Hedge Fund Software Heralded for Helping CPAs Survive Tax Season
Mt. Kisco, NY (PRWEB) April 15, 2015 -- As the 2014 tax season started, the accounting firm of Muhammad Akram CPA was looking for a way to spend less time performing the complex mechanics of tax allocations. After engaging in an in-depth search of all the investor accounting software on the market they chose Penny It Works from TKS Solutions.
Although the Penny It Works software is known primarily for its sophisticated fund accounting and fee calculation features, the award-winning hedge fund and private equity accounting software also includes a tax module. The Penny It Works tax module has been deployed by fund administrators, tax accountants, and hedge fund back offices to calculate thousands of tax returns, handling layering and aggregate allocations as well as producing K-1s with supporting schedules.
Mr. Akram states, "For our hedge clients, we were spending all of our time on the aggregate allocation. That left us with too little time for the in-depth analysis we wanted to offer. Industry expertise is why our clients use us. We needed specialized software to do the bulk of the processing. Our goal with Penny was to feed in the financial and tax information and let it do the churning of the numbers. We were looking to replace unwieldy spreadsheets with finished K-1 working papers."
In the fourth quarter of 2014, the Muhammad Akram firm installed Penny, and ran through several scenarios to fine tune their workflow and ensure that they had a good feel for the software. The firm then explored some of the advanced system features, such as flexible user-definable tax schedules.
When January 2015 rolled around, Mr. Akram's firm was ready. "As the year-end information came in, we ran the data through Penny and it gave us accurate and detailed K-1 information. We actually exceeded our tax season targets. The efficiency allowed us to focus on the results rather than the process. We got the time we were hoping for to review polished work papers and make the necessary entries. Our expertise was applied to providing clients with the best tax reporting; we are extremely pleased with working on Penny."
"Tax regulations for the alternative investment industry are complex", says Ron Kashden, President of TKS Solutions. "Even the seemingly simple task of allocating income to investors is a multiple step process. We put a tremendous amount of intelligence into the software to make it easy to use and help alleviate the burdens on the tax professional. Whether it is a large institution or a boutique advisory firm, our software can make them more efficient and thus more effective." Kashden stresses that the software is system-agnostic in that it can import gains from any portfolio system or spreadsheet, and export directly to the GoSystem, Prosystem, or the IRS PDF.
According to Mr. Akram, "Penny It Works handles complicated tax functions such as fill-up, fill-down, and both the aggregate (partial netting and full netting) and layering methods to allocate capital gains/losses and track accurate partners' tax basis. Penny has sophisticated reporting capabilities such as detailed partners' schedules, partners' letters, footnotes, reconciliation between taxable and book income, and generates accurate K-1s within a minimum time period during the tax season.
The daunting task of tax season will never be the same again for the CPA firm. Looking ahead to the 2016 tax season, Mr. Akram says "my team is no longer concerned about being inundated, largely because we know we have the Penny tax module to help with the heavy lifting"
About Muhammad Akram, CPA, PLLC
Muhammad Akram, CPA, PLLC provides audit, tax and advisory services that offer clients a cutting-edge advantage in navigating a complex and volatile business environment. In today’s high-speed, high-growth and high-stakes market, tailored client service is needed more than ever before. As demand for strong governance, compliance, infrastructure and operations reaches on all-time high, Muhammad Akram helps build a strong foundation to achieve peak performance for funds and their investors.
About TKS Solutions, LLC
TKS Solutions is the firm that brings you the acclaimed software, Penny It Works®. TKS is a registered Microsoft partner offering specialized partnership and shareholder accounting solutions for the financial industry. Penny It Works® is used to manage upwards of 950 onshore and offshore funds with more than $490bn in AUM.
The award-winning system provides automated and instant access to detailed investor data, performance, fees, and transactions.
Penny’s open architecture facilitates easy integration with portfolio accounting systems, data warehouses and proprietary solutions. Penny is tailored to the specific needs of leading hedge funds, fund of funds, private equity firms, fund administrators and management companies with assets under management ranging from $50 million to $60 billion.
Kelly Franklin, TKS Solutions, http://www.pennyitworks.com/, +1 (914) 358-0016, [email protected]
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