Holsinger and Strategic Advisors in Wexford, PA: Local Financial Services with International Reach

Dave Jackley:

Hi, Dave Jackley: here with another edition of Exactly at Home North of Pittsburgh. And today I have the privilege of being at the Holsinger and Strategic Advisors companies with

 

Larry Diday:

Larry Diday, Data Center Manager and Audit

 

Wil Stunkel:

Wil Stunkel, Director of Tax and Business Solutions

 

Tom Krahe:

Tom Krahe, Partner of both companies.

 

Dave Jackley:

So, stay tuned because you’re going to learn a lot about finance, tax and accounting and practical tips for you when you need to get ready to go meet with the accountant, so stay tuned . . .

 

So here I am with Tom Krahe. Tell me a little bit about Holsinger and Strategic Advisors and the scope of what you do.

 

Tom Krahe:

Thanks. So Holsinger and Strategic Advisors are sister companies. We’re located here in the heart of Wexford with very easy access to I 79. We’re right in the heart of a lot of activity here in the center of Wexford. Holsinger is a regional accounting firm: we’re one of the 20 largest in the city and we have approximately 65 employees. And so that’s something that we’re really proud of: being able to provide employment for so many people in the community. Holsinger does accounting services that span all the way from payroll, bookkeeping, and individual tax all the way up to corporate tax, corporate audit, corporate tax, and all sorts of compliance issues involved there.  We do estate planning, bookkeeping, really anything that you might need from an accounting or tax or compliance perspective: we handle it. We serve small companies and we have a separate group called Holsinger Business Solutions that handles small business clients. And you will hear from two of those individuals running those operations here in a little bit. And then we also have people that service larger organizations. We actually have clients on six of the seven continents, which is unique for an organization our size. And so, we have even exposure to international tax and accounting compliance as well. And then the other thing is unique is that our sister company, Strategic Advisors, handles higher level M&A transactional work, including corporate refinancing, and debt restructuring. We will handle sell side representation for any size company including larger entities. We will actually help business owners sell their business will help them value their business. We can even help people buy businesses. So that’s a unique value proposition when you put both of those businesses together. We can really handle any family-owned business and anything that they may come across from a tax, or corporate finance or audit or accounting problem that they may face.  We can help them out with that whole range of financial compliance and transactions.

 

That’s great. You cover all the bases with personal and corporate taxes, accounting, finance, and I have to tell the audience that I’ve been a very happy customer for quite a number of years, both for personal taxes, S-Corps. LLCs, and Holding Company LLC’s. And we’ve gotten it all done right here. So, I thank you, Tom, for the introduction to Holzinger and Strategic Advisors, and I hope you found that valuable information.

 

Dave Jackley:

Now I’m here with Wil Stunkel.

 

Wil Stunkel:

I’m a director here at Holsinger in the Holsinger business solutions, working with small business owners and individuals.

 

Dave Jackley:

Terrific. Yeah, I think you’re the guy that ultimately oversees my taxes. So, you’re an important man to me. So, tell me what’s the busy period like, the thing that everybody talks about in accounting. You know, when it’s April 15th is looming on us. What’s that like?

 

Wil Stunkel:

That’s certainly one of the busier times. You know, pretty much right around that deadline always seems to be the busiest of times, probably because everybody or most people seem to like to procrastinate. And so, you know, people getting us their information right before the deadline seems to be the kind of par for the course.

 

Dave Jackley:

You offer some services to help your clients prepare for taxes and provide you with the necessary information. How does that work?

 

Wil Stunkel:

Well, probably the thing we like to use the most is a system that’s called Tax Caddy. It’s a third-party system. That’s a secure portal that allows our clients to upload information to us as well as communicate with us electronically. Some of the big aspects of it is allows us to, through the interface show what information was provided in the prior years. And that information then can be used as kind of a starting point of what information needs to be gathered for the current year. And then, as you know, that typically is the case, the big changes from year to year are the things we need to know about. And hopefully going through that process will help jog someone’s memory of things that happened, whether it was you know, taking retirement account withdrawals, transfers of accounts, to other institutions or refinancing a home or even getting married or having kids can be one of those things. If it happens too early in the prior year, when it comes time for taxes, sometimes people just forget.

 

Dave Jackley:

Yes, you mentioned that your clients need to report the proper number of kids. If they had a child that year, it makes a big difference in the in the deduction. So, do you have any tips for people out there and clients as far as what we should be doing to keep records and prepare for when tax time rolls around?

 

Wil Stunkel:

When it comes to being prepared for taxes, the biggest thing is just having all the documents together, typically, a lot of tax documents, if they’re coming from a third party, whether it’s a W-2 or a 1099, or something of that sort, they typically have an envelope for important tax information. And so, making sure you have all those together and keep those organized, so that you can easily get them to us is that probably the biggest thing clients can do. The other big thing that usually causes a lot of pain and heartache is folks that are either self-employed or have a small business that they don’t keep an ongoing year-round record-keeping of tax information. And so, then putting together a summary for us is usually an important thing to do. And that can be as simple as just having everything together, and then giving us a spreadsheet that summarizes it, or even just having it written down on a piece of paper that is scanning that in or taking a picture of it. They’re providing those things electronically to us through Tax Caddy- for us to take that information and prepare the tax return. But usually, the big thing is more having that information together so we can review it in a timely manner. Then we can ask questions, because typically, it’s one of those situations where people don’t know what they don’t know. And being able to review the information with time to ask the right questions that we need to ask to ensure that something isn’t missed or overlooked improves the process. There’ may be something new that could be taken advantage of from a tax perspective and being able to plan for that, within time to include it all in the tax return.

 

Dave Jackley:

What should the average client know about tax strategies and record keeping?

 

Wil Stunkel:

People tend to hear things, whether that’s that these days from Tik Tok, or YouTube or something of that nature where they hear from someone’s cousins, brother’s uncle that, hey, this is something that’s out there. And it’s important to take that information with a grain of salt.  There are certain things you might hear about that could be very beneficial. One of the big things recently that was recently passed and we’ve seen a lot of benefits for clients is the employee retention credits. This is a special provision that was passed during the pandemic, that allows business owners to receive a credit based on wages, they already paid to their employees. And so, we’ve been able to help clients file and claim those credits, they’ve gotten money back by being too able to document properly that they qualify for these credits, as they can be pretty substantial. For some small businesses, it could as substantial as 10s of 1000s of dollars, and for larger businesses, it could be millions of dollars, if they qualify. And so, helping them navigate, whether you do qualify or not is important because the IRS is focused on auditing certain things, and that’s certainly something they’re putting a focus on. we’re going to be putting a focus to ensure that someone didn’t get a little into the gray area of things to see if they qualify. Another thing with a lot of clients that we see is being aware of just where their business status is.  Let’s say that they’re having a really good year and it’s partway through the year, it usually makes sense to set up a consultation for us to look at things and see how different is this from last year.  If they double the size of their business, it can be a pretty substantial swing. I just had conversation this morning with a client whose income this so far this year is triple his income of last year. And so having a conversation because last year he didn’t know a lot taxes. Well, it’s because of different credits and that sort of thing that you qualify for last year that are different this year, as well as the fact that then his income is higher. And so being prepared to know last year was a great year, he didn’t have a lot of taxes this year, but now it’s a little different story. With a mid-year consultation, he has plenty of time now between now and the end of the year to plan for that. And we’ve already got consultation scheduled to have that further discussion of what’s out there that he’s doing or planning on doing that could potentially have tax consequences that would be beneficial at the end of the year, as well as making sure he doesn’t make a bad decision for him. For example, I pull out a bunch of money that I have set in my bank account, and then realizing I didn’t pay my taxes yet. So, it’s terrific when you can look ahead to what is coming.

Dave Jackley:

Well, first of all, it’s nice to hear a good story about someone whose income is rising. I know a lot of people feel like they’re on shaky ground, with inflation, and so forth right now. And I think you’re hearing why you need a person like Wil to walk through all these things like pandemic changes. And you’re also hearing “be proactive, if things are changing,” come in and have a consultation and figure out where you’re headed. Well, is there anything else people want to know, before we move on to the next topic?

 

Wil Stunkel:

I think the biggest thing is just, as you kind of mentioned, being proactive and planning. Many people think when they hire a tax advisor, really what they’re hiring as a tax preparer, they’re hire someone to fill out a form. But our value as accountants and CPAs extends to being able to plan it and help them think about more than just filling out a form. If, if they if that’s a service they want, we can certainly fill out forms and get them filed. We can do that through our Tax Caddy electronically. We have clients that we don’t even talk with because they just want to get their forms file and send it every year. And there’s not much that they want else outside of that. And that’s fine. But other folks who are making a small business owner or have a lot of changes going on, they want to be able to plan and talk with somebody and “think outside the box, but within the lines.” And that’s what we do here.

 

Dave Jackley:

So, with the day-to-day record keeping, I’m sure a lot of small businesses need this advice. Do you have bookkeepers or you work with bookkeepers that help them be organized for when they come to you?

 

Wil Stunkel:

Yes, for our small business clients, we and even some of our larger clients, we have staff who either handle bookkeeping, for the small business clients, we do part time CFO services and controller services for our clients that might be larger than a little more weight behind them in terms of someone coming on you either on site or even remotely, to help keep their accounting in order and help them run their business. And we do provide those services and can do so you know, either for a short period of time, or even for just ongoing service. We have clients that have been using us for bookkeeping services for multiple years.

 

Dave Jackley:

That’s terrific. Well, I think you’re hearing, it’s a soup to nuts service. I know from personal experience; they help make it easy for me to give them what they need. So, I get my taxes done on time. So, I appreciate the conversation Well, and I hope you learned something out there.

 

Now I’m here with Larry Diday:. And Larry, you are:

 

Larry Diday:

Senior Manager in our Audit and our Holsinger Business Solutions group or HBS as we like to abbreviate. That’s our small business practice here.

 

Dave Jackley:

Terrific. And so, you really do accounting and so forth.  What should people know about the importance of accounting systems?

 

Larry Diday:

Yes, especially important, as already alluded to, is having good accounting systems is extremely important to be able to not only just get your taxes done, but to understand your business as a whole. This probably sounds a little nerdy, but accounting is really the language of our business operates. It’s another way of showing how business goes. There are so many businesses that we run into that neglect to check and make sure if they have enough cash in the bank account. That’s great that you have cash in the bank account. But do you understand where your numbers are flowing? How or where is your cash going out the door? Do you have enough money going forward? You might have cash right now, but do you normally have cyclical cycles in your business where it could drop off in the third quarter, fourth quarter or whatever? Do you have enough cash to actually make it through those times? What are your sales that you have in the door and when is the cash is coming? In the future? Do you have enough to sustain the operations and a lot of times if you don’t have those accounting records in place and understand what they’re doing, you’re not going to be prepared for that and it’ll leaves you really exposed to shifts in the market and different shifts in the business itself.

 

Dave Jackley:

Yes, so cash is the fuel of business and you have got to know where that is. I used to work in manufacturing and one of the things that we would counsel businesses on, was how much they had tied up on the factory floor in work in process. And the whole thing about just in time and the speed of moving stuff through meant you can end up with a lot of cash sitting around your factory and not realize it.

 

Larry Diday:

That’s absolutely right. And you know, and a lot of these companies too, that come in, because they’re not understanding the financial records. And when more dollars are flowing, they may miss opportunities because they have cash tied up in inventory, or they have cash tied up in antiquated systems or old equipment or whatever it might be. So, they can be more productive, they can better utilize those funds, and especially the businesses that we work with, they can be pre-revenue startups and cash is king for them. They need to know where their dollars going, because every dollar is vitally important. We work with a lot of privately owned family companies, and if they’re not generating that wealth – generating that cash – then what are they going to hand down to the next generation? Or how’s that company going to keep going? They typically don’t have multiple investors out there in the market that are able to pour money into it, if there’s a shortfall. It’s their livelihood, these businesses, and for a lot of these companies that work with the businesses are the people.  It’s the owners, that’s their life, and that’s what they have. So that’s one of the most rewarding parts about the job is being able to help those people because you know you’re helping a family, or you’re helping, people, and they’re trying to make a community better. Things like that, as opposed to, you know, just helping investors or stock or something like that. I also make the job that much more important, because we can help improve those conditions, we can help bring some light, bring efficiencies, effectiveness to businesses.

 

Dave Jackley:

That’s fantastic. People don’t think about this much. You’re talking about the interaction of cash and people and people as assets in a business. That’s a tremendous thing, but so also is the role of that business in the community, and how businesses work together. There’s suppliers and customers and so forth, which is one of the reasons I’m talking to you, because I like to focus on local companies and how we all fit together. So, have you run into any very, let’s say, challenging or interesting situations?

 

Larry Diday:

All the time! Yes, I have actually had one. Surprising, I don’t know how the company keeps chugging along.  I’ve seen companies where the owners haven’t read financial statements for years. And you can see where there are holes in finances. Other ones where we’ve been able to help companies get through recapitalization and refinancing and restructure organizations, so that they can pass it on to the next generation. Every time we get into a new company, there’s always some new situation that pops up something unique and interesting. And there’s, there’s always opportunity there to help the company grow and thrive.

 

Dave Jackley:

So, two things we hear on the news right now, are rising interest rates, and inflation. How are those affecting small businesses in particular?

 

Larry Diday:

It makes it tough. Many small businesses have a line of credit with a very low interest rate attached to it. Rising interest rates means their cost goes up every time they utilize that interest, every time they use that line of credit. The other the other risk out there is that they’re trying to finance equipment, or they’re trying to go out and acquire a business or expand and they’re trying to take on debt to do that but interest rates are going up and making that more expensive as well. And so, it makes that incremental cost of doing business that much more plus their labor costs are going up. That’s a huge issue that we’re running into and seeing with a lot of our clients is that it’s difficult to bring on new people in in a cost-effective way. And so, they have to pass that cost on to consumers and that’s not always the best route for the organization as a whole. So yes, the rising interest rates and inflationary pressures are difficult for a lot of companies, and especially your smaller or privately owned companies that work with.

 

Dave Jackley:

It affects me in the real estate business.  I think interest rates are moving above 6%. I’ve seen a forecast that they will come down and to the 4% range next year, but people always need to businesses to move ahead, and they need to keep their clients and people need to move when they need to move.  It’s a dynamic environment. Well, is there anything else you think people should know about the what you do and accounting and how it affects your clients?

 

Larry Diday:

Yeah, you know, I think overall we as an organization, really strive to provide a cradle to grave system for our clients. We were able to bring in a range of expertise, whether it’s from tax or for bookkeeping, and HBS, and even pre-revenue startups.  There is one right now that we’ve been able to provide everything from initial tax return clear up to providing CFO services for last two years because they weren’t large enough to go and hire one themselves, but they needed that kind of capacity.  So, we’re able to help them through a number of situations, and we’re able to provide that clear up to corporate taxes, heavy tax structuring, estate planning, clear out to you using the Strategic Advisors to look at an exit strategy as well. And so, we’re able to facilitate all that with our firm. I think that’s one of the things that makes us really unique is that we can provide each individual service. Collectively, we can provide a holistic solution for any of the companies that work with us. And I think that’s something that a lot of firms miss out on. Many companies could benefit from Holzinger, because you get the collective skills working for you. You’re not just paying for bookkeeping, or tax or audit or what have you. Any company that can find a wholistic situation like that finds that is more beneficial than just trying to parse off a piece off and finding little pieces.

 

Dave Jackley:

Yes, back in the early days of computer systems, the one strategy for a while, was best of breed and you had to try to Frankenstein everything together.  The fact that this is a one stop shop for the whole scope of accounting and tax needs is really a benefit.

 

Larry Diday:

I like to think we’re the best of breed at all. So that kind of helps the outsider come here – at least that’s the game plan.

 

Dave Jackley:

Well, Larry, I’d like to thank you, Wil, and Tom for spending time with me today. And I hope you’ve learned that for both personal small business and tax needs, there’s a place you could come to that covers you from day one to day infinity and all the needs in between all under one roof. And remember to tune in again for another edition of it Exactly at Home North of Pittsburgh. We’ll see you next time.

 

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

clients, business, tax, companies, people, accounting, cash, strategic advisors, small business, businesses, important, bookkeeping, year, taxes, credits, provide, services, Wexford, audit, Tom Krahe, Wil Stunkel, Larry Diday