The 25-Year “Retirement”: How PTI and Rehmann Kept a CFO — and a Founder’s Vision — Thriving

It is a truth universally acknowledged among growth-minded business owners: Skilled accountants are indispensable — to financial processes and peace of mind, cash flow, compliance, strategic planning, and more. 

That’s why, a quarter century ago, PTI Engineered Plastics owner Mark Rathbone made an offer James Kaiser, CPA, couldn’t refuse: to work as much or as little as he wanted, as long as he continued working with PTI.

At the time, Kaiser was 59 years old. He’d been in public accounting since 1964 and was just a few months shy of his contractual retirement date with Goerlich, Richert & Kaiser, the CPA firm he joined in 1976. 

Although PTI was just one of many clients under Kaiser’s care, it occupied a special place in Kaiser’s career. He had worked with the company since 1987, its first year as PTI Engineered Plastics. (PTI’s initial incarnation began three years earlier, in 1984, when Rathbone founded Proto-Tech Industries, producing prototype molds and injection-molded samples with just four machines in a 1,500-square-foot building just north of Detroit.)

During those 13 years, Kaiser saw PTI transform under Rathbone’s ambitious “Mind to Manufacturing” vision, its capabilities expanded to provide customers with all the services they needed to take their product ideas from concept to completion. In addition to incorporating in-house design, engineering, tooling, and production processes that could quickly scale from low- to high-volume runs, Rathbone invested in advanced scientific processes, technologies, and equipment.  

Rathbone’s push for innovation alongside vertical integration fueled remarkable growth for PTI. Four years after its second move to a larger facility, in Clinton Township, Michigan, the company expanded operations with a new 30,000-square-foot facility. Four years after that, PTI expanded again, adding another facility across town — this one spanning 50,000 square feet.  

Amid the young company’s rapid evolution, Kaiser remained a calm, reliable constant. He had a deep understanding not only of the PTI’s financial operations, controls, and compliance practices but also of its challenges, strengths, and promise.  

Understandably, Rathbone wasn’t eager to let his go-to CPA go. Kaiser, however, wasn’t eager to continue the 55-hour-a-week pace he’d averaged throughout his career. So in the summer of 2000, he made Rathbone a deal: A short time after retiring from GRK, he’d come back to work part-time at PTI. Kaiser estimated he’d stick around for the next five years or so. 

“I started out with four days a week, 8 hours a day, which is almost like a vacation,” he says. “I mean, 32 hours a week. Compared to what I had been doing, that was nothing.” 

The part-time schedule was a win-win for both. Rathbone could retain Kaiser’s skillset and the vast institutional knowledge the CPA had gained during the dozen-plus years PTI had been his client. Kaiser could keep “dabbling,” as he calls it, in his profession — but he’d also have some long-awaited free time to pursue his personal passion: tracking down and documenting advertisements and artifacts of Detroit’s historic beer industry.  

Nearly a quarter century later, Kaiser, now 84, is still at PTI. He became CFO in  2000. And by no small coincidence, he’s also a prominent leader of NABA, the National Association of Breweriana Advertising, thanks in part to his personal collection of  Detroit “breweriana” — a collection so robust, it’s earmarked for the Cone Top Brewery Museum under development in historic Vicksburg, Michigan.)  

Proactive Communication in a Changing Tax Landscape 

While Rehmann can’t claim any credit for Kaiser’s standing as a connoisseur of Detroit’s brewing history, we like to think we played a crucial role in empowering his ability to pursue it while continuing to share his time and expertise with PTI over the last 25 years. 

After all, for any business, staying compliant with ever-changing tax regulations is a significant hurdle. It requires constant vigilance, something that can distract leadership from core business operations. This is one area Rehmann has proved itself especially useful to the CFO. 

Kaiser says his primary advisor at Rehmann, Nelson Finley, touches base with him just about every week, whether to update him on new legislation, provide advice and recommendations on potential tax and compliance challenges and opportunities, or simply talk shop. The frequent communication isn’t a formality; it’s a natural part of Rehmann’s proactive-advisory strategy. 

“I maintained my following of the regulations, IRS and so forth, for a while, but it’s been 25 years,” Kaiser says. “There’s been a lot of new laws, new situations, and Rehmann helps to keep me up to date.” 

“In fact, Nelson called just the other day and gave me the news about Michigan not accepting [Federal IRC Section 174A] expensing,” he adds.  

(Note to readers: Following Michigan’s decoupling from IRC 174A, the state announced a new research and development tax credit for 2025 to help offset the federal tax burden.)  

In a manufacturing environment, where cash flow is critical for maintaining inventory, machinery, and payroll, identifying and executing tax plans in response to changes to federal and state tax rules is vital. By consulting with Rehmann on ever-changing tax codes, Kaiser ensures that PTI’s tax strategy remains aligned with the company’s financial strategy — without requiring him to spend his limited hours in the office researching tax law amendments. 

Navigating Crisis and Opportunity: The PPP Carryback 

The true test of a financial partnership often comes during times of widespread economic disruption. In 2020, as businesses across the globe grappled with the financial impact of the pandemic, Rehmann’s expertise provided tangible relief to PTI’s owner. 

Rehmann assisted in a tax carryback related to Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funds that affected Rathbone’s tax return. They carried back three years, resulting in, says Kaiser, “some significant refunds.” 

Simplifying the Complex: The ASC 606 Implementation 

Perhaps one of the most significant technical challenges PTI faced in recent years was the implementation of ASC 606. A revenue recognition standard governing when and how businesses recognize revenue from customer contracts under U.S. GAAP, its introduction in 2019 replaced a patchwork of industry-specific rules with a single, principles-based framework. 

While the steps of ASC 606 sound straightforward in theory, the practical application is notoriously difficult. Each step can include nuanced decisions requiring businesses to apply professional judgment. It forces companies to stay organized across departments to manage data complicated by discounts, rebates, contract complexity, and the need for cross-department coordination. 

In the initial stages, Rehmann provided advice and recommendations to PTI in establishing an approach for the recognition of revenues on their contracts. This had a major impact on PTI’s revenue strategy. 

“We were trying to do it quarterly or monthly, and it was causing confusion for management because it was a weird adjustment, they weren’t used to seeing it,” Kaiser says. “And it became quite burdensome. We spent a lot of time with Rehmann, establishing a protocol as to how to report it correctly.” 

With Rehmann’s advice and recommendations, PTI developed a streamlined approach that PTI could follow confidently. Rather than struggling with time-consuming monthly adjustments, Kaiser says Rehmann recommended that PTI devise a system where the adjustment is performed only at year-end. 

This shift resulted in a much more efficient process, significantly reducing the effort required from PTI’s internal team, providing clarity where there was confusion, and enabling PTI to transform a regulatory burden into a manageable, routine process. 

The Power of an Integrated Firm 

One of the distinct advantages Rehmann offers is its breadth of services and specialists — all of which work together holistically to serve the unique needs of each individual client. While Kaiser works primarily with Rehmann’s tax and accounting teams, PTI has made great use of Rehmann’s depth of expertise in other areas of its business.  

Capitalizing on Innovation 

Perhaps not surprisingly, one that’s proven particularly helpful in recent years is Rehmann’s dedicated team of Research and Development (R&D) specialists. Manufacturing companies that invest heavily in improving their processes often qualify for R&D tax credits. However, documenting and claiming these credits is a rigorous process. PTI leverages the advice and recommendations of Rehmann’s R&D specialists to ensure it seizes opportunities to realize and optimize these benefits so it can fuel and further innovation. 

Strengthening Accounting Processes  

Kaiser has also engaged Rehmann to provide advice and recommendations on PTI’s accounting processes, aiming to boost efficiency and compliance — key to ensuring a company’s systems and processes support business goals, mitigate risk, and deliver leadership the data and insights necessary to empower strategic decision-making.  

This process is invaluable for any company, but for a CFO like Kaiser, who operates on a reduced schedule, it is a highly efficient means to get advice and recommendations on a company’s underlying financial practices and internal controls. 

Reliability and Retention: The Human Connection 

In an industry often plagued by high turnover, the longevity of the relationship between PTI and Rehmann stands out. 

Why has PTI stuck with Rehmann? The answer lies in Rehmann’s people. 

“Some of the people I hired [while at GRK] are still with you,” Kaiser says. 

He points to Finley, as well as Margaret Nash , two of many professionals who transitioned from GRK to Rehmann when the two firms combined in 2012. Even the receptionist from the original GRK firm moved over to Rehmann, Kaiser adds, proudly noting that she only recently retired.

Although not every Rehmann associate that Kaiser and his staff have worked with in the last several years originated with GRK, Rehmann’s low turnover rate is a critical differentiator among firms that provide accounting, HR, and other consulting services. 

It enables those companies to enjoy the benefits of having uninterrupted access to a team of reliable, seasoned experts for years — or, as is typical with Rehmann’s advisory services, decades. 

For PTI, Rehmann’s low turnover means the advisors and associates understand the history of the company, the nuances of the plastics manufacturing industry, and the specific preferences of PTI’s executive team and employees. It also means PTI is guaranteed both reliability and flexibility; Rehmann can easily sync its advisory services and level of support to PTI’s specific needs, through times of growth or challenges.  

Empowering Future Growth 

The story of PTI Engineered Plastics is one of rapid scaling, technological innovation, and smart resource management. By retaining James Kaiser as a part-time CFO, Rathbone has been able to build and maintain a strong financial infrastructure that could support his ambitious vision.  

By retaining Rehmann for consulting and advisory services and projects as needed, Kaiser has been able to deliver the financial acumen and leadership a dynamic, growth-focused company requires to thrive — while shaping a work schedule that has enabled him to fully relish his “retirement” years, professionally and personally. 

For business owners and CFOs looking to modernize and scale, the PTI model offers a blueprint for success. It demonstrates that you don’t need to hire a massive internal team to achieve enterprise-level compliance and financial sophistication. With the right, reliable support, you can access the expertise you need, when you need it, ensuring your business is ready for whatever the next decades bring.