The holidays seem to blur together just a bit more each year. Still, Thanksgiving is a wonderful opportunity to take time and be thankful for what we’ve been given throughout the past year, and for the gift of family and friends.
Here are a few inspirational quotes to help spur you in your pursuit of the attitude of gratitude.
“Reflect on your present blessings- of which every man has many- not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.” - Charles Dickens, Writer
“I cannot tell you how to be rich. But I can tell you how to feel rich, which is far better, let me tell you firsthand, than being rich. Be grateful. It is the only totally reliable get rich quick scheme.” - Ben Stein, Actor
“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.” - Cicero, Roman philosopher
Working in teams has become commonplace, and is a great way to leverage the strengths of a group to achieve a common goal. The process can, though, be difficult at times, because the same diversity of talent that makes group work so successful can also lead to friction on how to go about the task at hand.
Understanding what motivates our teammates, as well as ourselves, can go a long way toward achieving better communication, and help to get through those occasional difficult periods. The Forbes.com article, linked below, is a great primer on how to go about this.
Payroll can create a golden opportunity for less than honest employees or advisors to steal funds from a business. The key to preventing it is to put in place the proper checks and balances, or internal controls, to be sure you know how much your paying and to whom. These are important in all sizes of businesses, but small businesses seem to be the hardest and most often victimized.
There are two leading types of payroll theft. In the first, an employee pays themselves more than their authorized salary, or pays relatives or friends who are not employed by the business. In the second, an individual trusted with making payroll tax payments takes them money for themselves, rather than paying it over to the proper taxing authority.
There are some simple steps that can prevent this from taking place.
We wanted to share some excitement in our office with all of you. Excitement in a CPA office this time of year usually isn’t cause for public celebration, but this, we thought, deserved some publicity.
Michael Schaffer, who joined us a little over a year ago as one of our team of accountants, received his CPA license from the Minnesota Board of Accountancy today. In our field this is a major milestone – one Rich, Margie and Brady all remember clearly. We’re excited to head into the rest of tax season with 4 CPAs to serve our clients.
