Woodbury, N.Y. (June 12, 2003) -- Top-ranked firm Marcum & Kliegman, based here, has launched a new niche service group targeted to the needs of independent supermarket owners.
The group, Marcum & Kliegman-Independent Grocer Services, will be lead by manager Ronald Storch. Fifteen years ago, the firm took on an independent supermarket owner as a client. That client referred another member of his buying cooperative to the firm, and the practice grew from there.
"As a result, we developed a sort of niche, and we saw an opportunity to develop it," Storch said. Today, the firm serves five clients that operate roughly 20 stores.
The group will provide services including financial reporting, internal control assessments, tax compliance and tax incentive opportunities, business valuation, sales tax compliance and recovery, succession planning and cost-segregation studies.
"It's a unique breed of business that requires a lot of unique accounting services," Storch said. Since stores often have multiple cash registers and owners may have multiple stores, cash control and bank reconciliation are often major issues for independent storeowners. "Supermarkets are the perfect candidate for cost segregation studies," he added, because tenants or owners often make improvements to the properties, and cost segregation studies can offer ways to accelerate depreciation to offer owners tax savings up front.
Marcum & Kliegman ranked No. 41 on Accounting Today’s Top 100 firms list with annual revenues of $32 million.
-- Melissa Klein
