Business Services

Small Business Accounting

Businesses of all shapes and sizes depend on accurate, insightful financial information to manage their day-to-day operations, capitalize on opportunities, and sustain profitability. We lend our expert support to meet your accounting needs so that you can focus your time and energy on building a strong business.

Bookkeeping

We create and maintain a chart of accounts to capture all of your financial transactions, provide the right information to manage your business, and prepare federal, state, and local tax returns. Through periodic internal audits, we’ll identify and resolve discrepancies (e.g., double billings, unrecorded payments) to ensure that you have a complete and accurate picture of your financial position.

Bank Reconciliation

While a clean set of “books” is a key objective for every accountant, it’s also important to match the accounting records with the monthly bank statements. Our bank reconciliation services ensure that every deposit and withdrawal aligns with entries into your accounting records. This assessment enables us to identify lost deposits, lost checks, unauthorized transactions, and inappropriate bank fees. It triggers investigation into any fraudulent activity (identity theft, forgery, embezzlement, etc.), and expedites restitution. And it gives you a clearer picture of your cash position for addressing planned outlays and investments.

Financial Statement Preparation

We can prepare a complete set of financial statements to help you assess the health of your business. This package includes:

  • A Balance Sheet that gives you a snapshot of your overall financial condition at month, quarter, and/or year end.
  • An Income Statement (a.k.a. Profit and Loss Statement) that summarizes revenues, expenses, and net profits so you can assess the operating performance of your business.
  • A Comparison of Actual Performance to Budget so you can identify trouble spots in your revenue stream or spending patterns.
  • A Cash Flow Statement that shows how changes in your Balance Sheet and Income Statement affect your available cash Estimated tax liabilities.

Our analysis of your financial statements helps you frame strategic initiatives (e.g., business expansion, acquisition) as well as tactical plans (e.g., accounts receivable and accounts payable management). Professionally prepared financial statements are also an essential resource when dealing with creditors (e.g., vendors, banks) and investors.

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Payroll

Managing the employee payroll is not a simple matter of calculating the amounts due, writing checks, and handing them out. There’s a host of government reporting and recording keeping requirements that comes with the job. And there are adverse consequences if you get it wrong.

There are 5 good reasons for outsourcing this function:

  • You save money by letting the experts attend to the task efficiency and accurately.
  • You avoid penalties associated with payroll tax calculation errors or missed filing deadlines.
  • We handle employee questions and concerns, and research any issues they uncover.
  • You receive comprehensive reporting to help manage your business and attend to any special requirements.
  • You gain valuable time to focus on running your business.

We offer three payroll service options to meet the needs of different business owners and non-profit clients. All three services include:

  • Vacation, sick, and personal day accruals and tracking
  • IRS and State tax reporting plus Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS) deposits
  • Monthly, quarterly, and annual payroll tax reports
  • New hire file creation and reporting
  • W-2, W-3, and 1099 preparation

The service option you choose defines how payments are processed:

  • Comprehensive Payroll Processing Service: We manage the secure check processing and direct deposits
  • After-the-Fact Payroll Service: You process all of the payments, and we post your payroll records and information into our data system and handle all of the other payroll functions.
  • Online Payroll Processing: We provide access to our payroll system to enable you to enter employee hours and earnings. You print the payroll checks on your printer, and we process the direct deposits.

We also provide ad hoc services, such as Worker’s Compensation Audits, Unemployment Claims, Social Security Audits, Child Support Audits and Federal and State registration.

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Compilations

Almost every organization — whether it’s a privately held business, a publicly owned corporation, or a nonprofit organization — must prepare reports on its financial performance. Such reports help owners and managers make operating decisions, enable creditors to evaluate loan applications, and provide individuals with information to make investment decisions.

What Is Compilation?

A compilation refers to preparing financial statements of private entities based on information provided by the entity’s management.

A CPA may provide a client with three distinct services involving financial statements. Each is designed to meet a different need.

A compilation is useful to small, privately held entities that need help in preparing their financial statements. A review, on the other hand, may be adequate for entities that must report their financial positions to third parties, such as creditors or regulatory agencies. Reviewed financial statements may also be useful to business owners who are not actively involved in managing their companies.

An audit is the third and most extensive service. An audit is appropriate for entities that must offer a higher level of assurance to outside parties. An unqualified opinion from a CPA after an audit provides reasonable assurance to outside parties that the entity’s financial statements fairly present its financial position and results of operation in accordance with certain accounting principles.

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Cash Flow Management

The first step to avoiding a cash crisis is allowing us to develop a cash flow projection for you. We can help you develop both short-term (weekly, monthly) cash flow projections to help you manage daily cash, and long-term (annual, 3-5 year) cash flow projections to help you develop a strategy to meet your business needs.

Everything is better when your cash-in exceeds your cash-out. A cash crisis can be devastating and it can even kill your business. Our cash management service allows you to:

  • Know when, where, and how your cash needs will occur.
  • Know what the best sources are for meeting your additional cash needs.
  • Be prepared to meet these needs when they occur, by keeping good relationships with bankers and other creditors.

We also prepare historical cash flow statements to help you obtain an understanding about where all the money went.

Creating an exact cash flow projection is just one of the many cash management services we provide. You also get:

  • Help obtaining an appropriate line of credit
  • Cash collection acceleration techniques
  • Proven effective collection policies
  • Proven effective payment policies
  • Help obtaining the maximum rate of return on your idle cash

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Business Valuation

We provide objective assessments of business activity by helping you identify and analyze the elements that drive value.

We investigate:

  • The strength and stability of the customer base and the revenue stream
  • Prospects for growth given the available market and competitive positioning
  • The financial health of the business
  • Valuations for comparable entities

The results affect your decision making as you buy or sell business interests, create partnerships, negotiate with third parties for debt or equity financing, navigate marital separation, or settle estates. Our professionals can serve as advisors during due diligence and provide expert testimony in legal proceedings.

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New Business Formation

Are you thinking of becoming a small business owner? Along with a big idea and a sense of the market you’ll serve, you’ll need a business and financial advisor who can help your business take flight.

We can help you:

  • Develop your business plan with the associated pro forma financial statements (Balance Sheet, Income Statement, Cash Flow) and budget
  • Choose a business structure that suits your needs by considering tax advantages, legal exposure, ease of operation, and portability
  • Create partnership agreements, as needed, to avoid financial and/or emotional trauma downstream
  • Select the right accounting software and establish the chart of accounts
  • Build billing and collection procedures to enhance your cash flow
  • Investigate your borrowing power and give coaching on how to nurture a mutually beneficial banking relationship
  • Prepare and file all state and local licenses and permits.
  • Make application for your Federal Employer Identification Number.
  • Identify start-up capital needs and available resources to address them
  • Provide payroll and payroll tax filing when and if you hire employee
  • Verify citizenship or immigration status of employees through E-Verify.
  • Establish procedures to evaluate and control costs
  • Identify your business insurance needs

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Non-Profit Organizations

Involvement in a non-profit means people have a passion for their mission. It’s also a business with a whole lot of reporting requirements to satisfy governmental agencies, funders, partners, donors, and a variety of other interest groups. It takes the appropriate accounting system and processes to manage the business end of the agency and satisfy all of its constituencies.

Let us help you:

  • Establish asset classifications (e.g., permanently restricted, temporarily restricted, and unrestricted) for monies received from funders
  • Implement tracking systems to receive and acknowledge donations
  • Design, install, and maintain a robust fund accounting system to track expenditures by program and/or funding source
  • Develop processes and management controls to address your day-to-day bookkeeping activities (receipts, invoicing, bill payment), and train your accounting personnel
  • Administer payroll and attend to all related reporting requirements and tax filings
  • Prepare appropriate monthly, quarterly, and annual financial statements for your board of directors, program managers, and major funders
  • Prepare and file your annual 990 and 990T forms

If you’re starting a new non-profit organization, we can help you prepare your organization’s application for tax-exempt status. Here’s a brief listing of what you may need:

  • Articles of Incorporation containing your exempt purpose statement
  • Employer Identification Number
  • By-Laws for the Organization
  • Written reason for formation and organizational history
  • Mission statement
  • Description of activities, operations, and programs
  • Names, addresses, and resumes of board members
  • Minutes from recent board meetings
  • Names and addresses of active members (if a membership organization)
  • Inventory of Assets and Liabilities
  • Rent/Lease Agreements and Contracts
  • Revenue and Expense Statements
  • Sources of Funds (including a description of fundraising activities)
  • IRS Processing/Filing Fee

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Call today to schedule an appointment!