 HARDING, SHYMANSKI & COMPANY Certified Public Accountants and Consultants
Our Goal: Your Success! October/November 2010 |
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| Manufacturing and Wholesale Distributors | |
Is today's business environment presenting unique opportunities and issues for your manufacturing operation? How are you addressing the push from your customers for continuous quality improvement? Are you having difficulty finding and retaining quality employees? Add to these issues declining profit margins and strained resources due to rapid growth and you have major challenges facing you day in and day out.
At Harding, Shymanski & Company, P.S.C. we have a dedicated team ready to assist you with those unique challenges and issues facing your industry.
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| HSC Annual Conference - November 3, 2010 in Evansville, Indiana |
"Protecting What You've Built:
The Knowledge You Need to Succeed"
Occupational fraud is on the rise. In the 2009/2010 Kroll report on Global Fraud, 80% of responding companies had experienced some form of corporate fraud. In its 2010 report to the Nations, the ACFE estimated that fraud costs the typical organization 5% of its annual revenue. Whether it's employee theft or undiscovered mistakes, fraud is occurring in record numbers and the end result can greatly impact your company's bottom line.
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| HSC Annual Conference - December 3, 2010 in Louisville, Kentucky |
"Succession or Sale: Preparing Your Business"
Whether you choose to transfer your business to the next generation or sell it, you need to position it properly.
This conference is presented by Harding, Shymanski & Company, P.S.C. in conjunction with the University of Louisville Family Business Center. Details will be posted to our website at www.hsccpa.com as they become available. |
| Indiana Unclaimed Property Amnesty Program |
The Office of the Indiana Attorney General has instituted a one-time only Unclaimed Property Amnesty Program to help organizations who are holding unclaimed property to come into compliance without the consequence of payment of accrued interest and applicable penalties. Unclaimed property is intangible personal property that has gone unclaimed for a certain period of time, which varies depending upon the type of unclaimed asset. Some common examples of unclaimed property are bonds, savings and checking accounts, accounts receivable credit balances, unpaid wages, insurance proceeds, utility deposits, mutual fund shares, stocks/dividends, and safe deposit contents. Information reports are required on an annual basis of persons holding property which belongs to the state by reason of a presumption of abandonment. The penalties for failing to file a report are $100 per day the report is late, up to $5,000. A holder who intentionally fails to pay or deliver property is subject to an additional civil penalty of 10% of the value of the property that must be paid or delivered. A holder that willfully refuses to pay after written notice commits a Class B misdemeanor. In order to take advantage of this program, a holder must report all unclaimed property accrued over the past ten (10) years. This timeframe applies to all holders as there may be property that was overlooked in previous reports or missing non-filed years. The enrollment deadline for this program is October 31, 2010. More information can be found here: http://ucp.indianaunclaimed.com/attorneygeneral/ucp/amnesty.html
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| Data loss is Expensive - An Option to Consider |
The importance of data backup is not always top of mind.
The average cost to recreate just 20MB of lost sales/ marketing data costs is $17k and 19 days; 20MB of accounting data costs $19k and takes 21 days; and 20 MB of lost engineering data costs $98k and 42 days to recreate.
Why consider backing up online? Online backup is an easy and sure way to protect your data. Backing up to an offsite Data Center ensures that you can recover your data even in the event of a physical disaster, theft or loss.
Online backups eliminate many of the error prone steps associated with traditional backup methods like tape. Users can restore 'point in time' versions of files without loading tapes one after the other.
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| McGladrey 2010 Manufacturing and Wholesale Distribution
National Survey Results
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McGladrey's 2010 Manufacturing and Wholesale Distribution National Survey indicates that business conditions show slight, but positive improvement since 2009. Companies have a more positive outlook for the future as they are looking to expand capacity and mid-size companies are starting to look at merger & acquisition opportunities. In addition, companies expect both domestic and international sales growth throughout 2010. Of the respondents, 48% of the companies expect to add to their workforce in the United States, which is three times the percentage just one year ago.
Some of the difficulties that the companies participating in the survey are experiencing are difficulty in securing credit as well as rising costs. Rising raw material costs, employee benefit costs, and energy costs are impacting many respondents' gross margins. In addition, many companies are concerned about what impact health care reform will have on their companies.
The survey points out that one of the keys to growth is new product development and rapid implementation of product ideas from concept to market. The data indicates that companies that focus on these strategies have higher gross margins than their competitors that don't.
For more infomation click the following link:
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| Managing Expenses - More Important Than Ever | |
Businesses compete in the real world with "what they are good at." In simplest terms, the purpose of businesses is to satisfy customers and make a profit. However, inherent in nearly every business is a fixed amount of overhead. Managing these costs can sometimes be overlooked since they don't fall within the core competency of the business.
Reducing your everyday overhead expenses can make a surprising difference to your bottom line. All those common items, from paper to payroll, soap to solid waste, do add up-and anything you DON'T spend on them drops straight into profit.
Reviewing and analyzing your spend in these areas on a regular basis (starting perhaps with the 80/20 rule) can yield significant results.
If you find your staff is too busy, not engaged, or just don't feel that they have the purchasing power to leverage or negotiate price reductions, an outsourced procurement model may be helpful. These services can range from full outsourced purchasing to just a strategic sourcing on certain expense items.
Outsourcing can sometimes eliminate or reduce costs of purchasing such as processing and labor costs through proposal management or contract management. Proposal management includes preparing proposals, bids and qualifying bidders by inviting bids for projects. Contract management helps manage third parties who provide non-critical items such as office supplies, prepare contracts and negotiations. Fee structures are often based on flat transaction fees or flat fees plus a percentage of actual savings experience.
Either way, reducing unnecessary expenses is more important that ever. Remember the old adage "a penny saved is a penny earned."
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A Rare Event: Manufacturing Issues Are Discussed In The House Of Representatives
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The House of Representatives has passed a bill that would make the President responsible for creating a National Manufacturing Strategy. The legislation (HR-4692) received fairly glowing reviews from members of Congress while it was being discussed on the floor of the House on July 28 and at a hearing of a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on July 12. But others aren't so sure. "We're really doing nothing but creating another study group, and that's about as duplicative as you could get," said Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.) during the floor debate. "God knows how many study groups we have already created...."
To continue reading this article please follow the following link
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| BMA YouChoose Lean Accounting Webinars |
15 New Lean Accounting Webinars
Choose the topics and dates you would like to register for, or choose all 15 and save 25% off the registration fee. Each webinar session lasts about 1 hour.
Series begins October 11, 2010.
For more information click the following link:
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Harding, Shymanski & Company, P.S.C. provides accounting, tax, and consulting services to clients from offices in Evansville, Indiana, and Louisville, Kentucky.
Call us today! (800) 880-7800 in Evansville and (502) 584-4142 in Louisville
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| Disclaimer |
The information contained in this email is for general guidance on matters of interest only. The publication does not, and is not intended to provide legal, tax or accounting advice. |
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