Camaraderie At Work
Kaufman, Rossin & Co. was recently named a “Best Place to Work,” and I can see why! I’ve only been employed here four months and I’ve already experienced some great benefits such as massages on site, healthy snacks in the kitchen, and friendly invitations to lunch.
Last week I experienced another way Kaufman, Rossin takes care of their employees. Despite it being tax season, we were encouraged to take a break and participate in the Mercedes Benz Corporate Run in Fort Lauderdale. Part of my job, being on the marketing team, is to help host events. This 5K Run/Walk proved to be the most fun event I’ve had so far! Why? Team camaraderie!
I drove up early, bought lots of food and drinks, and lugged coolers over to our river view tent to set up. I was pleasantly surprised by two of our principals who showed up early to help! We hung signs, laid out food and had plenty of time to take in the view, have a salsa dance lesson and occasionally check-in with the office via the iPad. I was excited as the rest of our team began to show up – most of them I hadn’t had the chance to meet yet. One group even “carpooled” via boat! I thought that was pretty cool for an accounting firm. There were good-natured challenges for race performances, tons of encouragement, and a 100% completion by our racers. The photos I captured showed lots of smiles, and gratitude for a much needed break from the daily grind. After eating dinner and basking in our collective success, everybody pitched in to clean up – that was another nice surprise!
As I reflected on the evening, I knew right away what made Kaufman, Rossin a best place to work- the people.
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Katy Stallfus is a marketing assistant at Kaufman, Rossin & Co. – one of the top CPA firms in Florida. She can be reached at kstallfus@kaufmanrossin.com.
Category Value for our community, Value For Your Employees | Tags:
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
Loading ...Got science?
If you have a scientist or engineer on staff or contract, you could be missing out on government incentives designed to support advances in technology. Both the Federal and state tax codes have credits for research and development expenses.
I spoke with Businessweek about this topic recently.
The Federal credits have become more attractive for entrepreneurs in recent years because they’ve been simplified, can be transferred in an acquisition, and can be taken retroactively. And they are particularly good for startups, since R&D costs incurred in years when a company has no income can be carried forward to offset taxes on future profits.
Florida’s credit is new, and applies to expenses in tax years beginning January 1, 2012. There’s $9 million available for this year, on a first come basis. If you spend more this year than you did (on average) for the past four years, it’s worth investigating.
If you haven’t had an expert evaluate whether you should claim this credit, contact me at shaggard@kaufmanrossin.com for an assessment!
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Sean Haggard, CPA, is a tax manager in Kaufman, Rossin’s Boca Raton office. Kaufman, Rossin & Co. is one of the top CPA firms in the country. Sean can be reached at shaggard@kaufmanrossin.com. Connect to Sean on LinkedIn.
Category Uncategorized, Value For Your Business | Tags: Accountant,Accounting,Boca Raton,Kaufman Rossin,R&D,research,tax,tax credit
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Changing the Way You Do Business? 5 Great Tips From SXSW!
After five days of non-stop sessions at South by Southwest (SXSW), the world’s largest interactive, online, social media, and tech conference in the world, I am eager to share this year’s themes and key takeaways. In the short time since last year’s SXSW Interactive conference, it is incredibly apparent how quickly technology and the online world changes, adapts, and improves our lives and businesses.
Here are 5 key takeaways I learned at SXSW that could change the way you do business.
- Content, content, content! Have you ever heard the expression, “content is king?” Well this is true now more than ever. Content strategy, creation, and curation were covered in multitude. Creating good content is not an easy task, but thought leaders shared some helpful tips:
- Create a content strategy that includes workflow, substance, structure, and governance revolving around your core strategy.
- Experiment with different types of content: text, photos, graphics, videos – and be sure that all content is flexible and tailored to your audience and platform with a specific goal to achieve.
- Write with a journalist mindset. Content is all about real-time marketing, storytelling, and an editorial point-of-view.
- Do more with less. Increase the quality of your content, not quantity. And it’s smart to re-use and re-purpose good content.
- Don’t forget to use a little humor.
- Is your content compelling to readers? Visible to search engines? Linkable to partners? Shareable through social media? And transferable to mobile devices? Make sure it is!
- Social media is here to stay. It’s evolving and becoming even more personalized. Integrate social media efforts into the entire marketing plan, and turn your employees into your online activists. And how do you prove ROI? That’s still a burning question among all the experts… My favorite tips include creating your own value system, benchmarking, and paying attention to the final outcome of your efforts.
- Data is no longer boring. Data is now fun, interactive, and visual! All companies have mounds of data that can be interpreted visually to create stunning infographics, interactive charts, and useful, eye-appealing content.
- Search engines aren’t what they used to be. How do you improve your company’s Google or Bing ranking? There are many solutions such as creating great content, focusing on the user experience, including meta descriptions, leveraging social media, and much more.
- Future technology is really cool and a little creepy. Creating an online, automatic, and personalized alter ego from online data is already possible. Google Plus Your World is changing and personalizing our search results based on our profiles, searches, and friends’ online activity. Augmented reality is soon going to become reality. Instead of revolving around your mobile phone, your phone will revolve around you. And location-based technology will be even more interactive and automatic.
I hope you find value from these takeaways, or at least start thinking about this evolution of business! If you’d like to learn more, I invite you to attend two opportunities on March 27th:
- PRSA – Miami Chapter’s panel, “ The Continued Evolution of Social Media: Hear Key Takeaways from the SXSW Interactive Conference,” where Christine de la Huerta of rbb Public Relations, Stephanie Camargo of The Axis Agency, and I will be speaking.
- Catalyst Miami’s “Social Media for Non-Profits” presentation which I will be hosting.
Finally, thank you to everyone who participated in #ILoveAccountants during SXSW! It was a fun ice breaker, and it was interesting hearing everybody’s responses.
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Aubrey Swanson is the social media coordinator at Kaufman, Rossin’s Miami office. Kaufman, Rossin & Co.is one of the top CPA firms in the country. She can be reached at aswanson@kaufmanrossin.com. Connect with Aubrey on Linkedin. Follow Aubrey on Twitter.
Category Value For Your Business | Tags: Accountants,Accounting,CPAs,Kaufman Rossin,social media,sxsw
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...Beware: IRS tax scam
The IRS will never initiate contact via email. If you receive an email claiming to be from the IRS, it is a SCAM!
Below is a screenshot of one of the scam emails being sent.
If you have any concerns or questions, feel free to contact your Kaufman, Rossin professional.
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Scott F. Berger is a tax and accounting services principal at Kaufman, Rossin’s Boca Raton office. Kaufman, Rossin & Co. is one of the top CPA firms in the country. He can be reached at sberger@kaufmanrossin.com.
QuickBooks Tip: Use Undeposited Funds
What is Undeposited Funds?
Undeposited Funds is used to track customer payments. It groups payments together so you can match the bank deposits shown on your statement.
How do you use Undeposited Funds?
First, you must set up Undeposited Funds in QuickBooks. Go to Edit > Preferences > Payments > Company Preferences Tab > and check the box that says “Use Undeposited Funds as default deposit to account.”
When receiving a payment go to Customer > Receive Payment. The payment will be recorded in the Undeposited Funds account.
When making a deposit go to Banking > Make Deposits. A pop-up box will appear that includes any payments that have been posted to Undeposited Funds. Check each of the payments that will be included in the deposit. Select OK. If you have any additional payments to add to the Deposit, add them until the total deposit in QuickBooks equals the total you are depositing.
What causes incorrect balances in Undeposited Funds?
- Recording missing deposits directly to the bank account because you are unaware they are already recorded in Undeposited Funds.
What can I do to avoid this? Make sure you know whether or not Undeposited Funds is set up as the default deposit to the account. We recommend you use it. However, if you decide the account doesn’t serve a purpose you should change where your payments are deposited. - Not using the pop-up list of Undeposited Funds when making a deposit.
What can I do to avoid this? Make sure to review the pop-up box carefully when making deposits. Before recording deposits directly into the bank account, review Undeposited Funds for any missing amounts.
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Terri Richards is an accounting services manager at Kaufman, Rossin’s Boca Raton office, and a QuickBooks ProAdvisor. Kaufman, Rossin & Co., one of the top CPA firms in the country, offers QuickBooks training and consulting services. She can be reached at trichards@kaufmanrossin.com.
How to choose the right Service Organization Controls report
If you provide outsourced services to your clients, an excellent tool to create trust and confidence is the service organization controls (SOC) reports. These reports can boost growth, win and retain clients and open new markets.
But which one is right for your organization?
The SOC reports replace and expand the previous standard, SAS 70. We have seen a seamless transition from the old standard to its replacement, the SOC 1 report (or SSAE 16). This report examines internal controls at a service organization that impact a user entity’s controls over financial reporting.
However, we are still seeing some confusion with the new reports (SOC 2 and SOC 3). The new reports are designed to examine operational issues, such as security, availability, integrity, confidentiality or privacy. And, since both reports examine the same areas, many of our clients are asking us why they should get a SOC 2, SOC 3 or both.
To assess what report is right for you, ask:
- Do your customers have the need for/ability to understand the details of processing and controls at a service organization, the tests performed by the service auditor and results of those tests? If the answer is yes, a SOC 2 report will be right for you.
- Do you plan to use the report to market your services? Do you need to make the report readily available? Does a certification seal add value? If the answer is yes, a SOC 3 report will be the right choice and not a SOC 2.
Should you get both?
From the auditors’ perspective, the work we do to issue the SOC 2 and SOC 3 report is the same. It’s the actual report and opinion that are different. We are recommending our clients get a SOC 2 report and, since the work has been done, also issue a SOC 3 report. This way you will get the best of both worlds.
For more information on SOC reports, please refer our white paper New Tools Help Service Organizations Win Clients’ Trust.
Jorge Rey is Director of Information Security for Kaufman, Rossin & Co., one of the top CPA firms in the country. He can be reached at jrey@kaufmanrossin.com.
Category Value For Your Business, Value For Your Clients | Tags: CPA,CPA firm,entrepreneur,internal controls,service organizations,SOC reports
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...ALERT: You may have paid too much sales tax!
Sales and use tax rules are complex and can be confusing. It’s surprising how often entrepreneurs pay more taxes than they’re required. Many never even know they overpaid thousands!
If your business is in the manufacturing, hospitality, or healthcare industry then you may qualify!
Our experts find overpayments and recover them.
Our State & Local Tax professionals will analyze your payments and see whether you have a refund due. We look at your fixed asset and consumable purchases over the past three years, and often find vendor overcharges of sales tax, or sales/use tax paid on nontaxable transactions. Then we file a refund claim with the State to recover the overpaid tax, or we prepare a report so you can recover the overpayments by taking credits against future sales tax payments.
It works. We’ve found significant refunds for many clients.
For example:
- We recovered approximately $130,000 in overcharged sales tax for a South Florida resort hotel.
- We recovered approximately $250,000 in overpaid sales/use tax for a Central Florida manufacturing company.
Here’s the best part: it costs nothing unless we succeed.
The work is performed on a contingency fee basis. There is no cost to you unless we find an overpayment and get your money back. Our fee is paid out of the cash we recover. There is zero impact on your budget.
Clients find our experience invaluable.
This time-consuming work requires a significant base of knowledge about the rules and how they may be applied. It takes detail orientation and patient attention. Kaufman, Rossin has built a team of professionals whose technical skills and abilities in this area are unmatched.
- We have 15 years of FL Dept. of Revenue (“FDOR”) experience
- We have extensive contacts within the FDOR.
- We started doing this at the Big Four, but chose to bring this real value to entrepreneurs at Kaufman, Rossin a dozen years ago.
Want to know if you overpaid – and get it back?
For additional information on our State & Local Tax (SALT) Practice, please contact:
- Dan Wagner – 561.620.1718 – dwagner@kaufmanrossin.com
- Or your Kaufman, Rossin account professional.
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Dan Wagner is an associate tax principal in Kaufman, Rossin’s SALT practice. Kaufman, Rossin & Co. is one of the top CPA firms in the country. He can be reached at dwagner@kaufmanrossin.com.
Category Value For Your Business | Tags: Accountant,Accountants,Accounting,CPA,CPA firm,CPAs,entrepreneur,entrepreneurs,Kaufman,Kaufman Rossin,sales tax,tax planning,tax strategies,taxes
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...#ILoveAccountants
Why Do You Love Accountants?
There are endless possibilities as to why you may love accountants. They save you money, they help you avoid an audit, they help you make sense of that shoe box full of receipts… Whatever the reason may be, we want to know (in 140 characters or less)!
In just two days, I will be traveling to Austin, Texas for my second annual South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive conference – the largest social media, tech, web, and start-up event in the world. Besides engaging in six speaker sessions from 9:30am till 6:00pm for five days straight, meeting hundreds of new people, and attending countless events, I’ll be encouraging complete strangers to tweet why they love accountants with the #ILoveAccountants hashtag!
Why?
1. SXSW is a social media hub. So why not conduct a fun Twitter campaign?
2. Although SXSW attracts the most social media-friendly people in the world, it’s still a rarity to see professional services, especially accountants, in the mix of it all. We want to make a CPA presence in Austin!
3. I’ll be wearing a different, brightly-colored shirt each day with the caption, “ASK ME WHY,” on the front and “#ILoveAccountants” on the back – it’s bound to be a conversation starter!
4. We really want to know your answer.
So why do you love accountants? Tweet us at @KaufmanRossin with #ILoveAccountants!
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Aubrey Swanson is the social media coordinator at Kaufman, Rossin’s Miami office. Kaufman, Rossin & Co.is one of the top CPA firms in the country. She can be reached at aswanson@kaufmanrossin.com. Connect with Aubrey on Linkedin. Follow Aubrey on Twitter.
Category Value For Yourself | Tags: #ILoveAccountants,Accountant,Accountants,Accounting,CPA,CPA firm,CPAs,Kaufman Rossin,social media,sxsw,Twitter
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Why Should You Attend SXSW?
It’s that time of the year again… Time for 30,000 web, tech, and marketing enthusiasts to gather together for five days of non-stop panels, events, networking, and learning. I’m talking about South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive Conference – the “it” conference among social media, tech, start-up, and innovative companies around the world! The opportunities at SXSW are endless, which is why it’s incredibly valuable for Kaufman, Rossin & Co. and me to attend.
SXSW is the world’s technology hub. All the latest and greatest in tech, innovation, and social media are there offering an invaluable, one-of-a-kind experience. My world of social media evolves and changes every single day, and SXSW exposes me to the forefront of social media and technology – preparing me for what’s to come. The sessions held at SXSW help confirm my current strategies and ideas, teach and prepare me for what the future holds, and inspire me with creative new ideas to implement once I return to Miami.
As for the SXSW crowd – imagine thousands of the most brilliant, creative, inspiring minds in one city. Authors, professional speakers, CEOs, representatives from Fortune 500 companies to the innovative start-ups – you can’t beat it! Not to mention the networking opportunities at SXSW are priceless. Interactive attendees come together for the love of technology. You never know who you’ll meet, what you’ll learn from them, and what you could offer them.
Still not convinced? Hear first-hand from last year’s SXSW speakers, attendees, and exhibitors.
If you’re planning on attending SXSW this year, be sure to read Christine de la Huerta‘s, VP of rbb Public Relations‘ Digital Park, article in The Miami Herald for tips on making the most of your SXSW experience.
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Aubrey Swanson is the social media coordinator at Kaufman, Rossin’s Miami office. Kaufman, Rossin & Co.is one of the top CPA firms in the country. She can be reached at aswanson@kaufmanrossin.com. Connect with Aubrey on Linkedin. Follow Aubrey on Twitter.
Category Value For Your Business | Tags: Accountant,Accountants,Accounting,CPA,CPA firm,CPAs,Kaufman Rossin,Miami,small business,social media,South by Southwest,sxsw,Twitter
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...How to Survive Tax Season
Tax season is in full swing, and for accountants, that means long work days, extra workloads, and heightened stress between January and April 17. So how do CPAs cope with busy season? We asked our professionals at Kaufman, Rossin to shed some light on how they relax, revive, de-stress, and maintain productivity…
And we got a lot of fun, interesting, and even some quirky responses!
So tell us, how do you survive tax season? Leave a comment below, or tell us on Facebook, YouTube, or Twitter with the #SurvivingTaxSeason hash tag!
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Aubrey Swanson is the social media coordinator at Kaufman, Rossin’s Miami office. Kaufman, Rossin & Co. is one of the top CPA firms in the country. She can be reached at aswanson@kaufmanrossin.com. Connect with Aubrey on Linkedin. Follow Aubrey on Twitter.
Category Value For Yourself | Tags: #SurvivingTaxSeason,Accountant,Accountants,Accounting,best place to work,Boca Raton,Busy Season,CPA,CPA firm,CPAs,Florida,Fort Lauderdale,How to Survive Tax Season,Kaufman,Kaufman Rossin,Miami,tax,Tax Season
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