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Accountants organization offers free advice to small business
Monday, February 19, 2001 By Stephanie Franken, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Correction/Clarification: (Published Feb. 22, 2001)
Both an S-corporation, a closely held corporation, and an LLC, a limited liability corporation, protect owners through limits on their personal liability in case of financial or other judgments against the corporation. A story in Monday's Personal Business section left the impression that only an LLC provides such protection.
When Michelle Edwards decided to start a small business -- an affordable moving company for low-income, inner-city families -- she felt passionate about her concept but shaky on the details of her business plan.
"I'd never done anything like that before," said Edwards, 44, a former administrative assistant. "I was a little frazzled."
But Edwards had an Internet connection, and she used it to round up information for the task ahead: starting G&G Moving Co.
While surfing the Net, Edwards and her brother-in-law, Richard Giles, found information about a program called the PICPA (Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants) Small Business Assistance Program. It offered up to four hours of free consultation with a CPA on the basics of starting a business.
She and Giles filled out the online application for the program, and then continued developing the idea for their business.
G&G Moving was conceived by Giles and his father, Keith Giles, who run First Step Recovery Homes Inc. and Phoenix Furnishings. The two organizations work in tandem to help disadvantaged people regain their independence and help separated families reunite. It then provides free furniture so they can start over in a new place.
The problem was, moving the free furniture could be tricky. And moving costs could be a tremendous financial hardship for any low-income or even middle-income family.
That's where G&G Moving would fit in. It was envisioned as a business that would offer affordable moving services to people without a lot of cash. Edwards volunteered to get the company off of the ground and set up shop in a little office above Phoenix Furnishings on Penn Avenue in Wilkinsburg.
The day after she applied to the small business assistance program, she received a call from the PICPA office in Philadelphia. Within two weeks, Edwards had her meeting -- with Paul Rudoy, a partner in the downtown CPA firm Horovitz Rudoy & Roteman and the PICPA's local chapter president.
"That was like a godsend," she said of the meeting with Rudoy. "He gave me information I didn't even think to ask about."
The PICPA Small Business Assistance Program offers the pro bono services of CPAs throughout Pennsylvania to prospective and active small business owners.
Although it has been in existence on the books of the PICPA for five years, the program hasn't been used by many small businesses, especially in Pittsburgh. The PICPA aims to change that by making more local small-business owners aware that it exists and by signing up more CPAs as volunteers.
"It's really just kicking off," said Rudoy. "I think there are a lot of people out there who just need a little bit of guidance, especially those who are struggling or less-advantaged."
The program offers general advice on topics such as business plans, financing needs and alternatives, and on business and tax structure. However, it does not focus on helping small businesses with their tax returns because a number of free services already exist for this purpose, Rudoy said.
For Edwards, the time she spent with Rudoy gave her a better idea of how to approach her business plan, which she already had underway.
Rudoy also helped her develop and fine-tune a marketing strategy, establish a client base and seek funding.
With marketing, for example, Rudoy suggested Edwards avoid sending tons of flyers and instead consider alliances with organizations that deal with people in the process of moving, such as real estate agencies and economic development organizations.
And then, Edwards said, there were business structure issues.
"At first, I was given the advice to start as an S-corporation," a closely held partnership. "But I learned from Paul that if something would happen, I would stand to lose everything. And we don't want to lose the house," she said. So she formed an LLC, a limited liability corporation that is a sort of hybrid between a partnership and a corporation. "This way, I only risk what I've put into the business."
On top of that, Edwards learned about filing necessary Internal Revenue Service and state Department of Revenue forms. "I didn't want to do anything illegal," she said.
To Rudoy, spending a few hours with Edwards was rewarding.
"She was definitely the kind of person that you are happy to help, not only because she was just getting started but because she'd put a lot of effort into getting information on her own."
Any type of small business may apply, said Lauren Patrizi, who coordinates the program out of the Philadelphia office of the PICPA, an organization with roughly 8,000 members in Pittsburgh alone.
"We've had a whole bunch of different businesses come to us, from food-related businesses to automotive to day care," Patrizi said.
The form small businesses must fill out to apply for the program is brief, and it is available online at www.picpa.org/newstand/-small_bus_prog.htm. While the PICPA ultimately decides whether or not a business is suitable for the program, there are no specific requirements to qualify, Patrizi said.
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