A little bit more on the Business Climate Survey and a little tax heads-up

Here is a nice 2 minute video about the survey results as described by Marvin and Company's Managing Director Kevin McCoy.

http://vimeo.com/20151192

Hope you all have signed up for the tax seminar coming up at the Troy Record. Thanks for all the support!

Actually one other thing - working through a lot of corporate returns right now and make sure you are making the right decision on whether or not to use Section 179 or Bonus depreciation (where applicable). I know there aren't too many companies out there that have taxable income over the past 2 years but bonus depreciation can create a net operating loss where section 179 can not - and if you had taxable income in the past two years maybe creating an NOL would be worth it and then you could amend your previous year's return and get some money refunded. I know this is pretty technical but your accountant should know all about this but if you need any help please don't hesitate to contact me at anytime.

Great article for non-profits...

Joanne Berry, Executive Director of the NYS Society of CPA's wrote a great editorial in last month's edition of The CPA Journal, in which she dives into the path that the CPA-non-profit relationship may be on.

http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/205d12e6#/205d12e6/9

The Roslyn School District scandal is probably the Enron of school district scandals with about $11 million in misappropriations and fraud and has since laid the ground work for more state audits and more regulation. We have seen many of our local school districts end up on the front page of the "capital district" section of a local paper talking about how money was spent inappropriately and how internal controls did nothing to prevent it - and Berry asks the same question with regards to NFP's and their spending responsibilities.

I believe this article comes at a good time because of the economic difficulties many non-profits have faced over the past couple years and some of these struggles include layoffs which can really have a negative impact on a small non-profit's internal control. Especially in these times when everyone is hurting a little in the wallet, you want to make sure that your internal controls are structured in a way that even the smallest of departments can handle and that is something your auditor should be able to help you with - but if not, as always, please feel free to give me a call.

25th Annual Business Climate Survey Released

Kevin McCoy, CPA and director, Marvin and Company, PC discussed highlights from the 25th Annual Business Climate Survey Friday, Feb. 18, 2011 at the University at Albany.

Compiled by Marvin and the University at Albany’s School of Business, the survey shows that nearly half of Capital Region firms expect business to increase in 2011, while more than nine out of 10 regional businesses expect their employment levels to increase or level off. Forty-two percent of area firms saw an overall increase in their business in 2010, the highest percentage in three years, while 49 percent of businesses believe they will see increases in 2011. You can read the full report here: http://www.albany.edu/news/12031.php?WT.svl=news

Taking my show on the road...

The Troy Record has asked me to do a presentation on personal tax tips and such on March 8th from 6:30pm - 8:30pm. We will talk about things that did and did not come out of the December 17th, 2010 legislation as well as discuss our opinions as to where we think things might be headed. We will also discuss some common questions we get from clients as well as common errors we see on self-prepared returns. We'll also touch on some topics about IRS audits/inquiries and deciding on whether or not you should have someone prepare your return for you.

The presentation will be about an hour and 1/2 and then we will take questions after that. There will be refreshments and such and the event will be held at The Community Media Lab on 501 Broadway in Troy. If you have any questions or would like to register please contact Rebecca Eppelmann at the Troy Record at reppelmann@troyrecord.com.

Hope to see you there and meet some of you who have been following my blog - I just went over the 500th reader - thanks to all of those who support this blog. Kev-

Where do 'my' business concerns rank?

For the past 25 years Marvin and Company has been taking the business pulse of the capital district and beyond, asking business owners what their major concerns were in the upcoming year as well as following up on 2010 and what kind of successes/challenges there were.

Over the past few years we have been teaming up with SUNY Albany to present and conduct the survey and this past Friday we announced the results at a joint press conference on the SUNY Albany campus, with our friends UAlbany President (and former golfing buddy) George Philip and Don Siegel, Dean of the School of Business at UAlbany. The results showed some optimism for the first time in a while but still at the top of the list of concerns is the rising costs of providing health health benefits to employees.

I am linking some interviews from the event so please take a look and if you would like any more information please let me know. Kev-

http://www.timesunion.com/business/article/Firms-see-better-2011-1020087.php

http://bit.ly/fFDPjq

http://www.albany.edu/news/12031.php?WT.svl=news

Conflicts of interest policies for non-profits

Don't get too far into your fiscal year having not updated your conflict of interest policy. Each board member, officer and/or highest paid employee if in a management position should be signing to the fact that no conflicts are outstanding or if they are, then they disclose the circumstances for the rest of the board to discuss. The 990 and the 1023 both ask about an organization's conflict of interest policy so I would strongly recommend your organization having one especially if you are a 501(c)(3) and receive contributions.

If you need an example of one shoot me an email or you can also google it and there are some pretty good pre-canned ones out there as well. If you have one and would like me to take a look at it I can but I would highly recommend having your attorney take a look at it as well

On another note don't forget about our free webinar on sales tax tomorrow from 12-1pm.
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/657762242

Friendly reminder on sales tax webinar

https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/657762242

Check out our FREE webinar this Wednesday from noon to one on sales tax issues and what we are seeing with sales tax audits and other things like that. Hope to see you there! And did I mention it is FREE!

Kev-