Category: Small Business
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Employee or contractor?
Like most small business accountants, I often find problems with misclassification of workers as contractors. Sometimes the problems find me after an employer has been penalized by the IRS or a state auditor and the owner now needs tax penalty relief just to stay in business. Misclassification can be painful. I can cite plenty of casualties where…
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A new market for predatory lenders
I am increasingly concerned that the aggressive marketing of private alternatives to traditional student loan by commercial lenders is bad for consumers and the overall economy. Historically these loans were too risky for commercial lenders but new tech-driven collection tools and tougher bankruptcy laws make it more attractive for commercial lenders today. Since these same lenders…
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State lawmakers tinker with crowdfunding: helping or hurting?
LexisNexis reported yesterday that “Texas securities regulators this month are considering tweaks to state crowdfunding rules that would lift escrow requirements for smaller investments, changes that attorneys say demonstrate the state’s continued eagerness to fine-tune crowdfunding”. Other media sources covered the advancement of crowd funding in North Carolina this week. Many other states are also…
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Small business are under cyber attack
There are only two types of small businesses: those that have been the victim of cyberattack and those that don’t know it yet. The mounting evidence of data leaks is simply shocking. Small business CPAs are increasingly focused on making online security a high priority for our clients. It pays to get an independent review of…
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Statistics on slow start of equity crowdfunding
The Securities Exchange Commission reports that in the first year of operation of a provision known as “Reg A+” of the JOBS Act, a total of 94 companies filed to raise a total of $1.7 billion in equity financing as reported by Wall Street Journal. Of those, only about half of the offerings have qualified to…
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Comparing Facebook Live vs. Google+ Hangouts On Air
I spent some time this morning attempting to build an argument one way or the other for my future live broadcasting. I was shocked to not see any direct comparison in a third party article. I made some notes myself. It boils down to this, I think: Facebook has the people, the “eyeballs”. Google+ has…
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A birthday greeting
Today is my birthday. I was born on this day in 1960 which makes me 46 after application of my election to take a one decade “do over” for lost time; a concept that almost everyone of my age appreciates. In my case this joke is grounded in reality since I spent most of the…
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How to run a successful small business crowdfunding campaign
Many small business owners dream about tapping the power of the internet to raise funding for their growth. Yet in reality few people have an understanding of what it takes to be successful in the realm of crowdfunding. Many of my talks and article focus on explaining that many of the same attributes that indicate…
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Addressing grievances against government
This Independence Day weekend presents an opportunity to look back at how local citizens finally resolved their unaddressed grievances against government 240 years ago. This is the beginning of the text with emphasis on points that seem to me to be most relevant today: “When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for…
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Seven alternate sources of small business funding
I’ve been talking quite a bit lately about the new equity crowdfunding possibilities for small firms but there are still plenty of other ways to raise capital for your small business. The key to success of all of these funding possibilities is good business planning. Online Lenders have high rates but may be good for short-term financing.…