Financial Consultants
& Advisors

When struggling to manage their business affairs on their own, most entrepreneurs reach out to their external accountant or bookkeeper for assistance. However, many bookkeeping firms are not financial advisors or equipped to offer such consulting services. Most practitioners today obtain their business degree and CPA designation then move forward in their career through one of three paths, with little or no exposure to the other practice areas:

• Industry – Internal accountants typically at larger corporations
• Government
• Public Practice – External accountant to small, medium and large corporations

It is our view that practitioners experienced in both public practice and industry are ideally positioned to provide contract CFO or Controller services. As a result, we will pair you with a CPA who has the necessary experience in both public practice and industry to assist you and your business with senior financial advisory services. Setup a free consultation today to obtain more information about our contract CFO /Controller services.

As a client of Pacific CPA Chartered Professional Accountants we pride ourselves on our ability to prepare accurate and reliable tax returns that are in accordance with income tax laws and regulations. Our approach is to proactively advise on potential taxation issues before they arise to protect you from costly audits resulting in penalties and interest.

Audits can be extremely stressful and overwhelming, but they don’t always have to be. Our CPAs have decades of experience attending to thousands of audits. We have the expertise to identify the severity and probability of your exposure to an unfavorable tax reassessment. As an authorized representative, we will correspond directly with CRA on your behalf so that you don’t have to. We will keep you informed along the way with progress updates, but we will do all the heavy lifting. Sit back and let us take care this for you, WE GOT THIS!

• Step 1: Review CRA audit request letter.
• Step 2: Discuss with client required information.
• Step 3: If you are not an existing client, we will need a signed authorization form in order to liaise with CRA on your behalf.
• Step 4: Obtain required supported documentation from client if not already on file.
• Step 5: Scan documents and save in electronic format.
• Step 6: Research the relevant sections of the tax act (ITA) to provide supporting evidence and case precedence of your filing position.
• Step 7: Prepare a supporting document response package with easy to follow page referenced backup documentation such as invoices, expense receipts, ITA references etc.
• Step 8: Securely upload audit response package to Canada Revenue Agency.
• Step 9: Correspond directly with CRA auditor and advocate on your behalf

The decisions to purchase or sell a business are significant and require care, attention, and due diligence. Our team of Chartered Professional Accountants have experience helping clients to navigate this challenging terrain. There are various steps that must take place to ensure a smooth transaction including:

Due diligence
As a purchaser, you will want to review the financial statement and the various affairs of the business including:

• Customer contracts
• Vendor contracts
• Lease commitments
• Debt agreements
• Etc.

Business valuation
There are multiple reasons to have a business valuation completed:

• Corporate share reorganizations
• Tax reorganizations
• Succession planning
• Business purchase or sale

Our firm does not specialize in business valuations. However, we can provide basic business valuations using the below business valuation methods utilized for small and straight forward purchase or sale agreements. If you require a valuation related to a significant purchase or sale transaction, we recommend you engage the services of a Chartered Business Valuator.

1. Cost Approach (replacement cost)
This valuation method involves analyzing the market value of a company’s assets. This method often accounts for the lowest possible valuation for a company as most companies have more value than the liquidated value of its assets.

2. Discounted Cash Flow (Income Approach)
This valuation method is performed by building a financial model in excel and requires a significant amount of analysis. It requires the most detail and assumptions and often produces the higher value, and often more accurate valuation. Essentially it is an attempted to forecasts future cash flows of the company and discount it back to today’s present value

Share sale vs. Asset sale
When considering buying or selling a business there is two options:
1. Share purchase
2. Asset purchase

A share purchase is generally preferable to the seller as it tends to be the most tax advantageous due to the availability of the lifetime capital gains exemption.
An asset purchase is typically preferable to the buyer as you are acquiring the assets of the company, but you avoid taking on existing, unknown or undisclosed liabilities at the time of the purchase. Furthermore, this is option tends to provide the purchaser with preferential tax treatment due to higher depreciation of capital assets (CCA).

Signed offer to purchase
A professionally prepared offer to purchase drafted by a competent lawyer is vital in adequately protecting your interest. If you have not already retained the advice of a lawyer, we are happy to provide you with a referral.

We work with our clients to compile a necessary team of experts which may include a lawyer and chartered business valuator to complement our role as your accounting and tax advisor. Collectively we will work together to achieve our goal of securing your desired transaction outcome.

When growing and scaling your business, you may require external financing to expedite growth. There are various factors to consider, and it can be overwhelming to determine which form of financing makes sense for you and your business. Some examples may include:

• Personal loan to the business
• Corporate term loan
• Corporate line of credit
• Leases
• Credit cards
• Vendor financing
• Government grants and incentives.

At Pacific CPA we are happy to review your existing loan agreements including covenant restrictions, interest rates, and repayment requirements. We can work with you and your lender to potentially renegotiate and optimize your financing arrangements. We have decades of experience working with various lenders across Vancouver Island and have developed strong relationships and contacts within the industry. Contact us today to see how we can help.

The truth is, at some point you will exit your business eventually by selling, retiring, or dying. If you have not taken the appropriate steps to plan your exit strategy, you are likely leaving money on the table. A well-defined succession plan for you and other key roles within your organization can reduce stress, mitigate unintended costs, and help you maximize the value of your company and in turn grow your wealth.

See attached BDC PDF “Business Transitions, How to Prepare for Your Exit.”
Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you plan for the future.

“A goal without a plan is just a wish.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupery, writer and pioneering aviator

“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” – Benjamin Franklin, Founding Father of the United States

“If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll end up someplace else.” – Yogi Berra, former – NY Yankees catcher

“Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now.” – Alan Lakein, author

Is your business growing? Are you in need of an in house bookkeeper, accountant, or financial controller, but struggling to find suitable help? Are you tired of reviewing dozens of resumes and doing multiple interviews with the ideal candidate nowhere in sight? We get it your busy! Furthermore, accounting is not your strength, where would you start when evaluating potential candidates on their ability to adequately fill your role?

As Chartered Professional Accountants practicing accounting we have experience working in the industry, recruiting staff, and have access to a network of our peers.  WE KNOW WHAT TO LOOK FOR!

As a client of Pacific CPA Chartered Professional Accountants we will work with you to create a job description and post on relevant online job board. We will filter resumes and identify candidates who meet the job criteria and conduct an interview. After the interview we will provide feedback and make a recommendation on whether to proceed with a second interview. If selected by you for a second interview, we will arrange an additional interview with the candidate to be attended by you and our firm representative.

Only after a successful candidate has been selected, will you be invoiced. Our fees are based on a percentage of the candidate’s annual salary. If for any reason the candidate is unsuccessful or does not remain with your company throughout the three month probation period you will be refunded in full.