You’re serving your community. Who is serving you?

The business of government isn’t easy. In addition to building and nurturing your community, you have your own day-to-day challenges. Fluctuating budgets. Reporting responsibilities. Complex human resources requirements. Technology needs. Whether you’re a large county or small agency, you likely have the same concerns.

Good governance goes beyond compliance, and so does our experienced Government Services team. Our work is about more than helping you adhere to audit requirements or the latest changes from GASB (although we certainly do that). It’s about bringing solutions to address all of your needs and empowering you to fulfill your mission. It’s about timely service, clear communication and a calculated commitment to you.

Measurably Better

We help governments serve more effectively and run more smoothly at every level. We serve:

  • 10 Counties

  • 55+ Municipalities

  • 35+ Special Districts

  • 30+ Pension Plans

  • 8 School District Internal Accounts

Why hire our government CPAs and consultants?

Our goal is to continually improve your organization and help you make it run more smoothly. That means we’re constantly working to increase our knowledge and the level of service you receive. It’s a commitment to always be bettering ourselves. To go above and beyond every day. Just like you.

When you partner with us, you’ll work with a team focused on understanding your challenges and finding effective strategies to help you achieve your objectives. For governments, that means navigating complex human resources regulations, meeting highly specialized IT needs and ensuring sound and transparent fiscal management that strengthens public trust.

While our expertise speaks for itself, it’s our commitment to client service that sets us apart.

But don’t just take our word for it…100% of our governmental clients are likely to recommend James Moore to their friends and colleagues.

This is according to our Net Promoter Score (NPS)—a leading indicator of customer experience and business growth recognized around the world. A score of 100 is a pretty big number as it is; when it comes to a company’s NPS, it’s world class. And given the accounting industry average of 39, we’d say that puts us in pretty good (and rare!) company.

What else did our government clients say?

100% of our government client respondents….

  • Are satisfied working with us
  • Consider our team to be diligent and respectful

Other terms they used to describe us: reliable, responsive, solutions providers, technically excellent, caring

Our Government Accounting & Advisory Solutions

In addition to being a requirement, your financial audit plays an important role in the reputation of your government. The more accurate and clear your financial reports and processes are, the more trust you’ll instill in the public.

With so many standards and requirements (and their near-constant updates), keeping your financial reporting transparent and compliant is no easy task. And if you expend enough federal funding to require a single audit, you face even more scrutiny.

Nobody knows this better than the government CPAs at James Moore. From new GASB pronouncements and Chapter 10.550 to the Uniform Grant Guidance and the Florida Single Audit Act, we’re up to speed on every rule and regulation that applies to your audit. And because we’ve audited government entities for over 50 years, we’re able to better understand your operations and implement the best internal controls for you. 

We also recognize that it’s important to be more than just auditors. So we tailor our audit approach to address your specific concerns and offer a number of value-added services as part of the annual audit at no additional charge.

The Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR) is a gold standard in government finance, demonstrating that your organization goes beyond the minimum requirements of generally accepted accounting procedures (GAAP).

Our government CPAs are well versed in the stringent requirements to obtain ACFR status; in fact, two of our team members are ACFR reviewers for the Government Finance Officers Association. So we know the hallmarks that make your statements worthy of this certificate and can guide you on your preparation.

We can also help you in general preparation for an upcoming audit. If you need to catch up on your financial records in the weeks before your auditor arrives, our staff members can pitch in to help with the clean-up work so you can face your audit with confidence.

Your audit is an all-encompassing examination of your financials, and a positive report should reassure you that all is well. But is something about your government agency’s finances still keeping you up at night?

Peace of Mind services provide a closer look at select areas of concern that aren’t readily included in a standard audit, compilation or review. We’ll monitor the areas you request, place checks and balances on your processes, and focus on your needs and the aspects most susceptible to fraud or error.

As government CPAs, we know even the most subtle red flags that can signal an issue. By putting our experience to work in finding them, you can have peace of mind over your concerns and develop solid financial practices in your organization.

Learn Moore

Tourists. Commuters. Shoppers. Restaurant patrons. What do they all have in common? They give you several ways to generate revenue for your government, from tourism development taxes to parking, lease and other variable revenue contracts.

Such income plays a critical role in funding economic development and other forms of growth. So it’s important to make sure that it’s being collected and tracked properly. We understand this not only as government CPAs, but also as residents of a state in which tourism is a huge contributor to the economy.

Our government CPAs have extensive experience aiding local governments as they examine these income channels. We’ll help see to it that the revenues generated from advertising, food service, hotel stays, purchases and more get where they need to go—so you have the funds to better serve your constituents and the community.

 

Your IT network is the backbone of your operations. It provides you with quick access to information, allows for timely communication and keeps your data secure.

In a day and age where cybersecurity should be at the top of everyone’s priority list, a sound and reliable network needs a technology provider who can keep it running and safeguard it from hackers, viruses and other threats.

Our Technology Solutions Consulting department helps government entities with everything from routine troubleshooting and maintenance to long-term technology planning. As a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, we keep up with the latest knowledge and techniques to make sure your network is operating optimally and protected from threats.

Whatever your needs, our team is ready to keep you connected.

  • Managed IT Solutions
  • Break-Fix Support
  • Security and Data Protection
  • Backup & Disaster Recovery
  • Email, Messaging & Collaboration
  • Network Planning & Design

Learn Moore

Human resources laws and trends are constantly changing, making it a challenge to keep a compliant and productive workplace. And with an increasing need for government services, you face an increasing need for qualified employees.

Many government agencies are turning to outsourced human resources service providers to address these issues. From recruiting and retention to long-term personnel planning, external HR consulting can help you keep up with regulations and fill vacancies quickly.

Our HR Solutions team brings decades of combined human resources experience to the table. And our partnership with HKP, a national workforce management company, puts even more knowledge to work for you.

We’ll show you how to stay in compliance with employment regulations and protect your government from costly penalties.  We can also help you find and retain qualified personnel so you can serve your community. From a one-time consult to a consistent HR presence, we have a solution for every government entity.

Learn Moore

Your employees value and rely on the retirement and pension plans you provide. They also rely on you to protect the assets and financial integrity of these plans and ensure that the funds will be available. So reassure them that you’re doing what you can to make sure their funds are ready when the time comes for them to retire.

Our government CPAs partner with HK Financial Services, a national wealth management company that specializes in helping accounting and law firm clients. Together, we provide the experience, knowledge and connections you need to make sense of plan details and properly manage assets and investments.

We can work with you as the employer, as well as provide employee consulting services and DROP (deferred retirement option program) consulting to answer their questions and help them plan for the future.

Does your agency have an exceptionally long change order approval process? Are payments to your vendors being delayed for no clear reason? Do employee performance reviews seem inconsistent and involve copious amounts of paperwork? Is there another internal process that you know could be improved?

Serving your community on a limited budget and in the face of regulations is a challenge unto itself. But when you couple that restrictive environment with redundant processes, wasted efforts and lack of quality control, it can cost you time and money.

Streamlining and properly managing your governmental operations allows you to better utilize your resources so you can successfully serve your constituents.

As a government CPA firm, we understand your operations and challenges. Our Operational Excellence team applies Lean Six Sigma principles to analyze your processes and develop sustainable solutions that work for you. This allows you to find and fix the inefficiencies in your procedures so you can do more with less.

Do you have an up-and-coming staffer that you envision as a future department head? Have you recently taken such a position yourself and wonder what to do next? And how do you handle the transition when one leader steps aside for the next?

To guide your organization in the years to come, your future leaders need skills in operations, finance, leadership, communication, strategy and process improvement.

Our training and development programs gives people the tools they need to ultimately take the reins. We also help our government clients analyze and fill knowledge gaps between leadership and immediate successors and provide coaching to these individuals throughout the transition.

By teaming with partners like Velocity Advisory Group and area business and community leaders, we provide the most thorough and practical instruction for you and your organization. Where do you need help?

Much more goes into your government or agency’s success than bringing in money and maintaining the books. You also need to keep an eye on issues and trends affecting your constituents, set goals for your community, and make decisions that affect your financial stability for years to come.

Handling these responsibilities requires planning, strategy, risk management and financial analysis expertise. James Moore has provided advice and support in these areas for over 50 years. As a government CPA firm, we know a thing or two about good financial guidance for entities like yours.

We’ll make sure you have the information you need to make sound decisions that benefit your community. We’ll also keep you abreast of any new standards issued by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) and other important updates and advise you on their implementation

The basics of accounting lie at the heart of transparent government finances. Keeping the budget balanced, the salaries paid and remaining in compliance with grantors are fundamental necessities for every government office and agency, but these routine tasks can divert staff time and resources from higher-level priorities. 

James Moore’s Accounting & Controllership Services (ACS) give you the confidence of having seasoned financial professionals managing these important functions, while allowing you the flexibility to focus internal resources where they matter most. 

Fully customizable and built around your unique needs, our ACS services give you all the advantages of an experienced accounting team without the expense or disruption that comes with hiring and managing internal staff to handle accounting responsibilities internally.

Case Study: Operational Excellence for Governments

Officials of a Florida city noticed that their construction contract change order process (a largely manual effort) was burdensome, lengthy and lacked transparency and accountability with the city commission. They also heard complaints from employees about the excessive time to conduct performance evaluations and concerns regarding their accuracy. The city hired James Moore to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of these functions through our Lean Six Sigma consulting services.

James Moore government CPAs made recommendations to the process that would reduce the time to approve a construction change order to just one week by eliminating manual paperwork, adjusting the threshold that requires city commission approval, and dropping the number of approvals to three for changes under that threshold. A quarterly capital expenditures report for the city commission was also proposed to increase transparency. We also suggested changes to the performance review process that would reduce turnaround time to 30 days by utilizing the city’s existing software to notify and track outstanding reviews, eliminating the use of spreadsheets and manual data entry, and shortening the performance review document from ten pages to two. Additionally, we suggested revising the employee handbook to better define expectations in job descriptions and evaluation factors.

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Zach Chalifour

Zach Chalifour, CPA

Partner

Zach has over 15 years of CPA experience and leads our firm’s Assurance service line. Also the leader of the firm’s Government Services team, Zach works almost exclusively with governmental entities with budgets ranging from $1 million to over $1 billion. Zach works extensively with organizations that receive substantial federal and state assistance subject to the OMB Uniform Guidance and the Florida Single Audit Act of up to and over $100 million. He also serves as the contract Finance Director for the City of Lake Helen, Florida.

Zach serves as an Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR) reviewer for the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA). He has worked with numerous clients to assist in the early implementation of new GASB standards. Zach also leads the teams providing contracted Tourist Development Tax (TDT) audit assistance to various counties.

Additionally, Zach maintains memberships with a variety of government-industry groups including the Florida Government Finance Officers Association (FGFOA), the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA), the Volusia League of Cities, the Space Coast League of Cities, and the Florida Tourist Development Tax Association (FTDTA). Zach is a frequent speaker at conferences and other events across the state, and has previously spoken for the following associations on various governmental accounting and auditing topics:

  • Florida Government Finance Officers’ Association (Annual Conference, School of Government Finance, Webinar Series)
  • FGFOA Local Chapters (Volusia/Flagler, Big Bend, Treasure Coast, North Central Florida)
  • Florida Tax Collectors Association
  • Florida Tourist Development Tax Association
  • Florida Institute of Certified Public Accountants
  • Florida School Finance Officers Association
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