Rhodes Financial Services The Whole Story

Rhodes Financial Services, Inc. is the parent company of Rhodes-Murphy & Co and Rhodes Computer Services, Rhodes-Murphy Licensing Company and CSRA Internet. Rhodes-Murphy & Co was founded in the early sixties by Aubrey Rhodes Sr. Of the many shareholders who were involved in the start up of Rhodes-Murphy & Co notables include Tom Murphy, Bob Rhodes, Virginia Rhodes, Gene Coleman, MC Poss and Zane D. Christopher Sr. In 1980 Aubrey Rhodes Sr. passed away and at that time Jimmy Rhodes was elected President. The Board of Directors at that time consisted of Zane D. Christopher Sr., Virginia Rhodes and Aubrey Rhodes Jr. Upon becoming President Jimmy Rhodes modified and enhanced the income tax school which enabled the company to attract potential employees. In 1984 -1985 Carl Rhodes and Zane D. Christopher Jr. became members of the Board of Directors. Up until 1984 -1985 preparation of income tax services were mainly done by hand. President Jimmy Rhodes developed a plan to install computers in one half of the Rhodes-Murphy & Co locations and at the end of the following tax season all company owned offices were installed with CPM computers. In 1989 the Internal Revenue Service introduced Electronic Filing for the State of South Carolina. Rhodes-Murphy & Co prepared tax returns and filed the returns electronically for clients in South Carolina. The following year electronic filing was introduced to the State of Georgia. Also that year Bank Products such as the refund loan became available which became a very popular product for current customers and at the same time it attracted a significant amount of new customers. Also during this time tax software was being developed by the direction of Jimmy Rhodes. This software which would eventually be used in all offices increased efficiency greatly. Rhodes-Murphy & Co has steadily increased the number of returns, amount charged for services performed and also cash collected over the last several years. Rhodes Computer Services was created in 1989 to develop income tax preparation software for Rhodes-Murphy. In 1993 the decision was made to market the software to tax preparers, accountants and CPA’s across the United States. The software is titled TaxSlayer Pro, today TaxSlayer Pro is used by professionals all over the United States which file electronically thru four IRS service centers. Rhodes Computer Service has an individual online income tax preparation site which filed over 90,000 tax returns electronically in 2002. Rhodes Financial Services was created in 1999 to offer Financial Services to clients of Rhodes-Murphy and to the citizens of the CSRA. These services include Property, Casualty, Life, and Health Insurance, Mortgages and Securities. Employees are taught to understand the importance of excellent customer service. In order to be successful in an extremely competitive industry, employees at Rhodes Financial Services understand they must be friendly, knowledgeable and trustworthy. Another key to success is management’s ability to develop plans to follow up customer service quality, client retention, generation of new business and provide educational opportunities for its employees. Clients of Rhodes-Murphy shall and will receive friendly customer service with due diligence of minimizing tax liability. Rhodes-Murphy constantly challenges its employees to achieve higher education standards, develop client relationships, and provide friendly customer service. To understand Rhodes Financial Services success and business philosophy, please note the company mission statement. Mission Statement: THE MISSION AT RHODES FINANCIAL SERVICES IS TO PROVIDE A QUALITY PRODUCT, EXCEPTIONAL CUSTOMER SERVICE WHILE PROVIDING OUR FELLOW EMPLOYEES WITH AN ENRICHED AND FINANCIALLY REWARDING CAREER. Rhodes-Murphy & Co past challenges have been attempting to function with an IRS computer system that has been outdated for many decades, unannounced holding of refunds by the IRS, and the understanding of the electronic filing process. These past challenges have been dealt with by better communication with IRS personnel and better communication to all employees. Today Rhodes-Murphy & Co faces its biggest challenge ever, these challenges come from a highly technological environment with tax preparation services offered by other financial companies, online sites offered by government agencies and software vendors. The challenges can be met with excellent customer service, better education and a commitment to retain clients as well as increasing new clientele. With the inception of Rhodes Financial Services the clientele of Rhodes-Murphy will have many other services available such as insurance, mortgage and brokerage services. Not only will Rhodes-Murphy help clients with the minimization of taxes it will be able to help clients with their overall financial position. Rhodes Computer Service has had to face numerous challenges over the years as well. One of the biggest challenges was getting the name TaxSlayer Pro out to the tax preparation community. This was accomplished by exhibiting at small IRS seminars which, the competition did not attend. During the start up time the entire staff had to recognize the challenge of convincing potential users the benefit of using TaxSlayer Pro in their practices. This was accomplished by doing hands on demonstrations at the national IRS seminars, again something the competition did not attempt. There have been many day to day challenges in the software business. These challenges have been dealt with by shear determination of the entire staff and the deep belief that the software is the best on the market. There will be many challenges to come for both companies. With the leadership of Jimmy Rhodes the entire staff at Rhodes Financial Services will be looking and waiting to accomplish those challenges. Rhodes Financial Services has been providing services to the CSRA community for over 30 years. This experience gives us a tremendous advantage in being able to offer the kinds of services where complete customer confidence is an importance issue. Where we stand out from other companies in our sector is our ability to cross sell the products that we have established in our separate divisions to our loyal customer base and maintain the same high quality of customer service that has been in existence since the early 1960’s. Rhodes Financial Services, Inc. and its affiliates, Rhodes-Murphy, Taxslayer Software, & CSRA Internet Services have always been an avid supporter of the Augusta Metro Chamber of Commerce. We believe the Chamber provides a viable service not only to the Augusta community, but also to its’ supporting members. We will continue to set aside resources to facilitate this business partnership. One of our current goals is to become more involved in the chamber and we’re off to a great start, as Rhodes Financial Services is hosting the Augusta Metro Chambers Business After Hours on July 25, 2002. As a community leader, Rhodes Financial Services has annually supported many of the local high school athletic programs through sponsorships and contributions. Our company has always been proud of the academic and athletic achievements of our employees and clients children. Some of the local high schools who have benefited from these sponsorships and contributions are Aquinas High School, Greenbrier High School, Lakeside High School, Evans High School, Hephzibah High School, just to mention a few. In 2002, Rhodes Financial Services will be donating through a special program 10 new computers to elementary schools in the CSRA (5 in Georgia and 5 in South Carolina) and are goal is to do that on an annual basis.