Ask a CPA Anything

Ask an 8 year CPA with is own practice Anything.

I primarily offer advisory and tax consulting services, though have been doing forensic valuations for divorce cases (big money here from physicians who own their own practices).

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What was the most fucked up financials have you seen?

>Fucked up in what sense?

A lot of businesses run with Negative Equity, meaning the bank owns more of them then they own (i.e. they are living on borrowed money).

Or do you mean financials where the client prepared their own books, and the financials were just completely fucked up incorrect?

>forensic valuations

Tell me more sempai. Do you think it's worth owning your own practice? With all the operating costs, insurance fees, liability

How can poor NEETs incorporate and create deferred tax assets for their futures when/if they someday have money.
Step-by-step simple instructions pls

So, the $$ to be made in forensic accounting isn't in crimes. People often mistake Forensic for Crime. Forensic means in a court of law.

So, what is the #1 thing ruled in a court of law? Divorce.

How do you decide what is 50/50? Or better yet, how do you value ownership of a business? What about if the business owner wasn't in the picture, what would the value be then?

These are the things I do on a divorce case, typically for the male (not being sexist, but 95% of my clients in divorce cases are male doctors, with a few female doctors and business owners).

We arrive at a value acceptable to the court, and I charge $295 an hour (cheap for my area).

Best part is, I am paid by the lawyer, and my practice is in such high demand and low supply I could stay busy year round doing these. Keep up the divorce rate!

Now, onto owning my own practice. Yes, yes, yes. Now, I would NEVER suggest opening a practice before working for someone else in the profession. Learn from their mistakes, and always, ALWAYS be humble.

I learned that staffing is difficult, so I located my practice right next to my Alma Mater, and I take unpaid and paid interns from the undergraduate and graduate accounting and business classes.

Rent is cheap, about $10 a sq/ft for everything included (I will own my office building soon, rather build equity for myself then someone else). And overhead is dirt, just utilities and salaries (unpaid interns and normal interns are cheap) while the lionshare of profit is split between me and another partner (which is the result of our direct work anyways).

Insurance is dirt cheap, since the profession in the private sector has such low risks of malpractice.

Let me answer your question with a question.

Why do you want a deferred tax asset?

What is more important, maximizing taxes saved, or maximizing after tax money? (the later, of course).

What is a NEET?

Your question about saving money is too vague to even let me consider a reasonable answer. There are infinite options for taking money and making it into more.

I will save you the rhetoric and simply tell you that nothing is easy, no money is free, and money doesn't make money, people make money, and can use it to make more if they are smart.

>$295 an hour (cheap for my area).
>Rent is cheap, about $10 a sq/ft for everything included

haha, what?

Nigga where u from

How do you market your services?

bvwirenews.com/hourly-billing-rates-for-business-valuation-services/

That is an old publication from 2011. Rates have increased materially since then (by about 40%).

Capital of New York, though my clients are mainly NYC, FL, MA, NJ, and PA. I have a handful in CA, Canada, Greenland, Ireland, and Latvia.

I started off with Google Ads for Taxes, then as my base grew, word of mouth.

I also go to affiliate groups (they always need CPAs, since I have so many clients, and all them finance scums want to sell all of them advisory services). I have lunch with divorce lawyers as often as I can, since they hire me to do the work (and I refer to them from my clients that need divorce services).

$10 per square foot in NYC?? I don't think so bro. I'm not questioning your hourly, I charge $225 and I'm out on L.I. Commercial rent out here is usually lower than NYC and I pay way more than that.

Capital of NY is Albany, my friend, not NYC ;)

Ah, thought you were being slightly arrogant, ppl from NYC call it the capitol of the world

The latter. Also, interested in sad stories.

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> CpaSellOut !!449FSdr5Ylb (ID: 7dwzbCOq) 04/26/16(Tue)16:17:45 No.1216580 ▶
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I avoid that hell hole at all costs. I dread if I have to expert witness in a court down there.

Had to for an estate case where the lawyer administering the estate had malpractice and cost the estate over $1m in penalties and interest

I won't green arrow because I am too lazy.

Sad story of the week:

My largest client is the owner of a mental health practice. She used to do very well for herself, brought in after taxes around $350k a year on a social workers degree (masters).

She has owned her business for almost 20 years, and has nothing to show of it. I dove deeper and deeper into her personal finances, and realized that her best friend and key employee of her company had been embezzling funds all 20 years, making the business owner barely make $80k a year.

I had a difficult conversation with the owner, and brought it to her attention, and she replied with "I know, I have always known" Then began to cry, as she was negative cash flow for a few months when this person needed down payment for a new property in flordia. Meanwhile, my client still rents an apartment, had to liquidate her entire retirement and borrow money from a few people (myself included) in order to stay afloat.

Needless to say, I was happy to lend her with strings attached that I would retain management control for 6 months to clean up her mess. We brought that thieving piece of shit that ruined my clients life to court, suit for damages = $14m over 20 years. Insane.

If this is true you literally saved that womans life.

She was being taken advantage of mentally by this person. I find this happens a ton to doctors, and never see it in my other clients in different professions and businesses (I think doctors are so overloaded that they need to focus on work, they cannot focus on running their practice, and they just let shit like this slide and it makes them vulnerable to friends a family that want to take advantage of them)

Anyone have any other questions?

How to get rich quick?

Anyone interested in becoming a CPA? or about Accounting in general? Most people don't even understand what a CPA is or what accounting really is.

what's the best ways I can write shit off as a small business owner?

What are some cool things that I didn't know I could write off.

I'm an engineer with about 8 years experience doing numerical simulations. My finance background is strong due to my own personal self-interest but I have no academic background in it.

Would any firms be interested in such an individual? Want to hire me for some side-work?

Headed to the Gym for a bit guys, then playing some poker.

Will update everyone in a few hours, sorry for the delay

Get your CFA. I know a couple of people who jumped from engineering to finance, and they got their foot in the door by getting their level 1

Sophomore in College studying Accounting and hoping to be a CPA. What is some advice/stuff you wish you would've done in college to prepare yourself for the workforce. Also what is the best way to get your foot into the door at an Accounting firm?

I moved to CO from IA at the end of 2010. Didn't do my 2009-2013 taxes until last year. Years ago IA said I owed them like 1.5K for 2009 (for the taxes I never did). Ignored it. Ignored it. They then sent me a letter claiming I owed them state taxes for 2009-2013 (for income earned in CO). Like 11K.

Called IA Dept of Revenue. Since I never filed any returns they think I was still a resident of IA. I never got a new driver's license and mostly used my parent's address (forwarded things from there). That didn't help. Explained to them that I haven't lived in Iowa for 4 years and obviously been working in CO. They said I could be working there yet still a resident of IA. Don't really remember what was said beyond that, but I haven't heard anything. I haven't gotten any letters in about 1.5 years.

How likely is it that this has just gone away? Does filing all of my old returns last year help clear it up?

How does one make a living as a CPA. I only see you guys actually working during tax season. How do you get paid the rest of the year?

How did you find out? What was the tell tale signs?

How many years did it take to start and close the case?

>what accounting really is.

Go on...

>1216688
>Anyone have any other questions?
What was your process of becoming a CPA? (as in what major and classes you took) How long did it take to where you are now?
What did you do after you graduated?
>How to get rich quick?
Do tell. Also some random financial tips would be nice.
What kind of people would be suited to be a CPA?
Is the job very stressful? Laid back? Somewhere in between?
What are some general jobs that CPA do?
How good at math do you have to be? (bad at math)
Also what really is accounting?

Interested in all of these actually. My grandfather keeps telling me to become a CPA. Still being a bitch on my 60k a year and don't want to give it up going back to school full time. Long roads..

lol i see my cpa every quarter, businesses and people incorporating need tax advice and help year round

How do I cheat on the CPA exam?

I've recently incorporated a start up food biz I'm working on. I know I need a CPA sooner or later (still pulling all the parts together, expect to start selling June/July time frame). How soon do I need one? Just saving receipts at the moment. How do I pick one? I've put out feelers but haven't gotten any references yet. What do you think of Quickbooks? Seems like the go to software for small biz. Any questions I haven't asked you feel need answering?

I'm actually going to school for accounting and I plan on getting my CPA, do sometime in public to get a feel for the different types of industries and strike out to start my own business. In your professional opinion what type of business is it easy to get into with the potential of netting me an upper-middle class lifestyle? I know a CPA who got into the telecom business and runs a successful mid-size firm but it seems like that's a crowded field.

Do you plan on becoming a fellow of cpa?

How did you find satisfying the requirements for cpa?

Check your state's Board of Accountancy

I'm aware. I'm asking him how he found satisfying the requirements.

How do you feel about CA's?

If you're referring to Australia, CPA in America is not CPA in Australia, they're separate bodies.

oh tru