Business Mentors

For many people, summer means a slower pace and trips to the shore, the lake, or maybe even a “staycation.” Perhaps, those summer-trip plans should also include discussing income tax and financial planning. While this may sound a bit off beat, consider the following. Many planning strategies take time to implement, and summer may present the

Are you and your business ready for your audit team to arrive?  I mean really ready. Being well-prepared for your external audit team is critical to ensuring an efficient audit. Beyond providing adequate workspace and access to information and personnel, there is advance ground work to consider.  Before the audit process even begins, the first

Every salesperson knows the job is tougher than ever. It’s not for the faint-hearted or those who feel the world owes them a living. At the same time, salespeople recognize the importance of having an extra edge, of standing out from the crowd.  Yet, even those with winning qualities can have other attributes that keep

Increasingly, the “in” boss can be found sitting in a cubicle or an open office alongside his employees. Among the cubicles, the organization is flat and everyone is more or less equal. “Just treat me as another office mate,” he appeals — an open, easily accessible team player. But are these new cube mates really

The 2012 legislative session has come to a close. I would like to highlight some of the real achievements of the past six months. With sound fiscal planning and the consolidation, merging, or elimination of nearly 30 government agencies and offices, my colleagues and I closed $13.5 billion in budget deficits over two years without raising

Local governments in New York State recently received a long sought after shot-in-the-arm from the state legislature in the final round of budget-bill approvals. For the first time since “Tax Increment Financing” (TIF) was recognized by the New York Constitution in 1983 and made part of the Municipal Redevelopment Law in 1984, this powerful economic-development tool,

What do these things have in common? Social Security. Disability. Windmills. Food stamps. A state’s low taxes. Big contributions to politicians. These are linked by a basic ingredient of our nature. We go for the gold. What prompted this thought was the number of Americans who recently signed up for Social Security disability payments. As

At the risk of sounding like a CPA, I advise you not to fall into the trap of complacency now that the April tax deadline is behind you. Your attention is still needed.  Whether you are looking to next year, or still gathering data from the past year, there are important points to consider. Filing your