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Why businesses may want to consider ESG in strategic planning
When engaging in strategic planning, business owners and their leadership teams must consider various factors. These commonly include the state of your industry, the national and local economies, the company’s financial position and cash flow, and opportunities in the marketplace. However, in today’s world, where transparency is everything, another factor that may be important for…
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Overcoming benchmark resistance in your nonprofit
If your not-for-profit sets performance goals — and most organizations should — then you need benchmarks to measure your performance. Staffers and your board may not enthusiastically embrace benchmarking at first. But if you can show its value and make the process easy, you should be able to get everyone on board. Mission-focused work Employees…
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The best way to survive an IRS audit is to prepare
The IRS recently released its audit statistics for the 2022 fiscal year and fewer taxpayers had their returns examined as compared with prior years. But even though a small percentage of returns are being chosen for audits these days, that will be little consolation if yours is one of them. Recent statistics Overall, just 0.49%…
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In financial planning, forecasts and projections aren’t the same
Businesses are rightly encouraged to regularly generate professionally prepared financial statements. Doing so is important for both understanding your own financial position and providing accurate, comprehensive information to stakeholders such as investors, lenders and advisors. However, keep in mind that financial statements are historical records. They depict the state of the company at a given point…
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Putting the “public” back in your nonprofit’s PR efforts
Public charities, or 501(c)(3) organizations, are fundamentally different from private foundations. They depend on support from multiple public sources, including individuals in their communities. If your not-for-profit isn’t reaching out to and engaging its broad donor and prospective donor base through the media, it probably needs to revise its PR strategy. Consider these best practices.…
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IRS guidance coming regarding the IRA’s Clean Vehicle Credit
The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) extended and expanded the Section 30D Clean Vehicle (CV) Credit, previously known as the Electric Vehicle (EV) Credit. The credit now covers “clean vehicles,” which include plug-in hybrids, hydrogen fuel cell cars and EVs. On April 17, 2023, the IRS will publish proposed regulations to clarify how a CV can qualify for the credit.…
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Hiring family members can offer tax advantages (but be careful)
Summertime can mean hiring time for many types of businesses. With legions of working-age kids and college students out of school, and some spouses of business owners looking for part-time or seasonal work, companies may have a much deeper hiring pool to dive into this time of year. If you’re considering hiring your children or spouse,…
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How to leverage AI in your accounting department
Many people speculate that artificial intelligence (AI) will replace humans for certain work-related tasks in the future. But accounting and finance jobs may be safe — at least for now. Recent study Brigham Young University recently put AI to the test. Academic researchers administered an accounting exam, covering such topics as accounting information systems, auditing,…
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Social Security’s future: The problem and the proposals
Recent reports have raised anew concerns about the impending insolvency of the Social Security program, absent congressional action. Social Security reform has long been considered a “third rail” of American politics and understandably so — the options for heading off insolvency will inevitably cause pain for significant segments of the population. Yet some in Congress…
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Virtual currency lands in the IRS’s crosshairs
While the value of virtual currency continues to fluctuate, the IRS’s interest in it has only increased. In 2021, for example, the agency launched Operation Hidden Treasure to root out taxpayers who don’t report income from cryptocurrency transactions on their federal income tax returns. Moreover, the Inflation Reduction Act, enacted in 2022, allocated $80 billion to the…
