The Disaster Response and Recovery Initiatives of the LCPA

A certified public accountant (CPA) in Lafayette, Louisiana, James Castille owns and operates LUMA Capital. Supplementing his career as a CPA, James Castille also holds active membership with the Society of Louisiana CPAs (LCPA).

The leading association of accounting professionals in Louisiana, the LCPA has a membership base of roughly 5,500 CPAs and more than 2,000 aspiring CPAs. Moreover, it provides comprehensive resources to ensure that CPAs and taxpayers have adequate representation in the wake of natural disasters.

From its general guide for CPAs who provide disaster assistance to its list of phone numbers for filing insurance company claims, the LCPA offers valuable disaster response and recovery resources to its membership base and the general public. It also publishes online updates that cover news and alerts from various disaster relief and tax organizations. In particular, the LCPA has a wealth of information regarding financial returns related to 2021’s Hurricane Ida.

LCPA Legislative Achievements Benefit Louisiana CPAs

A business turnaround specialist and Certified Public Accountant (CPA), James Castille is a resident of Lafayette, Louisiana. Possessing more than 25 years of management, sales, and accounting experience, James Castille belongs to the Society of Louisiana Certified Public Accountants (LCPA).

The LCPA represents the state’s most prominent association for accounting professionals and supports the profession through efforts such as advocating for legislation that improves the landscape for CPAs and those that they serve. This work is performed by the LCPA Political Action Committee (PAC), which educates and informs federal, state, and local lawmakers on key issues.

The PAC has played a role in the success of several pieces of legislation that has benefitted CPAs. For example, it helped pass measures that made Louisiana a no notification, no fee state, enabling CPAs to move from one state to another without the need to notify state boards unless audits of out-of-state companies are involved. Furthermore, the PAC granted protections for CPA-client communications by backing legislation that provided them the same privileges as attorney-client communications. This undertaking also altered laws for obtaining a CPA’s records via subpoena.

Other political-action accomplishments include passing legislation that exempted annuity contracts and tax-deferred arrangements from seizure in bankruptcy cases, established pre-trial review panels for malpractice suits against CPAs, and prevented the levying of sales tax on accounting services.

Understanding The Role of a Turnaround Specialist

A certified public accountant, James Castille is the owner of LUMA Capital, LLC in Lafayette, Louisiana. Throughout his career, James Castille has gained experienced as an insurance and business consultant as well as a turnaround specialist in Louisiana.

A turnaround specialist is a professional that works with a company for a brief amount of time, to help them resolve any problems. Typically, a company that hires a turnaround specialist when facing an extreme challenge that needs an outside perspective. A turnaround specialist will usually either replace the CEO as an interim chief executive while a company begins reorganization or will simply consult on a specific project for the short-term. Although a turnaround specialist is technically capable of working in both of these two roles, they typically prefer to stick to one role professionally.

Turnaround specialists can be needed in instances where internal issues are affecting the business, such as neglected human resources, autocratic management, declining business, and mismanaged growth. External factors, such as declining economy, market decline, litigation, labor unrest or increased labor costs, and unfavorable legislation, can also prompt the need to hire turnaround specialists.

Businesses may begin to identify symptoms of potential trouble in the business in a loss of profit, employee dissatisfaction, and loss of members from the Board of Directors. However, it is important to remember that treating the symptoms will not resolve the problem permanently. Turnaround specialists help identify the issues and make real changes to revive failing companies.

What Is a Turnaround Specialist?

A certified public accountant based in Lafayette, Louisiana, James Castille has more than 25 years of business leadership experience. He serves as a CPA at LUMA Capital, LLC and chief financial officer at Empire Group, Inc. Throughout his career in Louisiana, James Castille has gained knowledge and skills in all aspects of corporate finance. He has also developed expertise as a turnaround specialist.

When a business is facing financial distress that threatens its survival, senior leadership and stakeholders may bring in a turnaround specialist to guide the enterprise back to financial viability. Rather than lending their industry expertise to a company, these professionals use their knowledge of corporate finance, management, and operations to improve the company’s bottom line. The role of a turnaround specialist can vary depending on the specific situation and the preferences of the turnaround professional.

In some cases, a turnaround specialist will serve as an interim manager who temporarily takes over management and decision-making at the distressed company. In other situations, he or she may take on the role of a management consultant who will offer suggestions to existing management without taking over control. Although a turnaround specialist may be willing to take on either of these roles, most have a preference for one or the other.

Bringing on a turnaround professional can be highly beneficial to a troubled company. In addition to providing a fresh eye and objectivity, the most effective of these specialists are highly adept at crisis management, including making critical decisions to halt a business’s decline. Turnaround specialists must also show diplomacy and determination in making those critical decisions while communicating the process to senior management, investors, and other company stakeholders.