Financial Bits and Bytes

With the unemployment rate shrinking, it has become increasingly difficult for employers to find the right people for their companies and retain their most valuable employees. To stay competitive, companies need to offer great employee benefits that incorporate a retirement savings plan. Many companies believe they can’t afford to have a retirement plan. The truth is that some plans cost very little to set up and maintain. The employer can further reduce their net costs because nearly all plans offer tax deductions for employer contributions. You can reduce your tax liability and attract and retain great employees all at the

If you’re an entrepreneur that wants to pass your company down to the next generation, you want to do everything that you can to make sure that your successor does well. Beyond knowledge of the services and products that your company sells, knowing how your company operates, especially in the areas of administration and finance, will help them continue to grow your business. In our last article, we talked about the basic functions of a CFO – Accounting and Finance. But there are other key areas of business operation that usually fall under the purview of the CFO as well

How do family businesses prepare the next generation to take over? Early in my career, I worked at a publicly held gas pipeline company. Management identified newly hired “stars,” and they would be put on a fast track, spending each of the next 4 years switching from one department to another, allowing them to learn all about the company, from the view of each operating department, from marketing to HR, from business operations to accounting. Though they didn’t become experts in any of these areas, they learned the impact of each department on the company overall. If you are an

In many companies, people are concerned about the pecking order. Who has the most power, the most pay, the most responsibility? Over the years, I’ve become less concerned about those ratings. My interest is always in who has the most information. Because the old cliché is true – Information is Power. But for the context of this article, information is the source of decision-making. It is information that brings people together, that draws people to that office down the hall. Who is it that possesses the information that drives the company forward? Who is the person that has the power

One of the largest challenges companies face when choosing an employee benefits package — other than the astronomical cost– is deciding how much of that cost the company should bear. The Kaiser Family Foundation Health Benefits Survey 2018 shows employees pay 17% towards employee-only coverage versus 28% for family medical coverage. The cost for the company is $5,711 for employee-only coverage versus $14,069 for family coverage. When creating your company’s strategy, give careful thought to these questions: How important are benefits in your company? Your benefits package must be aligned with your company’s culture and values. If you are a