Fractional ControllerThe statements a fractional controller prepares, and the reports a licensed firm signs
You're looking for the statements a fractional controller prepares, and for a clear line between those and the signed reports a lender sometimes asks for. Steven Palmieri holds no CPA license. The work here is that of a Tax CFO. Nobody here audits statements, reviews them or compiles them, and no outside report goes out under our name. That is the line, and the rest of this page shows what sits on each side of it.
Ask which statements
What sits on our side of the line
We close your books each month. We reconcile the accounts, make the adjusting entries and prepare your monthly financial statements from the closed books. We prepare your tax return from the same file. Payroll gets set up on a full-service provider, and once payday is past we read what that provider filed. Everything that goes into the pack is built from your records, with our checking in front of it.
Each prepared statement carries a plain note saying that no report of any kind was issued on it. The monthly statements page shows what the pack holds.
What sits on the other side
We don't audit statements. We don't review them or compile them. We issue no opinion and no report on them. Those words describe work that only a licensed CPA firm may perform, and we aren't one. If a page of ours ever sounded as though it said otherwise, the plain version is this one.
We also don't process payroll. We set it up on a full-service provider, and the provider runs payday under your control.
When a lender or investor asks for more
Sometimes a bank, an investor, a bonding company or a contract asks for statements that have been audited or reviewed by an outside firm. That report comes from a licensed CPA firm. It isn't something we can sign or approximate.
Here's what we can do. Our closed books, reconciliations and schedules are what that firm starts from, so its work goes faster and costs you less time. Many owners find that a month already checked is a month already half ready. If you need the firm, we'll say so plainly, and there's no fee for telling you.
If a notice from the IRS arrives
We can help you read it, gather the records and organize your response. Representing you in front of the IRS is a different matter. A letter from the IRS may call for a reply from someone authorized to act for you. The people authorized are enrolled agents, CPAs and attorneys. If that ever comes up, we'll point you toward the right kind of professional.
How to tell what you need
Ask your lender or the other party exactly which kind of statements they want and in what form. Words like prepared, internal and management statements usually mean something we can deliver. Words like audited, reviewed or compiled mean a licensed firm. If the request is unclear, bring it to the free call. We'll read it with you and tell you which side of the line it sits on.
Many small companies are never asked for a signed report at all. Most owners just need numbers they can trust and a year they can plan. That is the work, and it's what the questions page answers in more detail.
Which kind of statements does your lender want?
You will be talking to the Steven Palmieri practice.