gs inc. industries

Gumbiner Savett Inc. 1723 Cloverfield Boulevard Santa Monica, California 90404 | P | 800.989.9798 | F | 310.829.7853 | www.gscpa.com AICPA | PCAOB | CalCPA | Independent Member of B K R International

Agriculture It is critical for advisors to comprehend the many aspects of farming and the nuances related to its business cycles. Gumbiner Savett has spent the past 25 years not only working with farmers, but studying their practice and advising them. Over that time period, we have grown to understand farming and what farmers do, enabling us to become one of the only firms in Southern California that specializes in agriculture. Agriculture is one of our country’s backbone industries. It is a complex world of evolving regulations and often unpredictable market conditions. Agriculture professionals are tasked with many difficult questions: What do you need to pre-buy for the growing seasons? What are the tax advantages of timing crops and delivery schedules? What does a year-end plan require? What type of cash flow is necessary in order to maintain strong bank support? Our staff of advisors is entrenched in every sector of agriculture, including field crops, orchards, nurseries, food processing, ag-service, family-owned- and- managed farms and wineries. Whether it is agriculture or any other business, we know clients do not like surprises. Because success in agriculture is very dependent on planning, Gumbiner Savett specializes in just the sort of mapping ahead that farmers depend on.

Selected services include: Tax preparation and

planning Audit, financial reporting

and consulting Cash flow analysis Pricing and cost structure

analysis Industry benchmarking to

aid in the understanding of production and overhead costs

Assistance with obtaining financing and financing strategies


Apparel & Textile

With decades of apparel and textile experience, Gumbiner Savett understands this fast-paced world and knows how to help clients successfully maneuver through each fashion season.

Taking a product to market requires careful planning of the design, production and sales processes. Should production occur locally or be imported? How much inventory should be produced? Are prices in line with demand? With more than 70 years combined experience in the industry, our team works with all aspects of the apparel sales cycle – design, manufacturing and distribution.

Whether you’re an established apparel company or unveiling your first line, we bring vast industry perspective and growth-oriented solutions to our clients. We help companies plan several seasons ahead to ensure that they meet their overall business goals. We will also work with other industry professionals to get our clients the expertise they need in legal, financing, insurance, employee benefits, restructuring or other areas.

We entrench ourselves in our clients’ worlds and gain a deep understanding of their short-term and long-term goals. We support our clients through our services:

Accounting, audit and tax services: our accounting, audit and tax services ensure that your creativity is supported – not hampered – by sound tax planning and compliance.

Business plans, projections and forecasts: through our industry expertise and projections and forecasts, we develop business plans, budgets and cash-flow plans that support growth.

Assistance with obtaining financing: our longtime connections with factors and industry banks and lenders helps obtain critical financing for growth, purchase orders, inventory and receivables.

Pricing and cost structures: we conduct chargeback and gross profit analyses to develop pricing and cost structures geared toward maximizing revenues.

Inventory and production: expert inventory and production planning helps you meet market demand without surpluses.

Industry benchmarking: industry benchmarking that helps you know if your sales, production and overhead costs are in line with others in the marketplace

Incentive plans and employee benefits: as you grow, we will even help you develop salary structures, employee benefits and incentive programs that promote a stable, talented staff.

Our Services Include: • Assistance in conversions or

implementation of industry and accounting software

• Assistance in finding business partners to fill critical roles and/or staff in production or accounting

• Collections of chargebacks and better chargeback monitoring to negotiate with customers

• Cost controls and analysis to improve gross profits

• Due diligence support in purchases or sales of companies or divisions

• ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan) analysis and implementation

• Forecasts and projections to highlight cash flow needs and potential shortfalls

• Obtaining financing to produce orders, receivables, finance equipment and inventory

• Tax savings through domestic production activities deductions, research & development, and enterprise zone credits

• Tax structures in sales of companies to maximize returns to owners


Construction

Our founder lectured on construction accounting at UCLA when he started the firm in Los Angeles 60 years ago. Since that time, Gumbiner Savett has provided the construction industry with excellent accounting, tax and business advice and planning.

We’ve been entrenched in the industry during the biggest building booms and virtual standstills in development. Throughout the years, our industry clients – middle-market contractors in public works construction and sub-contractors in almost every field -- have trusted us to bring clarity to the inexact science of budgeting and planning based on estimates.

It’s never been more challenging to manage a construction company or invest in large construction projects. As builders have fought to survive the recent economic downturn, they’ve learned the value of sound financial advice and established relationships with clients, banks and investors.

Our services include:

Lender and Client-Trusted Assurance Services: including audits, reviews and compilations of financial statements that support accurate bidding, financial planning and decision making.

Tax Planning and Compliance: our holistic approach to taxes means that year-end corporate partnership and individual filings are merely the delivery method of strategies we’ve helped you implement throughout the year.

BFO Audits: using audits of construction-cost certification and burden, fringe and overhead costs (BFO), we give our clients a competitive advantage when bidding complex projects.

Fraud Prevention: our fraud prevention expertise produces internal controls that save millions.

Litigation Support: Through litigation support, expert witness testimony and reports, mediation and arbitration, forensic accounting and damage calculations, we help reduce or eliminate unexpected legal and financial liabilities


Media and Entertainment

Southern California is one of the major hubs for the entertainment industry. Whether you are part of the film, television, music or interactive entertainment sectors, Gumbiner Savett’s experience in this area gives us the ability to provide a high-level of service not found in firms our size. Our entertainment focused partners each have over 20 years of entertainment experience with both large and independent companies as well as individuals. Our partners also have experience with public company reporting, including IPOs and reverse mergers. Our entertainment industry relationships include production companies, distributors, film funds, film and television studios, post production houses, record labels, and game developers, as well as agents, lawyers, artists, musicians, actors, producers, directors, artist managers, screenwriters and authors. As economic and competitive forces have pushed the industry’s evolution, we have played a key role in the success of our clients’ projects. How do you use tax credits and incentive programs to reduce production and tax costs? How should you structure a film production with tax savings in mind? What are the accounting ramifications of a three-picture deal? How are project costs accounted for and amortized? These are questions that we assist our clients with on a regular basis.

As an example of our work, from its inception, we have worked with an independent film fund providing a full breadth of services in audit and tax, including advising fund management in the creation of its formation documents. We have worked with the fund to test sales and marketing scenarios to insure distribution projections are correct and we have also assisted in the education of investors who are “new” to film investing. As the fund has grown and expanded, our team was called in to advise them about animation production overseas. As the fund has continued to have more complicated needs, the GS team has stayed in step with them and provided the hands-on approach they require.

Selected Services Include: Accounting services —

Preparation of financial statements for investors, amortization of film costs, revenue recognition and royalty and licensing audits — we work with royalty payers/recipients and licensees/licensors

Tax — Formation structure, tax planning & compliance, consulting, R&D credit, film & TV tax credits and incentives, film amortization

Consulting — Strategic planning and forecasts, cash flow projections, financial analyses, production location tax advantages

Special Reports — Investor relations and reporting; agreed upon procedures

Financial Statements — Audits, reviews and compilations


Employee Benefit Plan Audits

Employee benefit plan auditing is a necessity to many companies due to regulatory requirements of the Department of Labor. Most companies with over 100 participants in their benefit plan are required to have their plan audited by an independent auditor who is familiar with the process. At Gumbiner Savett, we understand the variety of plans that are available to organizations and therefore are able to apply our knowledge to an efficient audit. We have experience auditing both small and mid-sized plans with investments in the millions. With a well-trained staff, we create a tailored audit based on our client’s compliance needs, while following US GAAS (Generally Accepted Auditing Standards). GS team members work with plan administrators to make sure they are meeting deadlines and in compliance with the requirements of various regulatory agencies such as the Internal Revenue Service, Department of Labor, and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.

We are a member of the AICPA's

Employee Benefit Plan Audit Quality Center (EBPAQC). Members are required to maintain the highest level of audit quality and training, which is of importance to our clients and their plan administrators.

Selected Services Include:

Audits of defined benefit and defined contribution employee benefit plans

Preparation of Form 5500

Consultation regarding types of plans, tax benefits, and other matters


Food & Wine

Gumbiner Savett not only understands the financial needs of our food and wine clients, we share their passion for the industry. Our team of financial and state and local tax experts includes food and wine enthusiasts with deep roots in the industry. Our clients – with assets ranging from $3 million to $1 billion – know they’re working with one of their own. Whether you’ve been open for decades or planning your grand opening, we provide expert guidance throughout the lifetime of your business. How does one establish credit with a lender? When should a company downsize or expand? How can one take advantage of a turbulent tax and financial environment? We share the concerns of our clients and help them manage assets, operations and workforce to ensure successful long-term profitability. Our passion for gourmet cuisine and fine wine runs much deeper than the bottom line. We also lend our expertise – as well as our palettes – to help you set menus and build wine lists. Ours is a holistic approach that delivers a unique breadth of services:

Client Success Stories: Increased Profits from Wine Sales: We conduct periodic reviews of the wine list of a major restaurant client for whom wine represents a significant profit center. We review for both content and pricing and give our recommendations regarding types and brands of wines to offer in the various price point groups. Within the last 12 months, we noticed severe under-pricing with respect to many higher-end wines on the list. After researching current market prices, we recommended price increases to market or just below market on most of these higher end wines. The client was concerned that the increases would slow down its sales of these wines. This did not happen. Instead, the client continues to sell these wines at the same rate as in the past, with the result that profits from sales of these wines increased by factors of between 25% and 50%.


Accounting, bookkeeping &

business management

Financing support

Tax strategies, return

preparation, and audits

Inventory and purchasing

controls & theft prevention

Profitability analysis and

enhancement

Revenue cycle assessments

Wine list and menu design and

pricing


Tax Credit for Employer’s Share of Social Security & Medicare Taxes Paid on Employee’s Tip Income: We recently took over the annual tax return preparation responsibility for an established restaurant client. Upon reviewing the prior preparer’s work papers and returns, we realized that the tax credits (the restaurant/taxpayer gives up related expense deductions in exchange for tax credits that are dollar for dollar tax savings) for the Employer’s share of Social Security and Medicare taxes paid on Employees’ tip income had not been claimed. We corrected the previously incorrect filings and passed through credits to the owners in excess of $30,000 annually for the open tax years.


Franchising

With the many requirements California franchisers must adhere to, our Gumbiner Savett specialists understand the nuances of tax structuring, financial statement audits and royalty auditing for franchisors. Our clients —franchisors in food service and other sectors— seek out our specialists to provide them with tailored franchise audit, tax and consulting support. We assist our clients in building a strong relationship with franchisees and educating them about the importance of transparency in the field. We help our clients add value to their bottom line by assisting them in obtaining financing, adhering to their reporting requirements and minimizing taxes.

Selected services include:

Auditing and accounting

Business and personal tax planning and compliance

Royalty audits

Internal control consultation

Fraud prevention and detection

Financial reporting and benchmarking

Advisory consulting services.


Manufacturing

Manufacturing has been a core industry for Gumbiner Savett since our company’s inception. The middle market companies that comprise the manufacturing arena are vital to this region, and as result, our services to this sector is an important and significant part of our business. Gumbiner Savett provides traditional accounting services to the industry such as audits, reviews, compilations and tax compliance and planning. Due to our depth of knowledge in this industry, we also have experience with several business advisory services. Our specialists are well-versed with the accounting standards relating to manufacturing companies and understand the types of needs that develop for businesses in this industry. We provide services to a broad range of manufacturing sectors, including:

Aerospace and aircraft

Apparel and textiles

Consumer products

Dairy and food products

Foundries

Large equipment

Research instruments

Toys

Client Success Stories Include: Accounting System Review: Our client had suffered sales declines which greatly affected earnings. The client asked GS to review the accounting office operations to see where they could gain efficiencies without adversely impacting internal controls. GS interviewed all accounting staff, as well as others throughout the organization and documented the system in a narrative and a flowchart. From this documentation we critically reviewed the processes and found certain inefficiencies that were communicated to management. Examples of more efficient operations included the use of time keeping systems, eliminating many paper files and processes that were no longer adding value. We also determined that certain functions in various departments could be consolidated. As a result our client was able to positively

Our Services Include:

Accounting system reviews

Assistance with obtaining

financing

Business plans, projections and

forecasts

Cash flow management and

budgeting

Evaluation of international

opportunities

Fraud reviews

Gross profit analysis and

reconciliations

Incentive plans and employee

benefits

Industry benchmarking

Internal financial controls

Inventory and production

controls

Lean manufacturing consulting

Vendor-managed inventory

control


impact their bottom line and the internal functions became much more efficient. Lean manufacturing techniques: GS had a client that needed advice regarding lean manufacturing. We explained that the goal was to reduce inventory and lead times which ultimately increased profits. GS researched their production cycle, in order to increase the speed of their product manufacturing. We identified the bottlenecks in the system and provided solutions to increase the flow of production. As an example, we identified a bottleneck in the machine set-up and change time. The client was able to use resources from a division with more capacity to assist in the process, ultimately saving time and using resources that already existed. Foreign operations: A clients acquired a large European manufacturing operation several years ago. At a minimum, these foreign operations would need to be disclosed on the Company’s tax return. The simplistic approach would have been to only report the information on the tax return. However, GS analyzed the data and through inquiry and research determined that the foreign entities’ income should be reported on the domestic tax return. The additional income tax associated with the foreign operations would substantially be offset with a foreign tax credit. The Company would increase its basis in the foreign company each year by the income that was reported. When the foreign operations are eventually sold, the capital gain would be much lower under the approach suggested by the GS tax specialists, compared to the more simplistic approach.


Real Estate

At a time when ongoing market volatility is forcing the entire real estate industry – developers, builders, designers, buyers, sellers, investors – to think differently, sound financial and business advice is essential. Gumbiner Savett has been providing the industry with trusted accounting, tax and business information and planning, since our inception. We know that the current slowdown not only requires prudent business practices that guarantee financial survival, but creates an opportunity to design and implement strategies that prepare for the future. Our clients include a wide variety of public, private and institutional real estate companies, including real estate private equity and pension funds, residential, commercial, industrial, hotel and resort owners and operators, all of whom are looking to the future. How did demographics shift during the recession? How do we aggressively seek profits while maintaining a financial safety net? How do we reduce operating costs? Where is the industry headed and how do we stay ahead of the trends? The current real estate market will change and Gumbiner Savett will continue to help our clients design and implement business and tax strategies that will help them thrive not only next month, but next year, next decade and beyond.

Our Services Include: Audits, accounting and

special reports: We provide audit services and produce a variety of financial statements and reports for every type of real estate endeavor to help you understand profit potential and risks.

Tax Services: Our tax services ensure that your future plans are supported – not hampered – by sound tax planning and compliance including: state and local, private REITs and tax deferred exchanges among others.

Pension fund services: We work with several funds and have specific knowledge of the industry standards of accounting governed by NCREIF.

Budgets and projections: Through industry expertise and projections, we develop business plans, budgets and cash-flow plans that support growth.

Litigation support: Through litigation support – expert witness testimony and reports, mediation and arbitration, forensic accounting and damage calculations – we reduce or eliminate unexpected legal and financial liabilities.

Internal Controls: We implement a wide variety of internal controls to further reduce risk, cut costs and eliminate duplication of work.


Technology

In the ever-changing field of technology, our clients rely on Gumbiner Savett to keep them abreast of the current accounting and financial demands of the tech industry. We serve a diverse group of technology clients, including software/hardware development, technology management & consulting, telecommunications & broadband, nanotechnology, Internet and online media. As a full service firm with international capabilities and affiliations (See BKR International) we are able to work with companies of all sizes in varying stages of growth and maturity. We assist our clients ─ private companies, owner operators, publicly held and venture backed ─ with the concerns that impact their day-to-day operations. What does my financial health need to be for growth? What are the latest software revenue recognition rules? Is my stock based compensation effective? How can I maximize my tax R&D credits? Additionally, we are well-versed in the very specific software compliance of Statistical Process Control (SPC) for our manufacturing clients.


Auditing, accounting and review services

Tax structuring, planning and compliance

Due diligence for acquisitions and roll-up strategies

Preparation of income tax provisions

R&D Credit consulting

Corporate and sales tax nexus issues

Recapitalizations or private equity transactions

Financial forecasts and budgets

Employee stock options and other benefit plans

Advice and support of business and strategic plans

Exit and succession strategy planning

Consulting on financing opportunities including introductions to investment bankers and lenders

Assistance with the preparation of compliance manuals

gs inc. industries

Documents

tax services

tax structures

industry professionals

sales of inventory

gumbiner savett assistance

industry banks

accountingthe industry

business plans