Our IT Security Specialist Chris Griesemer once again attended the 2010 DEF CON Conference in Las Vegas, and returned (as usual) highly impressed and with a few ideas to strengthen your business’ security.
“Take the time to thoroughly examine the security of your business, or hire a firm to do it for you. You can never assume your business is safe from outside threats.”
With heightened awareness of the need for corporate governance, American boardrooms are immersed in increasingly intense discussions about the issues of risk and compliance. With these new concerns, directors of public companies are under the microscope more so than ever before.
While financial risk remains paramount, all systemic risks lead to financial risk in one way or another. This survey explores not only financial risk, but the other important areas of risk being discussed in boardrooms, such as regulatory compliance and reputational risk, as well how boards gain insight on new topics of interest to their companies.
Private equity continues to evolve as an essential industry while the financial markets continue to recover from the resounding events of the past few years. A review of the current trends in private equity yields no earth-shattering revelations, yet they do reflect an industry in transition; an industry that is robust and ever-changing. This ability to transition with changing times is essential to its longevity.
The small business health insurance tax credit, created by the health care reform package, rewards employers that offer health insurance to their employees with a tax break. The credit is targeted to small employers; generally employers with 25 or fewer employees. In May 2010, the IRS issued Notice 2010-44, which describes the steps employers take to determine eligibility for the credit and how to calculate the credit.
Tax laws provide that not-for-profit entities who fail to file required applicable 990 information returns for three consecutive years automatically lose their not-for-profit status. Entities whose tax exempt status has been revoked are subject to regular income tax on their income and donations to the entities will not be deductible as charitable contributions.
It’s one of the great ironies of economic cycles: There will be some companies that scratch and claw their way through the downturn, managing to survive the worst of the recession, only to fail when the recovery starts to kick in. The primary culprit is usually a lack of access to capital.
With a nod to our last post featuring an article about increased spending on the rise, recent reports also indicate the housing market is improving.
The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo index of builder confidence increased this month more than economists forecast, and the Commerce Department reported that U.S. builders broke ground on more homes in March than anticipated.
In a move geared to increase transparency, the IRS has announced that corporate and other business taxpayers now subject to FIN 48 and similar financial reporting rules will be soon required to report uncertain tax positions on their annual Form 1120, U.S. Corporate Income Tax Return, or other applicable tax return.
The IRS is currently developing a separate schedule for purposes of this disclosure, and IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman has indicated that the agency intends to move quickly with the new reporting requirement once all comments have been received.
As 2010 unfolds, small businesses are confronted with tax challenges and opportunities on many fronts. Lackluster consumer spending, combined with tight credit, has many small businesses in a holding pattern.
Congress may respond with a new tax credit to encourage hiring. Small businesses are also faced with uncertainty over many temporary provisions in the federal Tax Code. Many of these incentives have expired. At the same time, small businesses are uncertain how health care reform, the fate of the federal estate tax and proposed retirement savings initiatives may impact them.
Being proactive to avoid these same traps and mistakes can keep you from being another business owner that failed.
