety company.

“I have a unique role in the organization that allows me to be involved in every single project that we work on,” Carter said. “While I don’t get as involved in the details as our project accountants, I really enjoy summarizing the data and making it meaningful to others.”

Accounting manager Ryan Szarzynski manages and oversee not just the financial team, but also financial risk management and reporting. While he doesn’t get involved with the operation of KA’s projects directly, he does handle the financial reporting, though.

Working through a Global Pandemic

During the pandemic, Szarzynski has said the accounting department has been able to help serve KA’s customers while everyone was working at home, and now that the pandemic is lessening, that it’s been nice to have meetings in-person now.

“I’m so happy that I get to work face to face with people again.” said Project Accountant Mari Gronquist. “I have pretty much mastered being as paperless as possible. I used to print all my reports I would use to put together a billing. Now I do it all electronically. Communication with co-workers has also changed. My PMs now have my cell number so we will text each other for quick questions and I also use IM a lot.”

Over at our office in Bemidji, accountant Lyndsey Moe experienced something similar. She said that she had to embrace technology and her mindset with working remotely. “I find with myself having better concentration and flexibility, and less stress in the remote environment. I believe having the technology has increased efficiency and in turn, productivity.”

They may be a small team, but our accountants know how to keep things going no matter where they are. They help KA and its clients efficiently and effectively. Moe also recalls a quote that she once heard, “The most successful person is the one who holds on to the old just as long as it’s good and grabs the new just as soon as it is better.”