Salvatore Vicari, CPA

Accounting and auditing services are common to all accounting firms. Yet even within these “basics” there are real and discernable differences. At Cornick Garber Sandler, we offer our clients a sophisticated, in-depth approach – one that treats the audit, review, compilation or attestation engagement as the first step of a process, not the final product.

At the Outset
The engagement begins with a determined effort to understand your business almost as well as you do. We utilize this knowledge in order to provide the most cost effective service. In addition to rendering financial statements and reports, we seek to identify and evaluate a company’s strengths and weaknesses so that management can make sound decisions. While other accounting firms may solve problems when they are presented, we seek to identify problem situations before they surface and suggest appropriate action.

Partner Involvement
Our partners possess a broad range of accounting, auditing and industry expertise, including new or highly complex accounting standards and SEC rules and regulations. After meeting with the client direct partner involvement continues with planning the engagement strategy, and continues with staff supervision through the review, evaluation and final client discussion phase. Our partners understand and assist our clients in achieving their objectives, whether they are related to the needs of a relatively simple start-up operation, an initial public offering or a sophisticated business that is expanding internationally.

Careful tax planning is critical to any business operation. It involves an understanding of the interrelated areas of tax laws as they continually change through new legislation, regulations and rulings. It also involves the motivation and skill to recognize opportunities and recommend creative solutions. Taxes are a complicated and demanding discipline and at Cornick Garber Sandler we place a distinct professional emphasis on our Tax Department, as evidenced by the high ratio of tax practitioners to total professionals in the firm.
A Unique Angle of Approach

Oxley Act was passed by Congress primarily in response to some of the more notable business failures (Enron, Worldcom, etc.) resulting from financial reporting fraud. Section 404 of that Act, which deals with management’s responsibility for and requires the auditor’s opinion on a registrant’s internal control over financial reporting, is considered the most controversial and expensive portion of that law. At Cornick Garber Sandler we provide timely and cost-effective assistance to our clients with their Section 404 compliance programs by providing appropriate documentation of the systems, assisting with the periodic testing of systems in place prior to the year-end audit and our recommendations for system remediation and improvement. Our services include a complete documentation process and meetings with management, boards of directors and external auditors to discuss our findings and recommendations. Our clients advise us that by us performing the interim testing, it not only provides greater objectivity but it also reduces internal disruptions resulting from their need to rely on their limited internal resources. It is also considered as desirable by their external auditors who tend to place greater reliance on an outside source and can thus reduce the scope of their own audit procedures.

While entering the publicly traded markets constitutes a significant step in the growth of many businesses, it also involves a change in the mindset of entrepreneurs who must now consider their new partners, the public and the many rules and regulations which apply under the securities laws. At Cornick Garber Sandler we have served as accountants, advisors and auditors to publicly traded enterprises throughout our existence, beginning in 1968. Some of our clients have grown from relatively small family owned businesses to large multi-national corporations. As a long time member of the AICPA’s Center for Audit Quality and its predecessor, the SEC Practice Section and under the direction of our Director of Accounting and Auditing Practices, who has served as Chairman of the SEC Practice Committee of the New York State Society of CPA’s and on the SEC Advisory Committee of the AICPA, we provide our clients with a thorough, experienced background to guide them through the sometimes arduous registration process with the SEC, advise our clients on compliance with the rules and regulations pertaining to various SEC filings and serve as auditors of publicly traded entities. We also advise publicly traded companies on compliance with some of the more complex new accounting issues as they arise.

Our firm has been registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Standards Board (PCAOB) since its founding and has already undergone successful inspections by the PCAOB staff. Unlike the large international accounting firms where your inquiries can take days or weeks to be cleared through the “national office”, at Cornick Garber Sandler we are structured to rapidly respond to our client’s inquiries.