FIRM PROFILE
Background
Morton & Associates, a Professional
Corporation located in Palo Alto, was founded in 1980 by Jack Morton Ph.D.,
CPA. Our firm provides a broad scope of accounting, auditing, and tax services
with a strong emphasis on the specialized expertise needed to properly serve
non-profit organizations. Our clients range in size from small and growing
businesses, to larger organizations and include a wide range of non-profit
entities. Together, they represent a distinctive cross-section of the business
and human service organizations in the Bay Area. We are particularly proud of
the long-standing relationships we have enjoyed with many of our clients.
Over the last nineteen years, the firm has
added top quality personnel dedicated to serving our clients and maintaining
high professional standards. Through this growth, the firm has achieved a size
and capability that affords us a position of recognition among members of the
nonprofit and business communities in the San Francisco Bay Area. In
particular, our staff is highly experienced in every aspect of auditing and
accounting services for non-profit organizations.
The firm's commitment to provide quality
work to our clients is demonstrated through our efforts to keep the audit staff
current and well informed in their respective specialties. A high level of
professional training is maintained by the members of the staff through
participation in ongoing continuing education programs conducted by national,
state, and local professional societies, as well as in-house programs. As a result,
our staff is completely up-to-date on regulations and other requirements
affecting non-profit organizations.
Our staff takes pride in the services that
they, themselves, give to both our profession and community. In the past, we
have helped many nonprofit organizations at substantially reduced fees because
we feel that they provide an important service to the community. We are proud
to be a small part of the success of this important segment of our society.
The founder and members of the firm have served
on a number of professional committees and community as well as non-profit
Boards including:
·
The Non-Profit and
Government Committee of the Peninsula Chapter of the California Society of CPAs
· The Audit Committee of the United Way of Santa Clara County
·
The Palo Alto Chamber
of Commerce
·
The Finance Advisory
Committee of the Palo Alto Unified School District
·
Community Skating Inc.
DBA The Winter Lodge
· The Palo Alto Recreation Foundation
· Morrissey Compton Educational Center, Inc.
Firm
Capabilities
Morton & Associates has a comprehensive
understanding of nonprofit organizations. We have extensive experience in
reporting to various foundations, to the United Way and to specific Federal,
State and County government agencies as well as in meeting the related
compliance issues involved with the funding requirements of these donors. Our
broad base of experience enables us to provide you with a high degree of
technical expertise and sound organizational advice, oriented specifically to
nonprofit associations. This knowledge and experience enables us to develop,
for the benefit of our clients, recommendations to:
·
Improve financial
statement presentation and analysis;
·
Improve internal
accounting controls;
·
Improve communication
between the organization and its Board or other users of its financial
statements;
· Improve organizational operations.
Other
Information
Morton & Associates has been licensed to
practice in the State of California since 1980. The firm has complied with all
applicable Board of Accountancy requirements and the guidelines established by
the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants Quality Review Division
that includes a quality review of financial statement preparation procedures.
These reviews are conducted by teams of independent
CPAs to ensure that the CPA firm being reviewed is independent and that the
accounting and auditing engagements conform to all professional standards.
Morton & Associates was last reviewed in December 2000 when it received an
unqualified opinion report.
Principle
Jack Morton, Ph.D., CPA
Jack established Morton and Associates in
1980. He received his BS from the University of Alberta, his MS from the
University of Calgary and his Ph.D. from the University of Toronto. He is
currently on the Boards of the Nonprofit Audit Committee of the Peninsula
Chapter of the California Society of CPAs, Community Skating, Inc., Palo Alto
Recreation Foundation and Morrissey-Compton Educational Center, Inc. Jack is a
past Board member of the Palo Alto Chamber of Commerce and past chairman of the
United Way Audit Advisory Committee. He is also a member of the American
Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the California Society of CPAs.
Jack has over 20 years of experience with non-profit organizations dealing with
audit, accounting, system and board issues.
Seniors
James Leone, CPA
Senior
James joined Morton and Associates in 1996
after he received his Bachelor of Science from the University of Southern
California where he was a member of the Accounting Society and served as the
Treasurer of the Alpha Phi Omega Philanthropic Fraternity. He is an experienced
in-charge that has worked with several clients to meet their reporting needs
including the Menlo Survey Day Care Center, Sun Microsystems Foundation,
Homeless Care Force, All Saints’ Episcopal Church,and the Foundation for a
College Education. He specializes in computerized audit and tax application
enhancements and has extensive experience with nonprofit organization tax
returns. He also specializes in Microsoft Access database design, having created
a fair housing database for Project Sentinel, Inc.
Staff
James Craske
James joined Morton and Associates in the
summer of 1998. He received his Bachelor of Arts from Whitman College in 1999.
He has considerable experience with income tax and accounting related issues.
Nancy Lee
Nancy Joined Morton and Associates in 2000.
She received her Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Fresno State University
in the same year.
Chris Higgins, MST
Chris joined Morton and Associates in May
2001. He received his Masters of Science in Taxation from San Jose State
University in December 2000 and his Bachelors of Science in Accounting in 1996.
Chris has passed the CPA exam.
Edward Lam
Edward joined Morton and Associates in
August 2001. He received his Bachelors of Science in Business Administration
from UC Berkeley in 1998.
Jeff Riley
Jeff joined Morton and Associates in November
2003. He received his Bachelors of Science in Business Administration from Chico
State University in 1990.