Not Just Taxes: Three Services Most People Don't Know CPAs Can Do
Posted on: 24 November 2021
When most people think about CPAs, or certified public accountants, one word comes to mind: taxes. And while CPA services are most commonly used for tax advice and tax planning, the education requirements for a CPS are actually fairly rigorous and cover far more than just taxes.
Auditing and assurance
Need an objective evaluation of your company's financial statements? Not only can a CPA do that, but they're also the only ones that can perform a mandatory audit for a publicly-traded company. CPA accounting services can assure your investors, your creditors, your leadership, and your employees that your finances are free of fraud and misstatements. And in a world where over 80% of businesses have been impacted by fraud, that's an incredibly important task. A financial audit provides insight into not just a company's money, but their culture, their management, their policies and procedures, and their risk mitigation. It takes a keen eye to extrapolate all of that from a bunch of numbers, but CPAs are trained to do just that.
Management for now and tomorrow
A CPA's focus is on money of course, but many people don't realize they don't just handle previous transactions (like sorting out taxes and analyzing last year's numbers), but present and future money as well. A CPA can actually help a company struggling to budget, manage a company's day-to-day financial operations and offer long-term planning and strategies. What kind of strategies? Payroll, financial statements for shareholders, investment advice, cash flow management, risk management, and more. It's been estimated that well over half of small businesses don't have an official, documented budget! And if you don't have a close eye on your money, you're setting yourself up for a world of risk.
Payroll administration
Anyone who has ever worked in HR knows that payroll is a big deal for employees. And if something goes wrong, it's a recipe for angry employees. Payroll administration is a bit more complex than just cutting checks to employees though, so many companies turn to a CPA to handle the financial side of HR. A well-run payroll department has to deal with taxes, insurance, deductions, reimbursements, profit-sharing, bonuses, and more. But a CPA can help with new hire onboarding documents, employee compensation reports, benefits administration, changes to pay, and compliance, just to name a few things.
In short, while taxes are bread and butter for many CPAs, they're actually trained to do much more. A CPA can not only make sure your finances are in line with the law, but they can also take a huge variety of financial-related tasks off of your plate, letting you handle the rest of your business!
For more information, contact a local company, like Siegerman & Company Inc.
Share