The knowledge you need

The demands of managing a not-for-profit organization can be challenging. There is a need to balance the passion of accomplishing the organization’s mission and the practical requirements to ensure funding exists to fuel operations. These priorities exist against the backdrop of employee recruiting, engagement and benefits administration. To attract and retain employees (a challenge for many), several Atlanta nonprofits offer 403(b) plans as a benefit. These plans are an essential tool to help with retirement savings and require careful administration.

The opportunity to save for retirement in an employer-sponsored retirement plan, such as a 401(k) or 403(b), is a benefit offered by many Atlanta employers. These plans are useful tools which encourage employees to think beyond their immediate financial needs and save for retirement. Features such as automatic enrollment help to ensure participants are added to the plan as soon as they are eligible. While helpful, there are still many who lack the proper savings for their post-working days. According to CNBC, most Americans close to retirement have only saved 12% of what they need, reflecting an alarming trend. To make retirement saving more accessible, the Securing Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act was passed by the House.

Many Atlanta business owners and individuals may have heard the alarming news that Capital One’s systems were compromised leaving sensitive data exposed. It was reported that information on 100 million US customers was compromised from credit card applications (both small businesses and individuals) submitted between 2005 and early 2019. Information such as names, address, social security numbers, income information, phone numbers, and emails was exposed. It also appears that information on credit scores, limits and balances were also taken. The FBI has formally pressed charges against the suspected perpetrator who is believed to have acted alone. This situation has left many wondering what steps they can take to determine if they were impacted and how to protect themselves.

Atlanta area companies working through the challenges of implementing lease account changes may soon breathe a sigh of relief. Given the challenges many are facing, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) lobbied to get the effective date for the new lease accounting standard changed. The standard, which is already effective for publicly held companies, requires private companies to comply by 2020. On July 17th, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) voted to officially consider the delay. While the delay is not official it is expected that it will be approved shortly.

Atlanta area and Georgia manufacturing companies are facing some familiar and many new business challenges. These often include finding and retaining qualified employees, knowledge transfer, intense competition from offshore providers, tariff concerns and even the integration of artificial intelligence and machine learning. While the challenges persist, the overall outlook for industry companies appears to be positive. According to the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) Manufacturing Outlook Survey (Second Quarter 2019), four out of five manufacturers indicated a positive outlook for their business in 2019. This was reinforced by the fact that inventory and production levels are expected to increase while exports are also expected to grow. One pressing concern is the impact of tariff uncertainties industry-wide.

Almost all the decisions made about the retirement plan are driven by employee wants and needs. When creating or changing the plan, it’s important to think about investing habits, aversion to risk, and goals for the future. Should you give similar attention to the wants and needs of your former employees? Under most defined contribution plans, former employees are permitted to keep assets in company plans even after they have left the company.  If your plan has low or reduced fees and a wide range of investment options, you may be inadvertently incentivizing former employees to stick around. Is it a good strategy to keep inactive participants in your plan? Will managing their assets help or hurt you in the long run?

Maintaining a safe and functional job site is a key challenge for construction industry companies. Whether focused on commercial, residential, school or highway construction, keeping workers safe is an essential imperative. That’s why so many companies have developed comprehensive safety practices to reduce the opportunity for issues to arise. In fact, many construction companies maintain their safety focus to help reduce insurance premium costs. While best efforts can reduce incidences, it will not eliminate them completely. According to the  2019 Highway Worker Safety Zone Survey, conducted by the Associated General Contractors (ACG), 67% of highway contractors reported that a motor vehicle crashed into their work zone during the past year

Taxpayers first had the opportunity to use the 20% qualified business income deduction this past April 15th, and their tax returns fared a bit better because of it. This unique deduction was created at the end of 2017 as part of the Republican tax overhaul called the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, and it gave taxpayers the unprecedented opportunity to reduce their taxable income by up to 20%. The 2019 tax season (when we filed 2018’s tax returns) was the first season taxpayers were eligible to take the deduction. Now that we have one year of experience with the deduction under our belts, what did we learn?

The success formula can be a tricky puzzle with many pieces to position in the right spot. Atlanta nonprofit organizations, whether focused on providing services to the homeless, low-income families or an association serving a specific profession, face many of the same challenges in reaching their goals. Not only do issues around fundraising and income generation require attention, but other areas such as program management, marketing, human resources, and donor management are also important. In addition, management must focus as well on accounting issues such as financial reporting, tax planning, compliance and more.

The State of Georgia is well-known for rewarding its citizens with tax credits and abatements that other states do not. The opportunity zone program has been around for years, long before the Federal government released their version of the tax incentive; the Heart Tax Credit benefits taxpayers and donor recipients alike, and the voluntary disclosure program shows that they are willing to sacrifice revenue to help struggling businesses come back into compliance. Even among these heavy-hitting programs, the research and development (R&D) tax credit is one of the state’s most generous offerings. The Georgia R&D tax credit rewards taxpayers when they research and develop new products and services.