Bruce Brown, CPA, MBA

Bruce Brown, CPA, is a business consulting firm that:

1. Provides a system that will allow our clients to report their financial reports accurately.
2. Provides a system of internal controls to safeguard our client’s assets.
3. Provides a system that will allow our clients to stay in compliance with the local, state and federal reporting requirements.
4. Provide additional services we are qualified to perform if additional services are requested from our clients.

Financial Reporting

Many businesses operate out of a checkbook with the idea that if there is cash in the bank, we must be making money. This philosophy is dangerous and does not meet the needs of the users of the financial information. The users of the financial accounting information include: management and directors of the business to assess financing needs, evaluate results of past economic decisions, and to project the firm's future financial position and earnings; investors or potential investors; creditors and suppliers to grant credit. Bruce Brown, CPA will assist the client in addressing these issues by implementing a plan to create financial statements that are required by Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). The financial statements required under GAAP are:

1. The balance sheet.
2. The income statement.
3. The statement of retained earnings.
4. The cash flow statement.

We will help the client establish or fine tune a chart of accounts, set up procedures to code receipts and disbursements to the chart of accounts and enter the transactions into the accounting system accurately. We will help the client to select and install an accounting package the meets the business's needs. We will format the financial statements to conform to the requirements of GAAP. We will help the client to establish a routine to issue accurate and timely financial statements.

Internal Controls Over Financial Reporting

Internal controls over financial reporting is defined as a process designed by or under the supervision of the principal executive and principal financial officers to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the financial statements are prepared in accordance with GAAP.

Internal controls also include;

1. Maintenance of records that in reasonable detail accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the client.
2. The receipts and expenditures of the client are being made only in accordance with the authorization of management.
3. Provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use or disposition of the client's assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.

In order to gauge the company's internal control effectiveness, you must be able to compare it to an established standard for effectiveness. Choosing appropriate control criteria is a precondition to performing assessment of the effectiveness of the client's internal control. We have determined that we will use the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) internal framework to assess our client's internal control effectiveness.

We will go document the client's system of internal controls noting any deficiencies. We will help the client to implement a system and review process of internal controls. This should allow the client to receive a "clean" opinion from an external audit of the client's internal controls. This will also give the external users of the financial statements, more specifically bankers and creditors, higher confidence that the financial statements are accurate and not materially misstated in the event that the client does not receive and external audit.

Compliance With Local, State, and Federal Reporting Authorities

Filing requirements for local, state and the federal government can range from easy to quite complex. The common thread through all of the filings is it is critical to file timely, and accurately to avoid penalty. We will work with the client to determine what reports must be filed, set up a tickler system to ensure timely filing and review the filed reports to determine if they are being filed correctly.

Ancillary Services

If the client wishes to engage Bruce Brown, CPA in any additional services (strategic planning, risk management analysis, payroll software selection) we will determine if we have the expertise to perform the service and if we do we will engage the client to perform the requested service.