Planning ahead

With all of the recent hurricanes, some companies have been better positioned to make money and take market share from others by planning ahead. It seems that having fully functioning facilities when everyone else is closed can really boost the bottom line. Who would...

The Financial Regulators

All of the good news coming for the large companies has the financial regulators scrutinizing how public firms are reporting their earnings. All companies publically traded must use generally accepted accounting principles for their financial reports.  But under...

Commercials with stories

There is a new trend in commercials that has caught my wife’s attention. These commercials tell quick stories with the product being nearly invisible. But the quality of the story is enough to keep her attention and stop to watch them. This is a unique idea, and will...

New or refurbish

My son was asking me about getting where I get work done on my dress shoes.  From what I have observed and read Millennials are breed to look at recycling and refurbishing things, so his interest was not a complete surprise.  Whereas other generations tend to dispose...

No interest credit cards

This one truly surprised me when I found out they existed.  No interest for 12/15/18 month credit cards.  My whole understanding of the credit card industry has been that they insist on getting paid royally from both side of any transaction, just because they could...

Clear Communication and Workplace Expectations

When you hear the phrases, “May I have a word with you” or “May I see you in my office,” do you think, “Uh oh, what did I do now?”  This response does not create the optimal environment for you or your people to perform at their best.  To create a better environment,...

Amazon takes over the world

I don’t know why I surprised when I found out that Amazon now had added housekeeping and handyman services to their line. The company that was barely able to stay afloat with selling books is now planning to take over the world.  If the stories are true they plan to...

Short Lived Businesses

There are times when someone comes to us to setup a new business for them. Two of these businesses come to mind and both of them had merit. The clients have the plan that this will be the next step in their lives. The first client was looking to start a window and...

Unfair competition

It seems that new technology start-ups are facing a greater hurdle than they expected.  While they may have their great idea and are looking for VC or initial investors the larger tech companies (Google, Facebook or Amazon) are looking at what they are doing or trying...

Frugality

I was reading an article when a guy was remembering has little cash he had in his 20’s and how he pinched pennies.  He apparently made his own jams and jellies.  He jarred his own applesauce. Then as his salary increased he continued his penny pinching ways. Then one...

Skepticism

Due professional care is a combination of professional judgment and skepticism. The AICPA defines independence of mind as a state of mind that permits a member to perform services without being affected by influences that compromise professional judgment.  To reach...

The illusion of wealth

We have all heard of the phrase “fake it till you make it”.  Since I am one who gets to peer behind the curtain, I am still occasionally surprised by those who still fake it. One gentleman was recently bragging that since he was getting married he and his wife-to-be...

American Opportunity Tax Credit

The American opportunity tax credit is a credit for qualified education expenses paid for an eligible student for the first four years of higher education. You can get a maximum annual credit of $2,500 per eligible student. So in this court case the cost to become a...

Worker Classification Definition Factors

The IRS has three tests, for workers classification each made up of multiple factors. Behavioral Control covers facts that show if the business has a right to direct and control what work is accomplished and how the work is done, through instructions, training, or...

Worker classification

Worker classification continues to remains a priority for the IRS. The Service continues to seek back taxes and issue penalties to firms that have wrongly treated actual employees as independent contractors. Unreported and underreported employment taxes continue to...

Charitable Deductions

Surprise the IRS is looking for filers who claim large charitable deductions. In the case of the big-game hunter, who found out after he took a $1.45 million write-off for animal hides, skulls, horns and other hunting specimens he donated to charity. His stance was...

They givith and taketh away

The airlines have been implementing lower and lower fares; they can be good for consumers.  But to recoup those monies, we all need to beware of unexpected fees they are imposing when we travel on a basic economy fare. These new bare-bones fare, recently rolled out by...

Best Preparer in the World!

An individual found a tax preparer who promised him a refund of approximately $20,000 and charged him 20% of the refund amount as a fee. Probably up front as well. The preparer attached a fraudulent Schedule C to the return, which showed a $54,000 loss, even though...

Equifax lawsuit

Surprise there is a lawsuit against Equifax. The lawsuit accused Equifax of failing to implement reasonable procedures to protect the information and for failing to notify victims of the breach in a timely manner The hacked information included names, full Social...

Finding those employees

There has been a lot of talk in the media about the difficulties of finding employees. One of the main problems in finding qualified employees is turning out to be drug addiction.  Surprise drug addiction is apparently widespread. Because of this up to 25% of job...

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