business - Linkenheimer LLP CPAs & Advisors

Does Your Team Know the Profitability Game Plan?

Autumn brings falling leaves and … the gridiron. Football teams — from high school to pro — are trying to put as many wins on the board as possible to make this season a special one.

For business owners, sports can highlight important lessons about profitability. One in particular is that you and your coaches must learn from your mistakes and adjust your game plan accordingly to have a winning year.

Spot the fumbles

More specifically, your business needs to identify the profit fumbles that are hurting your ability to score bottom-line touchdowns and, in response, execute earnings plays that improve the score. Doing so is always important but takes on added significance as the year winds down and you want to finish strong.

Your company’s earnings game plan should be based partly on strong strategic planning for the year and partly from uncovering and working to eliminate such profit fumbles as:

Employees interacting with customers poorly, giving a bad impression or providing inaccurate information,
Pricing strategies that turn off customers or bring in inadequate revenue, and
Supply chain issues that slow productivity.

Ask employees at all levels whether and where they see such fumbles. Then […]

By Linkenheimer LLP|2020-09-03T20:03:37+00:00September 27th, 2019|business, planning|0 Comments

How to Research a Business Customer’s Creditworthiness

Extending credit to business customers can be an effective way to build goodwill and nurture long-term buyers. But if you extend customer credit, it also brings sizable financial risk to your business, as cash flow could grind to a halt if these customers don’t make their payments. Even worse, they could declare bankruptcy and bow out of their obligations entirely.

For this reason, it’s critical to thoroughly research a customer’s creditworthiness before you offer any arrangement. Here are some ways to do so:

Follow up on references. When dealing with vendors and other businesses, trade references are key. As you’re likely aware, these are sources that can describe past payment experiences between a business and a vendor (or other credit user).

Contact the potential customer’s trade references to check the length of time the parties have been working together, the approximate size of the potential […]

By Linkenheimer LLP|2020-09-03T20:03:38+00:00September 18th, 2019|business, credit|0 Comments

For Best Results, Start Your Strategic Planning Early

Time flies when you’re having fun — and running a business. Although it’s probably too early to start chilling a bottle of bubbly for New Year’s Eve, it’s certainly not too early for business owners to start doing some strategic planning for next year. Here are some ways to get started.

Begin with your financials

A good place to find inspiration for strategic objectives is your financial statements. They’ll tell you whether you’re excelling or struggling so you can decide how strategically ambitious or cautious to be in the coming year.

Use the numbers to look at key performance indicators such as gross profit, which tells you how much money you made after your production and selling costs were paid. It’s calculated by subtracting the cost of […]

By Linkenheimer LLP|2020-09-03T20:03:40+00:00September 16th, 2019|business, planning, strategy|0 Comments

The Tax Implications of a Company Car

The use of a company vehicle is a valuable fringe benefit for owners and employees of small businesses. This benefit results in tax deductions for the employer as well as tax breaks for the owners and employees using the cars. (And of course, they get the non-tax benefits of driving the cars!) Even better, recent tax law changes and IRS rules make the perk more valuable than before.

Here’s an example

Let’s say you’re the owner-employee of a corporation that’s going to provide you with a company car. You need the car to visit customers, meet with vendors and check on suppliers. You expect to drive the car 8,500 miles a year for business. You also expect to use the car for about 7,000 miles of personal driving, including commuting, running errands and weekend trips with your family. Therefore, your usage of the vehicle will be approximately 55% for business and 45% for personal purposes. You want a nice car to reflect positively on your business, so […]

By Linkenheimer LLP|2020-09-03T20:03:41+00:00September 4th, 2019|deduction, deductions, expensing, New Tax Laws|0 Comments

Are You Engaged in Internet Sales in California?

Are you engaged in Internet sales in California? In light of changes to sales and use tax that became effective in April, some retailers may not be certain if they must collect and pay over sales and use tax based on aspects of their businesses. The CA Dept. of Tax and Fee Administration has updated Publication 109 (Internet Sales) to add clarity on many issues. One key change is the addition of details that defines what “engaged in business” in CA means and doesn’t mean. For example, “Offering merchandise for sale over the phone, by mail order, or online will generally not, by itself, cause a retailer to be engaged in business in CA.” Go to https://bit.ly/2OClJka and scroll down. If you have questions or would like more info, please contact your Linkenheimer CPA.

By Linkenheimer LLP|2020-09-03T20:03:43+00:00August 22nd, 2019|sales tax|0 Comments