June 2024 - ATA 2.0

ATA appoints Clay Crockett as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) to lead strategic financial planning, forecasting, and analysis in support of ATA’s long-term objectives.

With over 15 years of experience in both public accounting and the private sector, Clay brings expertise in strengthening financial internal controls, budgeting & forecasting, business process improvement, software system implementations and risk management.

“We welcome Clay to our senior executive team,” said Managing Partner John Whybrew. “His experience in financial management and strategic planning makes him a great addition to ATA. We look forward to his contributions to our continued growth and success.”

A Certified Public Accountant, Clay is an active member of the Tennessee Society of CPAs (TSCPA) where he currently serves on the Legislative Committee for 2024-2025 and previously was past president of the West TN Chapter. Clay is a member of the American Institute of CPAs. With a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt certification, he has demonstrated his commitment to continuous improvement and excellence in his field.

In 2019, Clay was honored with the Distinguished Leadership Award by the Association of Leadership Programs, recognizing his exceptional contributions and leadership.His community involvement includes board memberships with the Rotary Club of Jackson and Trinity Christian Academy, as well as participation in their finance committees. Clay resides in Jackson, TN with his family and spends free time visiting State & National Parks, tinkering on DIY projects around the house, and laughing at the latest viral video with his daughter.

Clay holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of Tennessee at Martin. He also earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in Business Management with a minor in Economics from Lambuth University. Additionally, he graduated from the Barret School of Banking in Memphis, TN, in May 2011.

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About ATA

ATA is an advisory firm that works with clients on all aspects of their business needs. ATA guides its clients towards success by providing consulting services that are not traditionally associated with the accounting industry. For example, Revolution Partners, ATA’s wealth management entity provides financial planning expertise; ATA Technologies provides trustworthy IT solutions; ATA Digital focuses on growth through the design and development of marketing and digital products as well as offers video, social media, and digital content for small businesses; ATA Capital is an investment banking firm dedicated to providing clients with M&A brokerage services; and lastly, ATA Employment Solutions is a comprehensive human resource management agency.

ATA has 16 office locations in Tennessee, Arkansas, Kentucky and Mississippi. Recognized as an IPA Top 150 regional accounting firm, it provides a wide array of accounting, auditing, tax and consulting services for clients ranging from small family-owned businesses to publicly traded companies and international corporations. ATA is also an alliance member of BDO USA LLP, a top five global accounting firm, which provides additional resources and expertise for clients.

The next quarterly estimated tax payment deadline is June 17 for individuals and businesses, so it’s a good time to review the rules for computing corporate federal estimated payments. You want your business to pay the minimum amount of estimated tax without triggering the penalty for underpayment of estimated tax. Four possible options The required installment of estimated tax that a corporation must pay to avoid a penalty is the lowest amount determined under one of the following four methods:

1. Current year method.

Under this option, a corporation can avoid the estimated tax underpayment penalty by paying 25% of the tax shown on the current tax year’s return (or, if no return is filed, 25% of the tax for the current year) by each of four installment due dates. The corporate due dates are generally April 15, June 15, September 15 and December 15. If a due date falls on a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday, the payment is due the following business day.

2. Preceding year method.

Under this option, a corporation can avoid the estimated tax underpayment penalty by paying 25% of the tax shown on the return for the preceding tax year by each of four installment due dates. (Note, however, that for 2022, certain corporations can only use the preceding year method to determine their first required installment payment. This restriction is placed on corporations with taxable income of $1 million or more in any of the last three tax years.) In addition, this method isn’t available to corporations with a tax return that was for less than 12 months or a corporation that didn’t file a preceding tax year return that showed some tax liability.

3. Annualized income method.

Under this option, a corporation can avoid the estimated tax underpayment penalty if it pays its “annualized tax” in quarterly installments. The annualized tax is computed on the basis of the corporation’s taxable income for the months in the tax year ending before the due date of the installment and assumes income will be received at the same rate over the full year.

4. Seasonal income method. Under this option, corporations with recurring seasonal patterns of taxable income can annualize income by assuming income earned in the current year is earned in the same pattern as in preceding years. There’s a somewhat complicated mathematical test that corporations must pass in order to establish that they meet the threshold and therefore qualify to use this method. If you think your corporation might qualify for this method, don’t hesitate to ask for our assistance in determining if it does. Also, note that a corporation can switch among the four methods during a given tax year.