Category: Tax Law Offices

Many attorneys have their practices in a home office, although it can be argued that a majority of “high powered” lawyers run their business predominantly from multi-floored office buildings found in our nation’s towns and cities. Some tax accountants and prepares work from a home office and others from commercial spaces like storefronts and office buildings.

What does an audit report contain?

Most audit reports on financial statements give the business a clean bill of health, or a clean opinion. At the other end of the spectrum, the auditor may state that the financial statements are misleading and should not be relied upon. This negative audit report is called an adverse opinion. That’s the big stick that auditors carry.

Auditors have the power to give an adverse opinion and no business wants that. The threat of an adverse opinion almost always motivates a business to give way to the auditor and change its accounting or disclosure practices in order to avoid getting the kiss of death of an adverse opinion.

An adverse audit opinion says that the financial statements of the business are misleading. The SEC does not tolerate adverse opinions by auditors of public businesses; it would suspend trading in a company’s stock share if the company received an adverse opinion from its CPA auditor.

One modification to an auditor’s report is very serious – when the CPA firm says that it has substantial doubts about the capability of the business to continue as a going concern. A going concern is a business that has sufficient financial wherewithal and momentum to continue its normal operations into the foreseeable future and would be able to absorb a bad turn of events without having to default on its liabilities.

A going concern does not face an imminent financial crisis or any pressing financial emergency. A business could be under some financial distress but overall still be judged a going concern. Unless there is evidence to the contrary, the CPA auditor assumes that the business is a going concern. If an auditor has serious concerns about whether the business is a going concern, these doubts are spelled out in the auditor’s report.

Is there any wonder as to why business owners petrified by the dreaded audit? Both SEC and IRS are vested with tremendous power over your public or private business; and a report or ruling by one or the other is enough to render any business – that is the subject of one of their audits – non-existent, if that business fails to conform with certain acceptable accounting principles.


Some Operating And Accounting Costs A Business Incurs


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Direct & indirect costs

Direct costs are those costs that can be directly attributed to a product or product line, or to one source of sales revenue, or one business unit or operation of the business. An example of a direct cost would be the cost of tires on a new automobile.

Indirect Costs are very different and can’t be attached to any specific product, unit or activity. The cost of labor or benefits for an auto manufacturer is certainly a cost, but it can’t be attached to any one vehicle. Each business has to devise a method of allocating indirect costs to different products, sources of sales revenue, business units, etc.

Most allocation methods are less than perfect, and generally end up being arbitrary to one degree or another. Business managers and accounts should always keep an eye on the allocation methods used for indirect costs and take the cost figures produced by these methods with a grain of salt.

Fixed & variable costs

Fixed Costs are those costs that stay the same over a relatively broad range of sales volume or production output. They’re like an albatross around the neck of business and a company must sell its product at a high enough profit to at least break even.

Variable Costs can increase and decrease in proportion to changes in sales or production level. Variable costs vary proportionately with changes in production

Relevant & irrelevant costs

Relevant Costs are essentially future costs that could be incurred, depending on what strategic course a business takes. If an auto manufacturer decides to increase production, but the cost of tires goes up, than that cost needs to be taken into consideration.

Irrelevant Costs are those that should be disregarded when deciding on a future course of action. They’re costs that could cause you to make a wrong decision. Whereas relevant costs are future costs, irrelevant costs are those costs that were incurred in the past. The money’s gone.