Jacob Courtright, Author at Whalen & Company, CPAs

Solid financial reporting can help attract debt and equity financing

Jacob Courtright on January 26, 2024

Financial reporting plays a key role when a business needs funds for continued operations and strategic investment opportunities. Lenders and investors will generally want to review your company’s financial statements before they give it money. Timely, reliable reports can increase the odds that a bank will approve your company’s loan application and equity investors will provide capital.

Relevant financial information

Financial statements are a must-have for any organization. The balance sheet reveals how much its assets and liabilities are worth based on historic costs. The income statement tells investors and lenders how profitably and efficiently the company has performed during the accounting period. The statement of cash flows details sources and uses of cash from operating, investing, and financing activities. This information helps company insiders — as well as lenders and investors — make better-informed business decisions.

Lenders and investors monitor the financial condition of companies in their portfolios on an ongoing basis. They’re particularly focused on industry sectors that are susceptible to market fluctuations, such as real estate, construction, restaurants, and retail. Business owners should be prepared to respond to changes in their stakeholders’ reporting requirements if the economy gets tough or simply changes.

Levels of assurance

While financial statements can be prepared in-house, lenders and investors typically prefer reports that are prepared by outside accounting firms. CPAs offer the following three types of historical financial statements under U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP):

Compiled statements. These provide no assurance that the financial statements are accurate, complete, and comply with GAAP.
Reviewed statements. These provide limited assurance that the financial statements are accurate. Typically, your accountant will review the statements to ensure that obvious errors or misstatements are corrected.
Audited statements. These provide reasonable assurance that the statements are free from material misstatement and conform to GAAP. Audits are seen by many as the “gold standard” in financial reporting.

In some cases, compiled financial statements — the option that provides the lowest level of assurance — might suffice. But when a stakeholder decides to manage risk more closely, it could require reviewed or audited statements. As the level of assurance increases, so too can the associated cost to prepare the financial statements. A close partnership between your company’s accounting department and its CPA firm is critical to minimizing the cost and lead time associated with preparing financial statements.

In addition to the types of statements lenders and investors may request, the frequency of statement production also may change. For example, they may request interim statements (typically quarterly or mid-year) that summarize a reporting period of less than a full financial year.

What’s right for your business?

Financial statements provide a wealth of data and insight into what drives your company’s revenue, profits, and value. Above all, solid financials demonstrate to lenders and investors that management is proactively monitoring financial performance. Contact us to determine what level of assurance and frequency is appropriate for your company based on its current needs.

Should your business offer the new emergency savings accounts (PLESA) to employees?

Jacob Courtright on January 24, 2024

As part of the SECURE 2.0 law, there’s a new benefit option for employees facing emergencies. It’s called a pension-linked emergency savings account (PLESA) and the provision authorizing it became effective for plan years beginning January 1, 2024. The IRS recently released guidance about the accounts (in Notice 2024-22) and the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) published some frequently asked questions to help employers, plan sponsors, participants and others understand them.

PLESA basics

The DOL defines PLESAs as “short-term savings accounts established and maintained within a defined contribution plan.” Employers with 401(k), 403(b) and 457(b) plans can opt to offer PLESAs to non-highly compensated employees. For 2024, a participant who earned $150,000 or more in 2023 is a highly compensated employee.

Here are some more details of this new type of account:

The portion of the account balance attributable to participant contributions can’t exceed $2,500 (or a lower amount determined by the plan sponsor) in 2024. The $2,500 amount will be adjusted for inflation in future years.
Employers can offer to enroll eligible participants in these accounts beginning in 2024 or can automatically enroll participants in them.
The account can’t have a minimum contribution to open or a minimum account balance.
Participants can make a withdrawal at least once per calendar month, and such withdrawals must be distributed “as soon as practicable.”
For the first four withdrawals from an account in a plan year, participants can’t be subject to any fees or charges. Subsequent withdrawals may be subject to reasonable fees or charges.
Contributions must be held as cash, in an interest-bearing deposit account or in an investment product.
If an employee has a PLESA and isn’t highly compensated, but becomes highly compensated as defined under tax law, he or she can’t make further contributions but retains the right to withdraw the balance.
Contributions will be made on a Roth basis, meaning they are included in an employee’s taxable income but participants won’t have to pay tax when they make withdrawals.

Proof of an event not necessary

A participant in a PLESA doesn’t need to prove that he or she is experiencing an emergency before making a withdrawal from an account. The DOL states that “withdrawals are made at the discretion of the participant.”

These are just the basic details of PLESAs. Contact us if you have questions about these or other fringe benefits and their tax implications.

Best practices for M&A due diligence

Jacob Courtright on January 19, 2024

Engaging in a merger or acquisition (M&A) can help your business grow, but it also can be risky. Buyers must understand the strengths and weaknesses of their intended partners or acquisition targets before entering the transactions.

A robust due diligence process does more than assess the reasonableness of the sales price. It also can help verify the seller’s disclosures, confirm the target’s strategic fit, and ensure compliance with legal and regulatory frameworks — before and after the deal closes. Here’s an overview of the three phases of the due diligence process.

1. Defining the scope

Before the due diligence process begins, it’s important to establish clear objectives. The work during this phase should include a preliminary assessment of the target’s market position and financial statements, as well as the expected benefits of the transaction. You should also identify the inherent risks of the transaction and document how due diligence efforts will verify, measure, and mitigate the buyer’s potential exposure to these risks.

2. Conducting due diligence

The primary focus during this step is evaluating the target company’s financial statements, tax returns, legal documents, and financing structure. Additionally, contingent liabilities, off-balance-sheet items and the overall quality of the company’s earnings will be scrutinized. Budgets and forecasts may be analyzed, especially if management prepared them specifically for the M&A transaction. Interviews with key personnel and frontline employees can help a prospective buyer fully understand the company’s operations, culture, and value.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming how companies conduct due diligence. For example, AI can analyze vast quantities of customer data quickly and efficiently. This can help identify critical trends and risks in large data sets, such as those related to regulatory compliance or fraud.

If a target company maintains an extensive database of customer contracts, AI can analyze every document for the scope of the relationship, contractual obligations, key clauses, and the consistency of the terminology used in each document. Sophisticated solutions can analyze the target’s financial records and even produce post-acquisition financial statement forecasts.

3. Structuring the deal

Information gathered during due diligence can help the parties develop the terms of the proposed transaction. For example, issues unearthed during the due diligence process — such as excessive customer turnover, significant related-party transactions or mounting bad debts — could warrant a lower offer price or an earnout provision (where a portion of the purchase price is contingent on whether the company meets future financial benchmarks). Likewise, cultural problems — such as employee resistance to the deal or incongruence with the existing management team’s long-term vision — could cause a buyer to revise the terms or walk away from the deal altogether.

We can help

Comprehensive financial due diligence is the cornerstone of a successful M&A transaction. If you’re thinking about merging with a competitor or buying another company, contact us to help you gather the information needed to minimize the risks and maximize the benefits of a proposed transaction.

Auditing concepts: Close-up on materiality

Jacob Courtright on January 16, 2024

As audit season begins for calendar-year entities, it’s important to review issues that may arise during fieldwork. One common issue is materiality. This concept is used to determine what’s important enough to be included in — and what can be omitted from — a financial statement. Here’s how materiality is determined and used during an external financial statement audit.

What is materiality?

Under U.S. auditing standards and Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), “The omission or misstatement of an item in a financial report is material if, in light of surrounding circumstances, the magnitude of the item is such that it is probable [emphasis added] that the judgment of a reasonable person relying upon the report would have been changed or influenced by the inclusion or correction of the item.”

This aligns with the definition of materiality used by the U.S. judicial system. However, it differs somewhat from the definition set by the International Accounting Standards Board. Under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), misstatements and omissions are considered material if they, individually or in the aggregate, could “reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users made on the basis of the financial statements.”

How do auditors determine the materiality threshold?

Auditors rely on their professional judgment to determine what’s material for each company, based on such factors as:

Size,
Industry,
Internal controls, and
Financial performance.

During fieldwork, auditors may ask about line items on the financial statements that have changed materially from the prior year. A materiality rule of thumb for small businesses might be to inquire about items that change by more than, say, 10% or $10,000. For example, if shipping or direct labor costs increased by 30% in 2023, it may raise a red flag, especially if it didn’t correlate with an increase in revenue. Businesses should be ready to explain why costs went up and provide supporting documents (such as invoices or payroll records) for auditors to review.

Establishing what’s material is less clear when CPAs attest to subject matters that can’t be measured — such as sustainability programs, employee education initiatives, or fair labor practices. As nonfinancial matters are taking on increasing importance, it’s critical to understand what information will most significantly impact stakeholders’ decision-making process. In this context, the term “stakeholders” could refer to more than just investors. It also could refer to customers, employees and suppliers.

For more information

Materiality is one of the gray areas in financial reporting. Contact us to discuss the appropriate materiality threshold for your upcoming audit.

The kiddie tax could affect your children until they’re young adults

Jacob Courtright on January 9, 2024

The so-called “kiddie tax” can cause some of a child’s unearned income to be taxed at the parent’s higher marginal federal income tax rates instead of at the usually much lower rates that a child would otherwise pay. For purposes of this federal income tax provision, a “child” can be up to 23 years old. So, the kiddie tax can potentially affect young adults as well as kids.

Kiddie tax basics

Perhaps the most important thing to know about this poorly understood provision is that, for a student, the kiddie tax can be an issue until the year that he or she turns age 24. For that year and future years, your child is finally kiddie-tax-exempt.

The kiddie tax is only assessed on a child’s (or young adult’s) unearned income. That usually means interest, dividends and capital gains. These types of income often come from custodial accounts that parents and grandparents set up and fund for younger children.

Earned income from a job or self-employment is never subject to the kiddie tax.

Calculating the tax

To determine the kiddie tax, first add up the child’s (or young adult’s) net earned income and net unearned income. Then subtract the allowable standard deduction to arrive at the child’s taxable income.

The portion of taxable income that consists of net earned income is taxed at the regular federal income tax rates for single taxpayers.

The portion of taxable income that consists of net unearned income that exceeds the standard deduction ($2,600 for 2024 or $2,500 for 2023) is subject to the kiddie tax and is taxed at the parent’s higher marginal federal income tax rates.

The tax is calculated by completing an IRS form, which is then filed with the child’s Form 1040.

Is calculating and reporting the kiddie tax complicated? It certainly can be. We can handle the task when we prepare your tax return.

Is your child exposed?

Maybe. For 2023, the relevant IRS form must be filed for any child or young adult who:

Has more than $2,500 of unearned income;
Is required to file a Form 1040;
Is under age 18 as of December 31, 2023, or is age 18 and didn’t have earned income in excess of half of his or her support, or is between ages 19 and 23 and a full-time student and didn’t have earned income in excess of half of his or her support;
Has at least one living parent; and
Didn’t file a joint return for the year.

For 2024, the same rules apply except the unearned income threshold is raised to $2,600.

Don’t let the tax sneak up on you

The kiddie tax rules are pretty complicated, and the tax can sneak up on the unwary. We can determine if your child is affected and suggest strategies to minimize or avoid the tax. For example, your child could invest in growth stocks that pay no or minimal dividends and hold on to them until a year when the kiddie tax no longer applies. Contact us if you have questions or want more information.

Author: Jacob Courtright

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