CFO Fort Worth, the jobs we close and the reports we don't sign
Where does the monthly work end and a signed report begin?
Looking for the line between a Tax CFO's work and a licensed firm's? Here it is, in a few plain sentences. Steven Palmieri prepares the return and closes the books. Nobody here audits, reviews or compiles financial statements, and no report on them leaves the practice. The license for those reports sits with a firm that holds it. If a surety, a general contractor or a lender wants one, a licensed firm signs it, and we hand that firm books and a work-in-progress schedule that are ready.
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The jobs we close
We close the books every month with each cost on its job. From them we build the work-in-progress schedule and prepare your financial statements, with no report attached. We build the cash plan and the bids that go with it. A payroll provider that you run does the paychecks and any special reports a customer asks for, and our part is the setup around it. We prepare the return and plan the year-end choices while they can still be changed.
Ask what my surety needs
The reports we don't sign
An audit, a review and a compilation each end in a report from a license holder, written for a reader outside the business. Sureties and bonding companies often want one before they extend a bond. Some general contractors ask subs for one. Some lenders set it as a condition. Plenty of contractors are never asked. If you are, the licensed firm works independently of us, and the better your books, the smoother that goes.
Every set of statements we prepare says in one line that it comes without an audit, review or compilation report, so a reader always knows what they hold.
Liens, disputes and the IRS
Mechanics' liens and payment disputes belong with a construction attorney. We can supply the cost records and the billing history, and the legal steps are the attorney's. When a letter comes from the IRS, we read it with you and help line up the answer. Arguing a case with the IRS goes beyond reading a notice, and for that you want an enrolled agent, a CPA or an attorney. We flag it early if a letter points that way.
What we hand over
If a surety asks for a package, here is how it usually goes. We close the year, produce the work-in-progress schedule and the prepared statements, and send them to the licensed firm you choose or the one the surety names. The firm does its own work, asks us the questions it needs, and signs what it signs. We stay out of the way, and the books are ready on the first day. The page on work in progress and retainage shows what that schedule contains.
Prepare my books for them
Not sure what you were asked for
Bring the request and we will read it with you. Sometimes a bonding application asks for a profit and loss and a schedule of open jobs, which we prepare. Sometimes it asks for a report that needs a signature, and you will know that before you spend a week gathering papers. For the monthly work in between, see which jobs make money, and for answers to common questions, the questions page.
Take the request to a free call
Ask what your surety actually needs on a free Second Look call. No paperwork and no payment.
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