practice is the asset. We help you build it.
Tax, books, and advisory for law firms, medical and dental practices, agencies, architects, and independent consultants — for principals who already know the firm's value lives in margin, owner comp, and the K-1, not in last quarter's revenue.
Your top line tells you nothing. Your owner-comp picture tells you everything.
Professional-services firms aren't measured the way restaurants or contractors are. The score isn't gross margin or yard-by-yard cost control — it's owner take-home, retirement contributions, and the after-tax distribution at the end of the year. That math runs through reasonable comp, QBI navigation, partner K-1s, and the right retirement plan, all wired to a tax projection that updates as the year unfolds.
Unify works with law firms, medical and dental practices, agencies, architects, and independent consultants across Northern Colorado. We document reasonable comp the way a 1040 review expects to see it, navigate the SSTB phaseouts on QBI, run partner basis schedules clean, and design retirement plans paired to the tax projection — coordinated with Unify Wealth Management when investment management is part of the picture.
Services built for professional services.
Four pillars of practice accounting — handled in-house, every quarter.
Owner comp & S-corp strategy
Reasonable-comp documentation, salary-vs-distribution split, partner draws, and quarterly true-ups. Built to survive a 1040 review and an IRS reasonable-comp challenge.
QBI / 199A navigation
Specified-service-trade limits, aggregation elections, retirement contributions to bring AGI under the threshold — the moves that recover the QBI deduction principals usually lose by accident.
Trust & retainer accounting
IOLTA reconciliations for law firms, client-retainer ledgers for agencies, and unbilled-time tracking for any firm where revenue lags hours. Compliance and clarity in the same workflow.
Retirement plan design
Solo 401(k), SEP, defined-benefit, cash-balance — paired with the tax projection so the contribution actually lands the year you need it. Coordinated with Unify Wealth Management when investment management is part of the picture.
What I appreciate most about Unify CPAs is that I don't have to worry. Tax deadlines, compliance, proactive planning — they're on top of all of it. Switching to Unify was one of the better decisions I've made for the firm, and I'd say the same to any business owner looking for a CPA team they can actually trust.
What we handle, line by line.
Twelve threads of professional-services accounting that quietly determine whether a year ends with a refund or an extension.
Monthly close & reporting
Books reconciled by the 15th, with margin and partner-comp reports that mean something. No surprises in March.
Reasonable comp analysis
Salary-vs-distribution documented against industry comp data — the file an IRS reasonable-comp challenge needs.
QBI / 199A planning
SSTB phaseouts, aggregation elections, AGI management — the moves that recover the deduction most principals lose by accident.
Partner K-1s & allocations
Special allocations, guaranteed payments, basis schedules, and §704(b) capital accounts that survive examination.
IOLTA / trust accounting
Three-way reconciliations, client-by-client ledgers, and the controls bar disciplinary counsel expects to see.
Retirement plan design
Solo 401(k), SEP, defined-benefit, cash-balance — paired with the tax projection so contributions land in the right year.
Quarterly tax projections
Estimated payments built off live YTD data, not last year's return. So Q4 contains zero surprises.
Multi-state nexus
Remote consultants and traveling specialists — apportionment, withholding, and PTE elections handled before the state finds you.
Entity structure reviews
PLLC, S-corp, partnership — the right wrapper for the practice today, and the migration path for the next stage.
Buy-in / buy-out modeling
Adding or transitioning out a partner — equity, basis, and tax-character modeling so the deal closes clean.
R&D credit & agency-side credits
For agencies, architects, and engineering firms — qualified-research expenditures captured during the year, not retro-fit later.
Practice-sale & succession planning
Goodwill vs. tangible allocation, installment-sale structuring, QSBS where available — built years before the LOI lands.
Run the practice. We'll run the K-1.
30-minute intro call. Bring your last K-1 if you have one — we'll tell you what we'd do differently.