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01Jul 2014 by William Simi

IRS Adopts “Taxpayer Bill of Rights;” 10 Provisions to be Highlighted by the IRS

IRS Adopts "Taxpayer Bill of Rights;" 10 Provisions to be Highlighted on IRS.gov, in Publication 1 WASHINGTON ― The Internal Revenue Service today announced the adoption of a "Taxpayer Bill of Rights" that will become a cornerstone document to provide the nation's taxpayers with a better understanding of their rights. The Taxpayer Bill of Rights takes the multiple existing rights embedded in the tax code and groups them into 10 broad categories, making them more visible and easier for taxpayers to find on IRS.gov. Publication 1, "Your Rights as a Taxpayer," has been updated with the 10 rights and will be sent to millions of taxpayers this year when they receive IRS notices on issues ranging from audits to collection. The rights will also be publicly visible in all IRS…

08May 2014 by William Simi

Principle 11: Board Diversity

Business Advisory, FREE Business Tools: Learn the Secrets, Non Profit Principles: Steering You in the Right Direction

In order to obtain board diversity, the board of an organization should include members with diverse backgrounds (including, but not limited to, ethnic, racial and gender perspectives), experience, and organizational and financial skills necessary to advance the organization’s mission. A board should have a variety of skills, expertise, backgrounds, and perspectives in order to make informed decisions. Boards of charitable organizations generally focus on including members with expertise in budget and financial management, investments, personnel, fundraising, public relations, and marketing. Every board should have expertise in budgeting and financial management. The board must ensure that all financial matters of the organization are conducted legally, ethically and in accordance with proper accounting rules, therefore making an effort to ensure that at least one member has financial literacy. Some organizations seek to…

06May 2014 by Fred Crooks

Principle 10: Board Size And Structure

Business Advisory, Non Profit Principles: Steering You in the Right Direction

Every charitable organization needs to establish the structure and size of their board. There should be enough board members in order to have different ideas and thoughts on governance and other organizational matters. This doesn’t pertain to smaller charitable organizations in which they should have at least five board members. -The charitable organization’s board size should be based directly on the needs of the organization. -The way for determining board size is the function that they serve. The structure and size of the board will naturally be different as time progresses, thus the size and structure should be reviewed as the organization grows. -Other things can affect the size of the board, such as the need for diversity, workload, phase in the life cycle, legal mandates, and maintaining a manageable group. LEGAL AND…

25Apr 2014 by William Simi

Principle 9: Successful Board Meetings

Business Advisory, Non Profit Principles: Steering You in the Right Direction

Every charitable organization’s board should have board meetings on a regular basis in order to conduct its business and successfully fulfill its duties. -In order to conduct a board meeting that will not be tedious yet successful, try to start off your meeting with an ice breaker to have members feel comfortable as well as more engaged and interested. -The number of meetings held should be determined by the needs of the organization. -Many charitable organizations find it prudent to meet at least three times a year to fulfill basic governance and oversight responsibilities but organizations with widely dispersed board membership will hold only one or two meetings each year. -Regular meetings provide the chief venue for board members to: -Review the organizations financial situation and program activities -Establish and…

26Mar 2014 by William Simi

IRS Tax Fraud Alerts

Business Advisory, Tax

IRS Wants You to Know About Schemes, Scams and Cons "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!" Don't become a victim to any scheme that offers instant wealth or exemption from your obligation as a United States citizen to file tax returns and/or pay taxes. Some of these schemes can literally cost you your life savings. Others can result in your prosecution and imprisonment if you knowingly participate in them. Abusive Return Preparer Taxpayers should be very careful when choosing a tax preparer. While most preparers provide excellent service to their clients, a few unscrupulous return preparers file false and fraudulent tax returns and ultimately defraud their clients. It is important to know that even if someone else prepares your return, you are ultimately responsible for…

19Mar 2014 by Fred Crooks

Principle 6: Protection of Assets

Business Advisory, Non Profit Principles: Steering You in the Right Direction

The board of a charitable organization must be certain that the organization is organized and has a good system to protect their assets. Such assets include property, financial, human resources, programmatic content, material, integrity and their reputation. These all must be protected from loss or damage. Thus, the board should be regularly reviewing the organization’s need for general liability and liability insurance for their directors and officers. CORE CONCEPTS -The board manages the organizational assets. -Every organization should have adequate risk management. -Risk can be either assumed, eliminated, protected, or even delegated. -The board, the organization, and those associated with the organization all need to be covered with liability protection. LEGAL AND COMPLIANCE ISSUES -The board is responsible for watching the activities of the organization. -Each board member has duties…

02Feb 2014 by William Simi

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – What Is It?

Business Advisory

Our guest blogger this week is Chad Nelson, President of Champion Online Marketing. Chad has some valuable insights to offer on the subject of search engine optimization and what it means for the business owner. Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is an often used term but one that many or most people don’t fully understand. On an almost daily basis I get asked, “What is SEO?” Before diving into the definition of “SEO” it is best if we take a quick look at the normal process involved when someone searches for a product or service on the Internet. When a potential customer is looking for a local company to purchase a product or service they typically type in the word or words (called keywords) they are looking for into a search…

18Jan 2014 by William Simi

The 3 Bottom Lines – Mastering Business Fundamentals

Business Advisory

The name of our Blog has raised some questions from readers. What do we mean by the “3 Bottom Lines”? We’d like to take credit for the concept but we can’t. It was first articulated in an excellent little book by Chuck Kremer and Ron Rizzuto called Managing by the Numbers, A Commonsense Guide to Understanding and Using Your Company’s Financial Statements. In their book, the authors use a focus on the three essential metrics of profitability, operating cash flow and return on assets or equity to frame their discussion about how business owners can use their financial statements proactively to evaluate business performance and make important strategic decisions about the future. Most people are familiar with the concept of Net Profit as a means of measuring business success and,…

21Dec 2013 by William Simi

SETTING THE TONE – WE ARE NOT THE “DECIDER” BUT THE “INQUIRER”

Business Advisory

In doing the 3 Bottom Lines Blog we will be doing something we are not accustomed to and something that runs counter to what is a strong, almost compulsive, professional tendency for us as accountants…. to think we must always have a clear answer to all our client’s questions, a definitive solution to their every problem. We understand that there are frequently times when our clients rely on us to have answers and solutions. They place their trust in our expertise and knowledge in helping them with their accounting, tax and financial statement issues. In those situations, we are much more comfortable giving answers. But for many of the issues we want to discuss here in the 3 Bottom Lines Blog, there will be no definitive answer, no one solution…

23Nov 2013 by William Simi

Hidden profits you may be missing discovered in 20 minutes.

Archived Posts, Business Advisory

Are you sure your business is as profitable as it could be? Take 20 minutes to find out... Just log on to www.cpacorporation.com, go to the "Resources" tab and we'll get you started. In 20 minutes you will be able to: - find the hidden profit potential in your business - take a test to ascertain your Professional Wellbeing score - conduct a business health check and review - develop a personal financial and business plan - perform a marketing survey of your business clients and customers - and more by simply clicking on a link These programs will provide invaluable information and guidance you can put to use in your business immediately to - - discover the ways to stop your business from leaking cash - monitor and take…

Category: Business Advisory