Business Finder

A certified public accounting firm offering tax and audit services to Charlotte and surrounding communities for over fifty years. We specialize in assurance services for not-for-profit organizations and churches.

CLA (CliftonLarsonAllen LLP) is a professional services firm committed to creating opportunities for our clients, our people, and our communities.

Our vast network of deep industry specialized professionals and resources present and deliver services to clients seamlessly through values that drive our behavior: curious, collaborative, transparent, inclusive, and reliable. It’s simply how we do business.

We are dedicated to building a diverse, equitable and inclusive culture that thrives on different beliefs and perspectives. Our DEI team identifies strategies that foster and support the many dimensions of diversity within the firm. When we embrace an inclusive culture, we can truly know and help each other and our clients – that’s how we create opportunities together. Our desired outcome is to be representative of the communities that we serve now and in the future. We are putting DEI into our DNA! Click to see our Transparency Report for 2021 https://www.claconnect.com/-/media/files/resources-supporting/2021_cla_t...

CLA has a dedicated nonprofit group, a team focused on providing high‐quality services to nonprofits organizations. Members of CLA’s nonprofit group focus almost exclusively on serving nonprofit organizations, so they have the experience and commitment to fully understand your challenges and opportunities.

Nonprofit organizations are a dynamic, unique area of accounting, and require constant attention and monitoring. Our knowledge of the industry is crucial to offering actionable activities. As a firm with more than 60 years of experience, serving more than 9,000 nonprofit clients, we possess an in-depth understanding of organizational challenges and are able to respond promptly and effectively to help meet them.

CLA’s assurance and advisory principals are national leaders on several standard-setting bodies. Several have assisted with the writing of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) practice and audit guides specifically for nonprofit organizations, chaired technical boards, and led state CPA organizations. Many of our professionals gather client thoughts and submit responses to the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB). As participants in these states and national standard-setting bodies, our professionals are on the cutting edge of new developments that affect you. Our work in these emerging areas gives you an advantage planning ahead. This makes CLA the best of both worlds, a local team dedicated to the nonprofit industry with the national resources.

Audit Services

In the current environment of increased oversight and new federal funding being available through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act and the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is more important than ever to find qualified auditors who have significant experience with federal grants. Therefore, the single audits are performed by a team of individuals who are managed by personnel who specialize in single audits in accordance with OMB’s Uniform Guidance and who can offer both knowledge and quality. As part of our quality control process, the single audit will be reviewed by a firm Designated Single Audit Reviewer. Based on information from the Federal Audit Clearinghouse for audits with fiscal years ends between January 1, 2020 and December 31, 2020, CLA performs the largest number of single audits in the United States. We audited nearly $93 BILLION dollars in federal funds in 2020. This not only shows our experience in serving organizations that receive federal funds but it demonstrates our firm’s dedication to serving the government and nonprofit industries. In addition, CLA prepares more 990s than any other professional firm in the United States based on data obtained from CauseIQ.

Pre Covid-19, CLA adopted our Seamless Assurance Advantage (SAA) which is an innovative approach to auditing that utilizes technology, analytics, and audit methods to help solve client problems and create a seamless experience. Unlike any conventional audit process, SAA does not depend on a physical location. It reduces the time our professionals spend on site, creates fewer disruptions for our clients, enables more efficient use of resources and allows for more impactful interactions with clients. As part of our process, we utilize a secure web-based application to request and obtain documents necessary to complete engagements. This application allows clients to view detailed information including due dates for requested items, attach electronic files and add commentary related to the document requests directly in the application. In addition, we realize that effective communication throughout the engagement is critical to the successful and timely completion of an engagement. Therefore, during engagements we hold regular status meetings to enhance day-to-day operations, results and any issues are commonly understood and addressed. This allows us to 1) provide a constant technique for monitoring progress against plan; 2) identify issues quickly to allow for timely corrective action; 3) provide objective rather than subjective evaluation of status; 4) provide timely information on a regular basis and 5) assist with obtaining buy-in of any audit recommendations on a timely basis.

Outsourced Finance and Accounting

We can provide full or part-time outsourced professionals to support the accounting function, whether you need staff to handle your day-to-day transactions, a controller to help you scale your back-office operations or a consulting CFO to weigh in on financial management issues and provide industry specific guidance.

We are committed to addressing what matters most to you:
• Leveraging technology to streamline internal processes
• Improving timelieness and clarifty in financial reporting
• Keeping up with constantly changing compliance issues
• Turning your back office from a fixed cost to a variable cost
• Utilizing timely and reliable financial information to make critical decisions

Executive Search and Talent Solutions

Since 1995, we have conducted hundreds of local, regional, and national executive level searches for nonprofit organizations. Every day we work alongside the principals and staff of CLA which gives us immediate and personal access to industry-specific knowledge and contacts – a benefit we pass on to our clients.

CLA’s Executive Search and Talent Solutions teams work with your organization to support your goals, dreams and ultimately to impact your success. We develop honest and sincere relationships with you by expressing our genuine interest in your organization and we heavily invest our personnel resources to provide a noticeably different client service.

Please see more information on our offerings at www.claconnect.com and contact us at (704) 998-5222 for a free quote.

Maria Satira Media, LLC specializes in communications and public relations coaching and consulting for nonprofits. We help organizations achieve their marketing goals through development of plans for media relations, external communications, and digital strategy. Maria Satira Media is led by seasoned multimedia professional and nonprofit marketing coach Maria Satira. As the author of An Introduction to Media Relations for Nonprofit Organizations, Maria is passionate about marketing and public relations for nonprofits. She enjoys one-on-one coaching, hosting workshops for groups, and presenting conference sessions across the country to help organizations reach their marketing and communications goals.

Elevation Web (www.elevationweb.org) is a leading digital agency specializing in custom website design and development for nonprofits and mission-driven organizations. We empower organizations to thrive online by creating engaging websites that amplify their impact and drive donations. Visit our website to learn more.