May 20th, 2010
I don’t want to be afraid anymore. Everyone crying doom and gloom for the last two years petrified me. Not due to my individual circumstances but due to the fear about more bad news. Believe me there is enough real bad news. There is enough real fear to concern me. I am talking about the irrational fear on top of the rational fear.
My family and I have been saving and planning for almost four years to go to Disney. We were scheduled to go last fall but my irrational fear stopped me from going. We had the money. Even with very frugal planning I was afraid to spend the money that was set aside. In April we did go. We had a wonderful time. We did not overspend. And I should have gone last fall.
Yes, it is a time to be concerned. No, you don’t want to waste money. But when something is in the budget and necessary it is time we start spending the money again.
It helps us feel better. It helps other people keep or get jobs. Don’t be foolish but I think it is time to start spending again.
Allen R Noll, CPA, President
www.ThePayrollFactory.com
Tags: April, Budget, Circumstances, Cpa President, Dad, Disney, Doom And Gloom, Irrational Fear, Jobs, Money, President Www, Real Bad News, Wonderful Time
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April 15th, 2010
Is sunshine good for business?
We had a long snow filled, icy, tree damaging winter. It is good to see the sun. I want to play golf, ride my motorcycle, go to the beach, play ball with my kids. All of which moves money. Gas money, restaurants, traveling, new equipment, sporting goods.
People’s attitudes are better in the summer.
So go out, enjoy the weather, buy some new equipment, go on a road trip, spend some money and put someone back to work.
Allen R Noll, CPA, President
www.ThePayrollFactory.com
Tags: Attitudes, Beach Play, Cpa President, Gas Money, Motorcycle, People, Play Ball, Play Golf, President Www, Restaurants, Road Trip, Sporting Goods, Sun, Sunshine, Traveling, Weather
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April 8th, 2010
Day after day we hear stories of emergencies and tragedies. 9/11; hurricanes; blizzards; economic strife and even death and destruction. We have seen it all. We have heard all of the stories and warnings. But have we done anything? Have you done anything to protect your business and your family?
What if your key employee is suddenly not there due to illness, disaster or even death? Are you ready? What if something happens to your building, your computers, your equipment, or your trucks? Do you have enough insurance? Is it the right insurance? Do you have a plan? What do you do first?
What about at home? Would your spouse know what to do if something happened to you? Does your spouse know your wishes? Do you have a medical power of attorney set up? Does your spouse know how to pay the bills? Do you? Does your spouse know who your insurance guy is? Do you?
My family is struggling with the loss of a loved one. How to handle the finances. How to handle the family. How to handle his wishes. It is hard every day. No one ever wants to go through this. Or any tragedy or disaster in life. But responsible business people have a plan. Do you?
Allen R Noll, CPA, President
www.ThePayrollFactory.com
Tags: Blizzards, Business People, Business Plan, Cpa President, Death And Destruction, Disaster, Economic Strife, Emergencies, Hurricanes, Insurance, Insurance Plan, Loss Of A Loved One, Medical Power Of Attorney, Power Of Attorney, President Www, Responsible Business, Right Insurance, Tragedies, Tragedy, Trucks
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April 1st, 2010
This morning on the radio I heard someone talking about the fifteen lessons to teach your childern about money. The premise was that at no point during the American education process is there any discussion of personal finance, bank reconciliation, gross pay v. net pay, taxes, investments or anything like that. A survey was quoted that said seventy five percent of current high school seniors thought their best long term investment came in a standard checking account.
How will these young adults survive in a world with credit cards, ATMs, instant online transactions and no idea of how to handle money?
I would bet most of these kids end up living at home well into their thirties, probably with spouses and children included. They will have no retirement savings, no educational savings and not even their own home. They don’t know how to earn money. They don’t know how to purchase wisely. They only know how to ask for more from Mom & Dad and those of us who actually work.
What type of childern will these people raise?
Allen R. Noll, CPA, President
Tags: American Education, Amp, Bank Reconciliation, Checking Account, Cpa President, Credit Cards, Current High School, Educational Savings, Finance Bank, Gross Pay, High School Seniors, How To Earn Money, Investments, Living At Home, Long Term Investment, Personal Finance, Premise, Retirement Savings, Thirties, Young Adults
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March 25th, 2010
This week the president signed the health insurance reform bill into law. All politics aside, what does this mean for you and your business today?
The media, pundits and the politicians are all running around talking about immediate changes. There are no immediate changes with this type of legislation. At this point the bill filters through multiple levels of government bureaucrats eventually ending up at the IRS.
The IRS creates the practical application of this law based on its interpretation of the law that was just signed. This process will take many months. It will be inefficient and have many holes in it. The IRS will create new forms, procedures, opinions and mandates. All of these procedures, forms, opinions and mandates will continue to change and evolve every six months to a year indefinitely.
The payroll, finance, and health insurance industries all take these IRS rulings into account and build their own forms and procedures as soon as they have the data available to work on from the IRS. Also, don’t forget this law is well over two thousand pages long, has hundreds of new taxes, and thousands of new rules in it. There are also exceptions by state, region and religion.
The entire country is waiting for this law to flow through the bureaucratic channels. As soon as reliable information is distributed by the IRS and other government agencies we will implement the changes to keep you and your company compliant.
Allen R. Noll, CPA President
www.ThePayrollFactory.com
Tags: Business Today, Cpa President, Exceptions, Government Bureaucrats, Health Insurance, Health Insurance Reform, Holes, Insurance Industries, Irs Rulings, Legislation, Levels Of Government, Mandates, Media Pundits, Other Government Agencies, Payroll, Politicians, Practical Application, President Www, Religion, Six Months
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March 18th, 2010
If you are letting your staff pay themselves and handle all pay raises, as well as handle all bonuses for your company for years on end they are going to overpay themselves and possibly others.
The business owner must review payroll data periodically but on a per pay basis would be preferable. To review payroll doesn’t mean run the math on the gross to net , to verify health insurance deductions, and verify 401k percentages. To review the payroll means to look at the gross number and to look at the net number. If your staff person is to be paid a $52,000 annualized salary and your company runs weekly payroll then the employee’s pay is a $1,000 a week before taxes are taken out of their pay.
I reviewed a business’ payroll years ago and I was told by the owner of that company that the office manager was paid an annualized salary of $40,000. As I flipped through each payroll I saw that the office manager’s gross pay was averaging over a $1,000 a week and I knew the owner wasn’t paying attention to anything.
Once this was discovered the owner took payroll processing duties away from the office manager and hired a different person to do payroll. A few months later I saw that business owner and asked how things were going. The answer surprised me. I was told that things got worse after I left. I asked how could things have gotten any worse. The business owner explained that after starting to review his finances that the office manager and one other employee had opened corporate bank accounts that the owner was not aware of. The two employees were depositing receivable checks into a bank account that they controlled. The owner said that business clients were paying the company but the company wasn’t getting the money.
The real sad part of the story is that the owner taught the employee that it was okay to steal. The owner would share cash payments with the office manager instead of putting the cash into the bank. This taught the office manager that stealing was okay. The office manager then turned around and stole from the owner. And it may have cost the owner the company.
All of this could have been prevented in less than half an hour of review time each month. Review the payroll, gross and net numbers. Review the bank statement and review the billing. The owner doesn’t have to do the billing, the bank reconciliation or the payroll but must review it.
Allen R Noll, CPA, President
Tags: Bank Accounts, Business Clients, Business Owner, Business Payroll, Cash Payments, Checks Bank, Gross Pay, Health Insurance, Insurance, Insurance Deductions, Math, Money, Paying Attention, Payroll Data, Payroll Processing, Percentages, S Gross, Salary, Staff Person, Taxes
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March 11th, 2010
A client asked me recently if I get to keep all of the uncashed payroll checks of my staff and my clients. He said, “I would think that would be a nice bonus for a payroll company every year”. No, I don’t get to keep the money and neither does the business owner.
Do you recall the ads that say old bank accounts found!, uncashed paychecks found! and state websites advertising you may have unclaimed cash? This is part of the escheatment laws of turning over unclaimed assets to the state.
The following is a list of items that need to be reported to the state if they cannot be paid out directly to an individual:
- Uncashed paychecks
- Unclaimed stock dividends
- Dormat safe deposit boxes
- Unclaimed insurance policies
- Unclaimed or lost inheritance
- Dormant membership fees
- Court deposits
- Credits or overpayments
- Uncashed money orders
- Unused travelers checks
- Dormant/closed bank accounts
- Unused and electronic gift certificates or stored value cards
- Valuables which families have misplaced over the years, such as jewelry, rare coins, and stamps.
Each state has a website for individuals to search to see if they have any unclaimed property or assets that the state has attributed to them. The Pennsylvania site is: http://www.patreasury.org/Unclaimed/Search.html.
It is important to make sure that you are keeping compliant with this law. On June 29, 2002, Pennsylvania changed its “Unclaimed Property Laws,” reducing the timeframe for reporting abandoned property from seven to five years and for reporting payroll checks that have not been cashed from seven to two years.
Businesses in Pennsylvania are required to report unclaimed property and last known contact information of the individual every year no later than April 15th. If a business cannot locate the owner of unclaimed property then the property must be turned over to the state after the period specified by the state. After the state receives the unclaimed property an effort is made to contact the rightful owner.
It would really be nice if I got to keep the money or unclaimed property. But I don’t get to keep it and neither does the business owner. It is our job to track down any employee with uncashed paychecks and make sure they get paid. If we can’t do that then it is required that those funds get reported to the state.
Allen R Noll, CPA, President
www.thepayrollfactory.com
Tags: Business Owner, Electronic Gift Certificates, Escheatment Laws, Inheritance, Membership Fees, Paychecks, Payroll Company, Rare Coins, Safe Deposit Boxes, State Websites, Stock Dividends, Timeframe, Travelers Checks, Uncashed Money Orders, Uncashed Payroll Checks, Unclaimed Assets, Unclaimed Cash, Unclaimed Insurance Policies, Unclaimed Property Laws, Value Cards
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March 4th, 2010
Do you believe the experts quoted in every newspaper article or business journal?
When I hear in every media report the experts are shocked I throw away all of the information that the experts want to give me. If the experts were really experts they wouldn’t be shocked by what is taking place with the economy; they should have been expecting this turn of events. If being an expert means they have an extraordinary amount of data and an extraordinary amount of history and no ability to understand the pros and cons, ups and downs, or ebbs and flows of what is there I question their credibility as an expert.
Give me the honest opinion of a group of business owners with experience and their own money at risk or give me the feelings and fears of real people who live a responsible financial lifestyle and I can give a better prediction than the so-called experts.
The market and the economy are based on the confidence of the investing group. Today’s news snippets especially from the shocked experts continue to give all of us doubt about the future. Doubt and fear weaken our ability to recover.
At this point I would rather just have the facts and no opinions from pundints or experts and I can move forward with confindence regardless if that confidence means the market is moving up or down.
Review your long term strategy based on age, risk tolerance and desired returns. Your time lines for your business and your investments should adjust with your age but everybody should expect ups and downs. Some last longer than others, some are deeper than others. But sticking to a long term strategy is the best way to go.
In order to stick to your long term strategy stop listening to the experts.
Allen R Noll, CPA, President
www.thepayrollfactory.com
Tags: Business Journal, Business Owners, Confidence, Confindence, Cpa President, Credibility, Fears, Feelings, Financial Lifestyle, Honest Opinion, Newspaper Article, President Www, Pros And Cons, Real People, Risk Tolerance, Snippets, Term Strategy, Time Lines, Ups, Ups And Downs
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February 17th, 2010
For many people this is a good time of year for reflection. Whether it is the religious holidays, the long awaiting of spring and warm weather or simply with the relief from the bustle of the holiday season people seem to spend this time of year reflecting and rebalancing themselves. Many people wait until February to set their personal goals so that they are passed the giddy rush of those ever fleeting New Year’s resolutions.
And in business, what are we doing? I think this is a fantastic time of year to evaluate what you are doing and what you should be doing. We are through the rush of distributing W2s and 1099s. We have prepared all of our year end statements. And we may just have a moment to breathe before our tax returns are due. So what are you going to take time to do this year that you have been meaning to do?
Here are a few things that are good to review this time of year:
What are you doing with your marketing plan? Is it working for you? Is it driving business in your direction?
What are you doing with your accounting, bookkeeping and payroll? Are you utilizing the latest technology that your vendors in these areas have to offer? Are you still stuck filing boxes and boxes of paper away each year? Can you streamline your retention process by getting electronic files instead? What do you need to make your life easier in these areas?
When was the last time you reviewed your vendor relationships? Are any of your vendors a good source for networking or trading business leads?
Where do you stand with your customer base? Is there any product or service that is available in your industry that you should consider offering? Is your customer service staff refreshed and ready to be helpful? Are you up to speed with your competition in all areas?
Is 2010 the year that you expand your sales staff? Has your sales staff been to training recently? Are they up to date on all of your company’s offerings and services? Is your staff performing at their very best? How do you help motivate and increase your sales this year?
Business is not always creating something original and having a great new product. We have some clients who have done that and done it very well. But for most of us it is not some wonderful idea that we can bring to production. For most of us being fresh and exciting in our businesses means constantly tweaking the idea we have already had to improve it, polish it and make it better at every turn.
Will you take the time to reflect on your business and your business relationships to see where you may improve and expand this year?
Meg Eynon, VP
The Payroll Factory
www.ThePayrollFactory.com
Tags: Bookkeeping, Bustle, Customer Base, Customer Service Staff, Electronic Files, Holiday Season, Latest Technology, Marketing Plan, Payroll, Personal Goals, Reflection, Religious Holidays, Resolutions, Sales Staff, Tax Returns, Time Of Year, Vendor Relationships, W2s, Warm Weather, Year End
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February 4th, 2010
What is a white paper? There is one standard answer and then there are many options. A white paper is usually a problem and solution report. For example if you have a problem with your computer you could search white papers for a solution. But what if you have an IT person for that? What use could a white paper possibly have for you?
I had a friend recommend to me that I sign up to get the latest tech white papers. And I did, much like a kid who thinks they might be quizzed on something later. So when they arrived in my inbox I wasn’t sure what I should make of them. Until one day there was one that applied to an issue I was having with our computers. Then, lo and behold, I understood the importance of getting the latest white papers.
Soon it became like getting notice of problems that were going to happen before they actually did. I could be prepared when it came to IT.
Then another funny thing happened. I started browsing through these papers to find out what kind of free tech gadgets are available to help me with everything from marketing to Microsoft. I could learn the basics about disaster recovery and online back up tools. We have wonderful staff here that takes care of all of those things for us, but it helped me feel more educated and more in control when I wanted to implement something new or if questions came up about system and procedure.
White papers helped me feel empowered. It made me feel like I had a general working knowledge of what was taking place in the world of IT. (Please ignore the giggles of all of the very talented people who work in the IT field when they read the last sentence!)
So even for us non-tech types white papers can be a wonderful tool at our disposal. I challenge you to take a look at the latest in IT. An excellent source is www.ZDNet.com. The white papers are easy to understand and very useful.
Now, I said I wasn’t a tech person, but I did get excited about the launch of the iPad and I am off to go check out the different specs!
Meg Eynon, VP
The Payroll Factory
www.ThePayrollFactory.com
Tags: Computers, Control, Disaster Recovery, Funny Thing, Inbox, Ipad, Launch, Marketing, Microsoft, Options, Problem Solution, Tech Gadgets, Tech Help, Tools, White Papers, Working Knowledge, Zdnet
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