The economic storm is battering companies nationwide, and small businesses are not immune to its fury.

While some businesses are being forced to close their doors, others are getting creative and finding ways to be stronger and smarter - and are turning to CPA firms for guidance and assistance.

Seeing a need in the marketplace and an opportunity for new client services, many CPA firms are developing new services or even advisory groups or task forces to help distressed small businesses navigate the complexities of restructuring, workouts, cash flow projections and other services.

"Everybody was panicking, so we felt we had to jump in there and help them figure out what to do," said John Shank, a founding shareholder and a head of the TurnAround Services Committee (TASC) Force at Birmingham, Ala.-based Barfield Murphy Shank & Smith.

Like Barfield Murphy Shank & Smith, which launched its TASC Force in January to deliver turnaround services to struggling small businesses, many firms have identified a need to streamline their expertise and help clients. Judging by market conditions and the outlook of the small-business environment, such services will likely be in demand for some time.

According to the results of a survey conducted in September 2009 by the National Federation of Independent Business, optimism remains hard to find among small businesses. Their biggest problem: poor sales. Weak sales and price cuts are to blame for much of the weakness in profits, according to the survey. "About 40 percent expect real sales volumes to decline in the coming months, in contrast to about 25 expecting gains. Only 7 percent think the current period is a good time to expand, near the survey low," stated the NFIB poll.

Furthermore, credit markets are expected to remain difficult. Overall, loan demand has been weak because of postponement of investment in inventories and record low plans for capital spending. Plus, continued poor earnings and sales have damaged the creditworthiness of many potential borrowers.

"Credit markets are expected to remain difficult for those wanting to borrow, but with inventory investment and capital spending plans near historic lows, it is clear that loan demand (not the supply of credit) is weak," the NFIB noted. "Legislative activities in Washington undoubtedly dampen the outlook with talk about health care mandates, cap and trade, card check and new taxes on all sorts of goods and services."

TO THE RESCUE

While the forecast looks gray and cloudy at best, Barfield Murphy Shank & Smith found a silver lining in the clouds and formed its TASC Force, which is comprised of about five experts, including two who are experts on financial modeling, and who can help small-business owners analyze financial issues and identify opportunities to produce results. Services include business health checkups, financial benchmarking, human resource management, credit underwriting data assistance, cash flow projections and cost control.

Don Murphy, a founding shareholder and a head of the TASC Force, noted that what has made this recession especially difficult is the tightening of the credit market. "A few years ago, we would have helped [a small-business client] move lenders, but now there is nowhere to move them, so we have to help them through it," he said.

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