Is a new accounting issue a puzzle that your finance team can’t solve on its own? Could you benefit from expert advice on implementing a new accounting pronouncement from the Financial Accounting Standards Board? Should you worry about new guidance that hasn’t yet been finalized by standard-setters or securities regulators? Expert technical accountants have the knowledge and experience to answer your toughest accounting questions, whether it’s about a problem facing your company today or something you will have to tackle in the near future (such as the accounting implications of a strategic transaction). To avoid a scramble when these issues arise, you want to know exactly where to turn for technical accounting services, so that you can get the expert guidance you need, as efficiently as possible.
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Anything out of the ordinary in accounting can put the existing skills of the finance and accounting team to the test—and even if there is some sense of how to move forward, a second opinion may be needed. The risk of having to restate financial statements is too great to leave to a guess or an uninformed decision. With their experience and adaptability to the company they are helping, technical accounting consulting pros can be invaluable in getting a company through an accounting quandary or to weigh in on the implications of an accounting change.
Whether your private company needs help with the revenue recognition or lease accounting standard or your public company just received a complicated SEC comment letter, our technical accounting consulting team is ready to apply their expert knowledge to your particular situation. What are the options for moving forward? Why or why not would a particular accounting treatment make sense at this time? Technical accountants have the answers and options at the ready.
At RoseRyan we have a designated, elite group of technical accounting consulting experts who make up our Technical Accounting Group. This group is a vital resource for our other finance and accounting consultants as well as our clients. They have a deep understanding of generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) along with the best practices that have built up over time at companies, in a variety of situations. While their experience is diverse, technical accountants do share many of the key traits, including the following:
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Efficient: They quickly get up to speed on the business and its latest challenge—so that they can come up with a solution, whether that entails providing a plan for implementing a new accounting rule or helping management understand the implications of new guidance. The lease accounting standard (ASC 842), for instance, resulted in many companies needing to revisit their processes around leases—and, in some cases, uncovering more lease agreements than they knew they had.
Active listeners: The issues technical accountants weigh in on are complex. They need to listen to the problem and understand how it affects the particular business and management’s interests and goals. They can only do this by being active listeners and asking thoughtful questions.
Communicative: Accountants will be the first to admit that they can get “stuck in the weeds” when they become interested in a particular accounting issue—accounting is their favorite topic, after all. But technical accountant consultants climb their way out whenever they are dealing with clients, to be sure that the accounting treatments they are suggesting or answers they are making are practical and understandable. Good technical accountants not only know what they’re talking about—they can explain it in a way that non-accountants understand.
Practical: When hiring for technical accounting consultants, we specifically look for accounting aces who can offer a practical perspective when looking at a technical accounting issue. Our clients need solutions that can work for them in their day-to-day business.
The role of a technical accountant varies; there is no “typical day in the life” for this role. Technical accountants can be pulled in many directions as their peers and clients pick their brains with complex inquiries while they also make a point of keeping tabs on what’s happening in the ever-changing accounting landscape.
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They are also expected to:
Many technical accountants are certified public accountants (CPA) and pursue ongoing education to keep on top of the ever-evolving generally accepted accounting principles and proposed changes by the FASB. Those who keep their certified public accountant certifications active follow a formalized way of keeping informed, by earning CPE credits through qualifying courses and renewing their CPA certificate. Inactive CPAs also stay on top of changes and refresh their expertise through training sessions and courses, but may not take a formal approach to their ongoing learning.
When are technical accountants needed?
Companies look into outsourcing accounting skills to technical accountants when they have a skills gap on their team or a one-time issue that requires a certain level of expertise. With a deep understanding of GAAP and an understanding of the business, technical accountants can provide timely guidance, help the finance company think through different accounting treatments, respond to SEC comment letters, write technical memos, and more.
What are technical accounting skills?
The best technical accountants tend to be practical when it comes to implementing accounting standards, they stay up-to-date on the latest accounting standards and potential changes to GAAP, and they are also fairly tech savvy and use the latest technology systems.
At RoseRyan, our technical accounting consultants are incredibly versatile as they not only know the ins and outs of GAAP, they think through the practicalities of how it’s applied at companies -our technical accounting advisory experts tend to have worked at Big 4 public accounting firms as well as accounting and finance roles at companies before they became consultants. They are full of useful advice, whether they are helping a company through a thorny accounting issue or they are helping out one of our consultants.
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Depending on the nature of your company’s needs, you may benefit from the expertise of one of our technical accounting team members but you may not hear from them directly. They may be involved in your situation by supporting the primary consultant assigned to the job at hand.
Accounting principles are never set in stone; they are always evolving. This is one of the many reasons accountants love what they do; they find the changes interesting and, at times, challenging. For companies, however, the changes that arise can lead to hand-wringing—ASC 606, for example, had an effect on the timing of revenue recognition and forced companies to change previous forecasts. Technical accountants can’t change the rules, but they can help companies think through the best way forward and how to get through the transition.
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How will this new accounting standard affect our financial results? What are the accounting implications of the transaction we are about to take on that we haven’t considered? How should we respond to the SEC comment letter we just received? Has our stock compensation plan followed proper accounting? What’s the recommended game plan for adopting the lease accounting standard?
Our technical accountants are accustomed to tough, very specific questions like those. When needing technical accounting advice, look for a consulting firm with accounting aces who not only know what they are talking about but that will adapt their guidance to your particular situation.
“Our company has been challenged with a number of unique technical accounting issues which the RoseRyan staff stepped up to and helped us address each issue as it came up. They grabbed hold of the project, took responsibility and drove it home to a conclusion.”
Drop us a note in the form and one of our experts will set up a time to discuss the ways RoseRyan can help your business go further, faster.
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On demand leadership and consulting services out of Silicon Valley specializing in the Finance & Accounting disciplines.