Porter & Company has more than 30 years of HOA auditing and consulting experience, serving associations since 1976. Our team of experienced professionals is ready to serve you, and we offer a range of services that is absolutely unique in the industry. And, there is only one CPA who can claim he "wrote the book" on associations. Gary Porter is the co-author of PPC's Guide to Homeowners Associations and Other Common Interest Realty Associations, and The Homeowners Association Tax Library. PPC - Practitioners Publishing Company Mr. Porter was the editor of CAI's "The Ledger Quarterly" for its entire 15-year production run. Mr. Porter has also authored more than 200 technical articles on various association matters.

Porter & Company is an audit firm. A significant portion of firm revenues are generated from audits. Because we limit our practice to a relatively small number of industries, we have become very efficient in auditing those industries, and have developed standardized procedures and "workpapers."

Our staff is very stable, which means you get the same auditors back year after year. You won't be stuck having to "break in" and "train" new staff members from the CPA firm every year. It is also our philosophy to have the owner of the firm review every audit. And for the larger engagements, he also participates in the audit field work. By stripping away the administrative layers in the CPA firm, we become more efficient. This means you are getting the direct benefit of very experienced auditors.

Porter & Company has gone through six AICPA peer reviews, and has received an unmodified report on each review.

Services offered include:

• Audits, Reviews and Compilations of Financial Statements
• Accounting Services
• Consulting Services
• Reserve Studies
• Litigation Consulting/Expert Testimony
• Income Tax Preparation and Planning
• Tax Exemption Applications

Audits, Reviews and Compilations of Financial Statements

We offer traditional audit services, the same as many other CPA firms. Our experience with a wide variety of associations gives us the qualifications to work on virtually any type of association.

Our unique capability in today's ever-increasing electronic environment is the ability to audit through the computer. We use a computer "utility" program that allows us to access and use your computer transactions, without ever disturbing any of the underlying data. With our program, we can then manipulate the data in any manner we desire. At times, this allows us to generate information that you are unable to retrieve from your own system. This makes us more efficient in our audit procedures, as we can test vast amounts of data in a relatively brief period of time.

Our audit "workpapers" are also unique. We were one of the first firms to move to a completely electronic set of audit workpapers. Our automated audit workpaper program is built on a MS Windows platform using MS Word and MS Excel and scanned images to create all workpapers, ensuring compatibility and easy transferability of information. Again, because we perform all procedures on the computer, we have become extremely efficient.

TAXATION

Association Taxation
Association taxation is one of the most complex areas of tax law, but we try to make it easy for you. As part of every audit or review engagement, we provide you with a comparison of taxes under either the Form 1120 filing method, or the Form 1120-H filing method. 1120 vs. 1120-H Comparison. See list of books and articles published at the end of this section for further information on taxation.

Also see some sample forms included in the site for download to assist you in minimizing tax and reducing risk, including our "Election under Revenue Ruling 70-604" and our "Form 1120 Checklist."

Exempt Association Taxation
Gary Porter is also one of the pioneers in seeking complete exemption from taxation for associations. Porter & Company has prepared more than 40 exemption applications under IRC Section 501(c)(4), with a 100% success rate where we have stated the association will qualify. These have even included three gated communities that many inside the IRS contend cannot qualify for exemption. The tax saving to these clients alone exceeds $15,000,000.

Cooperative Association Taxation
Cooperative association taxation is a rapidly evolving area. Gary Porter followed developments of major court cases, then expanded these concepts to new areas, generating more than $1,000,000 in tax refunds for the Firm's cooperative clients.

CONSULTING SERVICES
Porter & Company is available to assist you on many different types of consulting engagements. We have assisted our clients in:

• Design internal control systems
• Assessment rate studies
• Budgeting
• Reviewing and reporting on compliance with contractual arrangements
• Litigation consulting
• Expert testimony
• Preparing computerized fixed asset and depreciation schedules to allow you to track all fixed assets by location in a single database.

We are available to assist you on these and other matters.

INDUSTRY INVOLVEMENT

When Porter & Company commits to an industry, we support it wholeheartedly. Gary Porter was one of the three founding members of the Channel Islands (California) Chapter of CAI. That involvement included serving on the Chapter Board of Directors for six years, then moving on to national activities.

At the CAI National level, Mr. Porter served on a number of committees and task forces, and then on the Board of Trustees. The ultimate commitment was serving as on officer of CAI, culminating in serving as CAI's national president in 1998-99. Mr. Porter still serves on a number of committees.

Mr. Porter has served on the planning committee or served as a speaker at most of the CPA Societies' Homeowners Association Conferences, speaking for The California, Florida, and Illinois CPA Societies. In addition, as co-author of the AICPA's course "Providing Services to Common Interest Realty Associations," Mr. Porter has made presentations for more than 30 CPA Societies at various state educational events.

RESERVE STUDIES

We have formed a separate Corporation, Facilities Advisors Inc. to perform Reserve Studies