Company Shakeups A Good Reminder It’s Time to Find a CFO

A number of companies have recently undergone a CFO shake up, including Oregon-based Northwest Natural Gas Company, whose current CFO Stephen Feltz is set to retire. The organization is currently searching for his successor.

Bloomfield Hills, Michigan-based TriMas Corporation, a manufacturer of products used in the aerospace, packaging and energy industries, announced on Monday, January 12, that it named Bob Zalupski as its chief financial officer effective immediately. He was the company’s vice president of finance, corporate development and treasurer, with a total of more than 30 years of business and financial management experience. He succeeds Mark Zeffiro, who will become CFO for a forthcoming spin-off business from TriMas.

Unilife Corporation, out of York, Pennsylvania, a leading developer and supplier of injectable drug delivery systems, has appointed David Hastings as its CFO. Hastings was previously CFO at Incyte Corporation and is expected to join Unilife on February 23, succeeding interim CFO Dennis Pyers.

Finally, Tucson, Arizona-based Providence Service Corporation, a social services and transportation company has announced that Robert Wilson will leave his role as CFO, but will stay at the company through the first quarter of 2015. The business is currently seeking to find a CFO to take his position.

With so many CFOs moving around, it’s a good reminder that your small business needs to find a CFO. You don’t need to have a large company in order to take advantage of a CFO’s services to improve the future of your organization. A qualified CFO can be beneficial to all types of companies in many different ways.

You might receive much-needed advice on the structure of your business as well as being able to access unbiased, professional financial advice to help your company grow. A CFO can help with cost control measures, government regulation, capital acquisition and much more. They can review all of the procedures within your organization, identify and fix problems to maximize productivity too.

While locating the right person for the job may seem like searching for a needle in a haystack, the good news is that you can find a CFO easily just by contacting GoodAccountants.com. With access to a long list of highly qualified candidates, you might just find the perfect CFO for your business that can help take it to the pinnacle of success and beyond.

The Importance of Finding an Auditing Firm For Your Small Business

An auditing firm can offer a number of important services to any small business, including monitoring compliance with its own polices as well as federal regulations, detecting and preventing fraud. In fact, a smaller organization may need these services even more so that a large company as it cannot afford a government fine, waste or employee fraud.

While most small businesses like to think they know their employees extremely well, and believe they’d never steal, unfortunately, things like embezzlement, fraud and malfeasance can and do happen more often than you might think. Any business that relies on trust alone can be extremely vulnerable by failing to take important steps to protect the business. Studies have found that long-term employees are actually the most likely to commit a fraudulent act – and, an employee who seems loyal and devoted by never taking a vacation or sick day, may actually be doing so for fear of exposing fraudulent activity.

While internal controls are a must, they generally aren’t enough. Often times, these controls aren’t properly enforced or designed. Or, they may not be updated when changes occur in the business. It’s essential to stay on top of the financial condition of the organization, ensuring that time is taken every month to review bank reconciliations and the checking account as well as conducting internal audits and testing procedures.

Of course, as a small business owner, your time is precious. Using your time wisely, such as to grow the business, is probably what you’ll want to focus on. By finding an auditing firm, these services will not only be provided for you, but it’s actually more effective. Internal auditors can’t effectively critique a company’s internal process as they’re a part of the business. External auditors can observe the operation from the outside and determine where the company may be wasting time or money in addition to critiquing accounting practices and general operations.

By finding an auditing firm, you’ll have access to professionals who can recommend ways in which to tighten accounting practices, reduce waste and even promote greater efficiency too.

Finding an auditing firm that will best meet the needs of your small business can be quickly and easily accomplished by contacting GoodAccountants.com with access to thousands of qualified firms in your area.

How New IRS Rules and Professional Accounting Services Can Help You Increase Your Retirement Savings

The IRS increased the maximum retirement contribution limit as of January 1, from $17,500 to $18,000. Employees who are at least 50 years of age can contribute up to $6,000 extra to their retirement account as catch up contributions, also an increase of $500.

The new year can mean increased retirement savings, bringing great news to employees and others who are already maximizing their contributions, though just 12 percent of 401k participants were said to have hit that limit in 2013. If retirement is decades away, it can be difficult to get motivated to save, but it’s important to remember that the more you save now, the better of you’ll be in your later years – which tends to come sooner than most of us think. You won’t want to, or likely be able to, live on social security benefits alone.

Of course many people don’t have a retirement plan through their employer these days. If you do, be sure to take advantage of any guidance or even classes that may be offered through your employer to help you make the best investment choices.

For everyone else, as retirement planning can seem overwhelming, you may want to look for some professional assistance to help ensure a better future for yourself and your family. Hiring professional accounting services can help you maximize savings over the long term, making it more than worth the cost.

Utilizing professional accounting services is one of the best ways to create a retirement roadmap, by developing income strategies, planning for survivor ship needs and consolidating your assets.

Of course, finding the right firm to help may also seem like a daunting task. Not only does it require coming up with a list of good potential candidates, you’ll need to find out about their training and experience with financial planning as well as generating retirement income and other critical retirement planning decisions.

The good news is that by contacting Good Accountants, all of that work is done for you. Expert business consultants can assist you with finding the right professional accounting services for your needs with a nationwide registry of the most qualified candidates in your area at no cost to you.