CONTROLLERSHIP SERVICES

ZD’s professionals are dedicated to serving our business clients including entrepreneurial start-up enterprises, growing technology companies, family-owned businesses, private equity and mezzanine funds, and professional corporations. We will gain an in-depth knowledge of your unique business operations, environment and people to successfully deliver a highly personalized level of attention and give your company a competitive edge in today’s marketplace.

In-house accounting personnel are expensive, from training and development, to benefits, to severance, recruitment, and termination costs. ZD can provide you with a continuity of scalable services and over thirty years of accounting and tax experience to help you minimize these ongoing costs.

To assist your business with continually growing accounting demands, we offer services including, but not limited to, the following:

Generalized Accounting Services

• Prepare monthly, quarterly and annual financial statements
• Establish and maintain accounting policies and procedures
• Assist management in development and execution of business plan
• Perform maintenance of general ledger including account analyses and reconciliations
• Prepare budgets
• Analyze production costs
• Analyze and allocate job cost

Management Reporting Services

• Develop and present financial information and analyses to management
• Develop and execute a cash flow management plan
• Reports to investors
• Report metrics to management
• Analyze trends

Annual Services

• Prepare financial statements and related note disclosures for external auditors
• Audit preparation services including review of internal controls
• Liaise with external auditing firm or tax preparer and prepare audit/tax-requested schedules

Please see Tax Planning, Tax Compliance, and Accounting for Income Taxes for our full range of tax services.

FUND ADMINISTRATION

ZD’s Fund Administration department’s responsibilities include the day-to-day accounting for funds and providing fund-related financial reporting, including fund financial statement preparation, investor reporting, and performance measurement. We also act as a liaison with external third-party fund financial statement auditors and SEC compliance administrators. We are responsible to:

• Maintain the fund’s accounts and such financial books and records
• Process and track fund capital activity
• Prepare and distribute correspondence to the fund’s investors, such as capital calls and capital distributions
• Prepare quarterly investor statements and other correspondences
• Calculate and report carried interest and other member allocations
• Prepare and calculate performance
• Calculate management fee allocations
• Prepare annual fund budgets with fund managers
• Provide information and prepare requested schedules for third-party fund financial statement auditors
• Draft annual fund financial statements
• Work with the fund’s SEC compliance administrators to prepare required annual ADV and Form PF filings

SBIC FINANCIAL REPORTING

Small Business Investment Companies (“SBICs”) are subject to the unique requirements of the Small Business Administration (“SBA”). These requirements can be complex and administratively burdensome.  At ZD, we have extensive expertise regarding these requirements and take a “hands-on approach” in assisting you with meeting your responsibilities.

In addition to the wide range of Tax Planning and Consulting and Tax Compliance services we provide, we also offer the following services unique to our SBIC clients:

General Services

• Maintain SBA chart of accounts
• Analyze non-cash income accounts including calculation of income available for distribution
• Calculate management fees
• Prepare and file quarterly/annual SBICWEB system Financial Report Form 468
• Prepare and file SBICWEB system Portfolio Reports (Form 1031 and 1031A)
• Assist with SBA leverage commitments and draw requests
• Administer partner capital calls and distributions
• Prepare capital certificates
• Maintain trial balance, including monthly bank reconciliations

Management Reporting Services

• Analyze internal rate of return
• Track preferred returns
• Maintain partner capital accounts
• Prepare quarterly investor capital account statements
• Prepare quarterly compiled fund financial statements

Annual Services

• Prepare financial statements and related note disclosures for external auditing firm
• Liaise with external auditing firm and/or tax preparer and prepare requested schedules
• Assist with annual SBA exams and prepare of SBA requested schedules
• Prepare Forms 1099

ACCOUNTING AND ASSURANCE

Stockholders, creditors, and regulators often need assurance that financial statements fairly present the financial position of a company.  ZD offers a broad range of accounting and assurance services to fulfill your company’s needs.  We focus on adding value to our clients’ businesses and utilizing our wealth of experience and knowledge to give them a competitive edge. No matter how complex or simple your request may be, we tailor our approach to meet your specific needs, never undermining the reliability of our product.  At ZD, our professionals use extensive expertise and state-of-the-art accounting software to facilitate real time documentation designed to complete our services as efficiently as possible. We offer the following accounting and assurance services:

Review

Reviewed financial statements provide the user with comfort that, based on their review, the accountant is not aware of any material modifications that should be made to the financial statements for the statements to be in conformity with the applicable financial reporting framework.

Compilation

Compiled financial statements represent the most basic level of service accountants provide with respect to financial statements.  In a compilation engagement, the accountant assists management in presenting financial information in the form of financial statements without undertaking to obtain or provide any assurance that there are no material modifications that should be made to the financial statements.

Agreed-Upon Procedures

An agreed-upon procedures engagement is one in which an accountant is engaged by a client to perform specific procedures and report findings. The accountant does not perform an examination or provide an opinion. Rather, the accountant reports only procedures and findings.
Please download the article “What is the Difference Between a Compilation, a Review and an Audit?” from the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants for a more detailed discussion regarding the various levels of service.

ACCOUNTING FOR INCOME TAX

ZD is dedicated to helping its public and private business clients with their tax accounting needs.  Compliance with the requirements of ASC 740 can be among the most technically challenging and time consuming aspects of preparing corporate financial statements. Although the basic guidelines seem straightforward, the special rules and exceptions of ASC 740 dramatically increase its complexity and require a sophisticated tax team to successfully navigate. Furthermore, tax provisions and process controls are increasingly attracting scrutiny by external auditors, audit committees and regulators.

Our seasoned professionals have extensive experience in tax and accounting services for public and private corporations. We are skilled consultants offering customized support to help prepare your tax provision analysis for independent auditor review and successfully navigate financial statement reporting and disclosure requirements for income taxes. You can rely on our expertise to bring your tax provision processes to the next level. Our tax accounting and provision services include the following:

• ASC 740 consultations, review and outsourcing
• Financial statement presentation and disclosure
• Effective rate analysis
• Deferred tax calculations
• Valuation allowance assessment
• Liaison with external auditors
• Uncertain tax position analysis and documentation
• Business combination services
• Intra-period allocations
• Interim tax accounting guidance and review
• Tax law change implementation
• Dispositions and discontinued operations reporting
• Accounting for intercompany transactions

TAX PLANNING AND CONSULTING

ZD is dedicated to serving its business clients, including sole proprietors, limited liability companies, corporations, and partnerships, with regard to providing tax mitigation strategies.  We strive to help our clients minimize their tax liability while ensuring timely, complete, and accurate tax compliance.

We also offer tax representation and consultation on behalf of clients selected for audit by federal and state taxing agencies.  ZD’s tax professionals understand the fluid legal and regulatory environment in which you operate and are dedicated to using our knowledge and experience to help implement decisions that deliver real value to your business. We offer the following tax planning services:

• Accounting methods and elections
• Business dissolution planning
• Business formation
• Business succession planning
• Employee compensation and fringe benefits
• Entity selection
• Estimated tax requirements and payment minimization
• Federal and state tax credits
• Mergers and acquisitions
• State planning and nexus studies
• Tax authority audit and controversy representation
• Tax budgeting and cash flow projections
• Coordination of entity and owner tax planning
• Maximizing wealth retention

TAX COMPLIANCE

Managing your company’s tax compliance in today’s complicated and unpredictable regulatory environment is one of the most important and administratively burdensome aspects of running a company.  ZD is dedicated to providing quality tax compliance services to each of its clients, including sole proprietors, limited liability companies, corporations, partnerships and exempt organizations.

Our experienced professionals combine knowledge and technical know-how to reduce the cost of tax compliance and provide timely and accurate services with minimal burden on your organization. Our state-of-the-art research and compliance technology enables us to provide the highest quality services while focusing on opportunities to add value to your business. ZD professionals are well versed in the latest tax law and practice so we can provide you with efficient, reliable, and accurate preparation of tax returns in accordance with the agreed upon timetable for completion. To assist your business with increasing tax demands, we offer quality-controlled compliance services including:

• Federal tax return preparation for:
  • Partnerships
  • Individuals
  • Corporations
  • Trusts
  • Nonprofit Organizations
• State and local tax return preparation
• State tax apportionment
• State registration and annual report filings
• Depreciation calculation
• Research tax credit
• Section 199 – Domestic Production Activities Deduction
• Inventory Capitalization 263A
• Consolidations
• Foreign information reporting
• Tax authority audit and controversy representation
• Estimated tax payments and extensions

CONSULTING

ZD’s business consulting services provide essential planning and sound business advice throughout the life cycle of a business.  From entity formation through business maturation, we can assist you in navigating the uncharted waters of an entity’s life cycle.

ZD brings to its clients the benefit of over thirty years’ experience in dealing with entrepreneurial owned businesses in diversified business sectors.  We have assisted many clients in various industries in achieving their business goals.  Whether it is a startup company, the expansion of an existing business, or the acquisition of a new business, our entrepreneurial expertise is a valuable resource in light of the many challenges confronting companies. We offer the following services:

• Entity selection and review
• Accounting and assurance
• Controllership services
• Business analysis
• Forecasting and projection modeling
• Profitability enhancement
• Compensation planning
• Family office accounting services
• Accounting software installation and training
• Capital requirements and financing issues
• Employee vs. subcontractor determination
• Entrepreneurial services
• Personal financial planning
• Maximizing wealth retention

BUYING OR SELLING A BUSINESS

Companies grow in two ways – either through organic growth or through the acquisition of another business. Buying or selling a business is a complex transaction that has several tax and non-tax considerations. There are four basic deal structures that have different tax consequences to the buyer and seller:

• A taxable stock purchase/sale
• A taxable asset purchase/sale
• A tax-free exchange stock acquisition
• A tax-free exchange asset acquisition

Each available structure has to be evaluated so that recommendations and strategies are developed to address your particular needs and goals. Moreover, the political climate is in a fluid state and you need a professional that can guide you through the maze of ever-changing tax laws that may impact the ultimate tax consequences and the after-tax proceeds or costs once the transaction is complete.

As part of this evaluation process, we are available to assist in performing a buyer’s due diligence investigation by working with other professionals to assess the value of the business, structure the deal and participate in the negotiation and closing of the transaction.

TECHNOLOGY

In today’s market, technology plays a crucial role in keeping businesses efficient and information secure. Our professionals have exceptional experience, knowledge and resources to help your business utilize and manage the latest software and technology in the industry.  ZD understands that keeping up-to-date with the daily changes in technology can be a daunting task.  Our professionals can help alleviate these time consuming administrative burdens. To assist your business with soaring accounting technology demands, we offer services including, but are not limited to, the following:

• Implementation, training and support of QuickBooks
• Assistance with Microsoft Office Suites, Adobe Acrobat, Microsoft Windows, etc.
• Guidance for network backups
• Antivirus and other security software implementation
• Improving workstation and server efficiency
• General troubleshooting