Authored By:  Dustin Wood, CPA.  Dustin has been with the firm 7 years and is the audit manager here at Cook Martin Poulson, PC.  He specializes in financial statement services.

Individuals with special dietary needs (gluten-free diet, salt-free diet, etc.) can reimburse themselves through their Health Savings Account (HSA) plan for the difference in cost of groceries between a “normal” diet and their special dietary needs.  For products which don’t have alternative substitutes (such as xanthan gum used for gluten-free cooking) the full cost should be eligible for reimbursement. 

It is recommended to have a doctor’s note regarding the special dietary needs, and good financial records should be maintained to substantiate any reimbursements.  You should also contact your HSA account provider to verify whether special dietary needs can be reimbursed in the plan you participate in. 

Special dietary needs can increase grocery costs significantly and this is one way to attempt to offset some of those costs by using pre-tax HSA contributions to reimburse grocery cost differences to accommodate the special dietary needs.  The special dietary needs cost difference could potentially be reimbursed through flex spending funds (though flex spending limits are typically lower than those of HSAs and most individuals would use flex spending funds primarily for other medical expenses).

Authored By:  Travis Shreeve, CPA Travis is a CPA with audit and review experience for both public and nonpublic companies.  Travis also acts as a contract controller for several clients.

It’s a common occurrence that we, as accountants, have to turn work away or assist clients in finding another firm to prepare audit or review work.  Clients often wonder why we wouldn’t be perfectly willing to perform an audit or a review when we are already so familiar with their accounting.

Although we may participate in an audit or review if we have prepared the company tax return, our independence may be impaired if we participate significantly in company accounting or act in certain consulting roles with the client.

We have prepared a short list of things that might prevent an accountant from being independent in regards to review or audit procedures for your company.

1. The accountant has a commitment to aquire a direct or indirect financial interest in your company.
2. The accountant has a joint investment with you or your company.
3. The accountant has acted as a director, employee, or trustee for your company during the period associated with the review or audit.
4. An accountant has a close relative working in a key position with your company or that relative has significant financial interest in your company.
5. Your company has threatened litigation against the accountant.

In order for the outside party to rely on an audit or review report, it is important that the independent accountant is truly independent in regards to your company.  If the accountant’s opinion can be (or appears to be) swayed, the audit or review report provides no value for the users.

Here at Cook Martin, we are highly qualified accountants.  We’d like to assist you by providing your accounting and controller needs.  We’d also like to audit your company if it becomes necessary to have an audit performed.  However, we will not act as both your controller and your auditor for the same period.  Contact us if you need one or the other!

Authored by: J.W. Davies, CPA, Partner. J.W. has been critical to our growth by opening new offices in Salt Lake City, Heber City and assisting in Orem. He has been with the company for over fourteen years.

A few weeks ago I took my family on a road trip from Heber City, Utah through Glacier National Park up to Banff, Alberta. It was a real road trip. With my wife, five kids and me packed in our Yukon XL with the luggage rack on top and our bike rack on the back, we looked like the Grizwalds for sure. We love the outdoor adventures of hiking to Lake Agnes above Lake Louise, biking the trails of Canmore and Banff and searching for Grizzlies.

This particular trip we stayed in Canmore at a property called Stone Ridge Resort. It was a beautiful property with great amenities. One night in the community hot tub we met two local guys and casually conversed about the Canadian economy. (As a side note, in my past trips to Canada I had always enjoyed a strong US dollar and the benefits that come along with the exchange rates to the Canadian Dollar. Now the US dollar is worth 5% less than the Canadian Dollar.) I expected them to tell a similar story as I have been hearing from most of my business clients for the last few years about how business is down and their financial outlook is bleak. To my surprise they spoke of a healthy construction sector and a booming Albertan economy. I asked them their opinion as to why life was so good in Canada right now. Their response was natural resource development. They said that the Canadian government had allowed for the development of oil and natural gas drilling which was driving the economy.

I have to be honest. What they said made a lot of sense to me. I have been asking myself “Why?”for the last couple years since the current US administration implemented policies that inhibited natural resource development that has crushed small town American economies like Vernal, Utah. It seems to me that the US is in need of both oil and gas resources as well as a thriving segment of business to help boost the economy. With gas prices pushing $4.00 per gallon and the US facing the worst economy since the great depression, it just seems obvious to me that a more proactive policy on natural resource development could kill two birds with one stone.

As a CPA for American small business, which employs over half of US workers and makes up 99.7 percent of all US firms, let me tell you the ripple effect I have seen from this stifling policy. One of our clients is a store manager for a local tire store near the Vernal area. His compensation is significantly based on the profitability of his store. During the previous proactive development policies of prior decision makers, his store sold tires as fast as they could put them on the shelves. Oil rigs, maintenance trucks, delivery diesels, and water trucks all needed tires to keep them moving. The tire business was good. It isn’t good anymore. This individual has seen a 50 percent decrease in pay and is barely keeping his financial commitments. In fact he wasn’t able to keep all of his financial obligations as he had to short sell his home. Because he couldn’t fully repay his debts, somebody’s 401(k) that owned the securitized mortgage decreased in value.

Now that our client’s income is half of what he used to make he can no longer afford several products and services he used to enjoy including his life insurance policy. He had to cancel that insurance policy which in turn affects another one of our clients who sold him his policy. Because the tire store manager’s situation isn’t that unique, many people have had to drop their life insurance policies or reduce their coverage. This means this life insurance agent’s income is decreasing. As is typical this agent also sells health insurance and investments to 401(k) plans. Because of the decrease in the stock market (which was significantly due to the decrease in value of the securitized mortgages which partial cause has been explained above) and a decrease in company profits many employers have reduced their employee benefits and stopped encouraging their employees to participate in these retirement plans. Some employers have even closed their 401(k) plans. Obviously, this also affects this agent’s income. Because his income has dropped by about 50% as well he has had to decrease his spending. He turned in his nice new car to the dealer and purchased a smaller more affordable vehicle. Now the dealer is making less money and the ripple effect continues.

Look. I know that it is going to take more than a policy change on domestic natural resource production to dig us out of the hole we are in. However, we need to start somewhere and this is low hanging fruit in my opinion. Maybe if we can make a reasonable, sensible move forward in this direction that momentum might lead to another good decision. Let’s get this train moving forward and get off go. In the meantime, I look forward to another great trip to the beautiful Canadian Rockies.

The Cook Martin Poulson team wants to thank all of our clients that participated in our bookkeeping and tax surveys.  We really appreciate you taking time out of your schedule to help make our business more successful.  We appreciate your comments and are working toward making your experience here at Cook Martin Poulson, an experience that will not only meet but exceed your expectations. 

We would like to congratulate our survey winners:

Congratulations to Brenda Daines from Waltec and to Lisa Walker from Popp Enterprises, they both received an I-Pad for participating in our surveys.

We truly appreciate all our clients and your comments to better our firm.