by Leif Jensen | Aug 24, 2015 | General |
I received an e-mail for a colleague who had a referral that they could not handle and was requesting that if possible could I assist them. They were looking for assistance immediately. I was curious and I had an office day scheduled, so I accepted. This couple in...
by Leif Jensen | Aug 19, 2015 | General |
The act when you give something (an item or a favor), the other person naturally feels indebted to you – especially if the gift is unexpected. But also people do not like feeling indebted to others. We are hard-wired to balance the scales again as soon as possible....
by Leif Jensen | Aug 18, 2015 | General |
100 years ago I was working for a Finance Director company that I hated being associated with. I took the job because I had had a relatively long bout of unemployment before I was hired by Waste Management; a job I loved, I was working with a great team and had a...
by Leif Jensen | Aug 17, 2015 | General |
Last week I was meeting with a client, who was struggling a few years ago and is now on the rebound. But that in itself is the problem. When their business was struggling for income, they were forced to use up their reserves and got into debt. Even though the...
by Leif Jensen | Aug 12, 2015 | General |
I was talking to a CPA who I was meeting with the possibility of purchasing his practice. This unfortunately did not work out, but he had an interesting practice. At one point he was explaining that in the 1980’s and 90’s that he a number of “mob bosses” as clients. ...
by Leif Jensen | Aug 11, 2015 | General |
Last week I met with a client who had recommended us to one of their friends. I had written about this case when I first met with them. Upon review of the past tax returns, we believe that blatant fraud was incorporated into the preparation of both the business and...
by Leif Jensen | Aug 10, 2015 | General |
I recently met with a payroll processing sales person. She inquired as to how many zero balance S-Corps, did I process at the end of the year. I informed her that I did not do any. First there are a number of client whom handle their own payroll and I would not be...
by Leif Jensen | Aug 5, 2015 | General |
Remaining relevant is challenging. Whether you sell a product or a service the business environment in which you are working in is always in transition. For us as a CPA firm we have the changing tax laws, the FASB standards are constantly in flux. Report on a...
by Leif Jensen | Aug 4, 2015 | General |
Adoption of an automatic enrollment into a 401(k), has increased employee participation. This is bound to happen when they have no choice in the matter. But employers can also help improve participation and contribution levels in retirement plans by offering matching...
by Leif Jensen | Aug 3, 2015 | General |
Whoohoo! It seems that we as Americans are finally saving more. It just happens to not be in our employer-sponsored retirement plans. That is according to retirement market researcher Hearts & Wallets. According to the report the average annual household savings...
by Leif Jensen | Jul 27, 2015 | General |
How we got on the topic, I do not remember. But, I was having a discussion with banker and we got on the topic of bank robbery. I was joking that robbing a bank today would net you little to nothing. We no longer live in the days of John Dillinger. My banker stated...
by Leif Jensen | Jul 22, 2015 | General |
The independent contractor issue is getting more pressure and press for Uber, and many other companies. The Department of Labor is looking into the classification of independent contractor vs employees. The Department of Labor has rules in place and they are not new,...
by Leif Jensen | Jul 21, 2015 | General |
I have a client whom was late in filing their LLC return for a prior year. As part of our ongoing discussions I explained that there would be penalties for filing late. Below, I have included from the IRS’s website the calculations of these penalties: Late Filing of...
by Leif Jensen | Jul 20, 2015 | General |
It seems that times are definitely a changing… We are moving to the “Gig Economy”, the gig, or on-demand, economy is the new favorite business model that seems to be coming out of Silicon Valley these days. A few years ago there was a study by Intuit, in which they...
by Leif Jensen | Jul 15, 2015 | General |
Student loan debt continues to be a financial burden for more than just millennials. It seems that this problem is becoming a huge and growing problem for many aging Americans who are near or in retirement. According to the NY Fed, student loan balances among...
by Leif Jensen | Jul 14, 2015 | General |
This year, taxpayer identity theft took a maliciously clever turn and it seems that the IRS assisted them in this endeavor. The phony tax returns that were filed appeared to be very similar to the taxpayers’ previous years’ returns. So close that the standard pattern...
by Leif Jensen | Jul 13, 2015 | General |
We all know that the cost of college has been increasing significantly more that the cost of inflation. It seems that the current average cost of attending a four-year private university is now nearly $42,500 per year, triple the price tag in 1990. This is the...
by Leif Jensen | Jul 8, 2015 | General |
The rich or not-so-rich, share the common concern of running out of money in retirement. This seems to be a major concern for 57% of clients, according to results of an AICPA Personal Financial Planning Trends Survey . There are high levels of concern over adequate...
by Leif Jensen | Jul 7, 2015 | General |
It seems that the US had more open jobs in April than at any time in the past 15 years, according to the most recent data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. The shortage of talent appears to be most evident at midsize US companies, according to a Deloitte news...
by Leif Jensen | Jul 6, 2015 | General |
A survey conducted last month by Bankrate, found that in addition to the 29 percent of Americans who have no savings, another 21 percent have less than three months worth of expenses saved. Based upon my experience, there are a large percentage of the top 10% of...
