Butler & Burke, LLP

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a nonprofit organization that works with individuals and families to help them build financial stability. Our services include helping them with debt management, making solid budgets for them, and getting them on the path to home ownership. We have a comprehensive homeownership program that includes getting users mortgage-ready and providing them with homebuyer education courses.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Butler & Burke, LLP?

We needed help with our financial audits. It is very important for nonprofit organizations to have a reliable firm provide them with clean financial audits because they’re required to receive grants or government funding.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Butler & Burke works with us every year to do our yearly financial audit, and they provide us with recommendations based on what they see on our books. We use QuickBooks for our profit-and-loss and financial statements.

Initially, there was a learning curve for them, but they’ve been with us for over 10 years now. Every year, they have to learn about our services. For example, if we have a new program for our public, they learn about it and help us do the financial setup for it.

What is the team composition?

We mainly work with Zachary (Senior Audit Manager), but when he comes over to do the audit, he brings a couple of other accountants to help him go through our records and files. Still, he’s our main point of contact.

How did you come to work with Butler & Burke, LLP?

Butler & Burke works with other nonprofit organizations in our area, so we originally got referred to them. We discovered that they also worked for housing programs, so we knew that they could help us out as well. We also learned that they were led by a woman who is also a CPA, which was a great selling point.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent over $50,000 over the years.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since October 2012.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

Butler & Burke has provided us with clean financial audits with certified audited financial statements, which we can send out to potential funders for grant applications. Additionally, they provide us with great recommendations, such as limiting our employees who have credit cards and encouraging us to switch to online transactions. Additionally, they’ve helped our financial directors get up to speed with our processes efficiently.

How did Butler & Burke, LLP perform from a project management standpoint?

Butler & Burke is always very responsive, and they deliver on time. As for other accounting firms, there are busy times of the year for them. However, they always ensure to make us a priority. Whenever is time for our audit, they come into our office’s conference room, set up their computers, and sit with us until the financial audit is complete. We communicate via email and phone calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Butler & Burke has great people on board. Their team members are very personable, and they seem to really care about the work we do and the clients we serve. Overall, they’re great communicators and great partners to have.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be honest and transparent. Let them know exactly what your current status and goals are because they will give you the best advice based on that. They really care about their client's success and financial stability.