Cherry, Bekaert & Holland Expands Unclaimed Property Services Through Alliance with The Keane Organization
Strategic alliance offers streamlined suite of escheatment solutions to businesses of all sizes
State governments nationwide are facing budgetary shortfalls led by significant declines in tax revenues. As a result, many are ramping up efforts to enforce unclaimed property/escheatment laws. Such laws have existed for years, and are enhancing state revenues at an estimated $2.5 billion each year.
From uncashed checks and accounts receivable credit balances to unredeemed gift card or stored value card balances, businesses across the country are assessing their unclaimed property liability. Yet despite the surge in unclaimed property audits, many of the nation’s largest accounting firms no longer offer services or have substantially reduced their service offerings to meet this specialized need.
But Cherry, Bekaert & Holland, L.L.P. (CB&H), one of the nation’s largest super-regional accounting and consulting firms, today announced an alliance with The Keane Organization (Keane), the premier provider of comprehensive unclaimed property reporting and compliance solutions, to help businesses address this growing concern.
“Unclaimed property enforcement has recently evolved to include not only large corporations, but also small to midsize businesses,” said Laura Lane, Vice-President of Keane’s Unclaimed Property Services Division. “Entities that were previously off the auditing radar now face fines, penalties and interest for noncompliance.”
Over 40 states have entered into contingent fee arrangements with third-party auditors. These unclaimed property audits are not bound by any statute of limitations, and generally go back 10 or 25 years. This places the burden of proof on the company. Several states are also pursuing aggressive techniques to extrapolate exposure, and even creating new areas of unclaimed property, such as unreconciled inventory.
“Many companies are finding that limited resources and aged data can make determining the proper remittance amount even more difficult,” said Cathie Stanton, CB&H’s Firm Director of State and Local Tax Services. “The challenge rises even more as laws differ from state to state, and new areas of unclaimed property are being discovered.”
Through this new partnership, CB&H and Keane can simplify and streamline unclaimed property management and compliance for companies of all sizes. With a specialized understanding of state escheatment laws regarding dormancy periods, records retention and reporting requirements, CB&H and Keane will be able to develop solutions to help companies mitigate their unclaimed property exposure, minimize future risk, and avoid interest and penalties.
CB&H and Keane recently conducted a joint seminar in Washington to share with business leaders how to effectively manage and minimize the impact of an unclaimed property audit. The popular seminar will soon be going on the road, traveling to Charlotte, Atlanta, Raleigh and Tampa early next year.
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