Nonprofit Blog

Restaurants sales continued to lag in 2016 as uncertainty around the U.S. economic and regulatory environments persisted. Overall, restaurant same-store sales were flat last year. This broader stagnation comes as restaurants report lower traffic counts, in part as a result of market saturation, increased menu prices and declining grocery costs. Restaurants also face challenges associated with evolving consumer preferences and market composition, as smaller chains, independents and chef‑driven concepts expand rapidly.

Every business has its good days and its bad days. A distressed company usually shows signs of trouble which are reoccurring and not industry specific. If you recognize the warning signs below in your business or one that you know, acting promptly to identify and implement the right solution can help get the company back on the road to recovery.   

10 Warning Signs: 

1. Income statement related: 

• Losses or lack of profitability
• Collecting A/R 
• Steady rise in A/R on collecting outstanding debt and obligations
• Bad debt increasing

The "border adjustment" tax proposal that is intended to boost exports over imports has several major U.S. corporations up in arms,  which has put members of Congress under intense pressure from key corporate constituencies.

Once upon a time, Georgians had to travel to Hollywood for a chance to catch a live glimpse of a movie star. These days, we're just as likely to spot a celebrity on the streets of Midtown, at a Dunwoody cafe, or on Jackson's town square. In 2016, 245 feature film and television productions were shot in Georgia, generating an economic impact of more than $7 billion and solidifying the state’s reputation as a place to cost- effectively staff and produce projects for the entertainment industry.

Like many businesses, yours may allow retirement plan participants to take out loans from their accounts. Such loans are governed by many IRS and Department of Labor (DOL) rules and regulations. So if your company offers plan loans, your plan document must comply with current laws — including setting a “reasonable” interest rate.

In August 2016, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update 2016-14, Presentation of Financial Statements of Not-for-Profit Entities (“ASU”). FASB’s agenda was separated into two phases of which Phase 1 has been included in the ASU. Currently, the FASB does not have a projected timeline for Phase 2. Phase 1 of the financial statement project was initiated in 2011 by the FASB to ensure nonprofit reporting continues to meet the dynamic needs of users. It is important to note that a key objective for this ASU is to allow nonprofit entities to tell their financial story and improve the usefulness of information provided to donors, grantors and other users of the financial statements. Since the issuance of the ASU, many clients and board members have posed the question, “How will these new statements and disclosure requirements be presented and what should we do now, prior to adoption?”  While the ASU provides presentation and disclosure examples which help answer these questions, Smith & Howard will be providing a series of in-depth articles on the changes to financial statement presentation and disclosures set forth in the ASU. At the conclusion of the series, practical recommendations for how to prepare for the changes will be provided. Until the second phase is issued by the FASB, our series will include only the changes set in Phase 1 and will cover the following topics:

Summary

Many business owners are accustomed to running the whole show. But as your company grows, you’ll likely be better off sharing responsibility for major decisions. Whether you’ve recruited experienced managers or developed “home grown” talent, you can empower these employees by taking a more collaborative approach to management.

The Future of Digital Marketing

VAT is a consumer tax on goods and services in the E.U. (including the U.K.) and other foreign countries. The United States does not impose VAT on U.S. goods; instead, the U.S. adopted a sales and use tax system. We will focus on VAT for the purposes of this discussion.