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The HIRE Act…what’s in it for you?
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. …Read More -
Increasing the value of a company before selling it.
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…Read More -
One lesson always leads to another: SXSW follow up
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,…Read More -
Why you need to pay attention to Austin, TX, this week
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…Read More -
CFO turnover on the decline
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 Turnoverillustrates 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…Read More -
The IRS is certain: You’re going to need to disclose “Uncertain Positions.”
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…Read More -
Should we re-examine the way we examine candidates?
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…Read More -
Is an interim CFO right for your business?
In 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…Read More -
Financial staffing trend on the rise: Interim CFOs
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…Read More -
Small Businesses…What is your credit worth?
According to a recent article on CNNMoney.com, small businesses are having an even harder time borrowing money than they were a year ago just before stimulus funds flooded the coffers of the nation’s largest banks. The U.S. Treasury released a report this month showing that these banks shrunk their collective small business lending balance by $1 billion in November alone – a…Read More -
Tidal wave of employment tax audits just around the corner
If you haven’t heard, the IRS announced last year that they would be randomly selecting 6,000 businesses to undergo employment tax audits, starting in February 2010. It will be the largest such audit by the IRS in 25 years, and is meant to close the “tax gap” between the amount of employment taxes owed and the amount that gets collected.Considering…Read More -
Strategies to improve the tracking of employees’ expenses
Current webcasts and webcast archives from CFO Magazine are a fantastic resource for the latest financial strategies being used by corporate finance professionals. One in particular that caught our eye was this one that highlights how RiskMetrics Group went beyond revamping the process employees used to report expenses, to actually shortening the time between expenses being incurred to when they get reported. It’s no…Read More