Focus on 10 Areas to Improve Firm’s Fiscal Health
When managing a law firm in a recovering economy, it’s important to pinpoint and track the financial position of your firm. Here are 10 areas to focus on to build the fiscal health of your practice. 1. Billable hours. It all starts here. If hours never get charged, they’ll never be collected. Trends in billable hours can…
Trust Outranks Financial Knowledge in Executor Choice
The spouse is the person most often chosen by wealthy individuals to serve as executor of their will for one primary reason – trust. Six of 10 respondents to the 2013 Insights on Wealth and Worth report by U.S. Trust said they named their spouse or partner as executor of their will or estate because of their…
How Long Should Records Be Kept?
During the past decade, the way some businesses handled their business records made the wrong kind of headlines. As a result, the retention of business records is now subject to increased scrutiny and, in some cases, increased regulation. The trend is for records be kept longer than previously. Proper record retention is not only a…
Political Activities Tax-exempt Groups Can’t Do
Managers and board members of tax-exempt organizations may find the tax law’s prohibition of political activities somewhat confusing. Tax-exempt charitable organizations – Section 501(c)(3) organizations – are prohibited from directly or indirectly participating or intervening in any political campaign on behalf of, or in opposition to, any candidate for public office. The ban on political…
Employee Fraud: Getting Your Money Back
If you find yourself a victim of fraud by one of your own employees, you are not alone. The typical organization loses 6 percent of its annual revenues to occupational fraud. When fraud is discovered and the perpetrators identified, you should seek professional assistance. A certified fraud examiner and an attorney can assist in navigating…
How Retailers Can Stop Employee Theft
Most organizations are vulnerable to embezzlement from a dishonest employee. A retail establishment is especially vulnerable because of the high volume of cash passing through the business. As the saying goes, “Cash is king,” and wherever there is cash, there is a risk of embezzlement. Following are some common embezzlement schemes committed against retail operations…
Fraud at the Office: The Likely Suspects
Who commits occupational fraud? There are patterns and telltale signs. That’s according to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, which analyzed 1,388 cases of reported fraud worldwide for its latest biannual Report to the Nations. Most employees who commit fraud have clean employment histories – 87 percent had never been charged or convicted of a…
A Firm Retreat May Help Improve Your Practice
Every day, you work hard for your clients. You think about their issues, help them plan and strategize to make good decisions, and handle legal matters of all types. But, how much time do you spend working hard for your most important client – your own firm? Too often, the day-to-day pressures of client work…
Average American Debt Higher, but Fewer Have it
In 2000, 74 percent of American households were in debt, compared with 69 percent at the end of 2011. But the median amount of debt rose from $50,971 to $70,000 during the 11-year period. The number of households in the United States that hold debt has declined during the past decade. But of those who…
Which Cell Phone Service is Rated Highest?
Cell phone companies get the lowest ratings of any service evaluated by Consumer Reports magazine. None of the major companies received an overall satisfaction rating above 72 percent – even lower than from the previous survey. Three smaller companies had the highest satisfaction scores – Consumer Cellular, Credo Mobile and U.S. Cellular, which led the way with…