Q No.1: Smith & Co., a local Dallas CIA firm, is incorporated as a professional
ID: 379505 • Letter: Q
Question
Q No.1: Smith & Co., a local Dallas CIA firm, is incorporated as a professional corporation, with three shareholders, all CIAs. The shareholders have developed a combination of marketing, software, and professional expertise which has allowed them to perform the accounting service of compiling individuals’ personal financial statements in an extremely efficient manner. The three shareholders are interested in “going national “with their accounting service, but currently lack the capital necessary to expand to other cities. They are currently considering the possibility of obtaining outside capital as a way to expand their business by offering their firm’s services to individuals in other markets. They estimate that by raising $4,000,000 of capital they could open and staff 15 offices within the next 12 months. In a recent meeting of the three shareholders, the possibility of raising the capital through incorporation as a traditional corporation and thereby selling stock to the public was discussed. The original three shareholders would retain 51 percent of the total stock which would be traded “over-the-counter.” The only work performed through the new corporation would be the compilation of individuals’ financial statements. Subsequently, shareholders were dismayed to learn that states do not generally allow CIAs to practice as a traditional corporation. Also, those states do allow “limited liability companies” generally required the shareholders be involved in public accounting. Only by establishing a separate organization not held out as a CIA firm will the current three shareholders be allowed to follow their expansion plan. Required: a. Summarize the arguments for allowing CIA firms to sell ownership interests to individuals not in public accounting through incorporation as a traditional corporation. b. Summarize the arguments in favor of restricting CIA firm ownership to those involved in public accounting. c. Express your personal opinion as to whether ownership of public accounting firms should be restricted to individuals involved in public accounting.
Explanation / Answer
a. Summarize the arguments for allowing CIA firms to sell ownership interests to individuals not in public accounting through incorporation as a traditional corporation.
Allowing CIA firms to sell ownership interests to individuals not in public accounting through incorporation (as a traditional corporation) helps in the following:
b. Summarize the arguments in favor of restricting CIA firm ownership to those involved in public accounting.
Arguments in favor of restricting CIA firm ownership to those involved in public accounting.
Shareholders may be part of several boards(companies) and this may lead to undue influence and bias
. Express your personal opinion as to whether ownership of public accounting firms should be restricted to individuals involved in public accounting.
My personal opinion would be in favour of restricting such firms to those involved in public accounting to maintain the integrity and ethics of such organisations. This will also help to avoid accounting scandals where commitment to clients/stakeholders resulted in fudging of accounts. Even the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, was passed mainly to restrict undue influence of shareholders and to prevent the biased behaviour of individual accountants. Accounting frauds affect the credibility of companies associated with such malicious accounting firms
Access to capital may limit their ability, but this can be improved through special provisions through banks. E.g. Forwarding special loans to such firms.
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