We Are Committed to Our Clients' Success

Serving privately-held businesses means taking care of the business and the people driving it. To that end, we listen closely to you and your team to understand your needs, goals and challenges. Once we are all on the same page, we’ll bring an energized approach to sharing our knowledge and practical advice, a proactive approach and our relentless commitment to personal service. In addition to tax and audit services, we help CEOs, CFOs, CIOs and Controllers maximize the opportunities for growth through financial projections, technology and cyber risk management + compliance solutions, transaction advisory services and others that may benefit the business and its owners.

It is becoming commonplace for businesses to expand to other cities and states – and often quite rapidly. With this type of growth comes new opportunity as well as new challenges and ways for businesses to get tripped up in the vastly different tax and business regulations from state to state. Knowledge of and compliance with various state laws and regulations can be impossible for business owners and leaders to keep up with, yet non-compliance can carry negative financial implications.

Smith + Howard works with clients that operate across the country and provide solid, reliable advice and services that help you worry less about compliance and focus more on running your national business.

Those savvy enough to have a vision for building the future know that the challenges facing the construction industry are many, but that opportunities are on the rise for those who are well-positioned to capitalize on them. Though the hurdles of availability and cost of supplies and the challenge to find enough qualified workers continues, financial and operational health are vital.

That includes sound financial and tax strategies. With a 50-year legacy of construction knowledge, we have a strong foundation on which to build sound advice and an efficient, value-driven process for every project and partnership. In addition to accounting, audit and tax services, we focus on tax minimization, process and control improvement, KPIs, incentive compensation plans, succession planning and cyber risk management + compliance security.

We offer education and training on accounting and financial topics to all levels of construction company personnel, and our team is heavily invested in and supportive of the construction community.

A cornerstone of the U.S. business landscape, franchising presents a complex, interesting business model. While sustaining and growing the business, franchisors must also present clear, quality financials to regulators and be prepared to explain some of the nuances around timing differences in collection of franchise fees and recognition of the revenue. For their franchisees, they must be prepared to communicate use of ad fund revenues and other fees.

Partnering with Smith + Howard’s deep bench of franchise experts brings clarity and confidence to the financials and equips you to communicate the right information with your various stakeholders.

Our franchise team is bolstered by membership in the International Franchise Association (IFA), and we bring a strong network of professional advisors (attorneys, bankers and others) that specialize in franchising – meaning we work as a team to provide franchisors with well rounded, expert advice. You also gain access to our audit and tax expertise, and we also offer guidance on equity structure, governance and transaction advice when needed.

Our strategic advisors have vast knowledge and networks but strive to keep it simple, translating complicated issues into easy-to-understand solutions.

Few industries experienced a more significant impact from the COVID-19 pandemic than the hospitality industry. But amidst staffing and labor shortages, wage pressure, cashflow challenges and changing consumer behavior, the industry remained resilient and continued to adapt.

We are committed to the recovery and strength of businesses like yours and are deeply engaged in industry-related associations. Our dedication and involvement help us deliver on keeping hospitality businesses compliant with evolving tax laws, allowing owners to focus on building and refining a resilient, sustainable model.

For many, that started with our guidance to determine the best paths for financial relief, including PPP, PPP2 and the SBA’s Restaurant Revitalization Fund. Tax credits provide opportunities to substantially minimize the business tax burden; we have teams devoted to staying on top of these as they develop. We not only inform clients on available relief, we also ease their burden by assisting with application processes and make sure they take advantage of appropriate tax credits in a compliant manner.

There is strength in our team, in the diversity of our hospitality client family and in our relationships in the hospitality community. We work with franchisees/franchisors, multi-concept restaurant groups and single-unit concepts owned and located across the U.S. To each client, we promise our personal service, attention to detail and informed strategic guidance that helps your business recover and thrive.

Our services include income tax preparation and planning for business and ownership; fixed asset review for missed deductions; quarterly and year-end tax projections; calculation of employee retention tax credits, state and local tax, sales and use tax, exit planning, audit defense and more.

Contact us to start a conversation about how we can help. We’ll provide a complimentary review of your prior tax returns to give you insights into where you may be able to maximize future deductions or take advantage of credits.

The COVID-19 pandemic left its mark on the manufacturing sector, especially for operations with heavy reliance on overseas supply chains. These challenges inspired manufacturers across the nation to reconsider their big-picture strategy and lean more on domestic sources to avoid similar issues in the future. Workforce – both quality and quantity – plagues the industry. Add evolving tax laws and the growing concern about cyber security, with targeted ransomware attacks on the rise and vulnerabilities known and unknown exposing the business. A lot is at stake.

The manufacturing specialists at Smith + Howard know that. Our team includes leaders in our audit, tax, advisory and cyber risk management + compliance practices. We understand the industry, take time to learn about your business and work with you to ensure your operations are secure and financials are strong so that you can approach the uncertain future with confidence.

We partner with you on tax planning, federal and state tax credits and incentives, audits, buy or sell side transactions, due diligence, international tax consulting and cyber risk management + compliance services, including assessment, prioritization and mitigation of cyber risks. And as always, we are a sounding board for our clients; easy to get in touch with and easy to talk to.

Professional service organizations like yours spend increasing time navigating ever-changing laws and regulations that impact their business, while developing growth strategies to thrive. As a professional service organization ourselves, we understand these challenges – and everything else competing for your attention –and bring an empathetic “we’re in it with you” perspective to our accounting, tax and advisory solutions.

Smith + Howard works to align with your current state and aspirations and proactively find ways to minimize your tax liability. We also address one of the most pressing issues of the day for professional service organization: cyber risk management + compliance. As holders of personal private information of customers, clients and employees, your organization is under pressure to identify, assess and mitigate risks now – before there is a breach or breakdown in information security.

Smith + Howard’s strong tax, accounting, audit and cyber risk management + compliance teams have partnered with architectural firms, design/build firms, law firms, insurance firms and other professional service businesses to help them tackle these challenges and move forward with confidence.