Squire Office Procedures for COVID-19 (Novel Coronavirus)

As a valued client of the Squire family, we appreciate the trust you place in us for all your accounting needs. We operate with the health and safety of our team, our clients and our communities at the forefront of our practices. That said, due to the growing concern and uncertainty that is being experienced surrounding the coronavirus (COVID-19) and its progression, and to the Governor’s directive to”Stay Safe, Stay Home, we will be closing our Salt Lake City and Orem physical locations to ensure the well-being of those around us. Rest assured that our team is still available and prepared to assist you in all your accounting needs, virtually, during the closure of our offices.    

We’ve assembled a COVID-19 task force of leaders across the firm to monitor, address and mitigate risks, presented by the virus and we intend to strictly adhere to all guidance presented by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), World Health Organization (WHO) and the Utah COVID-19 Task Force.  Out of an abundance of caution, we are taking the following actions:    

• All Squire employees will work remotely until further notice 
• All meetings will be held via telephone or video conference 
• All documentation will need to be submitted through our secure electronic channels: 
• Audit Department: your secure document exchange portal or email a Squire team member 
• Advisory Department: Contact your Squire team member for secure file transfer options 
• Tax Department: click here for changes to tax preparation operation 
• We will utilize electronic delivery of documents to you as well as the use of electronic signature capabilities when possible, if you are unable to send or receive your information electronically we will file extensions for you and request that you mail the documents and they will be processed as soon possible. 
• Payments will be completed online or information will need to be verbally provided to our administrative team to complete   

More information regarding these changes can be found on Utah’s Public Health Order. Please reach out to the Squire team if there is anything we can do to help make this transition as smooth as possible. We anticipate that in the coming days Congress, the IRS and other regulatory agencies will be passing several measures to assist with the pressures you are facing in this situation.  We are continuing to monitor this quickly evolving situation and are here to assist you as needed to meet tax and accounting reporting requirements. We will update information regarding these measures as they are announced.  

As you are aware, this is Squire’s busiest time of year, with tax filing and financial statement regulatory deadlines rapidly approaching, and while there is no assigned date for the reopening of our offices, we remain committed to making sure our operations continue to run smoothly and to maintain the quality and timeliness of service that is Squire’s hallmark.  We will continually be monitoring the COVID-19 situation and following the guidance of the CDC and the Salt Lake and Utah County Departments of Health to reopen doors when appropriate.   

On behalf of the Squire team, I thank you sincerely for your understanding and support during this time.  If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact your Squire professional or to reach out to me directly. Thank you for being a valued client of Squire.    

Jonyce Bullock, CPA 

CEO   

• We will no longer be taking cash or physical credit card payments. Credit card payments of up to $5000 or ACH payments of any amount can be processed online, here.  We can also take a payment over the phone or clients can give the front desk their processing information verbally, in the lobby, if they are unable to pay via previously mentioned methods.  We will ensure there are no other clients in the lobby to protect the privacy of your information should you need to pay verbally in the lobby
• We are performing daily wellness checks of employees entering the office to ensure there are no signs of fever, cough, or shortness of breath. 
• We ask that you please not come to our office if you are sick in any way. Any client or employee showing visible symptoms of potential illness will be restricted from entering the building. 
• We are strictly enforcing a 6-ft minimum distance between anyone in the office at any given time. 
• Any children are strongly discouraged from coming to the office. 

Finally, though this is not a new request, we would like to remind all to please utilize technology and deliver any documents you have for us electronically. Instructions to do so are listed below in the March 17th update. Additionally, please electronically sign any documents that you can. If you simply cannot make digital procedures work, we do have a box for you to drop off documents at our office.  Our Orem office will have a table and drop box in the breezeway in the front doors. The Downtown Salt Lake office will have one just outside the glass door entryway.  Receptionists will be monitoring these boxes and will retrieve documents in a timely manner to ensure the safety of the documents. Thank you in advance for your cooperation and understanding.