CNBC Town Hall

I had the pleasure of sitting in on the taping of the CNBC Town Hall on small business yesterday and needless to say, it was a great experience. There were entrepreneurs from all kinds of backgrounds and we all shared knowledge with each other.

We had a great panel of speakers (as you can see from the photos) and covered a lot of topics affecting the small business sector. I guess the major takeaways I got from the town hall were to mentor or be a mentor, differentiate, network, learn from trials & blessings, and pursue freedom.



To watch the CNBC Town Hall be sure to tune in to CNBC on Wednesday June 20th 9PM EST.

The Tech Accountant

Warren Buffet and Jay-Z preach financial literacy

Here's a coolcartoon video of rapper Jay-Z and Warren Buffet teaching kids good money management. Enjoy.



The Tech Accountant

Let Technology Wear Some of Your Hats

Small business owners and entrepreneurs all know that starting and operating your own business is a rewarding but tough experience. Typically when a small business is in the start-up or growth stage, the owners will attempt to wear all the hats from being the sales manager to the bookkeeper. Although this will give a small business owner a wealth of experience in operations and processes, could their time be better spent doing what they do best?

Many small business owners want to know how they can break away from doing the back office functions and most times the solution is to hire someone to do the work or outsource. Sometimes when this solution is implemented, the costs are more than the benefit and the small business owner is back at square one.

The new way to get operational tasks done is to use technology in conjunction with and employee or contractor. This way a small business owner can continue to the be the backbone of the economy and cut their operational and overhead costs considerably.

Let's take marketing and public relations for example. In the past small business owners could not compete with their larger counterparts due to the high cost of websites, customer relationship management and public relations companies, tv, and radio, etc. Nowadays a small business owner can build their own website (or outsource) with WordPress, use social media sites and apps like Facebook and Twitter for public relations and CRM, broadcast themselves on YouTube, and podcasts, and get paid instantly with PayPal, Google Checkout and others.

These are just a few ways technology can help a small business owner cut costs and focus on what they do best. Feel free to post your ideas too.

The Tech Accountant

Fill Your College Coffers

If you are a college student who has had a hard time finding a job this summer, then there may be another way for you to generate the much needed funs to pay for your college tuition and other needs. Surly a college student (and their parents) engages in one of the following activities:

• Go Shopping
• Go Out to Eat
• Go Grocery Shopping
• Hang with Friends

If you do any or all of the previous, then here is a quick video on how you can do those activities and still save for college, pay off current student loans or even pay for other college costs.

So if you were not able to find that perfect summer job to give you the money you were looking for, don't fret, just go out and shop.

The Tech Accountant

Tax Relief and Your Small Biz

For most small business owners, the year 2010 was a continuation of hard economic times felt during the past two years. The economic indicators now state that there are signs that the economy is starting to recover, however many small business owners are still waiting to feel the effects of the recovery. In an effort to assist the small business owners, Congress passed and the President signed into law the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization and Job Creation Act of 2010 on December 17. The multi-billion dollar tax package includes a great deal of modifications to current tax law affecting small business owners and extends many tax provisions that expired at the end of 2009.


Small Businesses Modifications

The 2010 Tax Relief Act provides businesses with better incentives for investing in property that will help them run their businesses more efficiently. The Act increases the bonus depreciation limit from 50-percent to 100-percent for property purchased during periods September 8, 2010 thru December 31, 2011. The Act also extends 50-percent bonus depreciation on property purchased from December 31, 2011 thru December 31, 2012. Small business owners that have certain long lived property or transportation property may be eligible for 100-percent expensing for property placed in service before January 1, 2013.

The depreciation incentives for small business owners do not stop there, in addition to bonus depreciation; Code Sec. 179 Expensing (named after the IRS Code) has been modified. The investment limits were increased under previous legislation and the 2010 Tax Relief Act grants a $125,000 limit and a $500,000 limit on investment for tax years beginning in 2012. Depreciation allows small business owners to expense property purchased against their taxable income. The modifications to the tax law allow small business owners to recover the cost of property used in the businesses fast than traditional depreciation methods.

Small Business Extensions

There were quite a few extensions of previous tax law that were set to expire or expired in 2009. Among those extensions includes:

• 100 percent exclusion of gain from qualified small business stock

• Transit benefits parity

• Work Opportunity Tax Credit (with modifications)

• New Markets Tax Credit (with modifications)

• Differential wage credit

• Brownfields remediation

• Active financing exception/look-through treatment for CFCs

• Tax incentives for empowerment zones

• Special rules for charitable deductions by corporations and other businesses

Keep in mind that many of the 2010 Tax Relief Act’s provisions are temporary. It is important to plan early to maximize your tax savings. Be sure to speak with your tax professional to get all the details regarding the tax law changes.

The Tech Accountant

A Lame Duck still Quacks

All the votes have been tallied and all the precincts have reported…some people are happy with the outcome and some are not. Whether your Congress person won or not is not the issue at this point, the issue lies in what is going to happen in the lame duck session of Congress for the rest of the year and will you as a taxpayer be prepared. Here’s a quick rundown of what is on the table for taxpayers before the year ends:


• Bush Tax Cuts extended?

• Estate Tax?

• AMT?

• Health Care Reform?

I am not a betting man but would have to think that more than likely some taxes are going to go up. What taxpayers do before this year ends is important but you may need to call the psychic hotline or a crystal ball to assist you. When I looked into my crystal ball this is what I have come up with.


Be sure to speak to your tax professional (psychic) to ensure that all of your ducks are in a row for the upcoming tax season.

The Tech Accountant

Small Biz Hiring 2010

Here is an interesting article that I came across this morning regarding the steps small business owners should take when hiring for positions next year. I found the article to provide some very good ideas that many small business owners can benefit from. The advice to consider converting employees to independent contractors (IC’s) and/or hiring contractors is pretty sage, but I personally would seek out independent contractors outright. Converting employees to IC’s can be pretty dangerous and is frowned upon in the eyes of the IRS and other regulating bodies. The best advice in the article to me was the last suggestion to change your thinking and get away from the 8-5 work day. There is currently a change occurring in the working environment and many jobs can be done from the comfort of one’s home and at a cheaper price. This is definitely on way for a small business owner to save money in the long run. Let me know what you think small business owners.

B. N. S.

The 2009 Look Back

With the year coming to an end, I thought this would be a great time to take a look back at some of the major developments that have affected the small business community the past year. This is just a quick review of some of the developments that we have read about and some that we have actually implemented in our firm. One interesting factor that we found was how different regulating bodies define the term small business and how those definitions affect a small business owner’s strategy going into the New Year.

Economy

While the economy has continued to decline for many small business owners, there are quite a few “indicators” that say that the economy is looking up for the small business owner. According to recent posts, the Small Business Administration is attempting to increase the assistance to small business owners and has redefined their definition of what constitutes a small business. The SBA also has a great deal of qualification factors for their financing programs so be sure that your small business will qualify for the programs offered. Since small businesses make up the majority of the economy, until those businesses have access to the necessary capital to expand; the economy for small business owners will continue to lag in 2010.

Taxes

The tax situation for the small business owner can be a strange beast considering there are different strategies that can be applied depending on the size and industry of your small business. Couple the tax code with the state of the economy, and it makes the road to recovery quite rocky for the small business owner. Although there is a great deal of tax incentives out there for small business owners, many are having a hard time implementing them without the help of additional funding. One example is the depreciation deduction. Many small businesses would like to purchase additional equipment and technology, to take the tax break, but without the necessary funding those deductions fall to the wayside.

Technology

Technology can be one of the better developments this past year for the small business owner. With technology changing virtually daily, there is always someone out there introducing a product that can make the small business owner lives run a bit less hectic. This past year there were quite a few introductions in Web 2.0 technologies that can help the small business owner increase their reach and web presence. More and more small businesses are starting to embrace the cloud computing or Software as a Service (SaaS) model as online data storage and software hosting solutions gains in new business. The use of smart phones has continued to see gains as even individuals are starting to use them to organize their personal lives. I personally see the trends in technology to continue to advance at more and more small businesses see the benefits of technology. Right now our firm can update information on social media sites, service accounting clients, and have anytime access to our data from our smart phones and I personally would not have it any other way.

Be sure to post some of your comments about this past year or what you feel will be the driving forces for small businesses in 2010. As for my opinion, I think that if small businesses look for ways to streamline their operations with the use of technology, and think outside the box when it comes to marketing the road to recovery can be a bit smoother in 2010.

B. N. S.

Cutbacks and Loan Offers

I as was going through my morning reading yesterday I came across two articles that may be good news for many small business owners. The first is hopefully a sign that the small business economy is on the way back to recovering. According to a report by ADP, small businesses are still slashing jobs, but they are at a smaller rate. The economy may be on the rebound for Wall Street, but as unemployment numbers continue to climb, the recovery takes a little more time to affect the small business owner. Since the rate of job cuts for small businesses is going down somewhat, this may be a good sign that small business owners can again be productive in the coming months.

Another article is sure to assist small business owners in the recovery, the only problem is many small business owners don’t even know about this new program. A recent survey by the George S. May International consulting firm indicated that over 75% of small businesses were not aware of the new SBA loan programs that were included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The ARC (American Recovery Captial) loan program allows small businesses deferred payment loans up to $35,000. The only problem is many small businesses had no clue about the program. This may be a good time for those small businesses that need assistance to stop by your local SBA office and investigate securing one of these loans. Now that you know about the loans, there is no reason to miss out on the program.

B. N. S.

Weekend Shopping

I was in the store this weekend picking up some snacks for the Sunday football games and could not help but notice that some of the sizes of my favorite snacks had been reduced considerably. A 16oz size of snack crackers has been reduced to a 13.4oz and the price is the same or at many times more than what it had been before. I thought to myself that I would have to pass on those snacks and decided to make my own.

When I get into the office this morning and check the newswires, I couldn’t help be click on the following article that essentially deals with my weekend experience. I guess the lesson to be learned from the story and my own experience is to be a more cost conscious consumer.

B. N. S.

SMB’s Speak Up

This morning I was able to read a pretty revealing survey report sponsored by Netsuite regarding business leaders’ outlook on the economy and the direction they would be taking their firms to survive in the “new economy”. Survey respondents represented over 600 small to mid-sized businesses (SMB’s) and were from all different types of industries. The interesting thing is that the majority of their answers were the same. SMB’s were focused on cutting cost in conjunction with increasing revenue and these strategies are sure to help improve their cash flow.

Specifically SMB’s cost cutting strategies were reducing overhead, improving productivity and streamlining operations. Revenue generating activities included broaden product offerings and increasing revenue from current customers. SMB’s also showed an increased interest in software as a service (SaaS) and cloud computing as a way to improve productivity and reduce overhead.

Can some of these strategies work for you? More than likely yes, so be sure to stop by Netsuite and download the survey report yourself.

B. N. S.

A Little Humor (and I do mean little)

Poking fun at the economy is quite hard considering all the bad news that is occurring lately, but I did come across an article that makes a pretty good attempt. The article is entitled “Top 12 Indicators That the Economy Is Still Bad” and although the article does deal with some serious issues, the ending may give you a chuckle while reading it at your desk.

The main point for small business owners in this economy is to stay focused on streamlining their business processes and operations and look for additional ways to bring in more revenue. So now is a good time to take a look at your strategies and make sure that they are still viable in this economy. A slow economy is a great time to think outside the box and go against the grain. So take that leap of faith and it may produce the results you are looking for.

Keeping Your Business N Synergy