11.03.15

Year-End Notices: Staying on Top of the Requirements
Stephanie Zaleski-Braatz

As the calendar year comes to a close, plan sponsors should begin preparing annual notices. For plans using the calendar year, numerous notices are due to be given in the next few months. This article highlights some of the notices that must be sent to either participants, the IRS or the DOL in the next three months.

10.30.15

Mobile Technology Integration in Your Practice
D’Ann R. Meisenheimer

Smartphones and other mobile devices are becoming as prominent in health care settings as they are in other walks of life. That means physicians are now grappling with the benefits and implications. For example, some 83% of them are using smartphones or tablets to perform tasks related to patient care. The most common activities are interfacing with an electronic health record (EHR), entering medical notes, e-prescribing, searching for clinical information, accessing professional resources and communicating with colleagues. This article offers four ways to use this technology to improve a physician practice.

10.28.15

Three Tips to Improve Development and Accounting Collaboration
Sarah G. Widlock

Communication breakdowns between a not-for-profit organization’s development and accounting departments can lead to confusion, embarrassment and, worse yet, financial problems. Organizations, therefore, must take proactive steps to facilitate collaboration between these two critical functions. This article provides three tips on how to improve your not-for-profit organization’s accounting collaboration.

10.27.15

Where’s the Tip Line?

Stories of restaurants transitioning to a no-tip policy have been slowly infiltrating the news for the past year. This change has been brought on for a variety of reasons: Minimum wage increases, simplified business reporting and employee satisfaction, to name just a few of the reasons for this transition. A hot topic across all industries […]

10.26.15

Three Benefits of Donor-Advised Fund Giving
Peggy Vyborny

A donor-advised fund (DAF) comprises contributions made separately and independently by individual donors. The fund maintains legal control of the contributions, and donors retain advisory privileges regarding investments and fund distributions. This brief article examines how DAFs can be particularly beneficial for charitable-minded, high-income individuals.

10.23.15

How Should Rent Escalation Clauses Address CPI?
Adam M. Levine

Rent escalation clauses are a common part of commercial property leases. One particularly popular method for calculating the escalation amount bases the rent increase on changes in the Consumer Price Index (CPI). The CPI approach isn’t as straightforward as it might seem, though. This article explains some of the different types of CPIs.

10.22.15

Iceberg Ahead! Don’t Let Undercapitalization Sink Your Firm

When a law firm experiences several negative financial events, it could become seriously undercapitalized. This article describes two types of capital — working and long-term — and how firms can estimate how much of each they need. It also suggests solutions for firms that are short of their ideal capital reserves.

10.13.15

Five Ways to Measure Operational Excellence

I find it interesting how phrases get coined and become part of our vocabulary, when, in fact, considerable confusion exists around a given term’s definition. If a common definition doesn’t exist, what is really being said at all? It is under this scenario that I would like to talk about the phrase “operational excellence.” On paper, it not only sounds good, it looks good. But, if we peel back the onion, what exactly does it mean to perform at a level of operational excellence?

10.06.15

Department of Labor Report on Auditors

In May, the U.S. Department of Labor issued their report, Assessing the Quality of Employee Benefit Plan Audits, and it was embarrassing for our profession. Their report found that 39% of audits had one or more major deficiencies. As the auditors of more than 50 plans, Ostrow Reisin Berk & Abrams (ORBA) took this report very seriously.

10.05.15

Cybercrime: Get Ready to Fight Back
James Quaid

Cyber thieves do not physically grab keys or force an entry into a business, but the damage they do to an organization can be just as consequential. If a not-for-profit organization becomes the victim of cybercrime, it could suffer a blow to its reputation that is impossible to overcome. So it is important that a not-for-profit organization assess its risks of data breaches carefully and implement effective security policies and procedures. This article discusses some key considerations.