Small Business Consulting Services

Whether you are launching a new business to passing one on to the next generation, or buying or selling an existing business, as your financial small business consultant, TAXFLO is here to help.

As a team of certified public accountants with expertise in everything from tax preparation to payroll processing to bookkeeping and more, we’re here to advise you on all things financial so you can keep doing what you do best  — actually running your business. 

Chicago Consulting Firm

If your business is located in Chicago or the surrounding areas (or you do extensive amounts of work in Chicago or Illinois), hiring a Chicago-based small business consultant or consulting team who understands the ins and outs of local tax codes, regulations, and similar intricacies of the area’s economic climate is perhaps the smartest choice you can make.

Whether you are starting up or incorporating a new business, passing a business on to the next generation (succession planning), buying or selling a business, or otherwise need assistance with the IRS, personal financial planning, and wealth management as a business owner, we’re a certified public accountants in Chicago and we’re ready to assist you.

TAXFLO is also a full-service accounting firm that offers bookkeeper services, tax preparation, and payroll services.

Management Consulting Services — Business Consulting Management and Advisory Services

There are many reasons why a small business owner like yourself should consider hiring a business consultant or a boutique consulting firm in Chicago; however, the primary reason is that with the right advisora, you get access to their specialized knowledge in finance, including the advantage of having a third party or outside view of your company’s financial management and strategy. 

As your business consultants, we can provide guidance on specific challenges your business is facing or help streamline overall operations. 

What’s more, an outsider’s objective perspective — like the perspective you get from hiring a business advisor — is invaluable because it is free of pre-existing biases or internal politics.

This can lead to fresh insights and innovative solutions that you may not think of while you’re mired in the weeds of day-to-day operations.

Hiring outside consultants may also be more cost-effective than engaging a full-time employee, especially if your needs tend towards short-term or seasonal projects (such as tax preparation) or require specialized skills.

Plus, as your dedicated financial consultants, we can focus solely on your business’s accounting demands without being distracted by other operational tasks.

In fact, the aforementioned perspective and lack of outside distraction is why small business owners often hire consultants for strategic planning; as your advisors, we can help you identify growth opportunities for your business and create actionable plans to achieve your financial objectives.

We can also help provide guidance on how to grow your business while maintaining financial efficiency and profitability. 

Furthermore, we can help you identify and therefore mitigate risks that may threaten the success of your business, for example, risks like potential issues with regulatory compliance, tax challenges, or similar issues.  

As business consultants who live and work in Chicago and the surrounding areas, we are connected to other local organizations which may be helpful if you are seeking ground floor partners, funding, or other resources for your business. 

Overall, as your small business consultants with a focus on financial goals and planning, we can provide you with the expertise, resources, and support needed to overcome challenges, seize opportunities, and achieve your business goals in Chicago and beyond.

Business Consultants Chicago  — Startups and Incorporating a Business

If you are starting a business in Chicago and need to incorporate your business, then you owe to yourself and your future profits to work with a local financial business consultancy.

Starting off on the right foot with your paperwork and plans in order will set you up for long-run success. 

As small business consultants, we help startup companies with a number of key activities. 

To begin, we help you and any co-founders structure your business entity properly, determining the most suitable legal structure for the business.

This may be a sole proprietorship, a partnership, a limited liability company (LLC), or an S corporation (S corp) or C corporation (C Corp). we’ll assess factors like liability protection, tax implications, and ownership structure to recommend the best option.

Next, we’ll create detailed financial projections for your startup, including income statements, balance sheets, and cash flow forecasts.

These projections help potential investors and stakeholders understand the company’s expected financial performance and viability.

We also assist in helping you and any co-founders develop a comprehensive business plan that outlines the company’s mission, objectives, target market, competitive analysis, marketing strategy, and financial projections.

This plan serves as a roadmap for the startup’s operations and growth.

Another key activity we perform is advising on the optimal capital structure for your startup.

This involves considering factors such as equity financing, debt financing, and bootstrapping.

We help you identify sources of funding, such as angel investors, venture capitalists, crowdfunding platforms, or bank loans, and assist in preparing pitch decks, financial statements, and other materials for fundraising efforts.

Ensuring that your business’s books are in order from the beginning is another essential activity. 

We establish financial management systems and controls to ensure proper accounting practices, expense tracking, budgeting, and financial reporting.

We may help you set up and implement QuickBooks or other accounting software and assist in setting up bookkeeping processes to maintain accurate financial records.

As your startup small business consultants, our team ensures that the startup complies with all legal and regulatory requirements for incorporation, including obtaining necessary licenses, permits, and registrations from the city of Chicago, the state of Illinois, and any federal requirements.

In addition, we advise on Illinois state and federal tax obligations, employment laws, and industry-specific regulations that may affect your business.

Risk management and insurance is another important part of starting a business, even if it isn’t the most exciting.

As your business consultants, we assess potential risks facing the startup, such as market risks, operational risks, and legal risks, and recommend strategies to mitigate them.

We can also help advise on insurance coverage to protect the business against unforeseen events.

Perhaps most importantly, we provide strategic financial guidance to help your startup or small business achieve your long-term goals and objectives.

This may include evaluating investment opportunities, optimizing capital allocation, and analyzing financial performance metrics to drive decision-making.

Overall, as your business consulting team, we play a critical role in guiding your startup through the process of incorporating a business, ensuring sound financial management practices, and positioning your company for success in its early stages of growth.

Consulting Firm in Chicago — Personal Financial Planning

There are many reasons that Chicago business owners might hire a consultant or consulting group for their personal financial planning as well as business financial help.

From time constraints to needing specialized expertise, hiring a boutique strategy consulting firm that understands both the Chicago business climate and your personal wealth objectives is a key step on your path to success. 

For instance, we offer personal financial consulting to small business owners that includes developing customized financial planning strategies that take your business into account, investment management, retirement planning, estate planning, tax optimization, and risk management. 

We can provide personalized advice tailored to the unique financial situation and goals you have as a business owner in Chicago or the surrounding area.

After all, many business owners often have complex financial situations due to income variability, business ownership, investment portfolios, tax implications, and succession planning.

As your personal financial consultants, we can help navigate these complexities and develop a comprehensive financial plan that aligns with your objectives.

Setting and achieving certain financial goals is likely one of the reasons you started a business in Chicago to begin with!

We work with business owners like you to identify financial goals, whether it’s saving for retirement, funding your children’s education, purchasing a home, or planning for business succession.

We then develop a customized financial strategy to help you achieve these goals.

Many business owners have unique tax situations and challenges.

As your financial consultant team, we can help you minimize your tax liabilities through strategic tax planning strategies, such as maximizing tax-deferred retirement contributions, utilizing tax-efficient investment vehicles, and implementing tax-loss harvesting techniques.

We help to assess potential risks to your (and your business’s) financial security, such as disability, illness, premature death, or liability exposure.

We can recommend appropriate insurance coverage, such as life insurance, disability insurance, long-term care insurance, and liability insurance, to mitigate these risks.

As your personal financial planners, we can assist business owners like yourself in developing estate plans to ensure the orderly transfer of wealth to heirs and minimize estate taxes.

This may involve creating wills, trusts, powers of attorney, and other estate planning documents tailored to your wishes and circumstances.

By engaging a consultant for personal financial planning who can also take your business goals into account, you can get clarity and confidence that you have a clear roadmap for achieving your financial goals while focusing on growing your business.

At the end of the day, hiring a business consultant for personal financial planning can provide busy business owners like yourself with the expertise, guidance, and peace of mind you need to navigate your financial affairs effectively and achieve your long-term financial objectives.

Small Business Consultant in Chicago — IRS Representation

No one wants to hear anything negative from the IRS, but as a business in Chicago, it’s not impossible that you may need IRS representation or the assistance of a small business consultant who handles tax matters at some point. 

Working with a financial consultant or CPA who has tax expertise is essential when dealing with an IRS challenge.

While you may have a strong understanding of business operations and strategy as a business owner, you may lack specialized knowledge in tax law and IRS procedures, or even traditional accounting services 101.

When it comes to tax issues, you’ll benefit from our expertise in dealing with tax-related issues, audits, and negotiations with the IRS.

There’s a good chance that business owners have a non-standard tax situation that requires specialized expertise to navigate effectively.

This could add to the complexities when dealing with issues such as tax audits, IRS notices, tax controversies, tax planning strategies, and resolving tax disputes with the IRS.

Furthermore, dealing with IRS matters can be time-consuming and require significant resources to address properly.

Accordingly, you may choose to outsource IRS representation to professionals like TAXFLO who can dedicate the necessary time and resources to handle the matter efficiently, freeing you up to focus on your core business activities. 

Besides, the peace of mind you’ll get from having professionals at your side when dealing with the IRS can be invaluable.

You can relax knowing that you have a knowledgeable and experienced professional handling your tax matters.

This allows you to focus on their business operations without the stress and uncertainty of handling the IRS on your own.

IRS audits and disputes can pose significant financial and reputational risks to businesses.

By hiring an experienced IRS representative, you can mitigate these risks and ensure compliance with tax laws while protecting your business interests.

Keep in mind that your tax issues are private and as your IRs representative, we are bound by confidentiality and privilege rules that protect client information and communications.

You can trust that your sensitive financial and tax information will be kept confidential when working with a qualified IRS representative.

We can advocate on behalf of my clients and negotiate settlements with the IRS, and we help business owners achieve favorable outcomes in tax disputes, minimize penalties and interest, and resolve issues in a timely manner.

In some cases, IRS matters may escalate to the point where legal representation is necessary.

We can utilize our network and connect you with experienced Chicago tax attorneys who can provide legal advice and representation in administrative proceedings, tax court, or other legal venues, if required.

Overall, hiring a strategy consulting firm to serve asIRS representatives can help you effectively manage tax-related challenges, protect their business interests, and achieve favorable outcomes in IRS audits, disputes, and negotiations.

Chicago Business Consultant  

Successful business owners in Chicago are often on the path to accumulating significant personal wealth; after all, that was likely one of the reasons you started your own company in the first place.

As your wealth management consultants, we provide comprehensive financial planning services that go beyond investment management.

We help business owners like you develop a holistic financial plan that addresses various aspects of their financial life, including retirement planning, tax optimization, estate planning, risk management, and charitable giving.

Our personalized advice and guidance is designed to your unique business situation and financial goals, circumstances, project management, and objectives.

We help you save time and plan for the future by handling various financial tasks, such as investment management, financial analysis, and administrative duties, all of which allows you to focus on what benefits you most right now — running your business. 

We also assess potential risks to your financial security, such as market volatility, inflation, longevity risk, disability, illness, premature death, or liability exposure.

We can recommend appropriate risk management strategies and insurance solutions, such as life insurance, disability insurance, long-term care insurance, and liability insurance, all of which help protect your assets against unforeseen events.

Minimizing your personal and your business’s tax liabilities through strategic tax planning strategies is another key aspect of our wealth management services.

We help with maximizing tax-deferred retirement contributions, utilizing tax-efficient investment vehicles, implementing tax-loss harvesting techniques, and optimizing income and deductions in order to minimize your tax exposure.

What is going to happen to your business when you’re no longer around?

While you may not like to think about that, as a successful business owner you should.

As your wealth management consultants, we can assist you in developing comprehensive estate plans to ensure the orderly transfer of wealth to heirs and minimize estate taxes.

This may involve creating wills, trusts, powers of attorney, and other estate planning documents tailored to your wishes and circumstances.

You may love running your business day-to-day, but that doesn’t mean you couldn’t benefit from professional retirement planning. 

We help you plan for retirement by estimating your retirement income needs, evaluating retirement savings options, optimizing Social Security benefits, and developing withdrawal strategies from retirement accounts.

All of this planning ensures that you are on track to achieve your retirement goals and maintain your desired lifestyle in retirement, even if you don’t have a traditional job that offers retirement funds.

As your wealth management consultants, we help business owners save and invest for your children’s education expenses by recommending appropriate college savings plans, such as 529 plans or education savings accounts (ESAs), and developing strategies to maximize financial aid eligibility and tax benefits.

By hiring a wealth consulting firm, you can sleep peacefully knowing that your personal finances are being managed professionally and strategically.

You can feel confident that you have a clear roadmap for achieving your financial goals for your business and your family while minimizing risks and maximizing opportunities for wealth accumulation and preservation.

Overall, our business consulting services can provide business owners like you with the expertise, guidance, and sense of peace that you need to navigate their personal finances effectively, achieve your financial goals, and build and preserve wealth for yourself and your families over the long term.

Small Business Owners Consultant Firm — Business Succession Planning

While you may love working and want to run your business for the rest of your life, it is important to consider the future, especially if your business is experiencing significant positive growth and you want to ensure your family is set up for the future. 

As your business consultant, we help you navigate the complexities of transitioning leadership and ownership of the business effectively, preserving value, minimizing risks, and ensuring its long-term success and sustainability in Chicago and elsewhere.

Succession planning can be complex and requires careful consideration of various factors, including legal, financial, and operational aspects.

As your financial consultants, we provide specialized knowledge and experience in succession planning strategies and help you throughout the process.

With in depth knowledge of digital solutions, TAXFLO also has vast knowledge in web design, marketing, public relations, new markets, and social media marketing.

Planning the succession or transfer of business ownership can be filled with emotion and it helps to have an outside viewer  to provide a fresh perspective, free from emotional attachments or biases that may exist within the family or among stakeholders.

This objectivity allows us to assess the business objectively and develop succession plans that are in the best interest of the business and its stakeholders.

With family-owned businesses, succession planning often involves navigating complex family dynamics and governance issues.

As an outsider or independent consultancy, we can help facilitate family discussions, resolve conflicts, and establish governance structures and protocols to govern the succession process and ensure a smooth transition of leadership and ownership.

We work with you and any co-founders or ground floor partners to develop comprehensive succession plans that align with your company’s strategic goals and objectives, and we help identify potential successors, assess their readiness and capabilities, and develop plans for grooming and developing talent within the organization. 

In fact, we can assist in developing training and development programs for potential successors, ensuring they have the necessary skills, knowledge, and experience to lead your business effectively. This may involve mentorship, coaching, leadership development, and professional development initiatives.

Succession planning involves transitioning leadership and ownership of the business smoothly and minimizing disruption to operations.

We can help develop contingency plans and protocols to ensure business continuity during the transition period, mitigating risks and minimizing the impact on employees, customers, and other stakeholders.

Moveover, we help you maximize the value of your business in preparation for succession.

This may involve implementing strategies to increase profitability, reduce risk, enhance operational efficiency, and strengthen the company’s competitive position.

We can assist you in dealing with the legal and tax implications of succession planning, including estate planning, tax planning, ownership transfer agreements, and regulatory compliance in Chicago, Illinois, and beyond.

We structure business succession plans in a tax-efficient manner and ensure compliance with relevant laws and regulations.

Your business is your legacy.

As your succession planners, we help you preserve this legacy and ensure the long-term viability of your business.

We work with you to identify the values, vision, and goals for the business and develop succession plans that reflect and honor this legacy while positioning the business for future success.

Chicago Small Business Consultants — Buy/Sell Agreements 

If you are a Chicago business who is preparing to sell your business, purchase a business, or even merge with another company, then engaging a small business consultancy who can help you with the buy/sell agreement and more might be the best decision you’ll make throughout the entire M&A process.

As a financial consulting firm with a focus on small businesses, we can help you navigate the complexities of M&A transactions and buy/sell agreements.

We work with you to mitigate risks, maximize value, and achieve your strategic objectives effectively.

Throughout the process, we provide expertise, guidance, and support, from initial planning and due diligence to negotiation and closing, ensuring a successful outcome for our clients.

Besides financial advising, we specialize in information technology, e commerce development, human resources, consumer products, and more.

To start with, we help you plan and structure buying or selling agreements in a way that maximizes value and minimizes risks.

We assess various deal structures, such as asset sales, stock sales, mergers, or acquisitions, and recommend the most appropriate approach based on the specific circumstances of the transaction.

Next, we conduct thorough valuation analyses to determine the fair market value of the business being bought or sold.

This involves assessing financial statements, analyzing industry trends, evaluating comparable transactions, and considering other factors that may affect a business’s value.

Negotiations will likely require a certain amount of negotiation support, and we’ll be right there to help you achieve favorable terms and conditions in buying or selling agreements.

As your financial consultancy, we assist in connecting you with a qualified attorney to draft offer letters, letters of intent (LOIs), purchase agreements, and other transaction documents, and help negotiate on your behalf to protect their interests and maximize value.

We also assistwith appropriate due diligence activities, including financial due diligence, operational due diligence, and market due diligence.

During the process, we identify and assess potential risks, liabilities, market research, and opportunities associated with the transaction, enabling informed decision-making.

If you are considering purchasing a company or acquiring another business, we can help you identify potential acquisition targets or buyers through market research, industry analysis, and networking.

We can screen potential candidates to ensure alignment with the owner’s strategic objectives and criteria for the transaction using advanced market research tactics and big data consulting.

Buying or selling a business always involves tax considerations.

We help you optimize the financial implications of buying or selling a business and structure the transactions in a tax-efficient manner, minimize tax liabilities, and maximize after-tax proceeds for their clients.

We help business owners identify and mitigate risks associated with buying or selling a business, such as financial risks, legal risks, operational risks, and reputational risks.

This involves developing risk mitigation strategies and contingency plans to protect your interests throughout the transaction process.

Finally,weserve as project managers, coordinating various aspects of the transaction, financial, and operational due diligence, negotiation, and documentation.

We ensure that the transaction progresses smoothly and efficiently, adhering to timelines and milestones.

Owning and operating a business in Chicago is both challenging and rewarding.

Make the most of those rewards and conquer those challenges with a small business consulting company who helps you maximize value and ensures that your interests come first.