Lord May My Words Be Tender....

.... because I may have to eat them.

If you are going to mix business with social media be careful about the content.

Best to keep business with business, and keep personal rants on personal accounts.

Separate accounts are best.  

Are Video Cameras a Requirement?

 Many businesses have video cameras, inside, outside, or both.

Question: in this environment are cameras a requirement to protect employees and customers?

Answer: probably yes

Keep context in mind:

      location

      hours

      type of business

      etc.

But you probably need some level of protection for employees and customers.

Small Business Blues

 So I stop at a car wash to vacuum my car.

Both change machines were out of order.

All three vacuums were broken.

If you are going to have a small business, active or passive.

TAKE CARE OF BUSINESS

Phishing Gets Really Nasty

 Phishing attacks directed at businesses appear to be on the rise.

An email comes in asking for a payment on a contract with wiring instructions included, except the instructions are phony.

Or an email arrives asking for a change in payment routing information on a real vendor, but the new routing information goes to a thief.

Defense:

Employees should always check with superiors before accepting such changes.

Any payment activity, especially large sums, should be subject to multiple checks and double checks.

Now Is The Time

 Now is the time to start getting ready for your 2023 income tax returns.

Yes, now.

The cleaner your bookkeeping the easier the tax return.

Study your 2022 tax return to determine what information is needed and reflect on how easy it was to deliver information to your CPA or EA.

Now really is the time.

The Latest Fraud Scheme

Check washing is the latest fraud scheme.

The check is stolen, soaked in acetone, the original ink fades, and new payee and amount information is added with a dark pen.

The bank cannot detect the difference. So......

NEVER mail checks in the outdoor blue box, thieves have stolen master keys.

NEVER mail checks in a home or business box with a red flag.

Take the checks into the post office and mail in the indoor slot.

What is Consulting? Part 1

 What is consulting, and what exactly do consultants do?

Consulting is advice from an outsider person or firm, not including accounting or legal advice (although these three types of advice are often interrelated).

The consultants offer either specific technical advice or general business advice, or both. Some consultants may be hands on with implementation, often in tech projects, where the users are not sophisticated enough to do installations and set up.

At times the role is crisis management - financial, strategic, operational or HR among others.

The role of the consultant is to add value to the business, either by fixing problems or improving operations or both.

This series will discuss types of consulting, relationships with consultants and the business of consulting.