RALEIGH, N.C. (May 18, 2010)  Responding to client needs and in anticipation of a 30-day window to file for the Therapeutic Discovery Project Tax Credit, Hughes Pittman & Gupton, LLP (www.hpg.com), the largest CPA firm headquartered and staffed in the Research Triangle Park region of North Carolina, has cross trained all of the firm's CPAs and auditors, regardless of specialty, to assist with preparing applications.

HPG senior tax accountants and advisers expect a similar process to the Advanced Energy Manufacturing Credit of 2009. If this holds true, final applications will be several hundred pages long and need to include technical and financial information as well as job creation and economic impact forecasts.

The "all hands on deck" call was sounded after the firm, which has many biotech and life science companies as clients, began discussing the opportunity for the tax credit and grant option it includes. More than 40 clients packed the information session offered by the firm on May 14.

"When the word went out that we were hosting the information meeting, I heard from several other accounting firms seeking HPG as a partner or sub-contractor to assist their clients in applying," says Tim Gupton, partner and executive committee member at HPG. "This is the biggest thing in way of funding to have ever happened for start-up to mid-sized companies in the bio, pharma and life science industries."

Cross training the firm's staff has poised HPG to offer a menu of services for those interested in applying for the credit.

Services include:

• A cost-effective initial evaluation to determine project and company eligibility
• As-needed consultations regarding interpreting qualifications, specific issues and/or program developments
• Services involving collection of data and supporting quantitative materials; determination of eligible costs
• Drafting or review of application verbiage
• Preparation or review of application prior to submission
• Evaluating how your project meets the qualification criteria, and why your project should receive priority in the selection process

Additionally, firm partners have been working with the North Carolina Biotechnology Center to make available the necessary economic impact statistics needed to address application criteria regarding job creation and sustainability. Beyond applying for the tax credit, HPG CPAs expect many companies to choose receiving the optional grant. Since it is commonplace for a grant giving organization to require regular reporting beyond tax accounting, the firm is prepared to assist.

About Hughes Pittman & Gupton, LLP (HPG):
HPG is the largest CPA firm headquartered and staffed in the Research Triangle Park region of North Carolina, as ranked by the Triangle Business Journal. The firm is the recipient of two Pinnacle Business Awards by the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce; the 2009 Large Entrepreneurial Business Award and the 2010 Integrity in Business Award. Furthermore, Business Leader magazine ranked HPG as the fifth most successful small business in North Carolina in 2008. HPG is able to provide national and global accounting resources to its clients through the CPAmerica firm network of 701 offices worldwide. HPG offers a wide array of business accounting, auditing, corporate tax, and management advisory services. Specialties include serving owner-managed, investor-backed technology and life science, healthcare services, real estate development, manufacturing and distribution businesses, and providing ERISA audits, family wealthcare services and Sarbanes-Oxley internal audit services. More than just an accounting firm, HPG assists clients in looking beyond the bottom line^sm by being the right people, right value and right firm to achieve each client's definition of success. Visit www.hpg.com.