April
2002
Spotlight
on: Adams & Associates, P.C.
Count
on Ed Adams for accounting and brokerage services
100-hour weeks are a way of life for CPAs in spring
By
Joe Emanski
 |
|
Ed
Adams
|
It's
not everyone who looked at the City of Trenton in 1993 and saw
a future as bright as the one that many people hope is now just
around the corner. But Ed Adams, managing director of Adams &
Associates, P.C., an accounting and brokerage firm on West Lafayette
Street, did just that.
Born in Perth Amboy, the 42-year old Yardley, Pa. resident says,
"I used to (have an office) in Lawrenceville. I felt that
the Trenton downtown area would probably be going through a revitalization.
Of course," Adams jokes, "I didn't think it was going
to take eight years."
A certified public accountant, Mr. Adams is also a stockbroker
through Terra Securities, a subsidiary of GE Capital. But accountancy
was the first occupation for the one-time Wall Streeter, who holds
a masters degree in business administration from St. John's University.
Today,
in addition to his accounting and brokerage practice and taking
care of four children aged 10 to 16, Mr. Adams is also an assistant
professor at Rider University, where he teaches finance and accounting.
Adams
& Associates has been serving New Jersey and Pennsylvania
for more than 15 years. They offer a few divergent practices among
its core focus areas. Naturally, Adams & Associates does personal
tax returns, offering a rapid-refund program that has become a
popular option for income-tax filers in recent years.
"We
also serve about 150 corporations, doing everything from audits
to corporate tax returns. They span pretty much from Georgia to
the Lehigh Valley-Bethlehem area, where I also have an office,"
says Mr. Adams.
Adams
& Associates counts Trenton residents and state employees
among his primary individual accounting customers, though anyone
is certainly welcome. According to Mr. Adams, many individuals
are unaware of their income-tax options when it comes to use of
home office or in becoming a subchapter S corporation. Those who
file their own returns may be missing out on the expertise that
a company like Adams & Associates can offer. Adams & Associates
generally offers to complete personal tax returns in two days.
This
time of year, says Mr. Adams, he and his staff work sixteen to
seventeen hour days. After April 15, it returns to the "normal"
routine of a 45- to 50-hour workweek. But anyone who chooses accounting
as a profession is well aware of the busy season.
Adams
& Associates is also a brokerage firm. "Basically we
do a lot of business accounts in which we set up a simple IRA
plans for employees," says Mr. Adams. "The money can
be invested in a wide array of mutual funds, or if they want to
buy stocks and bonds directly, we can also accommodate that. We
also do personal brokerage."
Like
many of downtown Trenton's entrepreneurs, Mr. Adams has not limited
himself to a single business endeavor. He is also recognizable
around town as a former owner of The Lobby, a bar and restaurant
in Trenton. "I've been an accountant in Trenton for eight
years," he says wryly, "but I owned a bar and restaurant
for a year and that's how everyone knows me."
West
Lafayette Street passersby know that a television in the Adams
& Associates front office window offers running stock quotes
during business hours. Recently Mr. Adams has begun choosing stocks
each week and placing them on a tote board outside the office,
so that anyone in the area can check out his brokerage skills.
If he keeps picking those stocks well, chances are he'll be known
around town for more than The Lobby very soon.
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