 Message
from the President to Our Clients and Friends |
As we celebrate our tenth year in business, we wish to extend a sincere "thank you" to our clients and friends for our continued success. We've seen dramatic changes and have been involved with businesses and resolved issues that have been incredibly challenging. The firm's mission is to be creative and to provide value-added services to our clients. We strive to develop strategic client relationships based on trust and the integrity of our work. Our philosophy is reflected by the fact that we have been appointed to a number of board positions for clients where our industry knowledge and ability to make strategic introductions have been of great value. We've had many challenges during the past decade. Early on we were engaged to represent investment interests in the largest bankruptcy case in U.K. history. This involved several years of consulting in the U.S. and Europe. In 1992- 94, many Americans were financially damaged when Lloyd's of London nearly collapsed. With total losses running into the billions, U.S. "Names" were hit individually with millions of dollars in capital calls. However, the IRS refused to allow these losses. We were engaged, along with a national law firm in a unique representation of over 400 Names at the IRS National Office of Appeals. While it was gratifying to receive a personal letter of thanks from the Chairman of Lloyd's, the successful outcome for our clients was really the high point. And then there was the dot.com era. For the past three years, we have been running hard to keep pace with the explosive growth. With the crash, we are now advising companies on consolidating and preserving cash flow. We have counseled many investors concerning the consequences of failed investments that were doubly damaging due to unforeseen tax consequences. While the investment banking and venture capital community seem to disparage all e-commerce, we continue to see great new companies with innovative products. We still agree with Rupert Murdock when he stated: "In the future it will no longer be the big beating the small. It will be the fast beating the slow." However, product and innovation alone will not make a company. Building a company with real value is a marathon, not a sprint. Management systems, accountability, and checks and balances in corporate procedures will be of paramount importance as many companies face the reality that it's not so easy to build a company with sustainable profits. That's where we hope to come in. Once we are on your team, we're in for the long haul with our mission firmly in mind. Looking forward, we continue to focus on key service areas while maintaining a broad range of tax, accounting and corporate consulting services. International tax planning, and advising companies and investors in the technology sector will continue to play a major role. Other important services include corporate assurance and SEC accounting, mergers and acquisitions, executive compensation, and corporate and individual tax compliance. Our clients represent a broad range of industries including real estate, hotels and hospitality, venture capital, construction, distribution, publishing, manufacturing and emerging businesses in high technology. We believe in long-term relationships and will take advantage of our extensive network, both locally and abroad, to provide our clients with first class service. While big picture corporate planning is a major theme of the firm, we're not afraid, and actually enjoy rolling up our sleeves and getting into such "mundane" details as reviewing accounting methods and procedures, multi-state tax reviews, and transfer pricing reviews for our international clients. Our focus is always on bottom line savings and being efficient. In closing, we wish express our
sincere thanks for the loyalty and trust of our clients and friends,
and look forward to our next decade of challenge. |