Category: Business Practices

Gift Cards – New Guidance on Deferral of Income

Gift cards and gift certificates have an appealing feature that makes the desirable to both givers and receivers – convenience.  Nowadays, may gift cards are not limited to a specific retailer: some gift cards are accepted by multiple merchants.  Under...

Special Guest Author Victor Hicks II, CFP: 401(k) Fee Regs Burden Small-Mid Size Business

Victor Hicks II, CFP®, AIF® is a 401(k) Advisor and owner of Lumin Financial LLC, an independent Registered Investment Adviser that specializes in 401(k) advisory services in Southfield, Michigan. He can be reached at (248) 936-9480, or [email protected]. If you’re...

Holiday shoppers, don’t forget the Use tax!

Reminder!  If you make purchases online or via catalogs from out-of-state vendors, you may be responsible for Use tax! With holiday shopping in full swing, remember use tax is due on any purchases made where the seller did not collect...

Beware of the Tax Grinch when Giving Gifts to Clients or Employees

With the holiday season right around the corner we thought it would be a good idea to remind everyone of the tax rules related to gift giving.  While gifts given customer or employees are a great way to generate good...

Five Ways To Become More Data-Centric

The ability to parse data – turning the numbers into knowledge – is a tremendous opportunity for organizations and the finance professionals who work for them. That’s one key takeaway from a new CGMA report, From Insight to Impact: Unlocking...

How to deal administratively with the death of an employee

It's a difficult thing to think about, but the death of an employee has tax implications for his employers in closing out accrued wages, vacation pay and taxes withheld.  As soon as the death is reported to an employer, payroll...

Preparing for an audit? Don’t panic and follow these steps…

Small business owners may receive some unwanted mail in 2014--an IRS audit notice.  While it's likely a randomly generated inquiry into your business, the mere thought of accounting for every last step on your tax trail can be daunting.  We...

The 10 Cs of Great Leaders

The First C: Competitive Spirit.  Great leaders want to improve and be the best. The Second C: Clutter.  CEOs who can cut through the clutter to focus on the most important, most strategic issues have a competitive advantage over those...

Boot the budget? Why rolling forecasts might make more sense

When it comes to budgeting, accountants should stop presenting the numbers and letting others analyze what those numbers mean. If accountants don’t change, warns consultant Steve Player, CPA, CGMA, they’ll lose relevance and possibly lose jobs. “It’s our process that’s...

Making the most of our your meetings

Meetings are an inescapable part of work.  All of us have been to well-conceived, efficient meetings as well as meetings that seem to drag on for hours yet accomplish nothing. Meetings must happen for companies to innovate. The flow of...