About Us
About Our Firm
Ragland & Associates, LLC, Certified Public Accountants and Management Consultants, now known as Ragland, Arnold, Buchanan, Morris & Associates, LLC. (RABM) began its professional practice more than forty years ago in Chicago, Illinois and is presently located in Mokena, Illinois. The firm was founded by Mr. Lawrence Ragland in 1976, and now is led by Gregory Arnold, its Managing Partner.
The firm is organized as a professional service corporation with clients who represent nearly every facet of the economic spectrum. Our ownership structure is a partnership with three owners consisting of one woman and two men. We are a Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) certified with the City of Chicago. The company is a full-service accounting firm that provides auditing, management consulting, accounting, income tax services, and financial services.
RABM offers a well-balanced, experienced audit and accounting staff. Our Accounting Staff performs compilations and reviews for commercial clients such as for Doctors, Lawyers, Insurance agencies, small business owners and nonprofit organizations. Our audit staff is capable of providing the auditing services and technical assistance required under most circumstances. The auditing executives have more than 50 years of combined auditing experience which includes commercial, manufacturing, construction, municipalities, oil refineries, non-profit organizations and State and Federal agencies. More specifically, 75% of the firm's auditing fees are earned from auditing non-profit organizations. The other 25% is earned from auditing commercial enterprises. A partial listing of our clients audited within the last ten years are:
City of Chicago
State of Illinois Agencies
Pension Funds
Non-Profit Organizations
Construction Companies
Manufacturing Companies
Public Housing Authorities
School Service Regions/Districts
Partners
Gregory Arnold, Managing Partner
Mr. Arnold graduated from Langston University, Langston, Oklahoma with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree, double majoring in accounting and finance. He went on to attend Central Missouri State University for his Masters. Mr. Arnold has over 25 years’ work experience in public accounting. Mr. Arnold has performed/managed and served as partner on financial and compliance audits of colleges and universities (University of Illinois at Chicago, School Districts – Chicago Public Schools) municipalities (City of Chicago), not-for-profit organizations, including healthcare institutions, and commercial and real estate clients. He has provided consultation services to various non-profit and commercial clients. In addition to his client service responsibilities, his duties include developing and maintaining audit programs and reference materials, as well as training audit teams on auditing standards and is a Single Audit Uniform Guidance expert.
Kymberly, Buchanan, CPA Audit Partner
Ms. Buchanan graduated from Illinois State University with a degree in accounting and is a licensed certified public accountant in Illinois and Indiana. She has over twenty (20) years work experience in various industries, including doctors, dentists, independent insurance agencies, restaurants, and various service industries, and various not for profit organizations; governmental agencies, including the City of Chicago, Chicago Public Schools, and public accounting. Ms. Buchanan has performed financial and compliance audits of not for profit organizations in accordance with U.S. GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principals) and yellow book (Generally Accepted Governmental Auditing Standards), and Single Audits under the Uniform Guidance and other quality assurance, and internal audit functions. Ms. Buchanan is our resident computer expert, with advanced knowledge of many accounting software programs (i.e. Quickbooks, Sage 50, MIP, etc), management systems, and tax software.
Lyle Morris, Tax Partner
Mr. Morris graduated from Chicago State University with a degree in accounting. He has over fifteen years’ work experience in industry, governmental agencies, and public accounting. Mr. Morris has performed financial and compliance audits of municipalities, not-for-profit organizations, Illinois State Board of Education ROES, single audits under Uniform Guidance, and quality assurance programs. Mr. Morris also has extensive experience in auditing housing authorities’ projects, such as HUD and REAC submissions. Mr. Morris is our resident HUD Audit expert, including accounting software, management systems, corporate tax preparation and IRS examination representation.