Family Office Services

Benefits of a Family Office

Families and individuals with the good fortune of having great wealth are well aware of the extraordinary opportunities that such wealth can bring: multiple homes, extensive travel, recreation, and social activities. Along with the increased opportunities are increased complexities and day-to-day responsibilities of managing one’s own assets and financial affairs. There is a vital need for professional management of individuals’ and families’ financial affairs in order to achieve a wealthy individual’s desired objectives.

Many wealthy individuals do not have the time to properly manage their broad range of resources because of their substantial business, philanthropic, and family commitments. Even individuals who successfully manage their own financial affairs may have concerns about continuity of financial management in the event of their own illness or death, since others in the family may not possess the specific skills to effectively take over the spectrum of management responsibilities.

As a long-term venture, the family office must develop appropriate risk management processes to help steward the office through changing conditions. These procedures need to encompass both operational level risk as well as strategic risk. Risks evolve over time, particularly when personnel change, in the light of changing market conditions, and changing family priorities, and the family office must adapt to that change while maintaining the overall focus on stewardship.

Many Family Offices are now investing in real estate, private equity and making direct investments in operating companies. We have worked with family offices in these investment areas for years, and understand the risks as well as the upside to such investment choices. In addition to traditional family office support services, we provide a full range of services to support your investment in alternative structures.  

Since CCA serves family offices as well as private equity funds and real estate investors, we can provide a single source of insight into trends and risks across industries and investment vehicles.

Your family’s circumstances and priorities are unique, and CCA applies state of the art business processes and concepts to tailor innovative strategies for managing your family’s particular resources to achieve all your needs and goals.

Real Estate and Tax Advisory Services

CCA started as a boutique tax advisory firm with a specialty in real estate.  We have worked with real estate investors, their families, and their family offices for over 35 years.  

Members of our firm were instrumental in the development of the first UPREIT structure in the 1990’s. At the time it was an innovative exit strategy; today it is the standard for distributed real estate investing.

• We have served family offices investing in real estate for over 35 years.
• We understand the tax impacts and implications of entity selection, especially relating to other tax and financial planning strategies.
• We assist with tax accounting, compliance and maintenance of tax basis records for a single investment, or across an investment portfolio.

Direct Investment Due Diligence and Valuation

Our due diligence procedures get behind the numbers, considering aspects such as corporate culture, business process maturity, and the capabilities of employees as these are extremely impactful to the future of the business.   We work with the family to understand their specific investment objectives to help define an investment parameters and an evaluation framework. 

• Performance of due diligence of companies of various sizes and across industries.
• Comprehensive background checks of prospective management and co-investors.
• Valuation of holdings for purchase price determination and annual tax reporting obligations. 
• Analysis of intellectual property assets and procedures to safeguard those assets.  

Investment Management Oversight

We assist families with the development of tailored family financial strategies and policies, including asset allocation and policy oversight.   Cendrowski Corporate Advisors is not an investment management company, and we do not receive compensation from any investment management company. We are truly an independent advisor.  

• Objective investment due diligence, including search, selection, and due diligence of investment managers.
• Day-to-day administration of significant assets such as residences, autos, boats, planes, and collectibles.
• Performance monitoring and benchmarking of investment accounts.

Family and Office Support

Our professional accounting staff provides support of accounting and tax functions, including financial reporting, tax compliance, and maintenance of tax basis records, either on an outsource basis, or as a special project.

• Back-office accounting and tax staff support
• Tailored family financial strategies and policies
• Philanthropic planning and administration.
• Family governance and succession planning.

Family Office Operational Assessments

Family offices are entrusted with financial assets as well as the safety, privacy and reputation of the family, and a robust internal control structure is essential to safeguard those riches.

The services provided by the family office naturally change over time, and internal controls evolve over time due to personnel changes, technological changes, and the relative size of the family office. Over time, new technologies also drive change into the family office. Often, the impacts of such changes are not formally evaluated and updated into the policies and procedures.

We are frequently engaged by family offices to conduct an assessment of the office operations. These assessments provide an objective view of the current policies and procedures, and recommendations to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the family office operation.

Our experts understand the nuts and bolts of financial processes, and the control points to be met to help ensure positive outcomes. We can rapidly assess the state of controls, and make recommendations to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of operations. Strong internal control structures provide confidence to the family members that operations are efficient, and management have the best information to make important decisions.

Example Engagement: Port-Mortem Family Office Management

A high-net worth individual passed away and the long standing family attorney resigned. We were able to immediately step in and assist with estate management. The surviving family also asked us to take over all accounting services previously provided by the existing family office personnel. We worked with the estate beneficiaries to engage new estate and probate counsel, develop an updated balance sheet for the estate, and to coordinate with new counsel for asset pour overs into the decedent’s trust. The loss of the long-standing family counsel precipitated an exigency for the surviving family to administer the estate. Our expertise in crisis management coupled with our experience in: estate and family office administration; and estate tax and income tax compliance and consulting allowed us to facilitate a smooth transition at the time that the family members were grieving the loss of a loved one.