Consulting
Outsourced accounting and trust and estate planning support from a CPA firm that also handles your audit, tax, and advisory needs.
Overview
Pease Bell’s consulting practice covers two kinds of work that often sit close to the owner of a business: keeping the books and financial reporting in order, and planning how wealth and ownership pass to the next generation. Some clients need day-to-day bookkeeping or a part-time controller. Others need a fractional CFO to build forecasts and work with lenders. Families and business owners also come to us for estate, gift, and trust tax planning carried out alongside their attorneys.
Because Pease Bell is a Top 200 CPA firm headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio with audit, tax, and advisory under one roof, consulting work connects directly to the rest of what a client needs. Monthly financials can be prepared with tax and year-end reporting in mind, and estate planning can account for the business itself. Our tagline, Full Service. Boutique Touch., reflects how we try to work: broad capability with consistent, accessible people.
How We Help
Bookkeeping Services
We record transactions, reconcile bank and credit card accounts, and maintain the general ledger so your books are current and ready for monthly reporting, tax preparation, and year-end work.
Outsourced Controller
We oversee the month-end close, review journal entries and accruals, and prepare monthly financial statements, giving you controller-level oversight and a second set of eyes on the numbers without a full-time hire.
Fractional CFO
We help with budgeting, cash flow forecasting, KPI reporting, lender communication, and financial planning for growth, acquisitions, or ownership changes, on a part-time basis that fits your stage of growth.
Estate and Gift Tax Planning
We help evaluate the tax effects of gifting strategies, trust structures, and wealth transfer plans, and coordinate the numbers with the documents your estate attorney prepares.
Trust and Estate Compliance
We prepare fiduciary income tax returns for trusts and estates, along with gift and estate tax returns, and keep records organized for trustees and executors.
Succession Coordination
We help business owners model the financial and tax side of transferring ownership to family members or key employees, working with the attorneys and advisors involved.
Explore Consulting
Challenges We Help You Address
- ✓Books that fall behind and are only cleaned up at tax time
- ✓Growing beyond a bookkeeper but not ready for a full-time CFO
- ✓Lenders asking for timely, reliable monthly financial statements
- ✓Estate plans drafted without a clear view of the tax impact
- ✓Business succession plans that have not been modeled financially
Frequently Asked Questions
What is outsourced accounting?
Outsourced accounting means hiring an outside firm to handle some or all of your accounting function, from bookkeeping and reconciliations to controller oversight and CFO-level planning. It is often used by companies that need more expertise than one in-house bookkeeper can provide but do not need, or cannot yet justify, a full internal finance team. The scope can be adjusted as the business grows.
What does a fractional CFO do?
A fractional CFO provides senior financial leadership on a part-time basis. Typical work includes building budgets and cash flow forecasts, setting up KPI reporting, preparing for lender or investor meetings, evaluating financing options, and supporting decisions about pricing, expansion, or acquisitions. It gives a company access to CFO-level thinking without the cost of a full-time executive.
Does a CPA help with estate planning?
Yes, on the tax and financial side. A CPA can help estimate potential estate and gift tax exposure, evaluate the tax effects of different gifting and trust strategies, value the financial picture, and prepare the related tax returns. The legal documents themselves, such as wills and trust agreements, should be drafted by an estate planning attorney. The best results usually come from the CPA and attorney working together.
Can the same firm handle my bookkeeping and my taxes?
Yes. Using one firm for bookkeeping and tax preparation can reduce year-end cleanup, because the books are maintained with tax reporting in mind throughout the year. If your company also needs an audit, independence rules may limit which bookkeeping services the auditing firm can provide, so the scope of each engagement should be discussed up front.
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