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Certified public accountants, or CPAs, are certified professionals who offer a range of accounting services. These range from auditing and assurance to financial consulting for businesses, tax planning and compliance, and estate and trust services. CPAs, including the ones here at Gordon Advisors, are regulated by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, or AICPA, which develops and grades the Uniform CPA Examination. Once a person has passed this exam, licensing is done at the state level, and, in some cases, even at the district or county level. These rigorous examinations by different boards help keep your business finances secure by ensuring that your CPAs are well versed in the current accounting world.

A business accounting consultant is someone who helps guide your business on all things accounting. At Gordon Advisors, P.C., we have a team of Certified Public Accountants who provide consulting engagements, including Acquisition Analysis, Assessment of Accounting Control Environment, Cash Flow Models, Due Diligence Procedures, Loan Application Facilitation, QuickBooks Training & Cleanup, and Strategic Planning. This full suite of services allows us to bring your business ahead with a proactive mindset. With professional business consulting help, you will be prepared for the future.

The first step in choosing a financial consultant for your business is to understand that not all business financial consultants are the same. You have to determine the type that best fits your needs. There are low-cost options, such as robo-advisors and online advisors, which provide very bare-bones financial planning. There is even a split between traditional financial advisors. The truth is that anyone can call themselves an accountant. Not everyone can call themselves a CPA, or Certified Public Accountant. Look for CPAs to ensure you get the highest quality. Next, you’ll want to vet their background, so look for their experience, associations and credentials, and awards.

Tax planning and compliance is not only complex, but it’s also vital that no mistakes are made. By finding a Certified Public Accountant to help with your taxes, you can rest assured that they have the knowledge necessary to not only help you cut your tax bill and save your business money, but to keep you compliant with the ever-changing federal, state and local tax laws.

Business taxes are complex, and the local, state and federal tax laws are ever changing. We suggest trusting a professional who can keep you compliant through the process. The right Certified Public Accountant will help you get prepared, but a good place to start is figuring out all of your revenue and expenses and getting them in one place. Your accountant will help you understand what is taxable, where you can find tax credits, and, in the end, what your tax bill will be.

The services that professional estate and trust CPAs provide can be split into two categories: Compliance and Consultation.

Compliance services include the preparation of estate tax returns, fiduciary income returns for estates and trusts, gift tax returns, individual income tax returns and fiduciary accountings.

Consultation services include coordinating estate planning with attorneys and other professionals; estate tax projections and analysis; estate, gift and trust tax research; postmortem estate and surviving family planning; and reviewing trusts, wills and other state documents.

These services offered can vary from accounting firm to accounting firm, so make sure that your CPA offers all of the services you need.

Trusts are a way to manage wealth distribution in estate planning. This ensures that your assets are allocated the way that you wish, as you have laid out. The biggest pro is that the third party in charge of managing assets, the trustee, ensures that funds go to the correct purposes. This method of estate planning is also great for wealth protection, keeping your assets safe from lawsuits, creditors and other threats. Your estate may also have minimal tax liabilities with maximum wealth for the beneficiaries, if the right estate and trust professionals handle the account.

While a trust may be secure, there is a cost to this, which can vary. Be sure to speak with a professional about what this can look like as you research your estate trust plans. The other con is record-keeping. Trusts can be incredibly complex. It is recommended that you find a CPA firm that you feel confident in and can help with the process. Luckily, estate and trust services are our specialty here at Gordon Advisors, P.C.

A financial statement audit is the highest level of assurance that a CPA firm can provide on the financial statements of an organization. In addition to performing testing on the amounts and presentation of information within the financial statements, the auditors at Gordon Advisors PC gain an understanding and make an assessment your organization’s control environment.

The key to selecting an ideal CPA firm to work with is to make certain that the auditors you are engaging have expertise within your industry. This will not only allow for an efficient audit, it will also provide opportunities for the CPA firm you work with to bring real world expertise to your accounting and other operational needs.

The purpose of a financial statement audit is for auditors to perform testing that will allow the CPA firm to conclude that the financial statements are free from significant misstatement. Gordon Advisors, P.C. utilizes a risk based audit approach to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the testing we perform.

We perform a risk assessment at the planning stage on every audit engagement. These assessment procedures allow us to focus our efforts on areas within your organization’s financial statements that are most susceptible to error. These areas of higher risk are often the result of transactions that have unusual complexity or that rely heavily on management estimates. We also consider the risk of fraud as a part of this audit approach. We believe risk based audit approach provides the most value and assurance for users of the financial statements we report on.

A Certified Public Accountant, or CPA, can be a huge benefit for a business. As a business owner, you may be hesitant to loosen the purse strings, but a good CPA can help you save money in the long run. In this day and age, taxes are as complex as they have ever been. By trusting a certified professional who understands the ins and outs of the accounting world, you can reap the rewards of your CPA saving you money and keeping you compliant.

There are a wide range of client accounting services that are helpful for businesses. We suggest finding a CPA firm that provides a variety of services so that they can help with any needs you have going forward. Some of the key services to look for include bill paying, write-up services, financial statement preparation, tax prep, tax consulting, business start-up assistance, and QuickBooks training and consulting.