Case Studies

Wolf Testimonials

Read about how Wolf helps our clients achieve success.

• Uncovering Big Savings

  May 14, 2013

  Opportunity
  Wolf & Company was engaged to perform an annual financial statement review of a family-owned, high quality food company headquartered in a manufacturing, distribution and office facility owned by the family. Within the scope of the financial statement review, Wolf analyzed debt and debt-related ratios. Wolf noted that the client’s interest expenses looked appropriate at about six percent of its average debt balances for the year given that its mortgage, the most significant of its notes, carried a fixed interest rate of six percent. While the analytics indicated that the accounting was correct, Wolf’s team felt that the Company could be doing better on its interest expenses and saving significant money on its mortgage.

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• You Can Get There from Here: Consulting Company navigates the intricacies of software development cost accounting

  April 29, 2013

  Opportunity
  A consulting company working with Fortune 500 companies decided to develop and market software that would enable it to increase revenue, margins and shareholder value. In the early stages of development, the intention was that the software would be sold as a perpetual license product. Based on this decision, management concluded that the appropriate treatment of the costs incurred to build the licensed software would be accounted for using the standard of Costs of Software to be Sold, Leased, or Marketed. However, in the late stages of development, as the company was finalizing the product for launch and beginning negotiations with customers, it decided to launch the product as a hosted subscription and use a software-as-a-service (SaaS) revenue model.

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• Whatever it takes: Creative staffing and responsiveness gets the audit done

  April 17, 2013

  Opportunity
  Well into busy season, a venture-backed company could not get a call back from its large, international auditor. There had been no communication related to the planning process, let alone field work. Wolf & Company (Wolf) received a call from a Venture Capitalist (VC) on the company’s Board who had a strong relationship with a partner at Wolf, a relationship fostered by many interactions over many years. The VC understood how we serviced our clients, and felt we would be a strong partner in meeting the requirements of investors, the Board of Directors, and the founders.

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• SaaS changes the status quo: New products require new way of thinking about revenue recognition

  April 17, 2013

  Opportunity
  A mid-sized software company became dissatisfied with the large national firm that was performing their accounting work. Aside from the quality of client service, the company was not receiving the guidance they needed on major accounting issues, such as how to meet the changing requirements of the revenue recognition rules. Like many other software developers, the company began to add new software products that were sold as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), in addition to their perpetual license products. With the addition of these new products came new accounting regulations that would pose challenges. The company became concerned about how revenue recognition – and ultimately their net income – would be affected. The company decided they needed an accounting firm that was an attentive and collaborative partner that could provide expert counsel. They sought out a firm that would not only provide excellent accounting and auditing services but also be a thoughtful and strategic business consultant.

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• Is Anybody Out There? Management Put in Tough Position with Board Due to Unanswered Questions

  April 17, 2013

  Opportunity
  A later stage software company had engaged a national firm for their audit work for the last several years. Prior to starting the year’s audit, there was a change with the partner servicing their account. During the audit, a share-based compensation issue came up, but the client could not get in touch with the audit partner to discuss the issue and the company’s proposed resolution. As a result, the audit was delayed and deadlines were missed. This unanswered question put the management team in a difficult position with its Board and investors, as they lacked clarity on how the issue would be resolved, when the issue would be resolved, and what the auditors would require to finalize their audit opinion.

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• Structuring an Advisor Buyout of Seed Investors

  April 4, 2013

  Opportunity
  Entrepreneurial enthusiasm and strong investment performance helped an Investment Advisory business grow from an idea to a firm that was fast approaching $1 billion in assets under management. Like many in their position, the initial seed investors were pleased with the employee/minority owner investment managers of the entity that they had funded, but also felt the time had come to cash out on their investment and let the managers and their staff enjoy the full benefits of business ownership.

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• The Beginning of a Succession Plan: Rewarding Key Employees

  April 4, 2013

  Opportunity
  An investment advisor wanted to reward and retain its key employees. These employees were thought to be the next generation of this private firm’s leadership, key to client retention, and were performing at a high level. The advisor was interested in learning how to accomplish this with tax efficiency and without negatively impacting their income statement.

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• First time's the charm: Public company prepares for first time auditor testing of SOX 404 Compliance

  March 21, 2013

  Challenge
  A small public company in the life sciences sector, that had gone public several years prior, hit the $75 million market capitalization threshold and was planning for the first audit of tits internal control over financial reporting (ICFR) under the SOX 404 regulations. The company had developed some documentation around ICFR for its own SOX certifications but the CFO and staff involved had never been through an ICFR audit before and their controls had never actually been tested by an auditor.

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• When debits don't equal credits: Responsiveness and expertise when dealing with a potential fraud

  March 21, 2013

  Challenge
  Wolf & Company was contacted by a large publicly-traded holding company that consisted of multiple subsidiaries and further acquisition planned by its Board. As the CFO was reviewing the books, some accounting discrepancies were noted. Due to Wolf's reputation in the industry, the CFO contacted us after receiving a suggestion from another of the company’s professional advisors.

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• Effecting a Smooth Transition: Changing Auditors

  March 21, 2013

  Challenge
  A public company determined that engaging Wolf & Company would result in better service at a better price. However, when Wolf observed an error in the company's previous year’s deferred tax asset calculation, there was significant concern over how to communicate that finding with the previous auditors. After all, the engagement partner wasn't accessible when they were at the client.

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