Accountant reviewing forms and doing calculations

CFP® CERTIFICATION: THE STANDARD OF EXCELLENCE

The CFP® certification marks identify professionals who have met the high standards of competency and ethics established and enforced by CFP Board. CFP Board's Standards of Professional Conduct require CFP® professionals to act in their clients’ best interests.

Enrolled Agent – Licensed by the U.S. Treasury Department

Enrolled agents (EAs) are America's tax experts. They are federally-licensed tax practitioners who both specialize in tax preparation and have unlimited rights to represent taxpayers before the Internal Revenue Service. If you get a letter from the IRS, or worse, are audited or are the target of a collection action, your EA can speak directly to the IRS on your behalf. The enrolled agent license is the highest credential the IRS issues.

Phase one: Investigation, Discovery and Defining The Relationship

Phase one begins with a free initial phone consultation. During this conversation, our goal is to understand the client’s needs and goals. What separates us from other firms is that we create a plan to focus on achieving the client’s life goals.

If after the initial phone conversation, the client is chosen to work with us, we will create a very specific Letter of Engagement which will outline the scope of our work and costs.

Phase Two: Analyzing and Evaluating the Clients Financial Status

During phase two we will work collaboratively with the client to gather their financial data, data on record with the IRS, if necessary and work to bring the client up-to-date.

This process involves analyzing the clients past and current Financial Status

Phase Three: Develop The Plan

The recommendation(s) shall be consistent with and will be directly affected by the following:

Mutually defined scope of the engagement;
Mutually defined client goals, needs, and priorities;
Quantitative data provided by the client;
Personal and economic assumptions;
Practitioner's analysis and evaluation of client's current situation; and
Alternative(s) selected by the practitioner.

A recommendation may be to continue the current course of action. If a change is recommended, it may be specific and/or detailed or provide a general direction. In some instances, it may be necessary for the practitioner to recommend that the client modify a goal.

Phase Four: Implementation, Resolution, and Monitoring

The practitioner and the client shall mutually agree on the services, if any, to be provided by the practitioner. Responsibilities may be divided and assigned to either the practitioner or the client and these responsibilities include, but are not limited to the following:

Identifying activities necessary for implementation;
Determining division of activities between the practitioner and the client;
Coordinating with other professionals and the Internal Revenue Service;
Selecting and securing products and/or services.
Following through on the recommended plan
Monitoring and reviewing the plan as necessary