tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31947431547900655422024-03-05T04:01:09.612-08:00Rene Velez CPA NewsA Blog that allows subscribers to follow articles from my news letter.Rene Velez, CPAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17782539340591104042noreply@blogger.comBlogger38125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3194743154790065542.post-21120753589767797292014-11-26T13:23:00.001-08:002014-11-26T13:23:37.535-08:00Fraud: " You Need An External Set of Eyes"<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Nobody wants to talk about Fraud.
It’s embarrassing. But it is a crime of opportunity. It happens because your
internal controls are weak, no one is watching, your internal accountant,
bookkeeper or other employee may have a problem with debts, substance abuse,
family problems. It happens. It’s part of the human condition. These problem themselves
may not be crimes, but they can influence people to do what they typically may
not consider. The FBI says, 80% of people are good people. They will never
steal from you. About 10% steal out of some need or because they think they can
get away with it. The other 10% will kill you for a piece of toast because
that’s all they know. It’s sad but it’s part of life since ancient times.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA4Ok1FMuX0Lx0cQAiYKAFM8KWEZYn1d_bSjIqbId9KTU7D4Ii8KgRCx1dShizJQy1-U4BsWOhr5YHUaUJ2gBUBKKn23gSREEwGwoXvWSz1YrBWXLBsY1cbHcune16lEu3NZzmxyTh1apv/s1600/QB+FRAUD+Rene+Velez+CPA.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA4Ok1FMuX0Lx0cQAiYKAFM8KWEZYn1d_bSjIqbId9KTU7D4Ii8KgRCx1dShizJQy1-U4BsWOhr5YHUaUJ2gBUBKKn23gSREEwGwoXvWSz1YrBWXLBsY1cbHcune16lEu3NZzmxyTh1apv/s1600/QB+FRAUD+Rene+Velez+CPA.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Recently,
I was analyzing a client’s financial reports prepared by his new internal
bookkeeper. As usual I made a number of inquiries and requested some additional
reports and reconciliations. Some I got some I didn’t.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From experience, when the outside CPA asks
for standard reports and doesn’t get them or the delivery is shrouded in
mystery, it’s a bad sign. I reported my concerns to the business owners to put
them on notice. Advised them to be mindful and pay close attention to make sure
procedures were being followed. At the second period meeting again I asked for
reports. Again, same response. I tried to see if there was something I could do
to help. Provide support, diagnose a problem. I finally got a series of
reports. Upon analysis I saw entries I knew could not be correct. The
implications where very, very bad. I asked the bookkeeper to explain. Talk to
me, tell me where I can help. How is this possible? The answers were fragmented
and puzzling. I had no choice but to call the owner at home, late one night and
ask questions, I never like to make. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">After several
months of reconstruction, we got lucky; the only fraud committed was a result
of incompetence. It did however, cost the company money. But all the signs were
there for embezzlement and theft. The bookkeeper had access to bank accounts
and checks. The bookkeeper had multiple failed marriages, business failures,
family issues, was under collection for debts. It was the classical profile of
what the FBI has deemed a likely candidate to commit a white collar crime. It
is the profile I see time and again in many theft and embezzlement cases. I
have seen quite a few in Miami.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Let’s
be clear. Sometimes there is no way to prevent it. In the end as a business
owner you have no choice but to trust. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">From years of experience, like my client
above said, “thank god you ask all the questions. Thank god you know what to
look for”. “Just the fact that you are there looking over his/her accounting
function and you get involved”.</i></b> I sit at his/her employees desk, drink
some coffee ask questions, see how they do their work. That keeps people
honest. Many times, it also makes the employees feel good someone cares about
what they do and how they do it. They feel valued and that can make a big
difference. It’s not just the numbers. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Many
of my smaller clients with 10 or fewer employees and $5 million or less in
revenues. These clients are often at risk. They cannot afford top talent. There
is little to no segregation of duties, and the owner operator is so busy, he’s
not thinking accounting, finance, computer systems and internal controls. He’s
thinking, how to make it through the day, bring in sales and keep the existing clients
happy. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">That’s why you need those external set of eyes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i></b></span></div>
Rene Velez, CPAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17782539340591104042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3194743154790065542.post-47938621877093357242014-11-26T13:16:00.000-08:002014-11-26T13:16:21.224-08:00Federal Income Tax Requirements for Foreigners<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Without a doubt Miami has become
an international metropolis. Anyone reading this article who lives in Miami
will likely know someone who is trying to figure out what their
responsibilities are for income tax filing at the end of this year. It’s
critical to know that violating your income tax reporting responsibilities by
someone who has been given residency may be regarded as “abandoning their
resident status” by U.S. Citizen and Immigration Service. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">This indirectly says make sure you get good professional advice.</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The application of U.S. tax law
is not easy. An initial consultation with any tax professional will ask a whole
variety of questions. Some of these questions will be:</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">(1)<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span>What
type of Visa do you have?</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">(2)<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span>What
is your purpose in the U.S.?</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">(3)<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span>Where
do you live?</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">(4)<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span>How
many days have you been in the U.S. in the past three years?</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">(5)<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span>How
do you make a living and support yourself?</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">(6)<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span>What
is your marital status?</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">(7)<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span>Do
you have a social security number or ITIN?</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">(8)<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span>What
is your tax home?</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">(9)<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span>What
country issued your Passport?</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It’s very important that you be
able to answer each question precisely and have documentation to support your
answers. The trouble is, more often than not a foreigner’s Visa, or initial
reason for coming to the U.S. and perhaps staying longer than expected becomes
not only part of their journey, but now part of a tax advisor’s journey to find
the right answers to tax compliance.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1GA99GLBL1CSv4lnakcg_019XEujdtlSmKuJWz2RAC0G-AxANi5FqUXZdF8zz1L-Kv0JDyu2NsVkkvj01jPaOQJeOKfx7ekI6rzHXYXHvRelo_hJb8g_M2fcSCR6lhan5uMWdVJCRnH8U/s1600/IRSHELP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1GA99GLBL1CSv4lnakcg_019XEujdtlSmKuJWz2RAC0G-AxANi5FqUXZdF8zz1L-Kv0JDyu2NsVkkvj01jPaOQJeOKfx7ekI6rzHXYXHvRelo_hJb8g_M2fcSCR6lhan5uMWdVJCRnH8U/s1600/IRSHELP.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Are you a Resident or Non
Resident?</i></b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The first question we need to
address is what category of foreigner are you? Are you a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Resident” or a “Non- Resident”</i> Please keep in mind this may not
have anything to do with your Visa or intention.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Generally, “Resident” Aliens are
treated as U.S. taxpayers and file form 1040.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>If you have income from abroad, you are generally required to report “World
Wide Income”. Good news is you get credit for taxes already paid in another
country. If you are a “Non – Resident” you may need to file form 1040NR and you
are generally taxed on U.S. Source Income. Even if you are deemed a “Resident
Alien” there is an exception to being treated as a U.S. taxpayer if you can
meet the conditions under the “Closer Connection Exception”. This generally
means your true tax home is somewhere else. This is important for those
foreigners who have a vacation home in the U.S., stay on average more than 183
days (discussed later), but really are on an extended vacation. (Many people in
Miami these days buying nice condos who may not need to file) </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Your “Residency Status” is
determine by two tests. Either the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">(1)
Green Card Test or (2) The Substantial Presence Test.</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The Green Card Test is fairly
simple. If you have been authorized and given the privilege to reside in the
U.S., as an immigrant, by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS)
then you generally meet this test. Your are in fact a resident.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The Substantial Presence Test,
really is the catch all. This test states; if you have been in the United
States at least 183 days in the past three years then, you are regarded as a
“Resident”, if not you are a “Non-Resident” The issue lies in the calculation
of the 183 days. Generally, its; All the days of the current year, plus 1/3 the
days of the immediate prior year, plus 1/6 the days of the second preceding
year. Get all those entry and exit Visa stamps, look through airline ticket
purchases, recall your wonderful times traveling and start counting! </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The important thing to note is
that it does not matter if you applied for residency, have a green card or not.
If you forgot to leave and stayed 183 days or more, you just vacationed your
way into a new tax home. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">All
the tax issues, concerns and variables can be rather complicated. It’s possible
“Tax Treaty” Provisions may apply for your country. Gathering your information
first is key. Then call a qualified tax advisor and stay away from the tax
return mills. Each person’s situation is different so every factor needs to be
taken into account. </span></span>Rene Velez, CPAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17782539340591104042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3194743154790065542.post-54423848462754507722014-11-26T13:12:00.001-08:002014-11-26T13:12:36.284-08:00Retirement?.......Oh! That Really Long Vacation!<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Let’s face it. All of us, hard
working folks have so much going on that we tend to live for the here and now.
When we make money, we pay our bills, we pay down debt. We leave a little aside
for “disposable income” (i.e., restaurant meals, movies, vacation, hobbies,
home improvement and of course the kids). Well…most of us.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">When we stop and take a look
back, what’s left? <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">For many American’s
their home, if they have one, is the only real savings they have, come
retirement.</i> Another chunk can come from any potential inheritance Mom &
Dad might leave you. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe you have a
Whole Life insurance policy that has a cash surrender value. Maybe you have a
little stashed in a savings account or in an IRA or employer 401K plan. Then
you have some Social Security Benefits; not nearly enough to really sustain
your current spending levels. Many government workers have it really good in
that they get guaranteed defined benefits, typically a percentage of their
ending or highest salary until death. Yep, these legacy costs make democracy
very expensive. (That’s another story)</span></div>
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</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Now think of what your expenses
will be. Healthcare costs are huge as you get old. Especially, if you have
health problems. Insurance or Medicare will not cover it all. That wonderful
house you paid off; now needs a new roof, plumbing work, a new kitchen and bathroom
and new HVAC system. You need a new car. You have to pay real estate taxes and
insurance for home and auto. You don’t have kids anymore but, hey now you have
grandkids. Who could say no to those little rug rats? How about an occasional
vacation? Have to do a few of those before you find yourself in a pair of
senior Pampers!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">All is not lost. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Plan for that retirement as early as
possible. Like right out of college.</i> Forego some modest luxuries if you
must today so that tomorrow you will have a little more. Count on the fact that
we will have various economic cycles and that IRA’s and 401K plans as well as
savings invested in mutual funds could loose significant values. (Like they did
starting in 2008. A 40% loss in value was common) If you have a windfall year,
try not to spend more, put some in reserve. Retirement accounts, and employer
plans are a huge benefit during your working years. Not only will you save for your
retirement but you will also save on income taxes at rates higher than they
might be when you retire. It’s possible a $10K savings in one year really feels
more like $7.5K when you consider tax savings. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Then you have the employer match of many employer sponsored retirement
plans. THAT’S FREE MONEY!</i> Take it and run, you earned it. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Over a 40 year period (if you start at age
25) saving $2,000 a year and increasing this amount by $500, every 5 years at
4.85% avg. ROI, will yield a savings of about $359K, not taking into account
tax savings.</i> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The stock market and
hence mutual funds have a better rate of return on average for a balanced
portfolio. Of course no one can really predict a down cycle.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">There are options and choices to
make now that can make a big difference in the long run. You do have to be
mindful. You do have to make those choices. But the real key is start as early
as possible. Talk to your tax advisor, your CPA. Put it all out and come up
with a clear plan and a goal. Need help, call me.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwzjzCfu_ysef3U1-k0BBmdpC_lwwTt79f_lwVrXGlX-EbRZjWUMLpFF38gMLJ_WGn8hXLi2s-WUe0pR_dxVJyKP0ZfRHpIERg2rbbD6rZtlYveJCvYwHweAfRxqxq5w_CoEEFl0oTPU86/s1600/Retirement+2014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwzjzCfu_ysef3U1-k0BBmdpC_lwwTt79f_lwVrXGlX-EbRZjWUMLpFF38gMLJ_WGn8hXLi2s-WUe0pR_dxVJyKP0ZfRHpIERg2rbbD6rZtlYveJCvYwHweAfRxqxq5w_CoEEFl0oTPU86/s1600/Retirement+2014.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Retirement, is a very ugly word.
It suggests that you are disposed of. It says you are put aside. It says you
are no longer useful. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Nonsense!……me I’m
going for a Really Long Vacation!</b></span></div>
Rene Velez, CPAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17782539340591104042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3194743154790065542.post-6357880934245000042014-11-19T13:23:00.000-08:002014-11-19T13:23:39.154-08:00So you have an LLC with revenues:<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">LLC's,
<em><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">a.k.a.:</span></em> <em><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">"Limited Liability
Companies";</span></em> have gained enormous popularity in the past 15
years. They are a creative legal entity that has tax characteristics of a
chameleon. <em><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">They are adaptive
and can be taxed as S-Corps, C-Corps, Partnerships or disregarded as its own
entity.</span></em> So from a tax standpoint saying you have an LLC really
tells your tax advisor next to nothing. What this also means is that you have
to plan ahead. Our tax system has lots of alternative choices. But most importantly,
now is the time of year you want to really see were you are at. Sit with a tax
advisor and get a hold of your tax exposure. See what you can do to reduce your
and perhaps your partners tax liability <em><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">"before
year end"</span></em>. What options and choices do you have? In some cases
it's not just the income tax in your bracket. It is also the additional self
employment tax which is another 15.3%. So, spending a little now on a good tax
advisor can pay for itself in tax savings.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The
overwhelming popularity of LLC's has a great following from small to mid sized
enterprises and professional service and investment firms. Sometimes, small
companies fear spending money on a qualified tax advisor. I know this is self
serving, but really , you're doing yourself a dis-service. Small enterprises
should steer clear from, <em><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">"tax
return mill companies"</span></em>, and hire a dedicated professional with
the knowledge and the tools to educate you and get you on a defined path. In
some cases a large tax law or accounting firm, with hefty fees may not be the
way to go. <em><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">A good
relationship is however, a tremendous resource.</span></em> <em><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">It's a smart investment in your
entrepreneurial development</span></em> and there is no reason to go it alone
or to try and imitate what your friends are telling you.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">If
you like this posting, or if you have other areas of interest, please feel free
to comment or simply reach out.</span></div>
Rene Velez, CPAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17782539340591104042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3194743154790065542.post-46388122613630150712014-11-19T13:21:00.000-08:002014-11-19T13:21:54.906-08:00A Decent Human Is Good For Business!<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I
once worked for someone who told me. "The Hardest Thing You Will Ever Do
In Your Life Is To Do The Right Thing". He continued to add, "That's
Why you Should Do It. It Will Always Set You Apart From The Rest". He
wasn't wrong and for all of my adult life I have always tried to do it right.
Or at least as best as I can. I thanked my parents and my up bringing as my
back bone to morality and ethics. Truth is, being a veteran of this dog eat dog
world, I do it because it's good business, for profit and because I fear not to
make my own path to my own peace of mind and my own happiness. It's my Brand!</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Adam
Smith, the Economist knew this Before he wrote his famous book "The Wealth
of Nations". Russ Roberts interprets his writing and the hidden meaning of
his thoughts as it applied back then, and still does in our modern day.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp7NaYK4zFNdGe30ujqlCLdo9oen5MHct5mHdeGZg7BgL9xOYvPcNTJGR5pBZmz0GUvU-76zgUb1OWvf0mDOLj0b4IB0MJwIG32oQuiA18WjnzZ2mCaVKXmjbAg1M7Mh7zS12yFtrD5YEj/s1600/Adam+Smith.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp7NaYK4zFNdGe30ujqlCLdo9oen5MHct5mHdeGZg7BgL9xOYvPcNTJGR5pBZmz0GUvU-76zgUb1OWvf0mDOLj0b4IB0MJwIG32oQuiA18WjnzZ2mCaVKXmjbAg1M7Mh7zS12yFtrD5YEj/s1600/Adam+Smith.PNG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Economics
is the not really math or business. It's about the psychology and philosophy of
how and why you make choices and the outcome of those choices. If you are like
me you have plenty of choices to make in life. For your own sake, for your
clients, your children and your spouses and the people you really care about.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Turns
out that there is a hidden hand that motivates us and rewards us for being kind
and wanting to be loved. In turn it makes the world bearable and liveable even
under the most difficult of market (Uh...life) conditions.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Read
the book. It's an interesting read and believe me it's not sleeper economics at
all. The book will reinforce what you might already know. Or it will shed a new
light as to why things are the way they are and why you just need to do your
part. You just might realize, being a decent human being has value in this
selfish, narcissist world.</span></div>
Rene Velez, CPAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17782539340591104042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3194743154790065542.post-82527467844276783282013-04-29T11:54:00.000-07:002013-04-29T11:54:32.953-07:00Using The Cloud for Travel and Emergencies<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Hopping on a plane and taking a trip is
as common as stepping into an elevator. In just a few short hours you can be
thousands of miles away. For most trips
many of us now take very little cash. Depending instead on debit cards and
credit cards. Need cash, just step up to an ATM. Our wallets and of course for
the ladies your purses are stores of financial resources and information.
Credit Cards, Debit Cards, Drivers Licenses, Insurance Cards, Auto
Registrations, your little cheat sheets for passwords. But what happens if you
lose that purse or wallet? What if you get mugged? What if you are in a bad car
accident and you are separated from that wallet or purse? What if you lose that
credit card or leave it behind and need to cancel it right away? What number do
you call? What was the credit card number? Here’s an idea that can give you
some piece of mind.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Take a scan of Credit and Debit Cards
(front and back), a scan of Passports (including any Visa’s), a scan of your
driver license, auto insurance card, auto or boat registration, a scan of your
health insurance documents. Scan your airline, cruise and other travel
documents. If you are traveling with a minor and you have written authorization
to provide medical treatment. If you are traveling with a domestic partner and
have documentation that allows you to authorize medical services to your loved
one, you should scan these legal documents as well. You may want to include
addresses and telephone numbers of people you are visiting or people close to
where you will be going. In an emergency, these people can be a resource to
you.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Once Scanned create either one master
document, or separate documents, password protect them and upload them to
Google Docs or any other cloud storage medium.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Now,
as long as you can get access to the Internet, you have access as well as a
copy to all that critical information should you need it when you are away from
home. All you need is one login and the password for the files. It’s also a
great idea as part of a hurricane preparedness plan, or any natural disaster.
Even if you lose your smartphone or laptop, you can access this file from any
hotel computer or internet café anywhere in the world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Rene Velez, CPAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17782539340591104042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3194743154790065542.post-83113700681178205922013-04-29T11:52:00.000-07:002013-04-29T11:52:50.084-07:00Communication Apps for Travel<br />
<div style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If you
have ever traveled outside of the United States you will surely encounter the
need if not the urge to reach out and talk or communicate with friends, family and
co-workers. Even if you do not travel often you may have friends and contacts
and like me business in other countries. So you really want affordable and easy
to use mediums to communicate and stay in touch with your VIP’s. Here is a
round-up of some cool apps that require web access and keep you in touch. Best
of all the apps and the services are free or at very deep discounts!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Skype:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Okay I am sure you have heard of this app. Telephone calls
for free to anyone that has an account. Or discount calls to land lines almost
anywhere in the world. Works on Wifi or 3G. Sends texts, Pics, Videos, and you
can transmit attachments. Really good for very large attachments. You can use
this on your iPad, computer or iPhone. I use it all the time for those
international calls at pennies for the minute. On a smartphone, Skype will use
cell phone minutes but if you have a computer or a tablet its Wifi only.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Talkatone: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Nice app that requires you’re a gmail account user.
Essentially uses your google voice account and the contacts already on your
phone. The telephone pad looks just like the iPhone pad. All you need is Wifi
access and voila, you’re talking away with your VIP’s; for free. It does not use your cell phone minutes where
google voice does. You can call or SMS text the US and Canada for free and
international calls are at a discount.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Whatsapp: </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">You’re on vacation and suddenly feel your thumbs are
becoming weak from lack of texting. Or maybe you just want that intermittent
interjection of how wonderful your vacation is and how rude the waiter was in
Paris. No problem. Whatsapp uses your smartphone contacts and allows you to
text other cell phone users anywhere in the world for free. Send Pics, audio
notes or videos. Switch from SMS to exchange messages.<b> <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> </span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">So you say you don’t
like being that connected. No worries, turn the phone off. On my next newsletter
I will provide the top 10 excuses for not staying in touch during your
vacation.</span>Rene Velez, CPAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17782539340591104042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3194743154790065542.post-13992101773127800362013-02-19T18:49:00.001-08:002013-02-19T18:49:28.153-08:00A Late Tax Season for 2013<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> For the past few years congress has
enacted numerous tax law changes that require new forms, new rules and a host
of new calculations. For each change that congress makes the IRS has to first
make or adjust the forms, update their computer processing systems, test the
results and then release the final versions to the public. Just about every tax
preparer today uses some kind of tax software and as soon as the final form version
is released by the IRS and in many cases even before then the programmers are
updating the tax software so that tax preparers can service the public. This
year it just got worse.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Firstly,
the IRS would not accept personal tax returns until after January 30<sup>th</sup>,
2013. To make matters worse as of the present date 29 forms have not been
finalized by the IRS. In particular, according to the IRS certain forms for
partnerships, S-corporations, C-corporations will not be made available until a
week before the March 15<sup>th</sup> filing deadline. It depends if any of these forms pertain to your particular tax return.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For
those taxpayers that need a K-1 from a pass through entity, to prepare your
personal return, you may have no alternative than to file an extension and wait
until all the updates are issued and then file at a later date.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">At
this juncture, everyone just needs to be patient and in time we can all get
through this.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Rene Velez, CPAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17782539340591104042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3194743154790065542.post-22823113411905315192013-02-19T18:46:00.000-08:002013-02-19T18:46:27.148-08:00Some Tax Laws Are Still the Same<br />
<div style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As
part of the current tax law changes congress moved to leave in effect certain
tax provisions. Here is a brief list of some of these.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The optional deduction for state and
local sales taxes in lieu of deducting state income taxes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The above the line deduction for up to
$4,000 in qualified tuition and related expenses.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The deduction of home mortgage
insurance premiums.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The exclusion in income of up to $2
million dollars in the cancellation of mortgage debt for a primary residence.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">15 Year depreciation for leasehold
improvements.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">50% Bonus Depreciation on purchase of
new assets.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">An increase to $500K in Section 179
first year expensing option for the purchase of new or used business equipment,
with an investment limit of $2 million.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It’s important
to plan ahead but these could prove to be useful for some taxpayers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Rene Velez, CPAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17782539340591104042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3194743154790065542.post-7606129245766651642013-02-18T14:55:00.002-08:002013-02-19T18:40:01.116-08:00Pick Your Startup Managers Like Wine or Whiskey<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Without a doubt corporate America is being shaped by many smaller companies that take advantage of trending technology, globalization or shifts in the local or global economy. I like to refer to this in general as market disrupters but, that’s another story. By and large newer and smaller companies are headed by young talent who come to battle in the business community with great innovation and talent but often lack a few critical ingredients. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>In managing a company there is a lot to say for a balanced approach. Personally, I am a big promoter of this in my own business and in my personal life. You need to have a good mix of innovation, bravado, intellect, wisdom and even temperedness to create a good work environment and to carry out the strategic model in such a way that it carves out a positive corporate culture. Unfortunately, when it comes to management, wisdom and even temperedness do not typically come from young managers. It comes from seasoned professionals who have been around a while and know how to adjust their egos and make business decisions that are well measured.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Yes a good dose of ego is good so I will have to say this: “I have always known I have gotten better with age” –LMAO All kidding aside, this article in Mashable, <a href="http://mashable.com/2013/02/11/entrepreneur-test/">The Best Entrepreneurs are Older, Have Less Ego</a> is a good read. Essentially, up to the age of 40 you develop good entrepreneurial skills and guess what?, they don’t go away after that. This makes people in their midlife potentially great entrepreneurs. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>So, as I have titled this piece great entrepreneurs are best when aged like a fine wine or whiskey. As for me, I drink both…..but only in moderation.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Stay thirsty my friends. - LOL</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
Rene Velez, CPAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17782539340591104042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3194743154790065542.post-42383735683471770232013-02-18T14:50:00.001-08:002013-02-18T14:50:42.477-08:00A Few Good Apps<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Increasingly, I have used my IPad for general business use instead of carrying around a heavy laptop that is bulky and takes time to boot up. But for the most part an IPad is simply not a great productivity device. However there are a few apps that can help you get things done when you simply want to stay productive. So here is a brief list of a few Apps that help me get the job done.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>QuickOffice:</b> This is a simple office App that handles Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, Power Point presentations and can also handle PDF documents. You can save documents on your IPad or store them on the cloud using Google Docs. It’s a great little App and it has come in handy for doing work, writing a letter, or for meetings where I can share a document, or power point on screen rather than bring in a stack of papers. Works great with a projector, just remember to bring the cable.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>LogmeIn Ignition:</b> This is a remote desktop App that allows you to work on your computer just as if you were sitting in front of your computer at the office. Although the IPad is not a productivity device, I have used it to go through my Outlook folders, retrieve files or simply look something up on my office computer. Very handy in a pinch.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>CamScanner:</b> Ever been at a meeting and need to make a quick copy of something. But you don’t know where the copier is, don’t want to miss anything in a meeting, can’t figure out how to work the copier. Use CamScanner to take a picture of it with your IPad, print it later or simply get the information from the document via a screen view. You can do the same with the basic camera on your IPad, although this is a bit more organized. Take pictures of receipts, for travel as well, print them later and attach to your expense report</span></div>
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Rene Velez, CPAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17782539340591104042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3194743154790065542.post-50017410515897411652012-10-16T13:35:00.000-07:002012-10-16T13:35:10.990-07:00Branding and Infrastructure<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> A question that often comes from business owners as we discuss other matters is: What is my business worth? With any luck most business owners derive a regular paycheck. However, many entrepreneurs want their efforts and their dreams to be realized in some measure of monetary value. After all, we do read the business journals of fortunate business owners who ultimately sell their businesses for profit and go on to drink Coronas on some distant beach with the ocean waves lapping at their feet. Truth be told, there is no simple answer to what a business is worth, that I could cover in this snippet. And there are also many ways in which to value a business.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Many, perhaps the majority of small businesses are leveraged from operating revenue. This is to say that the value of the company is based on its ability to continue operations and earn a profit from revenues. Which also suggests that if you stop generating revenues, or if you remove the revenues from the business, it is potentially worth little more, if not less than, the actual book value of a company. Of course there are many exceptions beyond what I can write here. However, for illustrative purposes we will stick to that theory.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> So what if you want to sell that business in the next few years. How can you sweeten the deal, make it more attractive to a potential buyer? So much so that they would be willing to pay a premium to buy your business. Two thoughts come to mind. (a) Branding and (b) Infrastructure. Not surprising that every medium and large business in this country, if not the world, spend collectively billions of dollars a year improving these two areas.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Branding, generally increases sales. This potentially creates a higher value by itself as many operating leveraged companies sell for multiples of revenues. Secondly, because branding essentially is a label that inherently stands for "value". Like, if you want to buy my business, I will require a premium price. In simple terms branding is, stand for something, be recognized, or an offer of value.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Infrastructure allows you to operate at higher efficiency. Again, potentially higher profits and a higher value. It could also mean that you are geared for higher business volume which you have not achieved but your potential buyer knows he can. Infrastructure, gives you a competitive advantage to other competitors because it is an investment that can at times be a barrier to similar businesses who have not made the required investments. Hence, they are less able to compete in a given market, less able to increase revenues and be able to support those revenues by means of performance. Less able to deal with management and growth issues than competitors. This means your potential for additional revenues and profit is a matter of marketing. Infrastructure comes from, management information and accounting systems. Customer relations and order taking systems. Investments in machinery, equipment and perhaps vehicles. It can be hiring the right professionals. It can also come from integration of functional areas of your business model. Perhaps the development of distribution channels. In this area there are indeed countless possibilities. Simply put infrastructure refers to the business machinery required to operate.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So what have you and your accountant talked about lately?</span></div>
Rene Velez, CPAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17782539340591104042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3194743154790065542.post-87044444954502322002012-10-16T13:30:00.000-07:002012-10-16T13:31:04.189-07:00The Art of Analytics and Listening for Leadership<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> One look at any book store shelf and you can find endless books on leadership. Thinking back on my profession, I have read and studied numerous cases and books that discuss leadership, decision making and on how to be a good manager. I have to say that collectively, the reading list has helped. But truth be told, in the practical world how one goes about making business decisions is very different than how one would do a case study of business problems. Why? There are many reasons but, perhaps the most apparent explanation is that in a case study or in reading a book you have 20/20 vision. You can do Monday morning quarterbacking. You also have time to think and analyze, and you are already primed for the fact that there is a problem in the first place. Secondly, we all have to deal with office politics. You have to pick your battles, you have to be politically correct. In some cases there literally is no way to win. No practical means to solve the problem. Your choices may be limited to simply surviving.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Perhaps the most important thing one can take away from reading business cases and in reading leadership books is to develop your sense of analytics. It is one of the weakest areas many business managers have. I should add even great managers have trouble in this area. Developing an analytical skill set is key to being a great manager, a great leader. Understanding cause and effects, relationships in business processes, financial and logistical variables. In the end it is about how well you can connect the dots that lead you to better decisions. It's also about the ability to put yourself in someone else's shoes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> This brings me to perhaps the most important thing I use in any leadership role: "Listening". Years ago I learned a key lesson. It really does not matter what you know or how smart you think you are in business or what you think. Sometimes, it's not even important that you know how to gauge the big problems from the small ones. If you want to solve the most problems in the shortest amount of time; "listen". In particular listen to your employees, as well as your customers. A testament to this is how often I have worked with dysfunctional companies where there was little to no system at all and yet the employees got the job done. Simply because the owner or bosses listened to the employees and the employees listened to their bosses and most importantly the employees listened to one another. Despite poor accounting, poor management systems, poor internal control, poor documentation and even poor profits the company had a large client base and there were few complaints from customers. Listening and addressing the issues together with doing "whatever it takes" compensated for everything else that was wrong in the company. Perhaps Jeff Haden in this article published in Inc. magazine on Sept 4th, 2012 demonstrates one way of listening for leadership. <a href="http://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/do-you-pass-this-key-leadership-test.html">"Do-you-pass-this-key-leadership-test"</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> To end this piece I would like to repeat something a very good boss once told me; "Don't listen to the words he is saying, listen to what he is trying to tell you". Just goes to show how much psychology there is in business, this is the very same exact line I have heard marriage counselors use in trying to get spouses to understand one another. I guess this is a case of art imitating life!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Can't wait to hear your side of the story.</span></div>
Rene Velez, CPAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17782539340591104042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3194743154790065542.post-86084498702209471582012-07-19T09:19:00.000-07:002012-07-19T09:19:33.552-07:00Earning The Carrot<br />
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<span _mce_style="color: #ffffff;">A development for many companies in a rather challenging economy is how to keep your operating expenses low yet, still provide compensation to employees that both keep them motivated and compensated for their efforts.</span></div>
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<span _mce_style="color: #ffffff;"> The "Carrot" in front of performing employees has been a staple of many business models. But, in a bad economy it has become even more important. Many companies need to hit their profit numbers even during hard economic times. All the while, management needs to be kept motivated and focused on managing the company. Companies also need to provide for a reward system that compensates good managers for creative efforts that trickle down to bottom line profitability. We all know business profits flow from the top of the "profit and loss" statement in terms of sales revenues but, in hard times when sales are flat, profit can also flow down from trimming operating costs and by creating greater efficiency.</span></div>
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<span _mce_style="color: #ffffff;"> One effective measure of performance I have had the opportunity to work with is the concept of EBITDA. EBITDA stands for Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization. In theory it is a profit and loss statement that is the representation of everything management can be held responsible for. Typically, in many companies middle management does not have any control over interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. But in theory everything else they do control. Once EBITDA is determined, then a percentage profit sharing plan can be calculated and distributed to eligible management if, they achieve target percentages.</span></div>
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<span _mce_style="color: #ffffff;"> Depending on the company, the calculation of EBITDA can be adjusted for various factors that would negatively impact the comparability of EBITDA from period to period. Thereby, making profit share calculations more stable. For example a company that is forced to make significant investments in repairs and maintenance to operating equipment could exclude those expenses as part of their EBITDA in order to truly show management efforts. At one client I had the EBITDA calculation changed from quarter to quarter depending on circumstances. Both management and the owners handled the calculation with fairness and bonuses were routinely paid.</span></div>
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<span _mce_style="color: #ffffff;"> One very important factor to note is each company that contemplates using EBITDA needs to have a good base line financial reporting system. You need to determine that point of reference from which to begin tracking management efforts and you need to establish clear cut and obtainable goals.</span></div>
Rene Velez, CPAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17782539340591104042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3194743154790065542.post-39097228127967935802012-07-19T09:16:00.000-07:002012-07-19T09:16:07.510-07:00Accountant or Bookkeeper?<br />
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By definition bookkeeping is the recording of transactions into books and records held by some entity. Typically a business but, it could be any activity that involves tracking of money, quantities etc. Bookkeeping is actually a component of accounting. Accounting is a much broader term that may include financial reporting, analyzing financial information, verification of financial information, tax reporting just to name a few of the areas under accounting. To some degree a bookkeeper is to an accountant what a law clerk is to an attorney. Or perhaps what a nurse would be to a doctor.</div>
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Unaware of this huge difference many people, even successful business people, unknowingly insult their accountants by referring to them as bookkeepers. Of course this could also go the other way where business people think their bookkeepers are accountants. All of this is rather intriguing because when someone faints and drops to the floor like cold salami , rarely does one say; is there a nurse in the house? You don't here people say, I am going to have my law clerk sue you! So why is it that when people have financial and accounting problems they think they need to get a better bookkeeper?</div>
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A look at the financial statements of any publicly traded company will show the name of the Certified Public Accountants who prepared the reports and are attesting that management has carried out their responsibility in a fair presentation of the financial statements to the public. Accountants employ rules that are commonly called "Generally Accepted Accounting Principles" or GAAP as the guidelines of how transactions should be accounted for and reported. In addition accountants employ " Generally Accepted Auditing Standards", or GAAS to make sure that audits are performed according to professional standards.</div>
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Accountants play a very important role in giving financial statement users more reliable financial information from which to make business decisions. Decisions on how to invest, whether to make a loan or simply how well management does what is says it will do. In our capital markets money is allocated to businesses were management performs. It allows banks to make loans to companies that can repay their loans. In small businesses accountants also play a very important role. They help management make better business decisions based on information provided by their accountants. Accountants, help in the compliance of loan covenants, tax laws, the payment of taxes just to name a few areas of importance. Another perhaps, more widely known role accountants play is the role of trusted advisor. A position earned after years of training, experience and demonstrated honesty and integrity.</div>
Rene Velez, CPAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17782539340591104042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3194743154790065542.post-62470679923893974962012-06-20T16:34:00.001-07:002012-06-20T16:34:50.601-07:00Redlining with Appraisals<br />
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Having been in the real estate industry for many years I am no stranger to the relationship of a real estate appraisal and how much a bank would be willing to lend on real estate. In today's lending environment banks are concerned more than ever about the "Loan to Value" or LTV they are lending on.</div>
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In years past, banks were lending on appraised values that everyone knew were over inflated. And yet lend they did by the billions. It made no sense whatsoever and anyone who really understood real estate watched in disbelief, if not in shock at the loans made. Of course we now know that everyone is paying the price for taking an appraisal at face value even when good judgment tells you otherwise. Have the banks learned from this? Judging from recent experiences, NO!</div>
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A few loans I have been involved with only show banks have simply reversed the pendulum. Just as they relied exclusively in the past on appraisals for LTV, they continue to do so today except, towards the other extreme. The problem is that the appraisals are being made based on market values for a given type of real estate in a given area. That sounds logical but is it real?</div>
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In a market where foreclosures and short sales are common place, is it really fair to value a piece of real estate in comparison to another sold entirely in distress? My answer would be, not always! The banks claim; why shouldn't they rely on the appraisal if another buyer can buy very similar real estate at a much lower price? Although that may be true of a "purchase", in cases were a "refinance" is being made, the situation is different. Is the borrower in distress? Is the cash flow and ability to repay good? Does the borrower have a good credit rating? Does the debt to income ratio fall in line with lending policy?</div>
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When the bank has a refinance that is all positive and there is a slight difference between appraised value and the amount of the outstanding loan the bank should commit to renewing the loan even if the LTV is slightly off. Why? Because it is good business and economic sense. There is no doubt in my mind banks have an important role to play in stabilizing real estate values. Latitude in this area truly improves overall real estate values and it rewards consumers who have been responsible and simply have been caught in what everyone knows will be a temporary market fluctuation.</div>
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Instead banks lend a blind eye to circumstances, force existing borrowers to fork-over additional cash to bring the LTV into the banks guidelines. This leaves a bad taste in the consumers mouth, slows economic recovery and continues the decline in real estate values in a given market.</div>
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The current climate in bank lending really is a form of economic "redlining". It is a policy that says, we know you are a good borrower, you have the cash, the repayment ability but, since other people in your neighborhood were less frugal, took big risks and overleveraged themselves we refuse to lend to you based on the fact your neighbors don't have the right financial color.</div>
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Are these the same banks that took our tax dollars? Is this legal? Are the appraisals rigged to recapitalize banks? Who's looking at this? </div>Rene Velez, CPAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17782539340591104042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3194743154790065542.post-39408453581864601232012-06-20T16:31:00.001-07:002012-06-20T16:31:30.571-07:00The Business of Change<br />
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The Business of Change</div>
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Throughout my business career I have had the opportunity to make significant contributions towards changing the overall operating plan if not the culture of a few business ventures. This change always came from an executive management level but in the end relied heavily on the abilities of the general operating staff.</div>
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The general industry term for people who are brought on to make operating changes is "Change Agent". Historically, change agents are hired consultants or at times in-house management appointed with special responsibilities and authority to make changes happen. Successful change agents are a breed of operational managers that are unique. Assuming someone with an MBA and years of business experience is a change agent is like assuming a vet would be a good pediatrician.</div>
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I can tell you from experience that being a change agent is incredibly hard work. Not only do you spend a great deal of time understanding the business, you also spend a lot of time practicing business psychology convincing people that new will be better, to give up the old ways and to look towards a brighter future. This is not an easy task, even when you have true believers. I guess this is because, part of change is that you have to deal with uncertainty, perhaps some pain and in the end most people have difficulty in being able to create reality out of a mere vision. To add to this state of anxiety, change usually occurs over time and not overnight. It is a challenge over time.</div>
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So what are some of the basic needs of creating change in business? It really varies from company to company and what type of change you are trying to implement. Nonetheless, there are some bare basic principles.</div>
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<b>Start with a vision of what you want to accomplish.</b></div>
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This can be general at first but then you really have to do your homework. Get to all the details of what needs to happen. Then contemplate what will go wrong, how you will get trumped up and how you plan to recover from the inevitable plan that goes wrong. Then start again and rework the details until you know that you can accomplish the vision.</div>
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<b>Evaluate the company.</b> </div>
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Again really do your homework. What is the ability of the overall staff. Sometimes you need to bring in new employees with new skills, sometimes you can train. Sometimes you need some temporary help to get it all done. Very important is to assess the ability of top management to tolerate change and the eventual chaos that sometimes emerges. Do they all understand the challenges, the risks, the rewards. Sometimes you have to campaign and get people to sign on before you can contemplate change. I can not stress this part enough because in this process not only do you get people to buy into change but they also provide great insight and help make for a better plan. It also forms a channel of communication that may never have existed before. Make sure you understand what the company is good at and what it does poorly. Be honest not just with yourself but with those who asked you to perform.</div>
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<b>Do you have all the tools to make the changes.</b></div>
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Again really do your homework. What will the changes affect. For example a new computer system may require upgrades of computers, faster internet speeds, more workstations. A new marketing plan may require a better telephone system or a CRM (Customer Relationship Management ) system, or new delivery mediums. Think of work flows and everything it takes to complete the business mission.</div>
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<b>Establish clear communications with all levels and in all departments.</b></div>
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Here we are in the information age, high tech everything. Emails, texts, walkie talkie telephones, cell phones, smart phones, PDA's, internets, intranets, voicemail, Skype and video conferencing. You can't even go to the bathroom in peace anymore. And yet.......the left hand does not know what the right is doing. Communicate with your people. Know how to talk to all levels of the workforce and be patient. Remember that communication requires "more listening" and very "specific language" to get the messages flowing in "both" directions. Sometimes it's repetition, illustration and explanation of causes and effects as well as confirmation of "message received". Be a teacher and a student. I have learned the neatest tricks from low level staff and taught the big bosses new tricks that make their work life better. </div>
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<b>Give praise, thanks and be humble.</b></div>
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I started out by saying being a change agent is really hard work. It can also be a lot of fun that is extremely rewarding. I have found that it is especially important to recognize people who make it all work. Give them thanks for trying, especially when things don't go quite as planned. If the plan was well conceived then a recovery should be possible from most mishaps. Remember that team work is very important and helping people accomplish tasks and learn is very rewarding. Pay attention to what people are doing and recognize their efforts and contributions, no matter how small or trivial. Laugh, crack those jokes and know that no matter how successful your plan may be you could not get it done if not for the management and all the people who make it possible. Don't ever take credit for their effort.</div>
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<b>Still contemplating the business makeover? Have a lot of questions? I might be available for a long lunch.</b></div>
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<br />Rene Velez, CPAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17782539340591104042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3194743154790065542.post-16138546529824153612011-08-23T08:56:00.000-07:002011-08-23T08:56:34.603-07:00Prepared for Disaster<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We do a lot of planning for our businesses. We plan for labor and personnel requirements, we plan for capital needs, we plan for taxes, licensing and environmental compliance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We even go out and get insurance for those unforeseen instances when we think we might want financial protection. Nonetheless, it’s not enough. We have to plan for disasters too! It’s enough to give you anxiety. You know worrying about something you can’t possibly predict as to what will happen or the extent of disruption.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But don’t loose sleep. Just think of what is essential to run your company and keep it going should something happen. Every company no matter how small should have a formal disaster recovery plan. And as I sit and watch the news of an approaching hurricane here are a few tips, that although no substitute for formal plan, can help get your head around the issue.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-left: 0.75in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .75in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">(1)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Perform a complete system back up of your network. Make two copies and keep both in separate locations from your office. You can FEDEX one to a trusted family member to get it away from a hurricane zone. (do this the day before the airports shut down.) Remember, files on computers on a network typically do not get backed up, so get it on the network drive.</span></div><div style="margin-left: 0.75in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .75in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-left: 0.75in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .75in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">(2)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Before you leave the office unplug servers, computers, faxes, telephone systems. Not just from the electricity but from telephone lines as well. This is to prevent power surges and lightning strikes that may fry essential electronics. Wrap essential computers and equipment in plastic bags, and move them to a secure place in your office if you think windows may break and equipment may be subject to water damage. Mold, mildew and high heat and humidity may damage equipment too.</span></div><div style="margin-left: 0.75in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .75in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-left: 0.75in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .75in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">(3)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Have your employees put away and lock up all files, paperwork and loose documents. Great time for office clean up. You might want to empty out that office refrigerator too!</span></div><div style="margin-left: 0.75in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .75in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-left: 0.75in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .75in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">(4)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Update all employee contact list with their address, telephone numbers, email addresses. Make sure you know where they will be staying. Divide that list among top level management and assign them each the task of staying in touch with a set group of employees so they can advise them when they can return to work. Remember some employees may not be staying at home either because of an evacuation area or because they will be staying with other family members. Make sure your employees know they are expected to call in and return to work when it’s safe.</span></div><div style="margin-left: 0.75in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .75in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-left: 0.75in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .75in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">(5)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pick the management team that will be responsible for making the first attempt to get back into the office after the storm passes to make any potential damage assessments. Make sure your employees know who these people are. You might want to develop emergency management badges and give a list of the management team to the local police department so they will allow these employees back into the area after the storm in the event the area is secured by police to prevent looting.</span></div><div style="margin-left: 0.75in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .75in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-left: 0.75in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .75in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">(6)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Make sure to secure all insurance policy documents and a list of essential passwords to accounts etc. Critical documents can me scanned and placed on the internet into a private account. Google Docs is a great way to have these handy should you need these from any place on the planet and best of all it’s free!</span></div><div style="margin-left: 0.75in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .75in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-left: 0.75in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .75in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">(7)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Order extra water, gloves, first aid supplies, garbage bags, food and have these handy for your staff since its possible you may not have electricity for a few days time, there will be no air conditioning, potable water and clean up may be required. You should also be prepared to assist your employees if they have suffered a major disaster.</span></div><div style="margin-left: 0.75in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .75in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-left: 0.75in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .75in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">(8)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">You may want to consider buying a generator or two, and heavy duty power cords to run basic office equipment if your business must be up and running after a storm.</span></div><div style="margin-left: 0.75in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .75in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Many insurance company’s now require that you have a formal disaster plan in order for them to insure you. But your priority should be to be up and running as soon as possible. If your business potentially may gain new or increased business after a major storm, be prepared to respond to your market as soon as possible. Roofers, contractors, plumbers, electricians, landscapers, arborists, hardware stores, real estate agents, hotels, doctors, vets, gas stations, food retailers and other like professions and businesses need to be ready to respond to a surge in demand.</span></div><div style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This list of items to consider is not all inclusive. Each company has its own needs and operating requirements. Even if you have a formal plan it should be revised at least yearly. If you need an operations oriented professional to assist you prepare a plan, then please give us a call.</span></div>Rene Velez, CPAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17782539340591104042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3194743154790065542.post-7614414914682461682011-08-23T08:53:00.000-07:002011-08-23T08:53:51.999-07:00Tax Identity Theft Is Rising<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In 2008, there were approximately 52,000 incidents of reported identity theft at the IRS. According to the General Accountability Office (GAO) there were 245,000 cases in 2010. (Wall Street Journal, May 25<sup>th</sup>, 2011) <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That 371% increase in two years would suggest there is an epidemic of identity theft in tax related matters that involve the IRS. That should be alarming to the public at large as well as to tax practitioners.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But what is identity theft that involves the IRS? There are various scenarios that are used to bait the IRS as well as would be taxpayers. Here are some examples:</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-left: 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">(1)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">You receive an email with the IRS logo asking that you provide personal information regarding your return. That information is later used to commit some kind of fraud or identity theft. You should note the IRS will never contact you or a practitioner via email.</span></div><div style="margin-left: 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">(2)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Various cases of prison inmates have been found to steel identities in order to obtain fraudulent refunds.</span></div><div style="margin-left: 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">(3)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In some cases children’s and taxpayer’s social security numbers are used in order to secure employment. Those individuals then do not file returns for that income and the real individuals who’s identity was stolen suddenly receives a letter from the IRS saying they have either failed to file a return or omitted earnings from their properly filed income tax return resulting in additional taxes that may be due.</span></div><div style="margin-left: 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Sen. Bill Nelson (D., Fla.) has been addressing the issue before the Senate Finance Committee. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This is yet another issue that taxpayers must now be aware of in order to protect their identity. The security of your information is very important and has to be addressed by both the IRS as well as individual taxpayers. In particular taxpayers should question when any information regarding your identity is requested. What information is really needed and what security measures are taken by any organization that has access to that information. All too often I deny providing information requested online if it is not vital. In particular my social security number. In addition, I never use my real birth date even online even when it is required for non official business. Instead I have adopted a second birth date used exclusively for non important registrations. I rather get called on this than volunteer more information than needed. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Now that children are literally born with a social security numbers, parents need to exercise more care in who has that information. For children, parents should truly question providing children’s social security numbers to clubs, athletic leagues, tutors and other events and registrations that request personal information about your children. As a parent, my observation is that many organizations do not employ the same safeguards towards children social security numbers and other personal information as they would with the same information about adults. There is a general disconnect between the fact that the children themselves are not financially responsible so their information is not as important. This isn’t true at all. A name and a social security number is gold. Throw in that birth date on FaceBook and it’s a dream come true for someone wanting to steal your child’s identity. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have seen various registration settings and environments that are completely stacked against a child’s financial identity. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">For example FaceBook doesn’t really need your “real” birth date. What’s more, don’t publish it at all. Does your subscription to the New Yorker really need your birth date? Probably not. At a recent chamber of commerce registration they requested I provide a birth date, so a birthday card can be sent out. Wonderful, I received my birthday card a whole month later. I celebrated twice. Of course that doesn’t work for say a credit card application or filing your tax return.</span>Rene Velez, CPAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17782539340591104042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3194743154790065542.post-39774594329698982302011-07-01T11:13:00.000-07:002011-07-01T11:13:47.392-07:00Financial Statements, So What? PART III<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">In Part I, of this series I discussed Compiled Financial Statements and in PART II I went over the salient facts of Reviewed Financial Statements. Here we will take a very brief view of Audited Financial Statements.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">An Audit can be performed on the most common basis of accounting used in Compiled and Reviewed Financial statements. Modified Cash, GAAP and the Income Tax Basis of accounting and in some cases where the financials are prepared based on industry or other regulatory accounting rules -Statutory Basis may be used. However, unlike Compiled and Reviewed financial statements, here in the United States, the most common basis of accounting for Audits is GAAP. Perhaps, followed by Statutory Basis financials. Why? Simply put GAAP is the basis of accounting that is most used by public corporations that are traded by stock exchanges and is the United States financial reporting standard. The exception are insurance companies, utilities and other industry specific companies that have a regulatory basis of accounting. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>GAAP is a “rules based” method of accounting that is many, many years in the making with very precise and specific rules to aid, among many factors, in comparing financials among companies in an industry. Increasing demand and a trend towards allowing “IFRS” or International Financial Reporting Standards are well underway, for multinational public companies and foreign companies. IFRS is not rules based but more broad “principles based” form of accounting. This gives a great deal of flexibility but still maintains critical reporting standards. Where GAAP is based on historical costs, IFRS allows for fair market value reporting. This can be a very valuable contribution to financial reporting. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">An audit is by far the most complicated set of financial statements that CPA’s prepare. Again, here too the financials are the assertions of management and the accountants render an opinion as to whether the financials, including the notes and other supplementary information, present fairly, the results of operations, financial position and cash flows of the company. Further CPA’s must be independent in order to render an opinion. The financials are not the responsibility of the CPA’s, only the opinion they render is the responsibility of the CPA’s. This is worth noting as it is a common misunderstanding of the general public.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">An “Audit Program” is the game plan that accountants use in order to audit the company’s books and records. Some of the tools CPA’s use include trend analysis, industry metrics, observations, testing of transactions and internal controls and confirmations of accounts and notes receivables and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>accounts and notes payables. Physical observations and counts are performed on assets and inventories to make sure they not only exist but they are valued correctly. Inquiries are made of the company’s lawyers to determine law suits or potential lawsuits and claims. An accounting of uncertain tax positions are made to determine potential liabilities. Mathematical statistics and sampling techniques are applied and used extensively to make inferences as to the value of certain accounts. A great deal of professional judgment is applied as to whether the Audit Program is sufficient, as to whether the conclusions are correct, and simply as to whether all aspects of the company are properly accounted for and disclosed either in the body of the financial statements, supplementary information or in the notes and disclosures. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Audit services are extremely important to a capitalist market such as our own. I believe it safe to say, Wall Street would not be the center of financial power and wealth if it where not for the audited financial reports that auditors render opinions on. In other words, if you couldn’t compare companies on the same set of accounting rules and or you could not trust the financial statements of companies that trade their stocks, bonds and other financial instruments traded on Wall Street; bankers, investment funds, investors, brokerage houses and the public at large could not make good financial decisions. Essentially, capitalism would come to a screeching halt. Jobs would be lost, lending would dry up and a recession followed by a depression would follow only to be superseded by a global financial collapse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We got a bad taste of that in 2008, when the United States and the world lost faith in the United States. Not because the accounting was bad, but because it was good enough so that everyone could see that the underlying value of loans and real estate, on corporate books was no longer there and all the companies involved essentially plummeted in value. It was the beginning of a financial collapse.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The most common misunderstanding about audits are that that they are designed to detect fraud, theft and the misappropriation of funds. Audits do sometimes detect these matters. However, an audit has to be specifically designed to detect these types of matters. Even then, audits rely on the honesty of the management. If management is involved in fraud, theft or the misappropriation of funds it is often very difficult to detect. This is why audits rely heavily on internal controls and various other safeguards. It’s a lot harder to get away with any wrongdoing if it requires various levels of management to get away with it.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Audits are expensive simply because of the risk auditors take and because of the amount of work that needs to get done. For many small companies audits are cost prohibitive. Some small poorly run small companies may not even be auditable. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Although I do not perform audits, during the past years my firm has been involved in a number of audits either in preparing clients for audits,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>securing auditors, or assisting management who undergo an audit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For small and medium size companies that do not have internal auditors, having an external CPA is a valuable asset and company resource. It’s possible a relationship with my firm can save your company a great deal of money if you undergo an audit.</span></div>Rene Velez, CPAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17782539340591104042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3194743154790065542.post-5095800993594894582011-07-01T11:03:00.000-07:002011-07-01T11:03:32.995-07:00IRS Revokes Tax Exempt Status of 275,000 Groups<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">News Flash! Decision of the IRS to revoke the tax exempt status of 275,000 tax exempt organizations. Yikes! That sounds like a lot of organizations. The reality is that the number is really not surprising.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many Not-For-Profit (NPO) Tax-Exempt organizations are created by heart and soul people who have a vested interest to do some good in the world but simply fail to recognize how challenging if not daunting it is to (1) raise donations and (2) keep up with the regulatory requirements of running an NPO. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The old IRS law allowed NPO’s to not file a return if their gross receipts fell bellow a certain level. In 2006, the IRS changed the law and now all NPO’s must file a return, with the simplest form of return (990-N) being a very basic information return that essentially says, I am here, I am alive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of the 275,000 I suspect a few couldn’t manage that simple reporting as the IRS had given an extension of 5 months to accomplish the task and at that time 50,000 somehow managed to file a return.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There is an NPO for just about every imaginable and conceivable purpose. From saving trees or whales to helping the elderly and children to creating cultural diversity and sustaining art forms. In 2010 the IRS showed 1.8 million NPO’s. Of these roughly 66% were religious organizations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I once heard that in Miami Dade and Broward counties there were some 8,000 NPO’s. All competing for donated funds and grants from other NPO’s and local, state and federal governments. Without question the work NPO’s perform enrich our lives in every conceivable way. This is because many NPO’s are very cost effective. One of the primary jobs of an NPO is to create administrative capacity through the work of community volunteers. These volunteers help run the organizations and are in fact the people that raise money, run the back office and even provide the programs and services NPO’s bring forward. If you think it’s hard to compete with third world wage levels try free labor!</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">NPO’s fill the gaps where government can not accomplish the task and puts money to work to serve the disadvantaged, to create a sense of community, to advance democracy through business leagues, social and recreation clubs. It supports education, the arts, healthcare and the homeless, just to name a few of the missions they carry out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>NPO’s are priceless organizations that form the fabric of the United States goodwill and span the globe.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Managing an NPO is a bit tricky. In fact it’s harder to run an NPO than it is a typical small or even medium sized business. There are a number of key considerations in simply forming an NPO.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In addition the management of any NPO organization is best accomplished not just by someone who has run a business before but, someone who specifically has experience with NPO’s. Firstly, there are a number of types of NPO’s, each with a distinct set of operating rules and even allowable deduction rules for those that donate funds. The accounting is more complex, and the tax returns are just as complex.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If you run an NPO, or are thinking of starting one. Get a qualified CPA or tax attorney that knows about NPO’s to advise you. If your heart and soul is tied to that NPO it’s not only to your advantage to do it right, but it also protects the credibility of every NPO that has an important mission to carry out.</span></div>Rene Velez, CPAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17782539340591104042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3194743154790065542.post-7936952050815127722011-06-09T13:40:00.000-07:002011-06-09T13:40:40.380-07:00Financial Statements, So What? Part II<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">In PART I, I discussed some important factors regarding “canned” accounting package financials and the simplest form of financial statements which are Compiled Financial Statements, which a CPA prepares. In this Section I will discuss some general items in regards to Reviewed Financial Statements.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Just as in Compiled Financials the most common basis of accounting used in reviewed financial statements are either Modified Cash, GAAP and the Income Tax Basis of accounting. In some cases where the financials are prepared based on industry or other regulatory accounting rules -Statutory Basis may be used.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The basic methodology used in the preparation of reviewed financials is similar to compiled financial statements. There are many rules which must be observed for the proper disclosure and the fair presentation of financial information. In addition there are the minimum set of financials that are typically reported on. The underlying accounting and the financial statements themselves are the assertions of management. As such management is responsible for the contents of the financial information. The difference from Compiled financials is that analytical procedures and professional analysis and judgment are applied to gain an additional level of assurance that the financial statements present fairly management’s assertions. Some of these procedures might involve calculation of financial ratios, comparison to past historical financials to current financials or industry standard metrics. Review of accounting records, statement line items and other reconciliations. Additionally, inquiries are made of management to make sure all the relevant facts regarding the company and its financial affairs are either presented in the body of the financial statements or in the notes and other disclosures that may be provided.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This inquiry is later confirmed by management to the CPA by means of a “Management Representation Letter” which details all these "representations”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and is signed by management for the benefit of the CPA’s. A fair amount of work is involved for a CPA to issue reviewed financial information. Yet it is not as much or as extensive as those procedures employed in an audit. For that reason Reviewed financials are regarded as an intermediate type of financial statement to audited statements. In fact many auditors might require that at minimum a new client have at least Reviewed financials prior to having audited financials. This is because it provides a good base from which to perform audit work. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, not having Reviewed financials would not necessarily preclude you from being auditable. An important point is that CPA’s must be independent in order to issue a Reviewed financial. This means they generally can not audit their own accounting, or be so involved with the client in providing additional services so as to audit their own work.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The reason for undergoing a review typically is a matter of compliance. It is possible some user of your financial information may require you to undergo this process in order to satisfy a condition of their involvement with the company. For example, investors often make Reviews a condition in the operating agreement of a company, banking institutions might require it also as part of a loan agreement. Likewise bonding companies, which provide for different types of insurance and many regulatory and licensing agencies also may require at minimum Reviewed financial statements. In some cases it can be triggered because some event in a company causes an interested party to force the company to undergo a Review. For instance a dissatisfied investor or partner or even a divorce. Given the state of the financial markets, Reviews may become much more common or even a requirement as many banks and lenders try to reduce their lending risks by requiring CPA prepared financials that are prepared on higher standards.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">A Review is a valuable exercise for any company who attains a level of success. It does require that a formal accounting system be in place and that management has some system of internal control.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For many first time companies, it is an exercise that prepares the company and its management for even higher standards of financial reporting.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">A company that is planning to undergo a Review might hire another CPA firm, such as mine, to make preparations for the Review process. This has the potential of reducing Review costs and fees and also to address weaknesses the company might have in its accounting systems and controls.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">In the next part of this series I will address Audited financials. </span></div>Rene Velez, CPAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17782539340591104042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3194743154790065542.post-46232428662472269352011-06-09T11:23:00.000-07:002011-06-09T11:23:42.673-07:00Business Intelligence PART III<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">In PART I, I made the Statement that all businesses are in the information and technology business. In PART II, I explained that the important factor to realize is how to leverage that information to create business opportunity. Now in this PART III, I want to illustrate a simple case study of a “Shoe Shine” business that is in the information and technology business.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Case:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>A shoe shine business operator leases a small 6 Ft. by 12 Ft. space in the lobby of an office building. The building is a prominent business location with plenty of lobby traffic. The business operator; we will call him “Ira” does well in his business and he is very well liked because of his people skills. He also has the daily paper, and current magazines for his patrons to read while he performs his shoe shine services. Over the years he has made many friends in the building and he always asks for a business card so that if any of his patrons leave anything behind he can always call them to let them know. Besides you never know when you might need a good insurance man, lawyer or accountant who work in the building. Ira acquired a simple “non smart” cell phone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As he learned how to use it he realized he can input all is business card contacts into his cell phone directory. In doing this he realized that a small percentage of clients were from the surrounding office building but by far most of his clients where from the businesses that operated in his building. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">(Here Ira analyzes data!)</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Ira, is an entrepreneur who is always busy thinking, He asks the building owner if he can place a sign outside to advertise his business after he recalled many of his clients comment; they had no idea he was in the building and that only by chance did they stop in on business and notice his stand. However, the city won’t allow him to put a sign outside and the building owner was not willing to allow him to affix a sign on the building wall for fear of damage.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Ira kept thinking about the customers in other buildings that came very infrequently. He realized there was a whole untapped source of clients he wanted to serve. On a slow day he started looking at the directory and came across some executives he knew from other buildings. He decided to call them and asked a simple question;<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Would you be interested in a shoe shine while you sit in your office and have lunch or make phone calls? Essentially, Ira let his clients know he would come to them on a schedule convenient to them. The answer was a loud YES!,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>from almost all of those executives. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">(Here Ira has leveraged data into useful information to increase sales)</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>By scheduling visits, on one day every other week Ira was able to triple his income and increase traffic to his lobby. As word spread more people would stop by and visit his building. In addition he started a pick up and delivery service. He would pick up shoes when he visited the other buildings, shine and repair shoes, and either deliver them on his next round or call his new customers for a pick up when they were done. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">(Here Ira differentiated his business from other shoe shine businesses)</b> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His business picked up so much he had to hire an apprentice. Soon Ira had so many clients he had to figure out how to group his contact list on his cell phone by building. Ira is in fact in the information and technology business by the simple fact that he used a simple cell phone database and leveraged that information to generate more business.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Conclusion:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The Economist, a business magazine, published an article on January 27<sup>th</sup>, 2011; “Not Just Talk”, commenting on the use of cell phones and simple text capability for many business uses in non developed countries. The uses included providing market rates and quantities for common commodities by use of text messaging. An informal market of demand and supply allowing subscribers to find goods for sale by various vendors and locals. Another was a texting service where codes could be texted into a database system which would validate the authenticity of prescription drugs. A system designed to thwart drug counterfeiters. Even simple “non smart” phones have boundless capabilities in their use.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>A qualified external CPA, with an operations approach, can take a fresh look at your business and provide valuable support. But looking beyond the numbers is skill set that takes years in the making.</span></div>Rene Velez, CPAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17782539340591104042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3194743154790065542.post-34092527264508789152011-06-09T11:09:00.000-07:002011-06-09T11:09:01.229-07:00Financial Statements, So What? PART I<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">With the proliferation of accounting systems which come with “canned” financial statements many business owners are absent minded about financial statements prepared by the CPA. In all honesty, if you don’t need to pay for CPA prepared financial statements, don’t spend the money.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With one caveat; do you really understand what they mean? Do you trust your internal accountants to tell you what you “don’t” want to hear? CPA’s prepare three general kinds of financial statements:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.75in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .75in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">(1)</span><span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">Compiled Financial Statements.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.75in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .75in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">(2)</span><span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">Reviewed Financial Statements.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.75in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .75in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">(3)</span><span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">Audited Financial Statements.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Compiled:</span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Many people have the belief that compiled financial statements is accomplished by taking those “canned” financials that come out of your accounting system and simply placing them on CPA stationary. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact there are volumes of standards and rules which must be diligently followed by a CPA to conform to Statements on Standards for Accounting and Review Services issued by the American Institute of Certified Public Accounting. These standards provide for the presentation, disclosures, basis of accounting, the basic set of financial statements to be presented and a variety of other provisions that must be adhered to in order to issue a report. Compiled financial statements are typically the cheapest form of financial statements many CPA’s prepare simply because they do not require the labor of examination, confirmation and other attestation procedures performed under reviewed or audited financial statements. But in no terms does that mean a CPA can prepare them blindly. Generally, for many businesses<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the basis of accounting most frequently used are Modified Cash Basis, Income Tax Basis and GAAP. In some cases where the financials are prepared based on industry or other regulatory accounting rules -Statutory Basis may be used.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Year after year I find all kinds of mistakes on “internally” prepared financial statements. Often, I find financials that overstate Gross Profit Margin, leaving owners to believe their profit margin is higher than they thought.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have even found financials that omitted some line items of expenses all together. Balance Sheets that don’t balance. Most amazing is the enormous percentage of businesses that do not employ a Cash Flow statement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everyone knows Cash is King right? The simple truth is many bookkeepers do not know how to prepare even a simple cash flow statement, or how to use the system report generator. Some report generators can be tricky devils. Owners and managers need to be aware today’s accounting systems allow you to prepare financials in any which way you can dream of thanks to flexible report generators. This is a great thing, but un-managed and un-checked can lead users of these reports to very wrong conclusions. For this very reason many outside users require that financial statements be submitted only if they are prepared by a CPA. Simply put, more sophisticated users know that although the financials are not reviewed or audited, due care was taken by a professional to present fairly financial information.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>One last note, every set of financial statements issued by a company is the responsibility of management. This is to say that even if a CPA prepared those financials the underlying information is the representation of management and therefore they are responsible for that information. This is true even of financial statements which have been audited by outside independent accountants. Just take a look a Dow Chemical, Ford Motor Company or any large organization and the auditor’s report clearly sates that fact. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I will continue this news segment with the other two types of financial statements “reviewed” and “audited” financial statements.</span></div>Rene Velez, CPAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17782539340591104042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3194743154790065542.post-65635611564651238992011-06-09T11:03:00.000-07:002011-06-09T11:03:51.224-07:00Business Intelligence PART II<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">In PART I of this discussion I made the argument that every business is in the information and technology business. Yes, I realize that giving some thought to that concept, everyone that focuses on that statement tries to come up with a business that can’t possibly be in the information and technology business.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, I will say this: Even the Shoeshine guy or gal is in the technology and information business, and I can prove it. But, I will leave that to the end.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Let’s just assume that you happen to be in a line of business that does produce or have access to information. What’s next? The answer is in knowing how to harness that information to gain additional revenues, decrease costs, or simply stay competitive. These days with mounting pressure from every angle its not just enough to have terabytes of information, it’s about leveraging data so that the information it provides makes you better able to make a sale, to create operating efficiency, or simply to stay ahead of the curve. You have to really look at the data that you have and extrapolate its meaning. Of course there are many ways to do this but, I typically start with two simple approaches. I look at those types of information that tells me about the environment I operate in and, secondly I look at those types of information that tell me about how well my business is doing. Some business analysts say this is the “External” and “Internal” point of view. In some cases you may hear the terms “Macro view” vs. the “Micro view”, respectively. Yet another way, is to look at information you can not control, vs. information on things you can control. So let’s take a quick look at that. Say you are in the business of automotive replacement parts. Some of the areas you might want to look at and why they are important to you are as follows:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The External Information:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">(1)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">Look at trends of how long people are keeping their cars, or perhaps whether automobile consumers are buying or leasing vehicles.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.75in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">It may not seem obvious but, during this recession owners, and businesses were holding on to their vehicles slightly longer. Partly, due to tight credit markets, but also because of high unemployment and job security issues, compounded by doubts about the automobile industry.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1.25in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Why is this important? It means your sales should be going up as owners who plan to keep their auto’s longer tend to fix and repair their autos as they plan to hold on to them longer. If your sales have shown no increases, your marketing efforts are off, your pricing structure may be wrong and this is a sign management needs to pay close attention to this.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1.25in; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">(2)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">Who is your competition? What is their pricing? What value added features do they have?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.75in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">You can rest assured that it is very likely your customers know they have alternatives. They too are users of information. And the best way to compete is to know what your competitors are doing, and find a way to differentiate yourself from them.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1.25in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">What can you do? Analyze if you can offer free delivery for large orders. If you use the same suppliers, why aren’t you getting a better price? Is there a service you can offer that your competition can not? An analysis of all of these questions may lead to some action that could mean a better bottom line.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The Internal Information:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.25in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .25in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">(1)</span><span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">What are the top 200 items purchased? What are the top 150 items with the highest profit margin? </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.75in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Every business should know what their bread and butter is. Knowing how to leverage these items gives you insight in how best to manage the products and services you offer. They give you the answers you need to maximize the platform that gives you a stable base and allows you to innovate and try new things that either grow your business with additional sales or makes you more competitive.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1.25in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">What can you do?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Try to negotiate a better price and or get a volume discount with your supplier. Pass the savings on to your customers if they make larger purchases. Offer promotions geared towards grabbing market share from competitors.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1.25in; text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.75in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .75in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">(2)</span><span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">What is my inventory turnover rate? What is the relationship of storage space required for the slowest moving inventory items?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Inventory is very capital intensive. In other words, it takes a lot of money to keep that inventory on the floor ready for a sale. It’s not just the cost of the products itself, but also the cost of storage, waste, breakage, theft. Inventory is also real estate intensive. The larger the product you sell the bigger the real estate you need to store that product.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 2in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>What can you do? Change how you buy inventory. It might be cheaper to pay additional delivery fees than to pay high cost real estate to store items. It might be cheaper to special order large inventory items, and perhaps your clients don’t mind either, than to store slow moving, large items that do not sell quickly.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 2in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.5in;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Clearly, the most profitable and successful businesses look at every angle. After many years of dealing with businesses, all too often I see management that is stuck in a rut of simply selling for a higher price than cost and simply making sure that the right product gets to the client. Of course this is a substantial challenge all on its own but, in today’s business environment it’s not enough.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Of course service industry’s can use the same methodology to analyze external and internal factors that affect their business.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">It’s is very difficult for many companies to find the right type of employees that know how to analyze and prepare information. It’s even more of a challenge to find talented people that are capable of making the cause and effect type relationship analysis to solve business problems.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Business advisory services provided by qualified CPA’s is a very valuable service. Sometimes, it is the best way to bring innovation into an organization that needs to get to that next level. If you are one of those businesses, maybe we need to talk.</span></div>Rene Velez, CPAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17782539340591104042noreply@blogger.com0