News

When the Economy Goes South, Santos, Postal & Company, P.C. Goes Worldwide

Washington DC based CPA firm Santos, Postal & Company, P.C. recently hosted the North America Conference for MGI, one of the world’s largest associations of independent auditing, accounting and consulting firms with more than 200 offices in 70-plus countries. Representatives attended from 32 firms in the US including those in New York, Boston, San Francisco, Atlanta, and Miami and from around the world, including UK, Canada, Bermuda and Italy.

In order to prepare for the conference, SantosPostal staff members (and staff from each of the attendee firms and sponsors) were intimately involved in preparations that resulted in a successful meeting. “Pursuing opportunities in a poor economy is a successful strategy for a number of reasons: while we are enhancing relationships for the future, we are keeping lots of people employed and busy now. It is a win-win plan,” says Charles Postal, SantosPostal Managing Partner and MGI North America Area Coordinator.

At the conference, keynote speaker and advocate for small and medium sized CPA firms, Mark Koziel of the AICPA, shared a comparative study which provided data on spending patterns of CPA firms, primarily personnel at 33% of revenue, retention of staff, handling of client issues, and practice management matters such as succession planning.

Dean Zerbe of the Alliant Group, who has served on the U.S. Joint Tax Committee, provided an insightful roadmap to Congress' legislative agenda and how expected changes in tax law will affect clients. For example, Dean indicated that the unpopular Alternative Minimum Tax (“AMT”) will not be disappearing any time soon, and the estate tax rate will apply to assets exceeding $3.5 million.

At the meeting, delegates formed a committee to respond to the Accounting Research Committee's (ARC) recent draft on legislation to assist small and medium sized businesses with the cost to perform audit and review services. While the draft was generally perceived as a positive step, the delegates urged Congress to take the plan further.

Says Postal, “Through the MGI network, businesses with similar goals can come together to share best practices, discuss US and international tax and accounting issues, and share innovations in Information Technology to assist the practice of Accountancy. Promoting these synergies provides added resources and intelligence to our clients.”