Greer & Walker Sponsor Spotlight

Home : About Us : Greer & Walker Sponsor Spotlight

Monday, May 21st, 2012

Email Page

Print Page

Keep me logged in

Forgot Username/Password

Sandi Thorman
ACG Charlotte Board
of Directors
Partner
Greer & Walker, LLP
(704) 377-0239
sthorman@gwllp.com

Jonathan Mangels
Partner
Greer & Walker, LLP

Gary Parker
Managing Director
Greer & Walker Corporate Finance, LLC

Annual Sponsor - Greer & Walker Corporate Finance

Greer & Walker, LLP was formed in 1984 and is today the largest Charlotte-based public accounting firm. Our practice focuses primarily on the needs of privately held middle market companies, their owners, and their executive management teams. The experience and quality of our professionals allow us to deliver expertise equivalent to an international firm but with a more reasonable fee structure. In addition, we are fully committed to maintain the highest standards of quality control and personal client service.

Besides our accounting, tax, and consulting services, we offer exit planning and merger and acquisition services through our affiliate Greer & Walker Corporate Finance, LLC. We also provide wealth management services through our affiliate Greer & Walker Investment Advisors, LLC.

As our firm has evolved over the years, we have developed a number of industry and technical specialties. One of our main practice areas is Financial Services. Our designated team members possess the required technical knowledge and understand the specific issues affecting companies operating in the financial services industry. They have the expertise to not only help you with your tax and accounting compliance needs, but more importantly, to assist you in the planning, designing, and decision making processes that arise during the life cycle of a company.

Other practice areas include construction, employee benefit plan services, international business, manufacturing & distribution, motorsports, and real estate.

For more information, please contact Sandi Thorman at (704) 377-0239 or sthorman@gwllp.com.

Need an Internal Control CheckUp?

August 3, 2011

Dear Clients and Friends:

As part of an audit of financial statements, we are required to gain an understanding of the company's internal controls over financial reporting and communicate any significant weaknesses that we identify. Although not every company needs an audit of its financial statements, most companies could benefit from an internal controls assessment. Whether the owners want peace of mind that they are doing everything they can to prevent fraud or the CFO wants to learn the best practices of an efficient accounting department, an internal controls assessment can provide a tremendous amount of insight.

Greer & Walker has extensive experience in performing these types of engagements. We primarily do these for our non-audit clients; however, certain of our audit clients have also benefited from a separate more detailed review of their internal controls.
An internal controls assessment usually involves the following steps:

• Review documented internal control policies and procedures, if any
• Interview key accounting and operational staff regarding policies and procedures
• Document internal control policies and procedures or edit existing ones as needed
• Identify areas of weakness or inefficiency
• Prepare a report with our recommendations to improve internal control policies and review with the owners and/or management

Depending on the size of the company and the current level of documented controls in place, we are typically able to complete an internal controls assessment in a week or two. As with all of our consulting engagements, we would customize the scope of work to meet your needs.

We provide comprehensive audit and accounting services to companies in a wide variety of industries. To learn more, contact your Greer & Walker professional or Jonathan Mangels, CPA, Partner in charge of Audit and Assurance Services at (704) 377-0239.

NC Employers Required to Use E-Verify

July 26, 2011

Dear Clients and Friends:

Governor Perdue recently signed a bill requiring employers to verify the employment eligibility of all new hires through E-Verify. E-Verify is a federal database system operated by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in partnership with Social Security Administration (SSA) that compares information from an employee's Employment Verification Form I-9 to data from U.S. government records.

The North Carolina law requires all counties and municipalities to start using E-Verify effective October 1, 2011. (NC state agencies are already required to use E-Verify). All other employers with over 24 empoyees in North Carolina must start using E-Verify accoding to the following schedule: October 1, 2012 for employers with 500 or more employees; January 1, 2013 for employers with 100 to 499 employees; and July 1, 2013 for employers with 25 to 99 employees. The law exempts seasonal temporary employees who are employed for 90 or fewer days during a 12-month period.

The new law allows any person with a good faith belief that an employer has violated the law to report complaints to the Commissioner of Labor. The Commissioner must then investigate the complaint to determine whether an employer has violated the law and shall hold a hearing to determine if a violation has occured. If in the course of the investigation the Commissioner concludes that there is a reasonable likelihood that an employee is an unauthorized alien, the Commissioner must notify U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and local law enforcement agencies. Failure to comply with the requirement may result in civil penalties.

For further information regarding E-Verify, please visit the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services' E-Verify Home page .

Time for Private Company GAAP

July 19, 2011

Dear Clients and Friends:

For more than 30 years, there has been a debate as to whether there should be two sets of accounting standards; one for public companies and one for private companies. It is widely viewed that the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") develops accounting standards with a focus on public companies. As public companies have grown globally and with more intricate products and services, accounting standards have become more complex and, consequently, more costly to implement. Unfortunately, even though FASB has the ability to issue exceptions for private companies, very few substantive differences exist currently. As a result, the support for separate standards has grown to a point where now there is an opportunity to implement significant change.

During 2010 a Blue Ribbon Panel on Private Company Financial Reporting was formed to review the need for separate standards. Earlier this year, the Panel issued their recommendations for separate accounting standards as well as a separate governing entity to determine the differences from public company accounting standards. These recommendations are now in the hands of the Financial Accounting Foundation ("FAF"), who will make the final decision on whether to implement the suggested changes.

Greer & Walker, LLP supports the recommendations of the Blue Ribbon Panel on Private Company Financial Reporting, and we have joined several hundred other firms in writing a letter to FAF expressing our support. If you are interested in learning more or want to help support bringing this historic change to private company financial reporting, please visit the AICPA's special webpage via the following link:

For further information or assistance, please contact your Greer & Walker advisor.

Tax Breaks - Going Green

Federal, State Tax Breaks Abound For Going Green

Charlotte Business Journal
By Sandi Thorman, Guest Columnist

By going green, individuals and businesses may be able to save - or even make - money. There are numerous tax incentives that encourage us ro go green. Some of these incentives were added by the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 and took effect October 3.

Highlighs of the incentives at the federal and state levels follow in this article:

Carried Interests

Will the Federal Tax Treatment of Carried Interests Change?

Some members of Congress are questioning the tax treatment of carried interests. They believe that income of investment managers for the performance of services should be taxed as ordinary income, subject to self-employment tax, rather than as capital gain, taxed at a 15% rate.

The Alternative Minimum Tax Relief Bill of 2008 (H.R. 6275) was introduced on June 17, 2008 and passed by the House on June 25, 2008. The bill includes a revenue raiser that would tax carried interests as ordinary income, rather than as capital gains. At the time of this article, H.R. 6275 was awaiting Senate approval.

Please read the article for the definition of a carried interest and a summary of the current and proposed federal tax treatment.