Suing to Recover Stolen Funds: The Pros and Cons
When an employee theft is discovered, the company must make a decision about what steps to take to recover the amount stolen. Restitution may be ordered as part of a criminal prosecution, but a plea bargain may leave the company with less than the full amount lost. If that is the case and the company…
How Much is Your Key Employee Worth?
Try to imagine your business without its key employee. That person might be the owner, the managing partner or the top rainmaker. What would be the cost to your organization if that key person died today? To protect yourself against a loss like this, you must at a minimum cover the economic loss caused by…
Is a Relative Hitting You Up for a Loan?
The economy during the past several years has left many people strapped for cash. If any of your friends or family are in a tough situation, one place they may turn to remedy their situation is you. Is it a good idea to lend money to friends and family? If so, what should you consider…
Ten Tips to Improve Your Bottom Line
The difference between a profitable business and a nonprofitable one can lie in the little things. Here are 10 areas that you should consider looking into to see if you can improve them. You might be surprised at how a few changes can impact your profitability. 1. Eliminate unnecessary payments. Defer new expenditures until you…
Online Giving Leads Donation Growth
Online giving grew substantially in 2013, especially in the areas of faith-based donations, health care and education. Donations made online continue to grow faster than other types of giving. Gifts were up 13.5 percent last year from the year before, which had posted a 14 percent increase from the previous year. Giving overall, as reported by…
Do You have Underperformers at Your Firm?
Law firms must be managed like any business in a way that ensures profitability. That includes being sure everyone is living up to expectations. If you believe an attorney at your firm is underperforming, what should you do about it? What does underperforming mean? It’s helpful to have defined measures of performance that are communicated…
How to get Tax-Exempt Status Reinstated
The IRS has recently issued guidance that allows some organizations that lost their exempt status for failure to file the required annual returns for three consecutive years to more easily have their tax-exempt status retroactively reinstated. Prior to the issuance of this guidance, it was very difficult for any organization to have its tax-exempt status reinstated retroactively, which…
Even After Death, Identity Theft a Risk
It’s been estimated that 15 million people annually have their identities stolen in the United States. And, nearly 2.5 million of them are dead, according to ID Analytics. Identity thieves target people who have passed away, in addition to stumbling upon the dead by illicitly obtaining Social Security numbers. The crime often goes months or…
New Roth In-Plan Rollover Guidance
The IRS has provided new guidance on rollovers within a retirement plan to designated Roth accounts in the same plan – in-plan Roth rollovers. For a Roth IRA, all contributions are after tax. No deduction is allowed. But amounts held in a Roth IRA that are withdrawn as a qualified distribution are not includable in…
Three Key Mistakes Business Owners Often Make
To succeed, business owners must develop the ability to identify problems on the horizon. Unfortunately, as is shown by the number of businesses that fail each year, many companies do not detect or correct their problems early enough. While it is true that some problems are unique to an industry or business, it is also…