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Certified Public Accountants and Consultants
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Count on us!
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Certified Public Accountants and Consultants
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Announcements, Press Releases and Media Coverage
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South Florida Hospital & Healthcare Association Healthcare Summit Ad
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Suzanne S. Duffy, CPA received the QuickBooks® ProAdvisor Point of Sale Certification
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Jeff Kramer Featured in the August edition of South Florida Hospital News
Tuesday, August 12, 2008 Outsourced Accounting Services for the Healthcare Industry
Mergers of medical entities are on the rise. Medical practices are merging to enhance profitability and to increase leverage in managed care contracting. Prior to a merger, it is necessary to assess the finances of the target entity. This job, referred to as due diligence, is commonly outsourced to an accounting firm. The accountants are asked to review financial records to help determine if there is a financial fit. Accounting firms are frequently asked to prepare financial projections. Financial projections are helpful when entities are seeking financing, considering an acquisition or considering offering new products or services. The accountant interviews management to determine what course of action the business expects to take. This information is then translated into financial terms and the projection is created. Financial projections might include pro-forma income statements, balance sheets or cash flow statements quantifying expected financial results given certain assumptions. Accounting for newly acquired or merged entities is commonly outsourced. After a transaction, the surviving entity may not immediately have sufficient in-house financial expertise to perform the accounting for the newly acquired entity. Rather than letting the accounting wait until the entity is integrated and additional finance personnel are hired, the initial accounting work is often outsourced. CFO (chief financial officer) or controllership services are commonly outsourced. For small publicly traded or privately held companies it sometimes makes economic sense to outsource the CFO position. Companies needing seasoned financial expertise but lacking the economic resources to employ such expertise on a full-time basis sometime outsourced these services. Under the outsourcing model, the company purchases only the amount of services that are affordable and necessary. Rather than employing the accountant full-time, services are purchased as needed via outsourcing thereby reducing costs. With outsourcing, companies benefit from having seasoned professionals available to fill gaps as necessary. Outsourcing can provide a high level of sophistication giving the business access to qualified financial personnel on an as needed basis. Business owners facing time or resource constraints should consider outsourcing as a solution. |
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Suzanne S. Duffy, CPA received the QuickBooks® ProAdvisor Advanced CertificationSue Duffy has successfully completed her training and is now a Certified Advanced ProAdvisor for QuickBooks. The Advanced Certification demonstrates that Sue has achieved the comprehensive level of knowledge required by Intuit® to provide assistance with QuickBooks applications. Sue is qualified to guide users through the initial purchase of QuickBooks, installation, and setup of the software. Sue is also available to teach clients to use the program for basic accounting, financial reporting, payroll and complex applications. Click here to view Sue's profile on the QuickBooks website. Please contact or call her at (954) 475-1260 Ext. 18 to schedule a consultation |
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Jeff Kramer Featured in the July edition of South Florida Hospital News
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Florida Medical Business Ad - June 24, 2008
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Jeffrey Kramer, CPA, featured in the Memorial Foundation • Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital Foundation "Chronicle" newsletter |
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Hurricane Preparation for Healthcare Professionals by Jeffrey Kramer, CPA
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Jeffrey Kramer, CPA, attends the Florida Institute of Certified Public Accountants Health Care Industry Conference |
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Held on April 24-25, 2008, this year's conference was host to more than 300 accounting professionals who are involved in the health care industry. Co-sponsors of the event included the Florida Hospital Association, the Healthcare Financial Management Association and the Georgia Society of CPAs. The event provided attendees with the knowledge, expertise and know-how to remain a leader in the health care industry. |
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Florida Medical Business Ad - April 8, 2008
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Sun-Sentinel Ad - April 7, 2008
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Let someone else handle company financesOutsourcing finances can let you focus on building your company By JOYCE M. ROSENBERG | The Associated Press NEW YORK - Ron Finklestein found a good reason for not compiling his business tax return: $1,600. That's how much Finklestein says he would have overpaid the government if he had gone ahead and submitted a return he had completed as an experiment. When he ran it past his accountant, he discovered he hadn't claimed all the deductions he was entitled to. Many small business owners try to compile their companies' returns, and they also try to keep the books too. Many, like Finklestein, discover it's better to turn the financial part of the business over to someone with a head for finances — the work will be done faster and better. Moreover, outsourcing finances allows owners to focus on building their companies. Finklestein, an author and business consultant in Akron, Ohio, only recently handed over the task of keeping the company's books to his accountant, a step he needed to take to have a better handle on how the business was doing. He wasn't consistently updating the books, and so he didn't know what the state of his cash flow. With his accountant in charge of his finances, he's able to make more informed decisions. Moreover, "it's allowed me to focus my time on where my strengths are, in the sales and marketing side of the house," Finklestein said, estimating that he's gotten back 10 hours a month from not trying to do the books himself. "What really helped me is the peace of mind knowing that it's done, and done right," Finklestein said. "I don't stay awake at night anymore thinking about it." Elizabeth Gordon, who owns a management consulting firm in Atlanta, kept her own books the first year she was in business. "It was a nightmare," recalled Gordon, president of Flourishing Business. "It's just not my strength. ... I need to put myself in the visionary leader role rather than worry about the minutiae better outsourced to someone else who's good at it." Her solution is to have a bookkeeper pick up her receipts and other papers every two weeks and enter them into an accounting program. She also uses an accounting firm. Gordon, who has seen plenty of her clients struggle with running their companies, said it's very common for new business owners to try to do their own financial work. "You feel like you have to do it all," she said — although many entrepreneurs are sitting up at 2 a.m. trying to get these tasks done. The cost can be more than sleep — it can take the joy out of running a company, she said. "[The business] turns into this chore that you feel negatively about, is the exact opposite of what you need in this start-up stage." Of course, there are many small business owners who easily handle tax returns and their company books. The important word there is "easily" — if doing these tasks don't encroach on taking care of other aspects of the business, and it makes sense for them to work this way, then why shouldn't they do it? It's also not necessary to outsource the work if there's an employee or a partner able to take the financial work off an owner's hands. Richard Dukas said the chief operating officer of his New York-based company, Dukas Public Relations, is handling the company's books after taking time to learn how to use accounting software. The COO, who's Dukas wife, Gail Katz Dukas, doesn't have a financial background, but got some training and is now able to keep track of sales, profits and losses, outstanding balances and more. Richard Dukas said he doesn't do the work because "I know what my strengths are." The company also relies on an accountant who periodically looks at the books and also helps with financial planning. Dukas said he had to switch accountants at one point because he wasn't getting the help that a growing small business needs. He said, "I'm paying significantly more money now, but I'm thrilled with the service." Copyright © 2008, South Florida Sun-Sentinel |
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Suzanne S. Duffy, CPA becomes a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisorSue Duffy has successfully completed her training and is now a Certified ProAdvisor for QuickBooks versions 2006, 2007, and Enterprise 7. The Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor designation enables Sue to provide comprehensive assistance with QuickBooks applications. Sue is qualified to guide users through the initial purchase of QuickBooks, installation, and setup of the software. Sue is also available to teach clients to use the program for basic accounting, financial reporting, payroll and complex applications. Click here to view Sue's profile on the QuickBooks website. Please contact or call her at (954) 475-1260 Ext. 18 to schedule a consultation. |
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Jeffrey Kramer, CPA published in South Florida Hospital News - "Outsourced Accounting Services"As published in South Florida Hospital News, August 2007 - Volume 4 - Issue 2 - click to see actual article. Outsourced Accounting Services When you hear of outsourcing, you might think of India since outsourcing to India has become commonplace. Outsourcing is also alive and well in the United States. A service commonly being outsourced locally is CFO (chief financial officer) services. With the introduction of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act many small public companies have no choice but to outsource CFO services; however, non-public companies are outsourcing CFO services as well. Why outsource CFO services? For small public and privately held companies with sales of less than about three million dollars per year it sometimes makes economic sense to outsource CFO services. Companies that need seasoned accounting professionals but may not have the financial resources to employ these professionals on a full-time basis are candidates for outsourced CFO and accounting services. Under the outsourcing model, the company only purchases those services that are necessary. Rather than employing accounting personnel for 40 hours per week, the company utilizes the personnel on an as needed basis. With outsourcing, companies benefit from having seasoned professionals on their team. The downside of course is that the professional services are purchased at a higher hourly rate. The upside is that these professionals are available as needed at a lower overall cost. Outsourcing is not appropriate for every situation, but in certain cases it makes a perfect fit. A number of firms in the tri-county area provide outsourced CFO services. Many are staffed by experienced CPA’s (Certified Public Accountants) trained by national accounting firms. Many of these individuals have worked in accounting for 20 plus years and are highly competent. Examples of outsourced services include:
Outsourced services can bring a higher level of sophistication to the business. Outsourcing gives businesses access to highly qualified financial executives on an as needed basis often at an overall cost less than that of hiring full-time employees. Any business owner facing time or resource constraints should consider the outsourcing solution. Outsourcing is alive, well and expanding in South Florida. Jeffrey B. Kramer, CPA is a partner with the firm Kramer Weisman and Associates LLP (www.kwacpa.com), a certified public accounting firm located in Davie, Florida. Kramer is also a partner with the firm Small Cap Advisors LLP which provides outsourced CFO services and consulting services. He can be reached at or (954) 475-1260. |
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PCAOB’s New Audit Standard for Internal Control Over Financial Reporting is Approved by the SECWashington, DC, July 25, 2007 – The PCAOB’s Auditing Standard No. 5, An Audit of Internal Control Over Financial Reporting That Is Integrated with An Audit of Financial Statements, was approved today by the Securities and Exchange Commission. It replaces the PCAOB’s previous internal control auditing standard, Auditing Standard No. 2. In light of this development, the PCAOB announced today that it is undertaking several initiatives to support the successful implementation of the standard. These initiatives include working closely with the audit firms, early in their process, as they evaluate how the new standard will affect their firms’ audits of internal control. Other initiatives include continued outreach to public companies and smaller audit firms regarding the new standard. With today’s action by the SEC, registered audit firms are required to use the new standard for all audits of internal control no later than for fiscal years ending on or after November 15, 2007. “We are pleased with the SEC’s approval of AS No. 5, however, this does not mark the finish line for the PCAOB,” said PCAOB Chairman Mark W. Olson. “Successful implementation of AS No. 5 is key. The new standard should drive important improvements in the audit of internal control, and the Board is committed to doing its part to aid in its successful implementation,” said Chairman Olson. On May 24, 2007, the Board adopted AS No. 5, which implements Sections 103 and 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. |
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Jeffrey B Kramer, CPA attends PCAOB Forum on Auditing in the Small Business EnvironmentJeff Kramer attended the PCAOB Forum on Auditing in the Small Business Environment. The seminar was presented by PCAOB staff who discussed Auditing Standard No. 5. Click here to view proposed Auditing Standard No. 5. The proposed standard is pending SEC approval before becoming effective. Standard No. 5 addresses audits of internal controls over financial reporting. |
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PCAOB (Public Company Accounting Oversight Board) Approves Application for RegistrationEffective Immediately -- Kramer Weisman and Associates LLP is now eligible to perform audits of public companies. We have been providing audit services to non-public companies since inception of the firm and have been providing CFO consulting services to public companies since 2004. We have now merged our two complimentary competencies (audit services and public company services) to provide audit services to our public company clients. Click to view PCAOB Approval Letter. |
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Jeffrey B Kramer, CPA Presents to the Palm Beach County Medical SocietySeminar Title - Running a Financially Sound Practice October 5th & October 19th, 2005 -- Jeff Kramer served as a panelist at an office manager round table discussing Running a Financially Sound Practice - an Accountant's Perspective. The two seminars were attended by physicians and office managers. |
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Jeffrey B Kramer, CPA Presents to the Memorial Hospital FoundationSeminar Title - Top Business and Tax Mistakes Physicians Make May 12, 2005 -- Jeff Kramer presents a seminar to the physicians at Memorial Hospital. The seminar titled Top Business and Tax Mistakes Physicians Make was attended by approximately 50 Memorial Hospital Physicians. The feedback from the seminar was very positive. Click here to view the PowerPoint presentation from the seminar. |
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Copyright ©2005 Kramer Weisman and Associates LLP
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Sue Duffy has successfully completed her training and is now a Certified Point of Sale ProAdvisor for QuickBooks. The Point of Sale Certification demonstrates that Sue has achieved the comprehensive level of knowledge required by Intuit® to provide assistance with the QuickBooks Point of Sale application. Sue is qualified to guide users through the initial purchase of QuickBooks, installation, and setup of the software. Sue is also available to teach clients to use the program for basic accounting, financial reporting, payroll and complex applications. 
Healthcare executives frequently outsource services to accounting firms. Services commonly outsourced include due diligence for mergers or acquisitions, preparation of financial projections, accounting for newly acquired entities and CFO services.
