Some accounting and financial services firms specialize in small business accounting services and are well suited to helping fledgling firms with accounting tax services, payroll accounting services, and providing helpful financial advice. Some accounting services specialize in tax law, with a particular focus on the preparation of tax returns for individuals and corporations. Full service accounting and financial services companies also sometime provide advice on capital investments, the tax advantages and disadvantages of capital investments, as well as the preparation of capital investment plans.
Accounting and financial services firms can provide audit trails to prove that accepted accounting practices were followed, to show the flow of money through a client's company, to prove that funds were properly allocated or to show that a payment was made. Forensic accounting services are sometimes needed to properly follow the function and trail of transactions through computerized accounting and book keeping systems. When an accounting services firm has made an error which results in a tax penalty, it is standard practice that the financial services firm bears the burden of paying that penalty, so long as the penalty was the result of the accounting services firm's mistake and was not caused by faulty data provided by the client.