Accurate Financial Reporting and Analysis
Taxation
Income taxes are a part of everyone’s business and personal income cycle. Whether you are an individual with w-2 wages, corporation, or business owner with a pass-through entity, we are here every step of the way to provide tax planning and guidance.
Every taxpayer has their own unique situation for which we have a team dedicated to helping you make every dollar count. We have represented business and individual taxpayers alike before the IRS and state tax authorities with audits, offers in compromise, and tax penalty reductions, to ensure the client received fair treatment allowed by the tax code.
Tax planning puts a company in the driver’s seat to understanding and being prepared for the year-end closing and subsequent tax filings. Proper planning involves two-way communication with the taxpayer and the accountant(s) in which various scenarios are reviewed, based on the circumstances of the taxpayer, and a plan is put in place to address tax liabilities.
In many cases, there may be a need to shift retirement contributions or make adjustments in a personal business that will make a significant impact on the bottom line tax.
Our team has successfully represented taxpayers, individuals, and businesses, before the IRS regarding outstanding liabilities, offers in compromise, and tax debt negotiation. Taxpayers understandably feel a degree of anxiety when confronted with audits and inquiries made by the tax authorities and we ensure our clients that we represent their best interest at each turn.
Accounting and Business Management
Every business needs quantitative and qualitative financial statements that reflect ongoing operations. The basis of financial statements comes from timely monthly bookkeeping which should be the standard practice for any progressive business. This is only the beginning of the process of services that we provide our clients.
We perform an in-depth analysis of your bottom line profit and loss using various metrics to identify trends or anomalies in your operating cycle. This process aids in minimizing expenses and/or profit leaks, providing detailed reports with useful information to the business owner.
Profit maximization is a dynamic process that involves trend analysis to determine the peaks and valleys in revenue cycle management (RCM). RCM can be broadly defined as the process in which a company provides a service, bills for the service, collects, and provides follow-up within the organization to ensure payments are posted accordingly. Any gap or lag within this process can create delays in updated information, distorting the financial growth for a given period.
Monthly expense recognition is another targeted area wherein monthly analysis should be done to determine whether there are viable alternatives and/or vendors that may be used to reduce operating expenses. In some cases, the key may be to simply switch to a different product/service required by the operation that allows a company to run more efficiently, reducing long-term expense directly, or indirectly in another department.
The Financial Strength of a company is directly measured through the balance sheet, more specifically, addressing aspects of a company’s liquidity and solvency. Liquidity ratios measure a company’s ability to pay its short-term debt when they become due and the ability to turn assets into cash quickly. Solvency ratios measure the ability to pay long-term debt and the associated interest on the debt. When a company needs to apply for a loan for expansion or a special project, creditors will look at these ratios to determine the risk and whether or not they believe the company can repay the loan.
A thorough analysis of these metrics is crucial for a company’s success as a going concern. Financial statement preparation, analytical review, and management discussions are three main areas of strategic growth that we focus on with our clients so they can run their business as we run the numbers.
Payroll
Understanding payroll calculations and how they apply to the current tax code can be confusing for many business owners. We have extensive experience with payroll and related tax compliance issues that every business is required to follow. Payroll tax penalties are among the steepest under the tax code and we ensure our clients understand their obligations via tax filings, payroll processing, and tax payments.
Many companies outsource payroll and have the tax filings done by the payroll provider, often unaware of problems or errors that may have occurred. Management is frequently made aware only when an IRS notice arrives with calculated interest and penalties attached. Proactive review of payroll and associated tax filings is the key to avoid costly penalties. We have payroll tax experts on staff that provide these services as part of our ongoing commitment to service our clients.
Associated penalties usually cannot be totally avoided once an error has occurred, but catching the error sooner than later will save a company thousands of dollars.
Forensic Accounting
The 2016 Report To The Nations global fraud study, as identified by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, revealed that the median loss from a single case of occupational fraud was $150,000, with a total worldwide loss of $6.3 billion. There is a multitude of schemes and perpetrators that can, and in some cases already have, committed theft from a company. This is an unfortunate cost of doing business that no company is immune to.
However, there are ways to mitigate/reduce the occurrences by implementing internal controls designed to deter an individual(s). Some of these include separation of duties, mandatory vacations, and an anonymous whistleblower hotline.
The precursor to a fraud examination is forensic accounting, which when done effectively, and if anything suspicious or potentially incriminating is found, provides the predication for a fraud examination. In smaller companies, there may not be a need for multiple staff members, so it is imperative that the business owner have an eye on/hand on approach to the monthly bookkeeping and financial statement preparation. We provide our clients' accounting professionals with advanced degrees in forensic accounting who are also certified fraud examiners, actively involved with the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners.
There is no company that is risk-free from occupational fraud. Protecting yourself and your company from fraud is an ongoing, proactive process of checks, balances, and internal controls.