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Right Path has continuously helped its clients make financial and operational decisions that reflect their best interests, allowing companies to perform more efficiently and successfully. Recent RightPath Business Advisors Success:Successful development and training on Procedures for C-TPAT certification by National Manufacturer!Client needed policies and procedures written up and communicated to their employees prior to a Homeland Security Audit. They were short personnel due to a plant accountant leaving the company unexpectedly and the time until the audit was less than 3 months.RightPath Business Advisors was called in to write up policies and procedures that would support their C-TPAT application which had been approved by Homeland Security. The work was budgeted at 40 hours. I developed a method to verify that all items in the application could be supported by a procedure or policy. There was a cross-reference document showing that relationship. I wrote the procedures that agreed to all provisions of the application, developed forms to be used in implementing these policies (visitor sign-in, name tags, logs for shipments) and put together a training program for supervisors. I had these reviewed by the Plant Controller and Plant Manager, discussed any issues they had, obtained their approval and performed a 3 hour training session on relevant procedures and policies for the supervisors. This was completed before the audit was performed. The result of the audit was the Client received an excellent report and as a tier 1 certified company, will have no delays on containers with their import number, and will not be required to have another audit for 3 years. Testimony from Client: Thanks again for developing our C-TPAT procedures. The Department of Homeland Security was very impressed and spoke highly of the work you performed. The training was exceptional and all of our employees were well versed in security procedures before the audit. I appreciate the amount of effort you put into the job in such a short time period. Your efforts insured compliance for our entire group of 7 operations in 5 states that use the same import ID number. Thanks again! Successful completion of accounting system review and analysis of balance sheet accounts.Client was using a 9 year old version of a software package that no one in the company had been formally trained on. They had paid for an upgrade of the software, but decided not to upgrade their hardware, therefore making the software non-useable. The company president performed most of the higher accounting duties, but due to business travel, was not able to keep up with all reconciliations. A review of the bank reconciliation, accounts receivable and accounts payable showed that none of the reconciliations were in agreement with the General Ledger balance.RightPath Business Advisors was brought in to evaluate the accounting software, procedures and skills of the personnel. We were also brought in to complete the fiscal year end financials (7/31/07), reconcile accounts and determine the accounting system needed by the company. Upon starting my evaluation, I quickly found the bank reconciliation was maintained manually and had not been updated on the computer software. We immediately eliminated the manual processing of checks, and began using the accounting software to print checks (Training issue). All bank clearing entries were computerized (Over 5 years worth), updated the GL balances for both AR and AP, and determined that the company needed to start the new year on an accounting package that would be simple to use, easy to train the staff and President and did not require a hardware upgrade. We were able to complete the analysis of the client's 7/31 balance sheet and have it ready for tax return preparation, reconciled all balance sheet accounts, set up new accounting practices, and trained the staff to use the system in certain critical areas in less than 100 billable hours. Follow-on to this project, we have converted the company to the new accounting software, changed Payroll service provider (saving $5000 in annual processing fees) and can process an end of month financial statement by the 15th of the following month. Performance of Quarterly Financial Statement Preparation makes Sale of Company less painful.Company co-owner was performing all invoicing and accounts payable processing, taking time away from their more valuable duties – project management and sales. And while performing these accounting tasks, was not completing the financial statements (preparation - delete) until end of year. RightPath Business Advisors was brought in to evaluate the accounting procedures, clean up the financial statement presentation, teach the owners to read financial statements and put in place procedures that would provide them with a better understanding of their costs. The chart of accounts was simplified. Reconciliation of accounts to other systems (Filemaker was being used to track customer invoicing) was standardized and performed monthly, and I reviewed it quarterly. I performed quarterly reviews for 6/30/07, 9/30/07, 12/31/07. During the first quarter in 2008, the company completed negotiations to sell their business. The due diligence of the buyer was simplified by having complete financial statements, and a controller they could ask questions of and receive quick and accurate responses. The sale of the business became complete on May 1, 2008. If your company or client could use a review of their accounting practices and procedures, please contact RightPath Business Advisors. Thanks for your time. |
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