by Leif Jensen | Jan 9, 2018 | General |
What is on your financial dashboard? What metrics are you monitoring in your business? Are you using your industries SIC or NAICS codes for comparison? Your banker should be able to supply you annually with the updated metrics for your industry. So you can see where...
by Leif Jensen | Jan 8, 2018 | General |
There is a change in the direction of jobs. We are now experiencing a “reshoring” of manufacturing jobs back into the U.S.. What is driving the new “reshoring” trend? It seems that advances in manufacturing technologies are making it more cost-effective or more...
by Leif Jensen | Dec 20, 2017 | General |
Recently Panera founder and CEO Ron Shaich announced that he is stepping down at the end of the year. Apparently Shaich is unhappy with Wall Street’s short term viewpoint and wants the ability to spend more time debating the Street’s on its obsession with...
by Leif Jensen | Dec 19, 2017 | General |
According to Sean Parker the ex-President of Facebook, the site was created to exploit vulnerabilities in the human psyche. The design was to keep you on the site longer and in essence crave it. “And that means that we need to sort of give you a little dopamine...
by Leif Jensen | Dec 18, 2017 | General |
Who would have thought that the future of digital currency would rest in the hands of China? While Bitcoin’s value is soaring to all-time highs, the digital currency has exceeded $6,000 per coin after rising about 500% this year. Now the sharp appreciation shows that...
by Leif Jensen | Dec 15, 2017 | General |
WASHINGTON ― The Internal Revenue Service today issued the 2018 optional standard mileage rates used to calculate the deductible costs of operating an automobile for business, charitable, medical or moving purposes. Beginning on Jan. 1, 2018, the standard mileage...
by Leif Jensen | Dec 13, 2017 | General |
Gross income is the total of your unearned and earned income. If your gross income was $4,050 or more, you usually cannot be claimed as a dependent unless you are a qualifying child. Tests for a Qualifying Child: The child must be your son, daughter, stepchild, foster...
by Leif Jensen | Dec 12, 2017 | General |
The IRS is finally wising up. Before when a couple divorced the first to file typically got the kids, even if they were not entitled. It would not matter what the divorce decree stated, the recourse was to go back to court and get the judge to force the claimant to...
by Leif Jensen | Dec 11, 2017 | General |
I have a client whose revenue is decreasing by sales erosion. A surprisingly large number of their clients have reduced their orders slightly year over year. So the total sales are now 4% less than the previous year. I have recommended that they monitor their...
by Leif Jensen | Dec 6, 2017 | General |
In the past I have had to fire clients for “willfulness”. That is paying other creditors with available funds and not making the timely payroll taxes which is an example of what the IRS terms as willfulness. There is no defense against willfulness. Not paying payroll...
by Leif Jensen | Dec 5, 2017 | General |
There were over 7,600 ransomware attacks reported to the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) between 2005 and March 2016. The cost of these attacks exceeded $1.6 million. However the Kasperski Lab believes that the reported ransomware is much smaller than the...
by Leif Jensen | Dec 4, 2017 | General |
I was at a networking meeting and collected a batch of business cards. When we went to add them to the newsletter list, we found numerous misspellings of e-mail addresses (2 out of 16) and at least one business card with no name or contact information on them. Just...
by Leif Jensen | Nov 29, 2017 | General |
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...
by Leif Jensen | Nov 28, 2017 | General |
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...
by Leif Jensen | Nov 27, 2017 | General |
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...
by Leif Jensen | Nov 21, 2017 | General |
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...
by Leif Jensen | Nov 20, 2017 | General |
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...
by Leif Jensen | Nov 16, 2017 | General |
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,...
by Leif Jensen | Nov 15, 2017 | General |
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...
by Leif Jensen | Nov 14, 2017 | Case Study |
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...
