February 13, 2024 / by Brett Hess / Small Business
For businesses, and people for that matter, the beginning of the calendar year can be a bit of a grind. The holidays have passed, summer vacations are relatively far off and everyone is trying to build momentum for a strong, healthy year. Amongst all the nose-to-the-grindstone stick-to-itiveness, however, you and your leadership team shouldn’t lose sight […]
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Businesses must stay on guard against invoice fraud
September 19, 2024 / by Brett Hess / Small Business
Fraud is a pernicious problem for companies of all shapes and sizes. One broad type of crime that seems to be thriving as of late is invoice fraud. In the second quarter of 2024, accounts payable software provider Medius released the results of a survey of 1,533 senior finance executives in the United States and […]
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B2B businesses: Assess customer credit carefully
March 29, 2024 / by Brett Hess / Small Business
Does your company operate in the business-to-business (B2B) marketplace? If so, you’re no doubt aware of the double-edged sword that is customer credit. On the one hand, it’s common practice. Most customers likely expect to be offered a credit option when engaging in B2B transactions. On the other, credit arrangements inevitably come with risk of late […]
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How businesses can reinvigorate strategic planning
February 13, 2024 / by Brett Hess / Small Business
For businesses, and people for that matter, the beginning of the calendar year can be a bit of a grind. The holidays have passed, summer vacations are relatively far off and everyone is trying to build momentum for a strong, healthy year. Amongst all the nose-to-the-grindstone stick-to-itiveness, however, you and your leadership team shouldn’t lose sight […]
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Should your business offer the new emergency savings accounts to employees?
January 23, 2024 / by Brett Hess / Small Business
As part of the SECURE 2.0 law, there’s a new benefit option for employees facing emergencies. It’s called a pension-linked emergency savings account (PLESA) and the provision authorizing it became effective for plan years beginning January 1, 2024. The IRS recently released guidance about the accounts (in Notice 2024-22) and the U.S. Department of Labor […]
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Key 2024 inflation-adjusted tax parameters for small businesses and their owners
December 13, 2023 / by Brett Hess / Small Business
The IRS recently announced various inflation-adjusted federal income tax amounts. Here’s a rundown of the amounts that are most likely to affect small businesses and their owners. Rates and brackets If you run your business as a sole proprietorship or pass-through business entity (LLC, partnership or S corporation), the business’s net ordinary income from operations […]
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Businesses: Know who your privileged users are … and aren’t
November 1, 2023 / by Brett Hess / Small Business
Given the pervasiveness of technology in the business world today, most companies are sitting on treasure troves of sensitive data that could be abducted, exploited, corrupted or destroyed. Of course, there’s the clear and present danger of external parties hacking into your network to do it harm. But there are also internal risks — namely, […]
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What businesses can expect from a DOL benefits plan audit
October 30, 2023 / by Brett Hess / Small Business
All but the smallest businesses today are generally expected to offer employees “big picture” benefits such as health insurance and a retirement plan. Among the risks of doing so is that many popular plan types must comply with the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). That means lots of rules and much documentation. No matter […]
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Valuations can help business owners plan for the future
October 19, 2023 / by Brett Hess / Small Business
If someone was to suggest that you should have your business appraised, you might wonder whether the person was subtly suggesting that you retire and sell the company. Seriously though, a valuation can serve many purposes other than preparing your business for sale so you can head to the beach. Think of it as a checkup […]
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Keeping meticulous records is the key to tax deductions and painless IRS audits
February 3, 2022 / by Brett Hess / Newsletter, Small Business
If you operate a business, or you’re starting a new one, you know you need to keep records of your income and expenses. Specifically, you should carefully record your expenses in order to claim all of the tax deductions to which you’re entitled. And you want to make sure you can defend the amounts reported […]
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Review your strategic plan … and look aheadReview your strategic plan … and look ahead
December 29, 2021 / by Brett Hess / Small Business, Uncategorized
Business owners, year end is officially here. It may even be over by the time you read this. (If so, Happy New Year!) In any case, the end of one year and the beginning of another is always an optimal time to look back on the preceding 12 calendar months and ask a deceptively simple […]
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