Services for Entrepreneurs

Whether it's nurturing the seed of a new idea, or exploring how to improve an established business model, Cottrill, Arbutina Professional Services helps entrepreneurs solidify and grow their enterprises. The firm's founders are entrepreneurs themselves, and closely identify with the many complex issues and demands that can either contribute to a successful enterprise, or rob an entrepreneur of his or her passion.

Cottrill Arbutina is more than a CPA and financial planning firm. Its principals often become an entrepreneur's trusted confidant, providing high level management advice in the emotionally charged atmosphere of running a new business venture.

Many clients have begun as one- or two-person startups, at first handling all of the business tasks themselves. As they have grown over the long term, the most successful are the ones who learn the value of delegation, take educated risks and reinvest in the business, so they can focus their time and energy on what they do best.

Clients - The firm's eclectic roster of business and entrepreneurial clients includes an international steel mill manufacturer, a racetrack, commercial bakeries and foodservice, distributors, manufacturers, and real estate services.

Case Studies - Among the clients we have assisted are the following:

• Medical technology firm - More than a decade ago, the firm began advising an entrepreneur who had left a Fortune 500 company with a better way to provide medical technology services to hospitals. From that initial vision, he has built his business to a staff of 10 employees and expanded operations to multiple states. Cottrill Arbutina not only helped the client establish accounting record-keeping systems, and regularly undertake tax planning, but also showed him how to delegate so he no longer had to do everything himself, and could pick and choose tasks for himself which were most meaningful.

• Web-based distribution company - Launched in the early 1990s, a web-based electrical equipment distributor has used Cottrill Arbutina as a sounding board and advisor as much as a CPA firm. During that time, the company has flourished and grown to more than 10 employees, with its corporate owner now based in a different state than its founding. Cottrill Arbutina has advised on establishing an online accounting system structure, billing, customer service, technology implementation and upgrades, and multi-state tax and pension planning.

Practice Areas - We help entrepreneurs in the following critical areas:

• Tax planning
• Payroll and benefits
• Accounts receivable and accounts payable
• Internal controls, accounting policies and procedures
• Accounting information systems
• Business office management
• Budgeting and projections
• Purchasing and inventory control
• Financial statement preparation and audits
• Financial planning and estate planning
• Retirement planning
• Mergers and acquisitions
• Transitions of family ownership