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  • About Us
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    Unyielding Commitment to Excellence

    Brown Edwards offers knowledgeable accounting, assurance, tax, and management advisory services. With a firm-wide staff of more than 350 professionals, our accounting firm is one of the largest independent CPA firms in the Virginia / West Virginia / Tennessee region.

  • Our Services
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    Practical and Actionable Advice

    The core mission at Brown Edwards is to provide our clients the highest quality service. Brown Edwards listens, learning about every client’s unique situation.  Focusing on this situation, we determine the best and most practical approach to meeting and then exceeding the specific needs of that client.

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    Business Accounting Services by Industry

    We have helped thousands of companies with financial management, tax preparation, and strategic planning.

    We continually develop these capabilities by attending trade shows, conferences, and continuing education programs to understand the full picture of what our clients face. 

  • Careers
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    How Far Do You Want To Go?

    Brown Edwards is built around teams that focus on niches. You’ll have the opportunity to work side-by-side with directors and partners, gaining deep knowledge of an industry, while serving some of the strongest companies in that industry.

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    Education is very important to Brown Edwards. We constantly strive to educate our team members and our clients through a variety of resources and tools.

    In addition to providing the latest updates on our social media channels, we also post blogs regularly and host educational virtual and in-person events.

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State and Local Government

State and Local Government

A Business Advisor for State & Local Governments

Brown Edwards has the expertise to help manage your professional, operational, and technical challenges. Our dedicated team currently serves over 150 state and local governmental units across the Mid-Atlantic. This includes large and small entities currently ranging from revenues of $10,000 to $2 billion. We tailor our approach to your organization’s specific needs, enabling us to help improve operations while maintaining compliance and financial controls.

Government Entities We Serve

State & Local Government

Municipalities

Towns

Counties/Cities

Special-Purpose

Community Service Boards

Agencies & Authorities

Housing Authorities

Economic Development

State Agencies & Depts.

Jail Authorities

Regional Cooperative Authorities

Educational Districts

School Districts

School Activity Funds

Transportation
& Utilities

Airports

Public Transit

Local Utility Co-ops

Water/Sewage Utilities

Our Commitment to the Government and Public Sector

Experience Matters

0
Years of Experience in Government
0
Government Entities Served

We specialize in state and local government entities and have more than 40 years of experience providing counsel to more than 150 entities. 

Our team members serve as exhibitors, sponsors, and speakers at industry associations, such as AICPA’s Governmental Audit Quality Center (GAQC), the Virginia Association of School Business Officials (VASBO), and the Government Finance Officers Association including representing the states of Virginia, West Virginia, and Tennessee.

Our Government Services group is comprised of government auditors and experienced consultants. We routinely bring in practitioners from around the firm who specialize in areas such as construction, employee benefit plan services, healthcare, real estate, and telecommunications.

Our team stays on top of changes in the industry through participation in the following organizations: 

Case Study: Local Government Boards
❝The staff at Brown Edwards has served as much more than auditors. They have become a partner with the City of Winchester. They continually give us the guidance and expertise we need to navigate through new mandates and they offer solutions that fit our needs as a small government. The audits are consistently thorough and their focus is on customer services; their staff is always available to us throughout the year if we need assistance.❞
Mary Blowe
Finance Director, City of Winchester, VA
Inside Public Accounting Top 100 Firms
Best of Accounting Client Satisfaction 2024 ClearlyRated badge winner

Services for State & Local Governments

Audit

Audit Services

  • Financial statement audits
  • Federal Single Audits
  • State compliance audits
  • Outsourced internal audit services

Pre-Audit Consulting Services

Pre-Audit Services

  • Cash to accrual adjustments
  • Financial statement preparation
  • Capital asset assistance
  • Lease and SBITA accounting assistance
  • Debt accounting assistance
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Consulting, Outsourced Accounting, and Advisory

These services include:

  • Internal control evaluation and design
  • Bookkeeping services
  • Bank reconciliation services
Explore solutions

IT Consulting

IT Consulting Services

  • System evaluation and design
Explore solutions

Peer Review and Quality Control Assistance

These services include:

  • Peer review of federal, state, and local governmental audits
  • Peer review of HUD audits
  • Internal inspection assistance
  • Outsourced quality control reviews

Historic Tax Credits

These services include:

  • Audits
  • Agreed Upon Procedures
  • Consulting
  • Tax compliance and returns

Thought Leadership

Ready to BE Informed?

Subscribe to receive our latest event updates, thought leadership, and insights on today’s critical topics including:

  • Digital transformation and innovation
  • Privacy and security
  • Data analytics
  • Performance improvement
  • Best accounting practices in state and local government
  • Regulatory changes
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State & Local Government Forum

Government finance and accounting professionals attend our annual hybrid event on new accounting and reporting requirements as well as other relevant topics that impact operations.

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find upcoming events

Contact our State and Local Government Team

Partner, Governmental Practice Leader

Chris Banta, CPA, CFE

Chris serves as the leader of the firm's State and Local Governmental Practice serving clients in Virginia, West Virginia, and Tennessee.  Chris has been with the firm for over 21 years and is also a certified fraud examiner, providing litigation support, as well as fraud investigations and internal control evaluations.  Chris also serves various other industries including beverage and other distributors, national fraternities, electric cooperatives, healthcare facilities, HUD properties, and other nonprofits. In addition, Chris serves as one of four Team Captains in the firm's peer review practice.

: (804) 282-6000

: cbanta@becpas.com

: View Profile

Billy R. Robinson, CPA, CCIFP

Partner

Billy R. Robinson, CPA, CCIFP

Partner

John S. Aldridge, CPA

Partner

John S. Aldridge, CPA

Partner

Leslie F Roberts, CPA

Partner

Leslie F Roberts, CPA

Partner

Matt Heatwole, CPA

Partner

Matt Heatwole, CPA

Partner

Megan Argenbright, MSA, CPA

Partner

Megan Argenbright, MSA, CPA

Partner

Norman D. Yoder, CPA

Partner

Norman D. Yoder, CPA

Partner

Robert “Rob” E. Adams, CPA, CGMA

Partner

Robert “Rob” E. Adams, CPA, CGMA

Partner

Ready to have Peace of Mind?

Contact us to learn how we can provide you with peace of mind by managing your audit and audit preparations.

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From traditional assurance and tax services to the latest in professional business advisory and consulting services, Brown Edwards provides you with the peace of mind you deserve.

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Brown Edwards Assists Local Government Boards With Evaluation Of Financial Impact Of Solar Farms

Scenario

As solar farms and the use of solar energy gain popularity, the impacts of these farms on the future finances of local governments remains a mystery.  Multiple rural localities within Virginia have been evaluating the impacts of these farms on their state educational funding.  While there are tax benefits to the companies that own and operate the solar farms, what does this mean for state educational funding that is heavily reliant on the property tax valuations within the locality?

BROWN EDWARDS SOLUTION AND GUIDANCE

Virginia’s educational funding, allocated to local school systems, is based on a number factors including taxable retail sales, adjusted gross income, and real estate valuations.  Changes in any one of these factors impacts the Local Composite Index, or “LCI”, of the locality, which is used to allocate available educational funding.  An increase in any one factor drives the LCI up for the locality, which, in theory, indicates the locality should be able to generate additional local revenues for education.  This in turn proportionately decreases the allocation of state educational funding.    The local boards in question were faced with the following question, “If our LCI increases because of a valuable solar farm in our locality, what is the estimated decrease in our state educational funding, and how does that compare to the incremental increase of property tax revenues since state code significantly limits real estate taxes on solar farms?”

Brown Edwards was engaged to help with this project. Using a deep understanding of the very complex basis for the LCI calculation, we were able to provide the Boards with a very concise and real world analysis consisting of projections including:

  • Recalculations of the LCI using various real estate valuation estimates.
  • Projections of state educational revenue increases.
  • Projections of local property tax revenue increases.

Presenting these results both through external consultants or directly to the governing body, and in some cases, citizens in attendance, provided the information necessary for the boards to understand one very important aspect of these projects that can involve investments of hundreds of millions of dollars in solar farm facilities.

RESULTS

After multiple months of deliberations, citizen commentary, and consultation based on projections of estimated net revenue increases, the local Boards decided to proceed with these projects.

Learn More About How We Can Support Your Governmental Organization

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State & Local Government Forum

Government finance and accounting professionals attend our annual hybrid event on new accounting and reporting requirements as well as other relevant topics that impact operations.

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Meet the Team

Leslie F Roberts, CPA

Partner

Leslie F Roberts, CPA

Partner

Valerie R. Ellis, CPA, CGMA

Partner

Valerie R. Ellis, CPA, CGMA

Partner

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