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Randi Sorenson, CEO Strategic Business Advisory & Tax (SBAT) is an accounting firm with a difference. It is committed to driving growth for small businesses while simplifying the lives of their owners. A distinctive hands-on, advisory-first approach guides clients from where they are to where they want to be while building sustainable businesses along the way.
BALANCING PROFIT AND THE HUMAN SIDE OF BUSINESS
Every success story that SBAT makes possible with its involvement reinforces its larger mission of creating a thriving community of empowered owners and strengthened businesses. Plans to expand the advisory client portfolio are underway to bring more businesses under its holistic services.
Company :
Management
Randi Sorenson, CEO
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Randi Sorenson, CEOStarting as a traditional tax and accounting practice, CEO Randi Sorenson and president Kelly Hibbits quickly recognized that small business owners need more than bookkeeping and tax filing support. They require streamlined operations and clear pathways for profitability. This realization led them to strategically expand their portfolio to offer business advisory services.
SBAT’s comprehensive advisory services span growth planning, business coaching and exit strategies, along with accounting and taxation support. All services are designed to help owners transform their processes, systems and cultures and set them up for success.
“We ask the right questions and deliver impactful solutions to help owners fix their business and make it more profitable,” says Sorenson.
HIGH-IMPACT, HANDS-ON ADVISORY SUPPORT
Sorenson and Hibbits, both seasoned CPAs, embed themselves into the day-to-day realities faced by clients in running their ventures. They bring analytical, finance-driven viewpoints to delve into each client’s business model regardless of the industry.
The advisory service begins with a comprehensive initial meeting. The first part of the meeting is spent thoroughly understanding the client’s business. In the second part, focus is on exploring the owner’s vision three years into the future. Following the meeting, the team develops a three-year growth roadmap, anchored by 12-month benchmarks and 90-day action plans.
To further support business growth, SBAT uses specialized software that compares the business’s KPIs against industry peers of similar size and region. Based on the findings, it generates periodic reports highlighting market trends and competitor comparisons. The goal is to pinpoint specific areas for improvement.
Regular meetings are held with the owner and key employees to analyze unexpected challenges, brainstorm solutions and refocus on evolving goals. These in-depth discussions frequently uncover deeper cultural issues that tend to hold companies back.
One construction business owner, for example, described SBAT’s involvement as “life-changing.” The client was held back by the controlling nature of two key employees, the accountant and a production staff member, which led to a hostile workplace environment. Once Sorenson restructured the accounting processes, the problematic employees quickly departed. This turn of events brought an immediate shift in the company culture that transformed the workplace environment.
She introduced systematic changes further down the line. Regular supervisor meetings fostered collaboration among team members, which helped boost productivity and profitability. Strategically delegating crucial operations to a seasoned employee reduced the owner’s day-to-day burden, freeing him to enjoy his hobbies and spend more time with family.
We ask the right questions and deliver impactful solutions to help owners fix their business and make it more profitable
SBAT is driven by a deep-rooted belief that true growth must serve both the business and the owner’s personal aspirations. Each roadmap it creates for growing a small business seamlessly balances this.
A client experienced SBAT’s holistic impact after approaching it to reduce business expenditures. While analyzing operations, the team discovered inefficiencies in their everyday processes that resulted in wasted time and resources. The root issue was field staff who reported to the company yard each morning and then traveled through city traffic to a job site.
Making small improvements to reach desired outcomes is a hallmark of the firm’s approach, which the client experienced first-hand. SBAT’s suggested process improvements included hiring a dispatcher to direct field personnel to job sites instead of daily yard check-ins. This optimized staff deployment and boosted overall productivity. Implementing on-site training through iPads saved more time and saved the owner $500,000 in employee overtime costs. The result is a significant boost to his net business income.
When the same owner later faced a family medical emergency at a critical juncture, SBAT delegated his responsibilities to key employees through a seamless handover process so the business could thrive in his absence. The approach allowed the owner to give his family time and attention.
More instances like these demonstrate SBAT’s strong focus on understanding the owner’s personal aspirations while creating a roadmap for business growth. Its client-centric stance is best exemplified when the firm prioritized an owner’s life goals to modify proposed business growth plans. The client’s three-year-old business was already netting over $1 million annually. For further growth, it presented a plan with two possible future projections. One plan involved $6 million in three years with aggressive growth, while the other projected $2-3 million with less scaling and hassle.
Initially, the client decided to opt for the latter plan. But when the team learned of the owner’s personal aspirations, like luxury family vacations, it realized that the lower proceeds from the chosen plan would likely be insufficient. The client was then suggested to re-evaluate her choices. Ultimately, she decided to grow her business to $4 million, which would comfortably fund her family’s desired lifestyle. Accordingly, SBAT built a custom three-year roadmap to help her reach the target with moderate scaling and a manageable workload.
“Our job is to help clients build the life they want, not just the business they have,” says Hibbits.
BUILDING THRIVING BUSINESSES, EMPOWERING OWNERS
While advisory support ensures streamlined business operations, SBAT’s accounting and tax services help companies stay financially sound.
Tailored bookkeeping services, including regular reviews, reconciliations, invoice creation and bill processing, make accounting hassle-free for owners. The firm takes the same proactive approach to tax planning, guiding owners through quarterly strategies that optimize treatment for their entity type. Clear, transparent sessions demystify estimated tax payments and explain the impact of changing laws, eliminating surprises and instilling long-term confidence in owners.
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Our job is to help clients build the life they want, not just the business they have.
Every success story that SBAT makes possible with its involvement reinforces its larger mission of creating a thriving community of empowered owners and strengthened businesses. Plans to expand the advisory client portfolio are underway to bring more businesses under its holistic services.
As growth partners for small businesses, Strategic Business Advisory & Tax is ever ready to build flourishing ventures that allow owners to live the lives they have envisioned.
Choosing a Business Advisory and Tax Partner That Can Influence the Business
Most business owners do not hire a tax firm because they lack financial reports. They hire one because decisions are piling up faster than internal leadership can process them. Margin pressure, staffing drift, cash flow timing and expansion plans rarely arrive one at a time. The problem is not access to accounting data. It is the absence of structured interpretation tied to how the company actually runs.
That distinction matters when evaluating business advisory and tax firms. Plenty of providers can prepare returns, reconcile accounts or deliver monthly statements. Fewer can identify why payroll keeps expanding while productivity stalls, why a profitable company still struggles with cash availability or why management teams are trapped in reactive decision cycles. Buyers should pay close attention to whether advisory work is treated as a side offering attached to compliance services or whether it shapes the firm’s entire engagement model.
A recurring weakness across the market is the separation between tax planning and business management. Quarterly estimates are often handled mechanically even when ownership structure, compensation strategy or growth plans have materially changed. Companies operating under LLC structures, for example, frequently carry unnecessary tax exposure because entity selection was never revisited after the business scaled. Advisory firms that revisit entity strategy regularly and connect tax treatment to broader business planning tend to produce more practical long-term value than firms focused strictly on filing accuracy.
The quality of interaction between leadership teams and employees has also become a more visible pressure point in advisory engagements. Financial problems are often symptoms rather than root causes. Low morale, weak delegation or unmanaged internal conflict can show up first in labor inefficiency, project delays or rising overhead. Firms capable of analyzing both financial patterns and management behavior tend to uncover issues that standard accounting reviews miss entirely. That requires consistent access to leadership teams, recurring planning sessions and enough operational familiarity to question long-standing assumptions inside the business.
Another dividing line appears in how advisory providers approach growth targets. Some firms push expansion as the default objective because larger revenue figures imply success. More disciplined advisors force a different conversation: what level of growth actually supports the owner’s desired lifestyle, workload tolerance and financial priorities. That distinction changes hiring plans, investment pacing and even succession planning. Buyers evaluating advisory relationships should look for firms willing to challenge growth decisions instead of automatically maximizing them.
Communication cadence also deserves scrutiny. Annual tax meetings rarely provide enough visibility for businesses navigating hiring changes, shifting margins or new regulatory exposure. Firms that maintain regular planning intervals, review trends continuously and revisit assumptions throughout the year are generally better positioned to identify risks before they become expensive.
Strategic Business Advisory & Tax stands out because its advisory structure appears built around those realities rather than around transactional accounting volume. Its model combines recurring tax planning, bookkeeping oversight and intensive advisory engagements centered on business process evaluation, leadership decision-making and long-range planning. The firm’s approach places unusual emphasis on management dynamics, delegation structure and owner-defined financial goals instead of treating tax strategy as an isolated function. Its advisory engagements also reflect a high-contact cadence, including recurring planning sessions and direct involvement with leadership teams. For executives looking beyond compliance support toward a more embedded advisory relationship, it presents a credible option grounded in ongoing business management rather than periodic reporting.
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Company :
Strategic Business Advisory & Tax (SBAT)
Management Randi Sorenson, CEO
Description
Strategic Business Advisory & Tax takes a holistic approach to making businesses more profitable by offering business advisory, tax planning and accounting services. It drives their growth by improving operational processes, streamlining in-house procedures and uplifting organizational culture. Its goal is to grow businesses while promoting work-life balance for owners.
