During the State of the Union Address, President Obama announced his support for legislation to provide a tax credit for companies that hire additional employees.

The tax credit for new hires will likely focus on small businesses.  It is expected that there will be safeguards placed in the bill to prevent companies from hiring an employee and then laying the employee off after the employer receives the tax credit.  Similar legislation was discussed in 2009, but no action was taken by Congress. 

Sources say legislation currently being worked on by Senate Democrats is likely to provide a 20 percent tax credit for companies with fewer than 100 employees that hire a new employee, and a 15 percent tax credit for larger companies.  The amount of tax credits any one company could receive would be capped at $350,000.  The Senate could consider this proposal in the upcoming weeks. 

Another option being discussed is a proposal by Senators Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT) that would waive the Social Security payroll tax for any employer that hires a new employee in 2010, and offering an additional $1,000 tax credit in 2011 if the employee is kept on the payroll for 52 continuous weeks.  This proposal would apply to private sector employees only and any employer who had a lower total payroll in 2010 than it had in 2009 would have to forfeit the tax benefit.

Many clients are interested in the tax benefits associated with residential energy expenditures. Tax credits are available at 30% of the cost, up to $1,500, in 2009 and 2010 (for existing homes only). Here is a brief overview on which home improvements are eligible:

* Credit equals 30% of expenditures, capped at $1,500.

Qualifying improvements:

• Insulation materials
• Exterior windows (including skylights)
• Exterior doors
• Central air conditioners
• Natural gas, propane and oil water heaters or furnaces
• Hot water boilers
• · Electric heat pump water heaters
• Certain metal roofs and stoves
• Advanced main air circulating fans

If you have questions regarding this or other tax related topics, contact Doug Mathey, CPA, MT at (330) 864-6661 or Douglas.Mathey@BCGcompany.com

By: Kristin Gentry
Savvy Social Media Marketing

As seen on WebCPA: Featuring BCG&Co.

A Firm 2.0 is one that utilizes Web 2.0 technology to create efficiency and improve productivity in all aspects of its operations.

In my last article, Strategic Growth Planning in a New Participatory Culture, I addressed the top five principles of a Web 2.0 application and how to apply those to your firm’s growth strategy. Now let’s stretch ourselves further out of our comfort zones and discuss the new generation of accounting firm, Firm 2.0.

Legislation goes into effect July 1, 2009.

President Obama signed into law a program NHTSA is calling the Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS). This is a government program that helps you purchase a new, more fuel efficient vehicle when you trade in a less fuel efficient vehicle.

Under the CARS program, NHTSA is charged with rules for program implementation in 30 days.

5 Important Things to Know

- Your vehicle must be less than 25 years old on the trade-in date

- Only purchase or lease of new vehicles qualify

- Generally, trade-in vehicles must get 18 or less MPG (some very large

pick-up trucks and cargo vans have different requirements)

- Trade-in vehicles must be registered and insured continuously for the

full year preceding the trade-in

- You don’t need a voucher, dealers will apply a credit at purchase

GENERAL PERIOD OF ELIGIBILITY- A voucher issued under the Program shall be used only in connection with the purchase or qualifying lease of new fuel efficient automobiles that occur between July 1, 2009 and November 1, 2009.

*Data compiled from www.cars.gov

Full details here.

Missed the Workers’ Compensation webinar? Check it out here or send it to a friend.

Presenters
Jim Krosky, SPHR – BCG & Company
Mike Agnoni, Risk Consultant – Oswald Companies
Daniel O’Brien -Atty. -  Millisor & Nobil

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Friday, we had a luncheon that the entire firm was invited to.  The current employees were able to meet Aaron and myself, along with a few other new employees.  Everyone was extremely friendly, as they have been throughout this entire first week.  It has become apparent to me that feeling accepted and welcomed in a new work environment can help employees feel more comfortable, enabling them to do their best work.  When someone is nervous about how other people in the office see them, it can be difficult to focus on the task at hand.  Because I have felt so welcomed, I feel that I have been able to do my best work.

Also, we did a lot of filing work with the secretaries at the front desk.  The secretaries have to be extremely organized to make sure that all of the files they are keeping track of are in order and are able to be easily accessed.  This provides a smooth transfer of information between companies’ records and BCG employees.  A majority of the papers we were filing dealt with the CPE training the accountants have to complete to make sure their certification is up to date.  I previously thought that once a person becomes a CPA, they were certified for life, but in reality, one must stay current with new practices and methods.  This is similar to a teacher or a doctor, both of whom are continually receiving new ways of completing the expectations of their job effectively.

I have been a little hesitant to do filing work after an incident that occurred while I was moving files around for a couple minutes in a different part of the office.  I was taking files out of the top drawer of a file cabinet that is four drawers high and almost as tall as I am.  As I opened the top drawer, the three drawers under it also slid out by some unexplained force.  Therefore, all of the weight of the papers in the files had shifted towards me and the entire file cabinet started to fall over in my direction!  I realized what was happening and pushed the top two drawers in with my hands and the bottom two drawers with my right leg.  I was able to somehow get all the files back in without any falling to the floor.  More importantly, I stopped the file cabinet from falling on top of me.  I guess from this experience I learned that office safety is very important.  Also, it can be easy to make a mistake in a work environment, whether it is by placing a document in a wrong drawer while organizing a file cabinet or by having that file cabinet fall on top of you.

Day Three: Mark

Today, I met with Jenny Hertzig, the marketing coordinator for BCG & Company.  She is really the only one who works on the marketing for the accounting and HR consulting practices, so she has a lot of responsibilities.  I learned a lot about the social networking aspect of marketing a business.  This firm uses many sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.  LinkedIn is a social networking site for business professionals to meet and discuss certain issues that they may be able to help each other out with.  People can also connect with long-lost friends from school who are now out in the business world.  The most important aspect, however, is informing people about your company, finding new employers or employees, and looking for possible new clients.  I had never heard of this professional networking site, but now I have my own profile on there.  It will become much more relevant and helpful to me as I progress through college looking for internship opportunities during summer.  By the time I graduate college, many of my peers will have joined this networking site as well.

I also learned about the marketing outside of the social networking systems.  The BCG website was completely redesigned last year, and she  monitors it to see what parts of it people visit the most.  By using the data she collects from internet sources that tells her what people have been looking at on the BCG site, she can make changes to optimize potential customer satisfaction.  Although much of the advertising is done over the internet, some marketing is still done through print sources.  One major place that companies use to advertise is the yellow pages.  BCG has decided to use less print sources because they are unsure if they really attract many new customers.  Jenny found that spending large sums of money to keep their face in the phone book may be unnecessary.  Instead, they advertise on sites such as Google.  When a person browsing the internet types in a search for something such as ‘business valuation advice,’ they will probably see an advertisement for BCG & Company on the right side of the web page.  There are many new ways to advertise, so companies must stay current with technology to effectively market themselves.

Whether for yourself or on behalf of your company, branding yourself as a subject matter expert can have exponential impact on your professional career. With all the social media tools available, it is easier than ever to promote yourself and your knowledge.

Not sure where to start?
In this  post  “10 Steps to Personal Branding Success”from Joe Pulizzi, Co-Author, Get Content Get Customers and Founder of Junta42 he emphasizes that you don’t have to do it all to be successful, “The most important part is that you pick the steps you can commit to and consistently execute those steps.”

10 Steps to Personal Branding Success
by Joe Pulizzi

1. Update Your Online Profiles Now. LinkedIn, Facebook, and your Google profileare the most important. If you don’t have it already, buy your domain name. As a standard practice, all business cards you collect should be sent invitiations via LinkedIn. Finally, hire a professional to take your picture.
2. Start a Blog/Get Involved in the Conversation. I use WordPress and TypePad for my blogs, and you can be up and running with either in a short period of time. Follow and comment on the top 10 – 20 blogs where your customers are hanging out. Answer questions on LinkedIn Answers and Yahoo! Answers. Follow your name, brands and keywords at Google Alerts. Find and get active in a Google Group that makes sense.

Make sure you read the full post  for the other eight steps.

The announcement of Senator Arlen Specter switching to the Democratic Party could potentially shed a completely different light on some pending legislation. In regard to the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), Senator Specter stated that even though he has switched to the Democratic Party, he does not intend to change his stance opposing the legislation in its current form. We should, however, consider the real possibility of a revised version of the bill, or at the very least, significant changes to the current National Labor Relations Act. In addition to potential impact on the EFCA, the switch also brings our attention to legislation dealing with workplace flexibility such as the Healthy Families Act and changes to Family Medical Leave.

What should employers do?

EFCA
Conduct a vulnerability audit. This type of audit is designed to identify areas in which your organization could be vulnerable to a union organizing campaign and will identify compliance issues with policies and programs. Typical areas that a vulnerability audit would examine are:

• Policies and Procedures

• Training and Development

• Benefits and Compensation

• Workers Compensation/Safety

Once these vulnerability and compliance issues are identified, an action plan should be developed to address these findings. In addition to the vulnerability audit, employers should provide training to their supervisors and managers. Some topics to include:

• Signs and warnings of a union campaign

• What do authorization cards look like and how do they work?

• What a supervisor can and cannot do to prevent unionization

Workplace Flexibility
It is widely expected that the Healthy Families Act will be introduced around Mother’s Day. This legislation requires an employer to provide paid sick leave to full- and part-time employees. It applies to public and private employers with 15 or more employees working 20 or more calendar workweeks in the current or preceeding year. It provides up to seven days of paid sick leave for full-time employees working more than 30 hours per week year round or 1, 500 hours in one year.
At this point, employers should begin to analyze their time off and benefit plans to determine what the impact would be and possible action steps. The language mentioned above is some of the language being discussed and could be modified before the Act is introduced.
The Family Leave Insurance Act amends and expands FMLA by:

• Lowering the qualifying number of employees from 50 to 25.

• Allowing up to 24 hours in a 12 month period for parental involvement and family wellness leave.

• Prohibiting more than 4 hours of leave during a 30 day period.

• Providing employee leave to participate/attend school or community sponsored activities of child or grandchild.

• Allowing employee leave to meet routine family medical needs of spouse, child or grandchild of employee or to care for elderly relatives, including visits to nursing/group homes.

Employers should consider analyzing their current FMLA practices. For employers that are in that 25-50 employee category, I recommend you familiarize yourself with the current FMLA law and monitor the progress of this Act.

If you have any questions regarding this information or need any assistance in conducting vulnerability audits or management/supervisor training, contact me at (330) 572-8049 or jim.krosky@bcgcompany.com

We made it. Enjoy some pictures from our annual April 15th party.

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