Chamber recognizes CPA firm

Executive Director of McCook Area Chamber of Commerce Jamie Mockry, left, thanked the accounting firm of Skiles, Loop Bremer & White, CPA, PC for being a part of the McCook community at a ribbon cutting Wednesday. The firm’s shareholder/partners include, from left, Jason Loop, Ashley (Carman) White, Jessica Bremer, and Doug Skiles.

Shary Skiles/McCook Gazette

McCOOK, Neb. — A local CPA firm was recognized Wednesday morning by the McCook Area Chamber of Commerce. The firm, Skiles, Loop, Bremer & White, CPAs, PC, consists of four shareholder/partners: Doug Skiles, Jason Loop, Jessica Bremer, and Ashley White.

The firm has been in existence for 40 years, according to Skiles, under several different names reflecting the change in ownership through the years. They have 24 employees in five offices across southwest Nebraska and northwest Kansas. Offices are located in McCook, North Platte, Oberlin, Benkelman, and Grant, with a workshop in Imperial.

Skiles told the chamber gathering that the firm’s partners all have deep roots in the area. He went on to explain that his McCook High School classmate, Becky Loop, approached him many years ago and encouraged him to hire her son, Jason, who was a CPA in Omaha. “Is he any good?” Skiles asked Becky. “I don’t know, but he has my grandson and he needs to move back to McCook,” was her response. “He turned out to be very good,” said Skiles. Loop is starting his 22nd tax season with the firm this year.

A similar story revolved around partner Ashley (Carman) White. Loop was donating blood through the American Red Cross, when Ashley’s mother, Cathy Carman told him that her daughter wanted to move back to McCook from Colorado. “It’s kind of hard to say no when someone is putting a needle in your arm,” joked Loop. White joined the McCook office in January 2011 and relocated to North Platte in 2015, where she manages the North Platte office.

Jessica Bremer, an Oberlin, Kansas, native, also started working for the firm as an intern in 2011. She left the firm for a few years, purchasing an accounting practice in Oberlin in 2017, and has now merged her practice with the firm that is now Skiles, Loop, Bremer & White, CPAs, PC.

Skiles demonstrated how the offices collaborate remotely, allowing the firm to tap into each employee’s area of expertise to offer clients services in tax planning, accounting, estate planning, payroll and many other areas. “It’s never just about this year’s tax return,” Skiles said. “It’s about long-term planning, building relationships, and being a partner for life.”