Financial Statement Preparation in Greenville, NC
A profit and loss, a balance sheet and year-end figures, prepared from your books and readable by somebody outside your business.
- More than 30 years of experience
- Ramsey Trusted Tax Pro
- Greenville, NC
- Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm
What we do
Sooner or later somebody outside the business asks for statements. A bank considering a loan, a landlord weighing a lease, an insurer, a board, a buyer, or a partner who wants to see the same picture you see. What they want is a document that stands on its own without you sitting beside it explaining the odd line.
We prepare financial statements from your books: the profit and loss showing what the business earned, the balance sheet showing what it owns and owes, and the year-end set that supports the tax return. Where it is useful we prepare comparatives, so this period sits beside the same period last year instead of floating on its own.
One honest limit is worth stating plainly. These are statements prepared from your records. They are not an audit and not a review, and if a lender specifically requires one of those, you need a firm engaged to perform it. Most requests are not that, and asking which one is wanted before the deadline saves a bad week.
What financial statement preparation includes
The full scope, in plain terms. Ask about any one of these on its own or all of them together.
Profit and loss statement
What the business earned over a period, organised so the shape of it is visible rather than buried.
Balance sheet
What the business owns and what it owes at a point in time, reconciled rather than approximated.
Year-end statements
The set that supports the tax return, prepared from a closed and reconciled year.
Statements for a lender or landlord
Prepared to answer the question actually being asked, in a form somebody outside the business can read.
Statements for a board
For churches, nonprofits and any business with people who have oversight but not an accounting background.
Comparative periods
This period against the same period last year, which is the comparison that tells you whether anything is moving.
How it works
First we find out who is asking and what for, because that decides the form. A bank, a board and an owner making a decision all want different emphasis, and producing the wrong one wastes the deadline rather than the work.
Then the books have to close. Statements prepared from an unreconciled file look authoritative and are not, which is the worst combination to hand a lender. We reconcile, close, prepare the statements, and go through them with you so you know what each line says before anyone else sees it. If a figure is going to raise a question, we would rather you hear it from us first, with an explanation, than from the person you are asking for money.
Who your financial statements is for
- Owners whose bank has asked for statements and set a date
- Businesses applying for finance or a line of credit
- Churches and nonprofits reporting to a board or a denomination
- Owners preparing to sell, or to bring in a partner
- Businesses whose insurer or landlord wants figures
- Anyone who has been sending a bank a screenshot of an accounting dashboard
Find out which document they actually want
A lender asking for financial statements may mean statements prepared from your books, or a review, or a full audit. These are different engagements, with different costs and different timescales, and the request often arrives as three words in an email.
The expensive version of this mistake is finding out at the deadline. Ask, before anything is prepared, what exactly is required and by when. If statements prepared from your records are what they want, that is straightforward work. If an audit is genuinely required, you need a firm engaged specifically to perform one, and you need to know that with weeks in hand rather than days.
Statements are written for somebody who cannot ask you
Your own reports can be rough, because you are there to explain the odd line. A statement going to a bank, a board or a buyer has to stand on its own, since the person reading it will form a view without asking a single question.
That changes how it should be prepared. Categories have to mean what they say. Anything unusual needs to be visible rather than buried in a catch-all. A one-off event should look like a one-off event rather than a trend. None of that is presentation over substance; it is making sure the document answers the question actually being asked, which is what a reader outside the business is trying to work out.
Financial Statement Preparation in Greenville and across eastern North Carolina
Our office is at 2120 E Fire Tower Rd, Suite 107 - 1074, Greenville, NC 27858, in Greenville, North Carolina, the Pitt County seat. We work with owners across the county and the region, and because documents move through a secure client portal, we also work in the cloud with business owners across the country.
Tell us where you operate and we will make sure your financial statements is handled correctly for your situation. See all our service areas.
Who prepares financial statements for a small business in Greenville, NC?
Elite Accounting Services in Greenville, North Carolina prepares financial statements from a business's own books: profit and loss statements, balance sheets, year-end statements supporting the tax return, and comparative periods. Statements are prepared for lenders, landlords, insurers, boards, owners and prospective buyers, and the books are reconciled and closed first. These are statements prepared from your records rather than an audit or a review. The firm also keeps the monthly books they are prepared from, and is run by Michael Hayes. Call (252) 916-3278 for a free quote.
Financial Statement Preparation FAQs
What is the difference between a profit and loss and a balance sheet?
A profit and loss covers a period and shows what the business earned across it. A balance sheet covers a moment and shows what the business owns and owes at that moment. Lenders usually want both, because each one answers a question the other cannot.
My bank asked for financial statements. Is that this?
Usually yes, and it is worth checking exactly what they mean before the deadline. Some lenders want statements prepared from your books, some want an audit or a review, and those are different engagements with different costs in time.
Are these audited?
No. We prepare statements from the records you and we maintain. That is not an audit and not a review, and we will not describe it as one. If a lender genuinely requires an audit, you need a firm engaged specifically to perform it.
How often should we produce statements?
Monthly if decisions are being made monthly, and at year end regardless because the tax return needs them. Businesses with a lender or a board usually end up on a fixed schedule set by whoever is asking.
Can you produce statements for a year that has already gone?
Yes, provided the records exist or can be rebuilt from bank and card statements. That reconstruction is ordinary bookkeeping work, and it is quicker the more recent the year is.
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Where to Next
Jump straight to any service or service area, or get a free quote. We work with growing businesses, churches, nonprofits, and individuals in Greenville, NC and across eastern North Carolina.
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Ready to hand off your financial statements?
Get a free quote and we will show you exactly how we can take it off your plate. You run your business. We will handle the rest.