About Red Bike Advisors
Breakaway from the pack.
Mission
Red Bike Advisors is on a mission to equip small business owners with finance and tax insights that create exponential value for their companies, customers, employees, and families.
Vision
Our vision is to transform small business finance and tax strategy from reactive to predictive. Our business is not founded upon billables and deliverables, but on partnerships, value, and results.
Services
We deliver proactive business finance and tax services that empower our clients to take action to grow their businesses, and ultimately, their generational wealth.
Accounting & Bookkeeping
Tax Strategy & Filing
Virtual CFO
Tax Controversy & Resolution
Fraud Investigation & Forensic Accounting
What Clients Say
Location
Red Bike Advisors don’t settle when it comes to living and working in beautiful places: We are headquartered in the beautiful coastal city of Wilmington, North Carolina, but we have team members all over the country. We serve clients across the U.S. who are craving a strategic, rather than transactional, relationship with their finance and accounting firm.
Our History
Red Bike Advisors was founded in 2009 as Adam Shay CPA, PLLC, in Wilmington, NC. Founder Adam Shay is a CPA & MBA who had a vision for building a different kind of accounting firm. While other firms were calling their clients once a year to gather tax docs, or billing in 6-minute increments every time a client called, Adam pioneered an entirely new way of working with clients.
In 2023, Adam Shay sold the firm to Red Bike Advisors LLC, and is currently serving the company as Director of Virtual CFO Services, helping small businesses truly understand their finances so they can grow their businesses and ultimately their generational wealth.
What’s in a Name? The Origin of Red Bike Advisors
CEO Gretchen Roberts’ first W-2 job was working as a waitress at a small-town cafe 18 miles from her house. She didn’t have a car and often biked to work, then threw her bike in her boss’s truck for the ride home.
Like business, biking is speed. Resilience. Fortuitous tailwinds balanced by fierce headwinds. Strength and muscle and perseverance. Pedaling fiercely to climb a hill, and then enjoy the coast down. Strategy and route planning. Celebrations along the way.
And a Red Bike stands out from the crowd. We don’t believe in being part of the pack. Our tagline is “Breakaway from the Pack” because we truly believe that every small business owner deserves access to strategic financial insights that help you gain a competitive advantage, stay cash flow positive, create value for your customers and employees, and ultimately grow your generational wealth.
Red Bike Advisors Values
1
Creators of value
We are committed to creating exponential value for our clients through our finance, accounting, and tax services.
2
Excellent communication
Thoughtful, proactive communication is the backbone of trusting client relationships. All other areas of expertise being equal, we highly value team members that prioritize the client experience.
3
Analytical creativity
Finance is so much more than numbers! We are pros at first uncovering client goals, and then analyzing the numbers and patterns to help clients think holistically about tax strategy and business growth.
4
Learning, growth, and progress
We highly value taking action, learning from mistakes, and being lifelong learners both inside and outside of work.
5
Accountability
"What gets measured, gets managed” is not just a finance axiom (although it’s 100% true)! We hold ourselves accountable to our mission, vision, values, an exponentially valuable client experience, KPIs, and to delivering on our promises.
Meet Your Advisors
This team is truly dedicated to serving our clients at the highest level. Get to know the experts who consistently deliver exponential value to you.
Hot off the Press
Gretchen Roberts, CEO of financial firm Red Bike Advisors, keeps Simple Numbers, Straight Talk, Big Profits! on her desk as a reference for good finance management—a high form of praise. She says, “One of the best tips in the book is to pretend you’re the NFL and establish a salary cap to achieve good pretax profit. It’s a simple calculation: You determine expected revenue and non-salary costs, and then cap the salaries to achieve your desired profit margin.”
“My primary driver is to create value. What we deliver to clients must be exponentially more than what they are paying us to deliver. We do accounting, tax, and forecasting for small-business owners, and that ‘creating value’ often boils down to educating them about their financials so they can make good business decisions, saving on tax with a good strategy, and helping them make good forward-looking decisions with revenue and cash-flow forecasting.”
“Many people think cash is untraceable (spoiler — it’s not totally) and use cash often if they are either trying to conceal how the cash was earned or conceal certain purchases using cash.”
“Invest in professionals (legal and financial) for your due diligence,” Roberts advises. “A business is likely the largest purchase you will make outside of your primary home, and you need to be confident in the deal structure, terms, and viability of the business.”
Wilmington, NC, November 7, 2023. For Immediate Release.
The AICPA honored just nine young professionals aged 40 and under with the Forensic Valuation Services Standing Ovation Award at the 2023 CIMA Forensic and Valuation Services Conference held in Las Vegas this month. Among the nationally recognized winners was Rachel Gillilan, CPA, CFF, of Wilmington.
A Certified Public Accountant since 2017 with a Certification in Financial Forensics (CFF), Gillilan uses her considerable expertise in forensic accounting to handle fraud detection, litigation support, insurance investigations, and other forensic accounting matters at Red Bike Advisors (formerly Adam Shay CPA).
Nominated by Richard Pasquantonio, Director of Dispute Services at Red Bike Advisors, Gillilan was recognized for her contributions to the field of forensic accounting in a ceremony in Las Vegas Nov. 6.
“We’re thrilled to see Rachel honored by the AICPA,” said Gretchen Roberts, CEO of Red Bike Advisors. “The award is highly sought-after and is a testament to Rachel’s commitment to excellence and the impact her forensic accounting work has had throughout North Carolina and the Southeast.”
About the AICPA Standing Ovation Program
The Standing Ovation Program recognizes young professionals holding the Certified in Financial Forensics (CFF) or Accredited in Business Valuation (ABV ® ) specialty credentials who have exhibited exemplary personal achievement. The recipients in this year’s class were honored during the AICPA & CIMA Forensic and Valuation Services Conference. They were recognized for their efforts to advance their fields, including volunteering at various nonprofit organizations, speaking to local CPA groups, serving as volunteer experts to legal organizations and guest lecturing in college accounting classes.
About Red Bike Advisors
Red Bike Advisors is on a mission to equip clients with finance and tax insights that create exponential value for their companies, customers, employees, and families. Founded in 2009 as Adam Shay, CPA, PLLC, the firm provides Virtual CFO, accounting & bookkeeping, tax strategy & filing, tax controversy & resolution, and fraud & forensic investigative services to business and individual clients. The company is based in Wilmington, North Carolina, and serves clients across the U.S. who are craving a strategic, rather than transactional, relationship with their finance and accounting firm. To learn more, visit www.redbikeadvisors.com.
Contact:
Gretchen Roberts, CEO
Red Bike Advisors LLC
1721 Allens Ln #210
Wilmington, NC 28403
groberts@redbikeadvisors.com
(910) 256-3456
Wilmington, NC, August 31, 2023. For Immediate Release.
Red Bike Advisors LLC, a Wilmington, NC-based accounting and tax firm, has hired Wilmington local Sydny Hess, MSA, to expand fraud investigations and forensic accounting services throughout the state of North Carolina. In her new role, Sydny will perform detailed research and analysis to review financial statements, analyze the flow of financial transactions, and trace and uncover assets in complex financial fraud and litigation cases.
With a Master’s of Science in Accounting and prior experience in forensic accounting at a family law practice, Sydny is experienced in helping clients navigate the financial impacts and outcomes of their business or divorce disputes. And
“We are thrilled to welcome Sydny to the Fraud Investigations & Forensic Accounting team at Red Bike Advisors,” said Richard Pasquantonio, CPA/CFF, Director of Dispute Services. “With Sydny’s exceptional background in accountancy and forensic accounting, she brings a fresh perspective to our practice. Sydny’s commitment to providing transparent financial insights is truly commendable and aligns perfectly with our firm’s values. We believe that Sydny will be an invaluable asset in assisting our clients through complex financial litigation including divorce cases, business partner disputes, and fraud investigations. We look forward to seeing Sydny excel in her new role, allowing Red Bike Advisors the opportunity to continue growing its dispute-related services throughout the Mid-Atlantic region.”
About Red Bike Advisors
Red Bike Advisors is on a mission to equip clients with finance and tax insights that create exponential value for their companies, customers, employees, and families. Founded in 2009 as Adam Shay, CPA, PLLC, the firm provides Virtual CFO, accounting & bookkeeping, tax strategy & filing, tax controversy & resolution, and fraud & forensic investigative services to business and individual clients. The company is based in Wilmington, North Carolina, and serves clients across the U.S. who are craving a strategic, rather than transactional, relationship with their finance and accounting firm. To learn more, visit www.redbikeadvisors.com.
Contact:
Gretchen Roberts, CEO
Red Bike Advisors LLC
1721 Allens Ln #210
Wilmington, NC 28403
groberts@redbikeadvisors.com
(910) 256-3456
Adam Shay believes he has found the perfect vehicle to take his CPA business in additional directions. Earlier this month, businesswoman Gretchen Roberts purchased Adam Shay CPA, which has been rebranded as Red Bike Advisors LLC. Read more >