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Fiducial’s Leo O’Reilly (right) has been pro-active when it comes to helping Vermont shop owner Rachel Strules (left) with her small business.

December 14, 2004—Rachel Strules waited her chance to become an entrepreneur and her business is doing well these days thanks in part to the expert guidance she receives from Fiducial advisor Leo O'Reilly.

Strules owns Sweet Lady Jane, a Burlington, VT, shop specializing in trendy women's clothing and accessories. She worked for the previous owners for 10 years before buying the business from them in April 2001.

Like many small business owners, Strules did not realize that there are some accountants who go beyond the mere crunching of numbers to analyze the empirical data to really help fine tune a company's performance. That was until she met O'Reilly.

First impressions are still important and Strules was impressed with O'Reilly the first time she met him. It wasn't long before she began considering switching to a new accountant.

"When Leo came into the store he was such a nice man and he spoke to me in a matter of fact way," she said. "He told me 'I've never been in your shop before but this is how I can help you'."

In just a few short minutes with O'Reilly, Strules says she probably learned 10 things.

"I worked with another accounting firm for a year but I didn't learn anything," she said. In fact, she mentioned that her ex-accountant doesn't even know that Strules is no longer a client.

Many small business owners are besieged by salespersons making all sorts of pitches but she felt at ease with O'Reilly's easy going manner.

"He didn't pressure me," she said. "Then I asked him a couple of questions and decided to make an appointment with him. If I didn't understand what he was talking about he would teach me more. He would build me up slowly instead of overwhelming me with information."

Strules saw that O'Reilly was pro-active and always looking for ways to help her. Her ex-accountant would tell her "everything is great and to keep going" but she got a shock at the end of the year when she owed thousands in taxes. Thankfully, there are no such surprises with O'Reilly monitoring her finances.

Always challenged to do better

"Leo taught me how to spread my taxes out over the year and how to better keep my deductions down," Strules said. She also learned how to itemize the right way and found O'Reilly was getting her ready throughout the year for the tax breaks so she wasn't burdened. "He's been covering me all year long," she said.

Strules used to meet with her former accountant only twice a year but she meets with O'Reilly on a quarterly basis which suits her just fine.

"Leo is always challenging me by asking 'can you do this better?' " she said. "He's always making me think and totally encourages me. He and his wife, Ginny, are just awesome. I feel like they are on my side. When I'm not doing well they'll pump me up."

Sweet Lady Jane is an S Corp and Rachel is the sole shareholder. Her primary concern when she initially met O'Reilly how much she was going to owe in taxes at filing time. That's because the previous year she owed a significant amount and incurred penalties and interest.

After O'Reilly was engaged one of the first things he did was to prepare a tax projection for Strules which is updated every quarter.

"We have set it up so Rachel takes a reasonable salary which funds the SIMPLE IRA plan we put in place and the her tax liabilities (through tax withholdings)," he said. "In addition, she takes a periodic distribution of profits. This set-up has simplified things for Rachel, avoids the need to make quarterly tax estimates and avoids any surprises on April 15."

Strules is also happy with the fact that she doesn't have to pay an extra fee if something arises and she has to call O'Reilly because her quarterly fee covers such situations. Communication is another essential factor in the advisor-client relationship.

"Leo always touches base with me even if it's not our quarterly meeting," she said. "I'll fax him some questions and he'll get back with me soon."