Services Offered by St Louis CPA Firms

A CPA is a professional who has successfully completed the prescribed professional courses and applied for certification from the relevant professional body. These are highly qualified accountants who know the ins and outs of the accounting profession. They are also trained in related fields, such as economics, law, management and taxation among others. St Louis CPA firms offer many types of services to local residents and businesses. They include:

i) Payroll Services
These professionals are normally hired to calculate the salary of each employee in an organization and deduct retirement contributions, payroll taxes, health insurance premiums as well as other deductions to determine what each employee should get. The deductions are then added up appropriated and distributed to insurers, retirement accounts and the government. Their service helps to ensure employees are paid the correct salaries for work done.

ii) Tax Services
Tax is one of the biggest expenses for consumers in the United States, and there is no way of evading tax. In fact, you have a better chance of committing a more serious crime and getting away with it than getting away with tax evasion. Towards the end of the tax season, CPAs are usually incredibly busy preparing tax returns for individual taxpayers as well as corporates. To do this, certified public accountants must first calculate a client's gross annual income, deduct tax deductible expenses, calculate the tax bill and deduct tax credits. The result is the taxpayer's tax bill or refund. While it is possible to do your own taxes, hiring a CPA is recommended to avoid any errors which may prompt the IRS to consider auditing you.

iii) Auditing Services
At the end of every financial year, financial statements are usually prepared by accountants and audited by external auditors, who give an independent opinion to shareholders about the financial statements. In that regard, CPAs can work as external auditors. This entails going through the books of accounts of the company, learning institutions or nonprofit and checking the details and figures to ensure everything adds up. They may also interview employees to get clarity on some issues. At the end of the process, they can either give a thumbs up or thumbs down to the financial statements prepared by the organization's accountants. More info about it is here.

iv) Preparing Financial Statements
Business owners can hire an in-house CPA to handle all accounting functions in their business. Some business owners, however, may decide not to hire an in-house accountant, and instead outsource the job to an accounting firm. At the end of every business day or week, the CPA will come in and prepare books of accounts. At the end of every quarter, the CPA will also prepare financial statements for presentation to investors. This arrangement is usually negotiated at the annual general meeting where the accountant and other service providers are chosen by investors.

When hiring a CPA, the most important thing to check is whether the individual is truly a certified public accountant. For this reason, you may need to ask for their certificate, if it is not already hanged on the wall of their office.