Lester Bahr CPA, LLC
(484) 707-5934
Allentown, Pennsylvania
Enlightened solutions within your grasp
Fourth, to help you select a bank and other professional advisors. Not all banks are best suited for every business. Plus, in some cases, it can come down to personalities that match with your own. Certainly, the same can be said for working with investment advisors, attorneys and any other professional.
Fifth, helping you to manage your wealth. All things related to your financial life such as mortgages, pensions, investments etc should never be carried out in isolation. Rather, these should all be a component of your overall financial strategy. The CPA will have strong links with excellent advisors who can provide you with the support you need. (Also worth mentioning here: I do not receive any referral fees or compensation from sources that I refer to).
Sixth, show you how your business compares to your industry statistics in areas of financial performance including sales trends, profitability, liquidity, employees etc. in order to help you improve your business.
Think of it like this: Your business has a financial story to tell and there are multiple stakeholders who want to hear that story. As the business owner you certainly want to know that story in order to gauge your success and plan your goals. Your investors and creditors who provide the funds to the business want to know your story too. And then lets not forget about federal, state and local taxing authorities who want an accurate financial reporting of business operations in order to collect the appropriate amount of tax on business profits. The CPA is an important part of helping your business tell its best story with the most accurate and organized financial information.
Accounting and Tax Services
If you only send your books off for basic accounting and tax services at year end, you may be overlooking other benefits the CPA could provide to you. There are many services a CPA provides.
First, is year end accounting preparation. At a minimum, you should get your year end general ledger completed accurately and timely.
Second, Tax planning followed by tax preparation. Sometimes the "planning" part of taxes is not carried out very well. The purpose of tax planning is to pay the least amount to the federal, state and local government within the boundries of the law so that you can retain more of your hard earned profits for yourself.
Third, Assess your financial management systems. There are certain expected standards with regard to maintaining your accounting records to meet legal and government requirements. But, you also need efficient and accurate records in order to provide you with the information necessary to run your business.
