Do bad sales months sneak up on you? Don’t forget the power of flash reports to display timely snapshots of critical data. For example, every workday, generate a flash report that shows total new orders taken (bookings) compared with total orders filled (shippings). After you’ve established the timeframes of bookings and shippings, assess your sales…
Now’s the perfect time for business owners to stop, take a breather and engage in a midyear review. Naturally, this will involve looking at your financials. But go beyond those numbers and look at areas such as: 1) HR, specifically, how’s employee turnover trending compared with last year? 2) Sales and marketing, for example, are…
When you think about recent tax law changes and your business, retirement benefits probably aren’t what first come to mind. But if your business sponsors a 401(k) plan, be aware of two changes: 1) Beginning in 2018, former employees with outstanding plan loan balances have until their tax return filing due date (plus extensions) to…
As some business owners begin to consider retirement, they just can’t identify a suitable successor. One potential solution is a long-term deal that gradually cedes control to an outside buyer. The process typically begins with the owner selling a minority stake, followed by a tryout period to assess compatibility. If all goes well, the minority…
Most small businesses aren’t yet accepting bitcoin or other virtual currency payments, but more and more larger businesses are. And the trend may trickle down to smaller businesses. What are the tax consequences? The IRS has yet to offer much guidance, but it has established that bitcoin should be treated as property, not currency, for…
For business owners with kids in high school or college, hiring them for the summer can provide many benefits. One is tax savings. By shifting business income to a child as wages for services performed, you can turn high-taxed income into tax-free or low-taxed income. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act’s near doubling of the…
Did you know you can exercise some control over your charitable endeavors using a donor-advised fund (DAF)? As the name implies, recommendations are integral to a DAF. First, you contribute to a fund typically managed by an independent sponsoring organization. The minimum contribution generally is $5,000. In exchange for handling the management of the fund,…
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act restricts the losses that owners of pass-through entities (including sole proprietors) can currently deduct. For tax years beginning in 2018 through 2025, an “excess business loss” can’t be deducted in the current year. This is the excess of your aggregate business deductions for the tax year over the sum…
This summer are you going on a business trip in the U.S. and tacking on some vacation days? Are you a business owner or self-employed? You may be able to deduct some of your expenses. Transportation costs to and from the business activity location may be 100% deductible if the primary reason for the trip…
They say you’ve got to spend money to make money. But that doesn’t mean business owners should accept high operational costs. Cost control is a formal management technique through which you evaluate operations and isolate activities with excessive expenses. It forces you to ask tough questions about the efficiency of your business, how much you’re…