Questions and answers
Frequently asked questions
Plain answers about what R² Advisors does, who it works with and how to begin. Each answer links to the page that covers it in full.
About R² Advisors
What does R² Advisors do?
R² Advisors is a CPA-led financial advisory firm based in McLean, Virginia, that helps complex organizations establish, maintain and extend financial control through managed accounting, financial transformation, tax strategy and CFO advisory, so leadership can work from one financial picture it can understand, question and act on.
The firm was founded in 2018. Its approach is simple to state: Establish control. Maintain it. Extend it when the stakes rise.
Where is R² located, and which areas does it serve?
R² Advisors is based in McLean, Virginia, and works with organizations across the United States; in the region, it serves organizations in Northern Virginia, including McLean and Tysons, as well as Washington, DC, and Maryland, where it helps them bring accounting, reporting, cash and tax into one financial picture.
Its tax work serves complex organizations in Northern Virginia and nationwide.
What is R² Signals?
R² Signals is an editorial publication from R² Advisors on financial control: each Signal looks closely at one financial question, separates what the numbers show from what they do not and identifies the evidence worth examining next, so leaders can recognize the situation, understand the distinction that matters and know what to ask next.
R² Signals is part of the work of Catalyst Collective, a research and education initiative by R² Advisors examining financial control, operating complexity, technology and human judgment.
How does R² protect client data?
R² Advisors has completed the Accounting Data Security Standard certification offered through Practice Protect. It reflects training and established practices for managing access to sensitive accounting information.
Certification recognizes the practices in place at the time requirements were completed. It is not a guarantee against a security incident.
Services
What do Establish, Maintain and Extend Control mean?
Establish, Maintain and Extend Control are the three pathways R² uses to organize its work: Establish Control means to diagnose, stabilize and strengthen the financial environment; Maintain Control is Managed Financial Control, the recurring center of the R² relationship; and Extend Control engages tax, strategic finance or governance when the stakes rise.
The pathways are not a fixed sequence, so an organization can begin wherever its situation requires. Tax can also begin as a focused engagement.
What is Managed Financial Control?
Managed Financial Control is R²’s recurring financial-control relationship for organizations that need more than completed accounting tasks: it brings managed accounting, reporting, cash visibility, revenue control and financial oversight into one governed operating structure, and it is the recurring center of the R² relationship.
Every engagement begins by agreeing who owns what. The exact division is written into the scope.
Is Managed Financial Control the same as bookkeeping?
Managed Financial Control is more than bookkeeping: it is for organizations that need more than completed accounting tasks, and managed accounting is one component alongside reporting, cash visibility, revenue control and financial oversight; if transaction entry is all an organization needs, R² will say that plainly.
If the records first need repair or the systems need to be reconsidered, R² begins with Establish Control.
What does Managed Financial Control add when we already have accounting software?
Accounting software can automate transactions, reconciliations and reporting. Reports can still disagree when connected systems use different definitions, transactions fall into different periods, or costs are assigned inconsistently.
Managed Financial Control provides the recurring work behind dependable reporting: reconciling records, resolving discrepancies, reviewing results and maintaining clear responsibility for follow-through. Leadership can see what the numbers support and which issues still need attention.
What are Strategic CFO Advisory and Risk & Governance?
Strategic CFO Advisory and Risk & Governance are R²’s Extend Control services: Strategic CFO Advisory supports complex organizations making decisions about cash, capital, pricing, growth, transactions and financial risk, while Risk & Governance helps complex organizations strengthen internal controls, evidence and corrective action.
Extend Control is where R² engages tax, strategic finance or governance when the stakes rise.
Tax
Does R² provide tax services?
R² provides CPA-led business tax compliance, planning and Tax Position Reviews for complex organizations in Northern Virginia and nationwide through Tax Strategy & Compliance, which can begin as a focused engagement or connect to Managed Financial Control when tax also affects accounting, cash, reporting or recurring responsibilities.
The work is CPA-led and grounded in the records, authority and operating facts behind the tax position.
What is a Tax Position Review?
The R² Tax Position Review is a paid, fixed-scope entry engagement when the client’s tax position must be understood before broader scope or next actions can be determined; it is a defined place to begin, not a mandatory prerequisite, so a straightforward compliance engagement can still be scoped on its own.
The work may end there. Or it may show what needs to follow.
Systems and technology
Do we have to replace our accounting software to work with R²?
R² does not begin by replacing your accounting software: Managed Financial Control starts with the systems you already use, and if replacement or redesign is needed, R² scopes that work separately through Establish Control, where Financial Transformation & Implementation handles provider and technology evaluation and implementation.
Financial Transformation & Implementation strengthens the records, processes and systems a finance team depends on and guides the transition into everyday use.
Which accounting systems does R² work with?
R² has implementation experience with Sage Intacct and Unanet and integration experience with BILL, and it also works with QuickBooks Online environments; in each case the starting point is the same principle that guides R²’s technology work: the system should fit the financial environment.
With Sage Intacct, that experience covers multi-entity accounting, financial reporting, dimensions and implementation support. With Unanet, it covers project accounting, timekeeping, billing and reporting environments for organizations managing contracts, labor and project economics.
Who R² works with
What kinds of organizations does R² work with?
R² works with organizations whose financial control is shaped by the way they operate, grouped into three operating environments: Contracts, Grants & External Accountability; Capital, Projects & Complex Entities; and Distributed Services, Programs & Locations, covering contracts, grants, projects, complex entities, programs and multiple locations.
Each environment has its own section on the Operating Environments page, with the questions leadership asks before accepting the next commitment, beginning the next phase or expanding again.
Does R² work with government contractors, nonprofits, real estate or multi-entity groups?
R² provides CPA-led accounting and financial control for government contractors, helps nonprofits and grant-funded organizations connect grants, program costs, cash and reporting, and helps real estate and multi-entity or multi-location organizations bring entity accounting, project costs, financing, unit profitability and cash into one financial picture.
For public institutions and government teaming partners, R² describes its financial management, internal controls, reporting and financial systems work under Government Capabilities.
Government contractors Nonprofits and grant-funded organizations Real estate Multi-entity and multi-location organizations Government Capabilities
Getting started
How do I start working with R²?
To start, use the Contact page to tell R² what has changed: describe the situation in your own words, tick any of the listed situations that apply, add a timeline if you have one, and give your name, email and organization, after which a senior member of the team will read what you share and respond directly.
Please do not send confidential documents through the form; R² will agree a secure method with you. You can also email info@r2.cpa or call (571) 766-6727.
Tell us what changed.
If your question is not answered here, ask it directly. A senior member of the R² team will read what you share and respond directly.
Tell us what changed