A business consultant provides advice, guidance and training in their area of expertise. Companies hire consultants for a variety of reasons such as when they’re looking to improve performance or develop new strategies according to industry trends. Only you know the needs of your firm, but the chances are that a consultant can help turn those needs into highly beneficial solutions.
Our consulting includes but is not limited to: business planning and advisory services, audits and reporting, bank financing, forensic accounting, internal control, and litigation support.
Business Planning and Advisory Services
You make your company successful by trusting us. We have years of experience in helping businesses like yours reach their potential and ensure financial stability for you, loved ones, employees & investors alike. We’ll combine industry knowhow to develop a framework upon which we build success.
Our consulting services include:
- Planning for strategic growth
- Performance metrics
- Review and evaluation of internal controls
- SAS 112 compliance
- Business valuations and due diligence
- Budget and cash flow analysis and management
- Business entity selection and restructuring
- Financial projections and forecasts
- Assistance with debt and financing
- Business expansion and acquisition analysis
- Evaluation and implementation of accounting software
Audits & Reporting
You may be accountable to creditors, private investors, and shareholders, all of whom are interested in ensuring that the company’s financial statements accurately represent your true financial position.
An audit is the most comprehensive type of assurance. Audit techniques vary depending on the needs and desires for an organization’s financial statements, but in general they provide a review with objective examination that includes verification from third parties like banks or suppliers as well as testing selected transactions to see if any abnormalities exist within them; this approach can also help identify areas where improvements might be needed going forward.
A review is less involved than an audit and more comprehensive than a compilation and provides “limited assurance.” Key personnel are interviewed about the company’s accounting policies, procedures and finances.
Not sure if you need an audit or review? Schedule a free consultation* and learn more about which service is right for your business.
Bank Financing Preparation
Requesting a loan without adequate preparation sends the wrong message and can lead you into trouble. We help prepare an approach which will allow us to win over lenders. Our proposals are successful because they are based on what banks want to see and prove that you are a reliable borrower.
Our business loan proposals include:
- Executive summary
- Pro forma cash budgets
- Business financial statements
- Owner’s personal financial statements
- Lender introductions
- Representation
Forensic Accounting
Forensic accounting – also called forensic auditing – is an area of accounting that investigates actual or anticipated disputes. If you believe that you have been a victim of fraud including embezzlement or any other white-collar crime, call us today and see how our forensic accounting services can help with:
- Quantifying losses due to fraud
- Records examination and reconstruction
- Analyzing bookkeeping and accounting systems
- Investigation of financial reporting irregularities
- Analyzing insurance claims
- Searching for unreported income and assets
- Investigating bribery and kickback schemes
- Identifying weaknesses in your accounting processes
- Developing procedures that enable you to detect — and deter — fraud better
Internal Control
At times, you may need an outside professional to evaluate your company’s operations and determine if the appropriate controls are in place. Patriots Tax & Accounting can help protect you from employee theft by identifying any inefficient or ineffective operating procedures. We offer recommendations on how to strengthen these processes so they can better prevent employee fraud or other breaches from happening at all.
Best practices for internal control include:
- Recommend segregation of duties for implementation by dividing responsibilities so that no single person has control over all aspects of financial transactions.
- Make sure transactions are authorized through delegating approval authority to an individual only when the transactions are consistent with policy and funds are available.
- Ensure records are routinely reviewed and reconciled by someone other than the preparer or transactor.
- Ensure that equipment, inventories, cash, and other property are accounted for.
- Physically secure, periodically count, and compared with item descriptions shown on control records.
- Provide employees with appropriate training and guidance to carry out their job duties.
- Set up proper channels for reporting suspected improprieties.
- Document policies and procedures and make them accessible to employees.
- Review operations to determine whether the results are consistent with established objectives and goals and carried out as planned.
Litigation Support
We have helped many clients and their legal counsel achieve favorable outcomes in court with our matrimonial dispute services. We can help with discovery, analysis of existing financial data, preparation of detailed reports on your finances as well as reviewing those from the opposing party’s standpoint.
Our focus remains on results throughout the entire litigation process from discovery to damage assessments, deposition, and if needed, expert testimony.
Do I Really Need a Business Consultant?
In today’s fast-paced, competitive world, many businesses face unprecedented challenges. If at any time you feel you are lacking in-house expertise, need a second opinion, or need to audit or restructure your business and operations infrastructure, bringing in a consultant is the starting point to tackling these challenges.
The decision to change your company’s structure can be a major one, but it should not only involve input from those who understand the ins and outs. A CPA with experience in these matters will give you advice that is grounded. Call us today for a free consultation* and see how we can set your business up today – for growth tomorrow.
Get A Free Consultation*