Advisory
When a transaction does not fit the chart of accounts, the time to ask how to record it is before it is recorded.
Goldenthal & Suss Consulting P.C. provides financial reporting consultation to businesses, nonprofits, and government entities. The firm advises on applying U.S. GAAP and GASB standards to specific transactions — lease accounting under ASC 842, revenue recognition under ASC 606, current expected credit losses (CECL), contributions and grants, debt modifications, and business combinations — and on presenting financial information clearly to owners, boards, lenders, and funders.
Private companies and nonprofits have absorbed several major standards in recent years — leases moving onto the balance sheet under ASC 842, revenue recognition under ASC 606, and the CECL model for credit losses on receivables. Many organizations adopted them under deadline pressure and are still applying them inconsistently. A targeted review of how a standard is being applied, documented in a memo the auditor can rely on, is often the fastest way to stop the same audit adjustments recurring every year.
Unusual transactions — a building purchase, a debt refinancing, a large conditional grant, an acquisition, an equity award to a key employee — are worth discussing before they close, while the structure can still be chosen with the accounting in mind.
Financial statements that comply with GAAP can still be unreadable to the owners and board members who rely on them. We help design monthly and quarterly reporting packages — a few key measures, budget-to-actual comparisons, cash forecasts — that make the numbers usable between audits.
Yes, if they prepare GAAP financial statements. ASC 842 has been effective for private companies and nonprofits for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2021, and requires most leases longer than twelve months to be recorded on the balance sheet. Companies reporting on a tax or cash basis are not subject to it.
Yes. The current expected credit loss model applies to trade receivables and other financial assets held by any entity reporting under U.S. GAAP, including private companies and nonprofits, for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2022. For most non-financial businesses the practical impact is a more forward-looking allowance on receivables.
Generally yes — advising on how a standard applies is a permitted service, provided management makes the decisions and takes responsibility for the financial statements. The auditor cannot make those decisions for you or prepare your accounting records without independence implications.
Tell us about your organization and the deadline you are working toward. We will tell you what the engagement involves and what it costs.
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