Posted by Evan Cassidy on Thu, Feb 04, 2010 @ 01:42 PM
Document retention is a topic is not always well understood and frequently makes its way to the back burner as growing firms channel their energies into more imminent demands. But keeping easily accessible records can save significant time and expense if and when their need arises. As business communications continue to trend from paper to electronic documents, it has become both easier to preserve information as well as inadvertently destroy it. It is therefore essential that small business owners have a good understanding of what information should be maintained and for how long. Beyond conforming to laws and regulations, there is a sound business upside to retaining records; maintaining an accessible financial history of your company can provide the foundation necessary to make informed prospective decisions.
In the wake of the malicious accounting cases of the last decade, several well-known regulations have been enacted such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which concerns large, publicly held firms. Several other less-known state and federal rules apply to all companies, regardless of size and complexity. In many cases a company is never too small to comply, and violations can be disastrous financially and otherwise. Depending on the nature of your business, certain additional agency regulations may apply beyond those concerning taxes – those governing employment, medical and financial instruments, for example. Once all applicable rules have been considered and a retention policy has been defined, it’s equally important that it be communicated to and understood by everyone in your firm.
A sound record retention policy also provides for the destruction of information that is no longer useful or required to be kept. If there is legitimate purpose behind the removal of unnecessary records, it is important that guidelines for doing so be codified as well.
We have attached a Record Retention Guide recently released by the MSCPA and hope it will be of assistance in planning your company’s retention policy. If ever you are unsure whether information must be retained or have a question about implementing best practices, please reach out to our team at Verge Advisors.
Posted by Jonathan Iannacone on Sun, Jan 13, 2008 @ 03:07 PM
As we grow the team, we are currently looking to bring on a dynamic CFO.
Since we are in hyper growth ourselves, this is an exciting role with significant growth potential. The person will be working closely with me and will be learning by real world on the job training.
Some of the things that the person will be doing right away are:
1) Working on financial models for companies seeking funding
2) Strategic planning sessions and identifying opportunities for growth
3) Developing and implementing monthly closing processes for business clients
4) Preparing custom financial management reports for executives
5) Preparing corporate, individual and trust tax returns
To be considered for the position the candidate must have the following attributes:
-Have the highest integrity
-Efficient user and learner of technology
-Strategic thinker
-Work hard to meet deadlines
-Able to work at 20,000 feet and in the weeds
-Not afraid to answer honestly
-Enjoy working as part of a team
Overall they must also have high energy and have a genuine passion for business.
If you or anyone you know are interested in applying for this position, please send the resume with a brief description my way at jiannacone@jlicpa.com .
Here is the link for the complete Craigslist ad posted:
http://boston.craigslist.org/gbs/acc/536931183.html
Posted by Jonathan Iannacone on Tue, Jan 01, 2008 @ 03:06 PM
Well it is resolution time. Here are my New Year's Resolutions for 2008:
1) Automate in 2008. There are many tasks that I/we do, that can be automated. I am going to ruthlessly look for ways to automate our existing tasks to free up more time for a higher level of service.
2) Email response within 24 hours. For many years now, I have only responded to urgent or easy to answer emails within 24 hours. The rest I would batch process at some point in future. Well I am changing all that and will attempt to answer all emails within 24 hours of receiving them.
3) 2 Week tax turnaround. For this year's tax season it is the goal to have all returns that are not waiting on additional information turned around from receipt to release within 2 weeks.
4) More time spent on training. This past year I did not do enough to make the time to train (myself, my colleagues, my clients). The result was predictable...frustration for all. This year I will invest more time in training myself and others.
5) No work on Sundays. A long time ago I made a promise that Sunday would be family day. For me that means going to church, having a big meal together and then doing some activity with the whole family. There has been a slow erosion of this rule over the past few years. In 2008 I vow to get my Sundays with my family back.
6) Increase my positive energy. I want to be known as a positive force by those that I come into contact with. I will try to eliminate or minimize my complaints, conflict, and most of all projection of stress.
For all you who read this and come into contact with me on a regular basis, help me to be accountable to these. If you have resolutions that you have, please let me know and I will do the same for you.
Hope everyone that reads this has a happy and healthy New Year!
Posted by Jonathan Iannacone on Mon, Dec 24, 2007 @ 03:05 PM
Well, there is no place like home for the holidays. In addition to celebrating Christmas with family and friends and eating more good food than should ever be allowed, for me, this week is also good for doing some really important things related to the business:
1) Recharge
In recent years it seems like everyone is going a mile-a-minute all the time. This week marks one of the last bastions of relaxation. This week, give yourself permission to relax. Stop worrying about everything and just do whatever helps you to recharge.
2) Reflect
How was this past year for you? What are you most proud of about the business? What did you do well? What do you need to improve?
3) Declutter
You may have a messy inbox, a messy work area, or if your like me...a messy mind. Use this week to clear the mess and "eliminate the noise". This will help you to focus your mental energy on what needs to be done.
4) Wish
Wish lists are not only for kids. Think about what your wish list for your business is:
-What one thing would you like to buy for the business?
-What do you wish you did not have to do anymore?
-What are the attributes of that next "perfect" hire?
-What aspirational person or business would you like to become a customer?
Recharge, Reflect, Declutter and Wish...and also eat, drink and be merry.
Happy holidays!
Posted by Jonathan Iannacone on Mon, Dec 03, 2007 @ 03:03 PM
One of the habits we have determined is a strong predictor of success is focus. A compliment to focus is simplicity. Take an objective look at your business, is it simple or complex? Are your processes and work-flows bloated with extra steps? How successful are your training programs and new employee orientations?
Until you simplify your business you will have limited success focusing you and your company on its strengths.
Here is a daily routine of someone that I admire and who I think really has simplicity down to a science.
1. He woke up and read the morning newspaper. Something he does everyday.
2. He got into car and drove himself to work and arrived shortly before 9am.
3. On this day he received only 13 phone calls, including one wrong number.
4. He does not carry a cell phone nor have a computer on his desk.
5. There were no urgent meetings today. Instead he found time in the day to work on new song lyrics for a birthday party for a friend, and to demonstrate a newspaper-throwing technique he learned while delivering papers as a boy.
6. Although he is an accomplished businessman, his company is run very efficiently. The headquarters is staffed by just 17 employees and has no public-relations, human-relations, investor-relations or legal departments. He writes only one letter each year to the managers in his company, giving them goals for the year.
7. He leaves the office between 5 and 6pm.
8. He returns to the same small house that he bought after he got married 50 years ago and says it has everything he needs in that house.
9. He spends his evenings and weekends doing his favorite hobbies: playing bridge and watching his college football team.
Do you know who it is?...
It's Warren Buffett (sources WSJ 11/12/05 article, CNBC "The Billionaire Next Door).
The 2nd richest man in the U.S. who heads Berkshire Hathaway, a company with the 7th largest market cap, has managed to keep his business (and life) this simple.
If he can do it, can we really have any viable excuses?
Listen to Thoreau, or look at your iPod....Simple is better.
Posted by Jonathan Iannacone on Mon, Nov 26, 2007 @ 03:02 PM
I just finished re-reading Malcolm Gladwell's Blink and wondered to myself if there is a way to "thin slice" successful business owners and executives. By this I mean, if you drown out all the noise and all the variables that could possibly be measured, are there a simple few things that determine success? With this headset I began to contemplate the characteristics of the most successful business owners and executives I know to look for a common thread. The age, experience and personalities are all quite different as are the size and industries of the organizations they excel in.
The commonality is in the way that they approach their work. Two habits pervade all that they do: Focus and Urgency.
Habit #1 Focus:
Everyone works hard (or at least most do), but most people work hard at the wrong things. They are inefficient or irrelevant. Those that are exceptionally successful know what to focus their efforts on. They know what their strengths are and they concentrate on those and get results. They are able to think strategically about what needs to get done and then identify the roadmap to get there. Lou Holtz calls this WIN-What's Important Now, David Allen calls it Getting Things Done. Whatever you call it, it boils down defining what needs to happen and then orchestrating it through action.
Habit #2 Urgency
Ever wonder how you manage to clear your desk before you leave for vacation or how a huge project or order for an important customer gets completed when it absolutely has to. Why, because of deadlines. Many people fail to set or fail to meet deadlines. They are late to meetings, late on project deadlines, do not follow through. The successful people approach their work with a sense of urgency. They have their own internal deadlines that are more stringent than the world around them. If something is due Friday it is finished on Tuesday. If a call or email message with an opportunity comes in, it is answered before the day is out. Something deep inside of them screams "Don't Let It Wait!" Because of this they are better prepared and more adaptable to changing conditions and opportunities.
For success, focus and treat your work with a self-imposed sense of urgency.