Budget Must be Flexible in Uncertain Times
How can you plan for your business future when sales may go up, stay the same or hit another dip? The long-term unemployment and depressed housing market of the past four years have resulted in a pervasive sense of uncertainty, especially for small businesses dependent on the disposable income of consumers. In this situation, a…
The Unique Benefits of an Endowment Fund
Endowments are important financial vehicles that not only perpetuate a not-for-profit’s good works, but also rank it in the eyes of other agencies, grantors and the business community. Endowments can be attractive methods to create financial health and to reward major donors. There are three types of endowment funds, and donors must be clear on…
ESOPs: Trends in the Market
Employee stock ownership plans – ESOPs – are tax-advantaged employee benefit plans designed by Congress to allow the purchase of private company shares to encourage employee ownership. ESOPs work well for companies to encourage employee ownership and for companies that might otherwise have a hard time attracting outside buyers. How Employee Stock Ownership Plans Work…
How to Create a Winning Loan Package
Business lending is tight right now, even for companies with existing loan officer relationships. It’s more important than ever to submit a complete loan package. Besides making the process smoother, a well-executed presentation will testify to your professionalism and ability to make your business successful. So what do you need to include? The following discusses…
Does Your Nonprofit Have A Healthy Reserve Fund?
The loss of a major funding source. Emergency expenditures. An opportunity to respond to a constituent’s crisis. These are a few reasons why your organization needs to have a pool of unrestricted cash available for immediate use – a reserve fund. The reality is that nearly 3 in 10 nonprofits have one month or less…
Tax Court: Interest on Forgiven Loan Taxable
Some employers who are seeking to snare top talent offer deferred signing bonuses – often in the form of loans – to key employees. The loans are scheduled to be forgiven later, after the employees prove their commitment to the new organization. A recent Tax Court case (Robert J. Brooks, et ux. v. Commissioner, TC…
Refinancing? Should You Keep or Switch Lenders?
Thinking about refinancing? If so, you may wonder whether you should keep the same lender. When you refinance, you pay off your existing mortgage and create a new one. You may even decide to combine both a primary mortgage and a second mortgage into a new loan. One approach to deciding whether to stay with…
Are You Taking Your Best Customers for Granted?
Just as with other relationships, it’s easy to take customers for granted – especially those you’ve had for a while. It’s important to remember that feeling of gratitude you had when you first started your business and your very first customer paid you. You knew then that you would be a success, that you had…
Election Year: Be Careful to Keep Your Tax-Exempt Status
A presidential election year is a good time for nonprofits to review their policies governing political activism. Most charities, churches, universities, hospitals and social service organizations have severe limitations imposed on partisan political activities to maintain their tax-exempt status. The types of permissible political activities vary with the exempt status of the organization. Of course,…
Does Your Practice Have a Business Plan?
Your law firm is not just a convenient place for you to practice your profession – it is a business that provides opportunity, financial wealth and satisfaction to you and your employees. As such, you need a business plan that envisions the firm’s future so you can properly operate your business to reach your goals….