Start a stimulus plan in your office
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Employment concerns have risen almost as fast as unemployment rates over the last couple years. When employees feel like they need to keep one eye on their job status and one on their work, productivity dips and the worry can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. So what do you do to make sure your employees and team members know that they’ve got value within your organization beyond just the work they do?
Below are several ideas you can implement within your office to show your appreciation for staff members. Think of it as a mini-stimulus plan. We’re not suggesting that you run out and start each of these tomorrow. Instead, think carefully about which of these items would fit into the culture of your workplace.
You may also want to talk over some of these ideas with a select few members of your team. Motivational initiatives that seem like they come out of the blue from the top levels of the organization can have the opposite affect if they’re not in line with the culture and personality of the office.
This is a good list to get you started, but there’s a good chance you’ve already given some thought to addressing the stress that your employees may feel due to the current economic conditions. If you’ve implemented ideas that you don’t see in this post, please feel free to share them in the comments section.
- Focus on your successes and a thriving business. Encourage everyone in the workplace to identify and talk about what is going right in the operation.
- Initiate “Good News” meetings. At least once a week, have employees meet together in small groups or teams (of no more than six to eight people) and limit the agenda to good news only.
- Solicit input and feedback from employees. Regularly solicit employees’ input and feedback on what’s going on.
- Ask employees for their ideas and suggestions. The best ideas for surviving and rebounding just might be in the heads of some of your associates and employees.
- Act on employees’ ideas and suggestions. It’s not enough to ask employees for their ideas. Supervisors and managers also have to listen and respond to them.
- Do Strength Assessments. By knowing each individual’s strengths, people can be placed in positions where their strengths are paying off better for themselves and for the company or organization.
- Hold an “Opportunity Search Day. “ It’s a day when every employee is asked to think about opportunities for ways the company or organization can succeed, and to report their opportunity ideas to each other and to management.
- Give out appreciation and recognition. Look for opportunities to recognize and reward individuals and teams. And remember, showing appreciation doesn’t have to cost a lot of money. A handwritten note of appreciation, a small-dollar gift card, or a pizza party are often more appreciated than a few bucks added to the paycheck.
- Inject more fun in the workplace. Having fun unleashes creativity. It just does.
- Share profits and gain. Explore with your accountant or business advisor the feasibility of your business or organization setting up a profit-sharing or a gainsharing plan for employees.
- Crank up more training. Offer employees more training in areas and skills where they can make themselves more valuable to the organization.
- Flexible work schedules. Many jobs today do not require the employees to adhere to a strict time schedule. One way to help downcast employees appreciate their workplace is to allow flexibility in work schedules.
The HIRE Act…what’s in it for you?
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If you are unemployed, raise your hand. All fifteen million of you. Now sigh a giant sigh of relief. The U.S. Congress and President Obama have passed a new law to encourage employers to hire you. The tentative pace towards stability just turned into a bit of a skip as the law was signed into effect on March 18th, 2010. Why all the excitement? The new jobs creation bill, Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act (HIRE) entices employers to hire people immediately in order to benefit from three valuable tax breaks:
- Employers Get a Payroll Tax Holiday for New Hires — Plus a Potential Tax Credit Bonus.
- The Super Deduction for Purchasing Business Equipment Has Been Extended.
- Tax Credit Bonds Are Made More Attractive
What does this mean for those who qualify? The law exempts employers from paying the 6.2 percent Social Security payroll tax through December 2010 on the wages paid to each new employee they hire in 2010 who has been unemployed for at least 60 days. The maximum value is $6,621 per eligible new employee. The potential tax credit bonus gives employers an additional $1,000 income tax credit for each of these new employees who stay on the job for 52 weeks.
Section 179 of the Internal Revenue Code involving deductions for qualified business assets is being enhanced and is being referred to as a “super deduction”. Section 179 of the Internal Revenue Code allows an employer to “expense,” or deduct, qualified business assets that were put into service during the year, up to a specified maximum. The modification is being dubbed as “super” because rather than equipment depreciating in value over the course of several years, a business may be able to simply write off the entire cost in one year if you qualify and make this election. Certainly sounds super to us!
Tax credit bonds are also getting a bit of a makeover with this new law. The program known as “Build America Bonds” is being reinforced to gain momentum and participation. The HIRE Act allows issuers of qualified tax credit bonds to receive direct payment from the federal government in an amount equal to the allowable tax credit. Additionally, the tax credit bonds include new qualified academy bonds, energy conservation bonds, qualified school construction bonds, and renewable energy bonds.
As the seasons change, the landscaping is not the only thing becoming brighter. The HIRE Act is the first of hopefully many legislative measures the government will be implementing in order to accelerate the rate at which our country is recovering economically. In the spirit of opportunism, we are remaining as hopeful as ever concerning the advantages of this new legislation. To learn more about what your business may qualify for under these new tax laws please contact us and we will be happy to address any questions or concerns you may have.
Increasing the value of a company before selling it.
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We all know it’s necessary, right? Well, we’re not just talking about building up your billings or sales. What we’re talking about here are a few strategies you can implement to make your buyer happy when he or she examines your company’s financial health. The best overall strategy is to look for financial and performance indicators that point toward things you can do to improve the performance and profitability of your company. Specific approaches, however, include:
- If it’s not making you money, get rid of it
- If you’re going to sell your business for the maximum value, you’ve got to be willing to look at it like a buyer will. Sometimes that means making hard decisions or just doing the things you’ve known you needed too. Get rid of outdated inventory. Fix whatever may be wrong with your product or service. Write off receivables that you know you have no chance of collecting.
- Broaden your customer base, suppliers too
- This is clearly not a strategy you come into work one day and implement. This one takes time, but it’s worth it. Relying on only a few customers or seasonal customers can cripple the value of your company, as will a dependence on only a few suppliers given the impact that could have on your pricing.
- Reduce your expenses
- You have a budget at home, right? It’s a good idea to have one for your company too. Treat it just like you do at home. Look for ways to cut our unnecessary expenses. Further if you lease your office space, check into purchasing it if possible.
- Ok, building your sales and revenues is important, too
- Are there sales channels outside your business? Is your main salesperson doing all the work to keep the company pace? Can you expand the boundaries within which you do business? Do you have a new product you can launch? Are there a few people on staff who aren’t pulling their weight? Trim the fat!
These are questions a buyer will ask. You may as well go ahead ask them of yourself, but just make sure you give yourself the time to truly carry through with a few of these ideas. If you have other thoughts on what we’ve brought up here or other things you’d like to add, please let us know.
One lesson always leads to another: SXSW follow up
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Remember last week when we told you that you had to be paying attention to what was going on in Austin, TX, at SXSW? In particular, we recommended following along online with the session about how data geeks would change the world of finance.
Well if you took our advice, then you already know how that worked out. If not, we’ll just tell you it didn’t go well. But if you’d like to read for yourself, here’s a link to the search results for , #dataismoney.
This is just one of many disgruntled tweets about the session.
“Pop quiz. Did most people leave #dataismoney panel because questions were insipid, or answers were ridiculous? Or both?”
Yikes. That was from Richard Piotrowski, or @streetbrief as his twitter followers know him.
Believe us, they don’t get much better. The panelists were discussed as being arrogant. They were accused of being politically biased in their approach to the topic. Several tweets seemed to indicate that the panelists attempted to wow the audience with overproduced information graphics while under-delivering on substance.
What we intended as a suggestion to catch a glimpse of the future of finance, became a rock solid lesson in the power of social media. Having read through the entire hashtag search, it was clear early on in the session that the whole thing was headed downhill.
The interesting thing is that there is practically no response, even after the session, from the panelists. We’re not saying that they should be shouting back at the crowd they irritated.
BUT…
Imagine how much ground they could make up with the frustrated conference goers by simply tweeting a message such as this:
“Man, we were really off base. Sorry about that folks. How can we make it better next year? (if you’ll have us back) #dataismoney”
They would definitely get a number of derogatory comments. It sounds like they may have earned them. On the other hand, they would also get some helpful suggestions and a fair amount of goodwill for taking the transparent and open route in response. That may be the best lesson of all.
Why you need to pay attention to Austin, TX, this week
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As most of us begin to thaw out, there are literally thousands of people converging from all over the world on the eclectic city of Austin, TX. Their goal is to bask in the present, but mostly the future, of the film, music and interactive technology industries. From March 12 – 21, attendees will be treated to panel discussions and small group gatherings headed up by some of the premier talents in their fields.
So why, you may ask, should this appeal to the financial professional in you? Because on Saturday, March 13, at 5 PM one such panel will be tackling the issue of innovation in the finance. The session, titled Data is Money: How Geeks are Changing Finance is bringing together “experts in finance and technology to talk about how the future of finance will be influenced by data geeks and technologists.”
On a broad scope, the discussion will delve into new financial data formats, like XBRL, and how they can be combined with other recent advances to help create a better financial system.
Specifically, the panel will attempt to answer such questions as:
- What are the main issues in finance today both for individuals and for the macro economy?
- What are some of the standards that are emerging for financial data?
- What is XBRL?
- What are the implications of XBRL?
- What were some of the causes of the financial meltdown and how could they be prevented with better technology?
- What are some of the ways people are using new financial data formats to improve the financial system?
Panelists will be Aaron Patzer, VP and General Manager of Intuit’s Personal Finance Group, managing the Mint and Quicken Desktop brands; Shawn Carpenter, developer of YCharts; and Jesper Andersen, co-founder of Freerisk and Product Manager for Data and Econometrics at Trulia.com.
With these innovative and visionary thinkers at the helm, this discussion is sure to provide a positive impact on all in attendance. Which gets us to the final point. Even if you’re not in attendance, you can follow along if you have a Twitter account. Using Twitter’s search function, type #dataismoney and you’ll get all the highlights from the discussions that attendees tag with that phrase.
For that matter, if you’re interested in film, music or interactive technology, you can check out the full schedule of events and discussions here. When you find a title you like, click on it for a brief description, then click for event details and you’ll get the hashtag for that event, too. It’s a great way to keep up with some of the valuable insights that are sure to come out of this year’s SXSW Conference. Additionally, many speakers will post links to their slides and speaking notes after the fact. It’s almost as good as being there. Almost.
CFO turnover on the decline
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Big business appears to be increasing the focus on strategic fiscal management as CFO turnover within the ranks of large companies dropped 28% last year. An article on cfo.com titled Downturn in Turnover illustrates this trend with some impressive statistics, such as:
- CFO turnover within the Fortune 1000 dropped to 13% from a high of 19% in 2007 and 18% in 2008
- Turnover rates were lowest within the consumer, financial services, and technology segments, coming in at 9%
- Rates were the highest within the telecommunications sector at 24%
Additional trends in CFO hiring and retention came to light as well. For example, the importance of operational knowledge is highlighted by the number of corporate CFOs with finance backgrounds who have then become divisional presidents before being promoted to the C Suite. This number increased from 12% in 2008 to 22% in 2009. In these instances, the institutional knowledge that these professionals bring with them to the role is invaluable to the company they serve.
Whether a CFO is promoted from within or recruited away from another company at the same level, one thing appears certain: the CFO role is more important than ever, and that’s a trend that doesn’t appear to be going away any time soon.
While it’s not going to be a factor yet, the writing is on the wall: many businesses will face big changes to their reporting requirements when the IRS mandates that “uncertain tax positions” be identified. Essentially, these are strategies applied to tax returns that the IRS may not agree with. Before now, the IRS was at a disadvantage during audits regarding the matter. These changes will reverse that position and put the IRS ahead of the game.
Prior to this change from the IRS, most businesses that will be affected by this move were already reporting uncertain tax positions for accounting purposes. The difference now will be the additional disclosure to the IRS.
Reporting Basics include:
- Disclosures must be included with returns at the time they’re filed.
- Any business with $10 million or more in assets will be required to comply and must have a financial statement prepared under FIN 48
- Disclosures must include a brief description of the positions and possible tax exposure if they are not upheld.
If you have any thoughts or comments regarding this proposal, the IRS is accepting them until March 29, 2010. If you have any questions as to how this could affect your business, please feel free to contact us at any time and we’ll be happy to work with you.
Should we re-examine the way we examine candidates?
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As financial professionals, we know that we don’t exactly have reputations for being wild and crazy. But we were all young(er) once. Even 10 years ago, there weren’t nearly as many forums as there are today for our occasional lapses of judgment to find a permanent home.
These days, though, it’s not at all uncommon to hear about employers using Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and personal blogs to get the low down on job applicants. In fact, CareerBuilder put the number of employers who make use of the practice at 45% in August 2009.
Certainly, candidates for any job are growing more conscious of what might be lurking behind a simple name search on any social site. But a new question is being asked about the validity of using the results of that search to disqualify a candidate for a position. While many jobs require a credit check, those submitting to the check know that it’s going to take place and an employer must tell candidates why they’re no longer under consideration if the reason is related to credit.
With social searches, no such protection exists for a candidate. It can be argued that if anyone has been considering a job search, this topic has probably come up from the standpoint of managing his or her reputation. Many people let their lives play out online with very few filters. This is neither wrong nor right.
The question is: should that transparency go both ways? Should an employer be obligated to tell a candidate that he or she didn’t get the job because of a picture that popped from an old fraternity party? If so, that would at least provide an opportunity to try and fix the situation before another potential employer finds it.
What are your thoughts?
Is an interim CFO right for your business?
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In last week’s post (link the phrase “last week’s post”, we told you about the rising trend of hiring temporary CFOs. This week, we’re going to explore the trend from the business side so you can get a sense of whether hiring a temporary CFO might be a good solution for you now or in the future.
Interim CFOs can be an excellent situational asset
Hiring any executive is rarely a quick process. Whether your company is growing and you’re looking for your first CFO or you’ve recently had a seasoned pro retire and you need to replace his or her wisdom, you shouldn’t rush your search. But you still need leadership in the meantime to help keep the business on track.
Maybe your company has grown to the point that you’re starting to think it may be time to dust off that exit strategy you thought was a wild dream a few years ago. Positioning your business for sale is not cut and dry. You need the advice of a financial executive, but conducting a search and hiring one full-time doesn’t make any sense if you’re just going to sell.
Certainly, our economy has been nothing to write home about for some time, but there are many businesses that have thrived during these lean times. If yours is in this category and you’re ready to capitalize on that achievement by introducing a new product or entering into a new partnership, financial leadership is critical to ensuring that the success continues.
Then there are other reasons that are smaller in scope, but still just as important.
- You need guidance in the areas of financial planning and analysis in order to create a detailed budget and monthly forecasts.
- You’re approaching your executive search cautiously and want to try out an individual you think may be right for the job.
- You hate to think about it, but seasoned CFOs have what it takes to detect corporate fraud.
- You’re looking for new ways to improve the financial performance of your company, and need an unbiased point of view.
What does a temporary executive bring to the table?
Nobody earns the title CFO, either temporarily or long-term, without building an impressive resume and body of wisdom. So by bringing someone into the role on an interim basis, you’re instantly gaining access to all the lessons he or she has learned over time. All at a significant cost savings to you.
There is a strong upside to bringing in a short-term financial leader. If it doesn’t work out, there’s no messy severance to deal with, you just make a call and request another. If it does work out, and you find yourself in a position of continued growth, customer satisfaction and high employee morale, well, you may have found yourself a full-timer instead of a temp.
If you’ve had experience hiring an interim CFO or you’ve been thinking about bringing one on, we would love to hear your thoughts on this emerging trend in our business. Please weigh in using the comments section below.
Financial staffing trend on the rise: Interim CFOs
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Unemployment figures can easily be described as eye-popping, and the truth is that no job is guaranteed. While new jobs aren’t exactly jumping into anyone’s boat, there are more positions available for junior- and mid-level financial staffers than C-level professionals. But opportunities do exist at the upper levels of many small and medium sized businesses for those willing to consider short-term employment.
There are over 2 million temporary workers in America today. The Bureau of Labor Statistics doesn’t track how many of them are executives, but it’s safe to say that the number is on the rise.
For example, opportunities may seemingly arise overnight at fast-growing companies with revenues exceeding expectations. Another company may need someone to step in and help control costs during the launch of a new product.
Regardless of the scenario, interim CFOs often find themselves in very intense engagements. So, just as with a full-time hire, finding the right match for a short-term engagement is critical to success. Important topics to discuss whether you’re the one doing the hiring or looking to be hired include:
- The scope of the role
- Payment terms
- Confidentiality agreements
- The inner workings of the company
As in any similar scenario, it’s important to protect yourself by seeking out reputable staffing firms with a history of placing quality professionals. We’re here to help you do just that no matter which side of the interview you’re on.