Moore Colson Messages
6 ways to prevent fraud
There is no foolproof way to prevent fraud at the hands of family
members or anyone else, but you can inhibit perpetrators from
stealing from you. Here are six internal controls to consider:
1. Share the work. Separate office duties so a single
worker doesn’t completely control a sensitive area. For instance,
have one person process accounts payable and another cut the checks.
2. Use locks, checks and balances. Set up a lockbox to
receive payments and ask one employee to follow a strict procedure
for recording them. Then ask someone else to check this document and
deposit checks.
3. Make them take a break. Fraudsters dislike taking
time off, so require (or at least strongly encourage) personnel to
get away regularly. This way, you or other staffers can temporarily
handle vacationing workers’ duties and see if anything is amiss.
4. Maintain mastery of your domain. Workers have a
right to privacy — up to a point. Don’t allow anyone to keep locked
desks or file cabinets that you can’t access.
5. Touch base with clients and others. Occasionally,
call or visit your customers and vendors to discuss your workers.
You may discover that some employees unduly influence dealings.
6. Get an outside opinion. Sometimes it takes an
objective eye to see what’s wrong with a picture. Have your CPA
routinely perform an internal control review at your company.
Will a cost segregation study
trigger an audit?
Some business owners forgo cost segregation studies for fear of
getting audited. But continuing to incorrectly depreciate building
assets could raise problems and trigger IRS attention, too. Besides,
taxpayers who perform a cost segregation study can qualify for an
automatic accounting method change — a pretty simple procedure.
Taking advantage of a cost segregation study performed by a
professional during construction generally will not increase the
likelihood of an audit.
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When temptation leads to
violation
Coping with family member misconduct
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Family members probably
hold at least a few (and perhaps many) key positions in most
family businesses. And why not — who better to watch the store
than someone of their own flesh and blood? Surely none of them
would do anything to hurt these companies. Unfortunately, this
isn’t necessarily so. Although statistics are hard to come by,
anecdotal evidence suggests that family business owners need
to implement safeguards. This article offers tips to prevent
fraud and misconduct at the hands of all employees, including
related workers.
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Why you should provide life insurance to
family and non-family executives |
| To ensure a business stays
successful, it must tie together its planning strategies with
the income and estate planning needs of its owners and
executives, including key non-family workers. By doing so,
family business owners can prevent problems that may threaten
their companies’ survivals. In many instances, life insurance
may be just what’s needed. This article looks at the types of
life insurance, some of its benefits and the tax impact to
companies and workers.
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How cost segregation studies can save your
business taxes
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Many business
owners realize how recent tax law changes have enabled them to
deduct in the first year a bigger portion of the costs of new
assets with a depreciable life of 20 years or less. But what
these taxpayers may not know is how a cost segregation study, an
analytical process that identifies nonstructural elements and
exterior site improvements in new and existing buildings
(including remodeled property), can help them qualify for faster
depreciation. This article explains how employing this procedure
can help business owners save even more taxes with the
depreciation deduction and prevent future asset
misclassifications.
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Tax Tips |
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This section
presents brief notes on employer identification numbers, a tax
break for art collecting, and more.
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