About our Firm

Profile

At Chesapeake Tax & Accounting LLC (CTA), our commitment to serving you is built upon over 50 years of knowledge and expertise in business practices, economic trends and the ever-changing tax scene.

The principals of CTA are experienced, focused and ready to help you with your business or personal financial questions. Having started individual practices specializing in tax and business advisory services in the late 1970s, both Gary Baker and Tom Bray knew it was the right time to combine our forces and energy for the benefit of our mutual and future clients.

We have grown largely due to referrals, and based upon the business expansion and needs of our clients. And because of its many franchisees, charities, builders and others, we have become known as experts in a wide variety of business situations – both small and large. We have since expanded to also provide tax, accounting and consulting services to clients as individuals, and in almost every industry. And all of our services are delivered with an underlying service philosophy of “doing what it takes” to serve every client.

Philosophy

At Chesapeake Tax & Accounting LLC, every client is important. We promote the “firm concept” whereby clients are served by the firm rather than individuals. This enables us to allocate our staff resources in the most effective manner. We are large enough to have staffing and other resources to service all of your needs, but small enough to provide personal service. You will have a principal assigned to you who will work together and with you to meet your needs.

By providing you with multiple individuals familiar with your situation, there is always someone available to answer questions, provide service and solve problems. We also strive to produce work that is of the highest quality.

Our philosophy can be summarized as follows:

Every client is important and is served by the firm, rather than by individuals.
We provide timely service, doing everything it takes to exceed your expectations.
We produce work that is of the highest quality .
We provide a full range of services : accounting, tax planning and preparation, and management consulting.
We strive to bring creative solutions to every business or tax situation or problem, so that no response, proposal or solution is “canned”. It is customized to your specific situation.
We have the capacity to accept new clients and to provide additional services to existing clients. Our staff is well-balanced to assure that all work is assigned at the appropriate level of ability. Employees have diverse backgrounds to provide a wide range of expertise.
We hire only top-quality people .
We grow steadily through formal practice development both by expanding services to existing clients and by offering our full range of services to new clients.
We strive to be the kind of firm with which clients and other professionals are proud to associate.

Biographies

Gary C. Baker, CPA, CMA

Gary Baker attended Loyola College in Baltimore, Maryland, from which he graduated Summa Cum Laude in 1976 with a Bachelor's Degree in Accounting. Since that time, he has earned his credentials as both a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and as a Certified Management Accountant (CMA), and has worked as accountant, business advisor and senior financial executive with a diverse group of businesses.

Gary has accumulated 27 years of diverse experience in accounting, analysis, and business advisory capacities with a wide variety of clients, including multi-national manufacturing, national transportation companies, health care operations, financial industry services and professional services organizations. He also has a comprehensive range of experience with numerous small business clients. Most recently, Gary served in several senior executive positions with a $2.5 billion division of a national health insurance/managed care company, and on advisory boards of several start up organizations.

Gary is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Maryland Society of Certified Public Accountants. He has held several professional leadership positions, including on the Executive Committee of the Maryland Association of Certified Public Accountants. He is also past President of The Baltimore Chapter of the Institute of Management Accountants. Gary has also been active in civic matters, having served as President of the Exchange Club of Baltimore and Treasurer for The Child Abuse Prevention Center.

Tom Bray, MS Finance

Tom Bray earned a Bachelor's Degree in Accounting from Bucknell University in 1976 and a Masters of Science Degree in Finance from Loyola College in Baltimore, Maryland in 1986.

Tom has 27 years of finance and accounting experience, with a strong concentration in tax matters. His tax experience includes working in the tax department of a Big 8 public accounting firm, serving as tax manager of a $300 Million manufacturing, retail, and real estate group of companies that did business in more than 20 states and internationally too. Subsequently, he founded his own company where his services range from merger and acquisition services to a Fortune 200 company to income tax preparation for a single mom.

Tom is a member of the Maryland Society of Accountants. He has represented the Maryland Chamber of Commerce before the Maryland Senate concerning pending tax legislation, has testified in Maryland Tax court as a tax/manufacturing exert, and has represented a not-for-profit client at the IRS National Office in Washington, D.C. Tom has also been active in civic matters, serving on the boards of the Baltimore Chapter of Institute of Management Accountants, the White Marsh branch of the YMCA, Baltimore Chapter of Easter Seals, and in several capacities in his local church.