Aug. 10, 2021

This paid piece is sponsored by Eide Bailly LLP.

When you credit your employer with a “genius” concept, that’s saying something.

And that’s how Aaron Clayton views Eide Bailly’s approach to sabbaticals, which allow qualifying team members extended time away every five years.

He was thinking of splitting his sabbatical between this year and next but decided to take the whole thing in 2022.

“The point is to really get away. So I’m going to do it next summer, which will hopefully be good,” said Clayton, a partner and head of the assurance department who joined the firm in 2006.

“No. 1, it makes hardworking people disconnect and get away. That’s a benefit. But the bigger one is someone else gets the opportunity to take on different responsibilities and challenges, which helps them grow professionally.”

Clayton understands that well. He has been on the receiving end of such opportunities multiple times, recognition that Eide Bailly views the Parkston native as someone ready and willing to take on additional responsibilities.

“Aaron is a key member of our team, and we know he can deliver both for his colleagues and his clients,” said Derrick Larson, managing partner of the Sioux Falls office, who has delegated some of his responsibilities to Clayton during his sabbaticals.

“It’s been rewarding to watch him grow within Eide Bailly, and he’s just getting started.”

The industry and the community have taken notice too.

In the past year, numerous honors and accolades have come Clayton’s way:

• He was named to the CPA Practice Advisor 40 Under 40 professionals list, recognizing emerging leaders in the profession.
• He was honored by the American Institute of CPAs as one of five AICPA Outstanding Young CPA Award recipients.
• He was recognized by his alma mater, USD, for his career accomplishments and outstanding service to the accounting and finance division of the University of South Dakota Beacom School of Business.
• And this week, he’s a finalist for the 4 under 40 award given by the Young Professionals Network of the Greater Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce.

“It’s been a spectacular year,” Clayton said. “It’s always great to get recognized for doing great things in your professional career or community, but at the same time, the awards to me are really as much about the recognition of the people in my life as it is about the things that I’m doing.”

Clayton took to the profession of accounting and auditing while in college. He ended up completing three internships at Eide Bailly, with a focus in the audit department.

“I felt supported, and it was an easy decision to start my career with Eide Bailly,” he said. “I had good mentors, and I knew that was where I wanted to start.”

Fifteen years later, he has grown his career without leaving.

He specializes in working with a rare combination of industries – health care and utilities – both because he enjoys them and because he likes to stay busy.

“It really came down to timing because we had a lot of health care work in the summer and utility work in the winter, and it kept me busy and occupied,” he said.

Staying active in the community and in the industry is important to Clayton too. He serves on a young member leadership committee for AICPA and has served on the YPN steering committee.

“I like being involved to see what’s going on in our community and the latest and greatest in our profession,” he said, adding he especially enjoys teaching through Junior Achievement.

“My desire to contribute and give is really a result of wanting to have an impact on the lives of others similar to the impact that I’ve observed that so many have already made,” he said. “Needless to say, I wouldn’t be where I’m at if it wasn’t for those around me.”

While there would have been opportunities to do other things, the people he works with have kept him at Eide Bailly, he continued.

“We’ve got a good culture that makes it a fun place to work, and really between our people, our culture and the clients we get to work with, I still love what I’m doing,” he said. “I’m glad I never made the decision to leave because it’s still as much fun as it was on day one.”