Maybe you’ve noticed that many of our webinars aren’t about tax and accounting issues. That’s because the issues impacting you and your business cover a wide variety of areas. While we can’t directly solve every issue you face, we know the right people who can. We connect you with the professionals and ideas that address what is relevant to you.
10 QuickBooks Tips & Tricks to Save Your Business Time & Money
There's so much more to bookkeeping than just recording transactions.
Utilizing QuickBooks or QuickBooks Online effectively can be the 'special sauce' you need to help streamline your bookkeeping processes and add value to your business.
In our upcoming webinar, Candy Mako of our Client Advisory Services department, will share top tips she's learned over her 20 years as an accounting professional that eventually opened up opportunities for her to become a controller. She'll take you through 10 QuickBooks Tips & Tricks to Save Your Business Time & Money.
Candy will show in QuickBooks how to:
- 'Automate' and 'Memorize' transactions, like bills & invoices
- Reconcile monthly to catch fraudulent charges and bank mistakes
- Customize your tasks and stay organized using Reminders and To-Dos
- Create procedures for workflows using Home page 'Visual Template'
- Digitize and track physical receipts so you don't miss deductions
- And more!
She will also take questions through our live Q & A chat
Who this webinar is for:
- Bookkeepers
- Office Managers
- Business Owners
- Anyone who works in QuickBooks software in your business
Your 'Plan B' - Financial Planning During COVID-19
Financial planning is evolving in the era of COVID as many of us need to keep more cash available in savings for unseen personal and business emergencies. Your financial projections now need to be more sophisticated - encompassing a broader range of potential outcomes. What can you do now to modify your current financial plan to fit your new needs?
We’ve asked Robert Dalie, CFP, Managing Director of Investments of, The Summa Group | Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.to join our partner, Maria Arriola, for a webinar providing the steps to post-COVID financial planning to fit your new needs. They will discuss:
- Getting your financial house in order: building your balance sheet, budget and plan you can follow.
- Managing your debt: tips for dealing with creditors, and which payments to temporarily suspend.
- Assessing your credit: making sure you are taking advantage of generationally low interest rates, and using credit monitoring apps to help keep debt utilization ratios down.
- Using CARES Act benefits: hardship withdrawals and student loan deferments.
We’ll also take questions through our live Q & A chat.
6 Actions to Increase Your Business Cash Flow
Cash is the crux of a business, so the ability to increase your cash flow is critical, especially in times where it can fluctuate widely from day to day.
But how do you do that? It's not as simple as increasing revenue while decreasing expenses. Understanding things like what bills to pay first, how much cash to hold up in inventory, and how quickly you invoice customers all impact how much cash you have.
In the upcoming webinar, LSL Partner, Adam Odom, CPA will provide you with 6 actions you can take now to help increase your cash flow.
Adam will also address:
- Understanding your cash flow cycles and how that impacts your business.
- Using lines of credit to increase your cash flow.
- Putting together a cash flow projection that helps you with future decision making.
- Using cash to grow your business.
He will also take questions through our live Q & A chat.
COVID-19: An Employers’ Action List for Employee Benefit Plans
If you are responsible for your company's retirement plan, there have been many changes as a result of recent coronavirus legislation that you need to know.
We've asked employment attorney Sherrie Boutwell, Partner at Boutwell Fay, to join our Partner, Maria Arriola, on a webinar focusing on action items to help employers navigate all the recent federal legislation, regulatory guidance and other current issues affecting retirement plans as a result of COVID-19.
They will provide input on what plan sponsors (remember: employers are plan sponsors) need to be doing now to prepare for plan audits on these issues.
Maria and Sherrie will cover:
- Administering COVID-19 distributions and loans
- Options for reducing plan costs or contributions
- Handling furloughs and partial terminations
- Delayed deadlines and other plan administration concerns
- Non-qualified plan options and strategies
We’ll also take questions through our live Q & A chat.
Ransomware Attack - Lesson's Learned from the City of Galt
Claire Tyson, Finance Director of the City of Galt, shares her first hand experience of a recent ransomware attack at the City. She’ll discuss:
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- How the breach happened & how she discovered the attack
- What, and how, she communicated to the Council, community and others about the breach
- Impact on her City operations and departments including systems, data, and ability to provide services to the community
- Impact on the budget, loss of revenue and additional expenses for the response
- Lessons she learned and wants other cities to know
Government Focus
PPP Loan Forgiveness:
Your Critical Questions Answered
Finally, some guidance on calculating loan forgiveness! On Friday, May 15, 2020, Treasury and the SBA released the application for loan forgiveness, two supporting schedules, and instructions, eleven pages in all.
Join Dave Myers, MST, CPA & Tax Partner, and Mark Zimmerman, JD, MRED, CPA & Tax Director, as they unpack all the details, details, and more details on how to calculate loan forgiveness and what those details mean to you. They will go over some surprising new favorable guidance from the SBA and examples of how the calculation is made.
Immediately following their presentation, they’ll host an extended session devoted to answering your questions submitted in advance and through our live Q & A chat.
5 Cyber Security Musts for Your Remote Workforce
Now that many of us have moved to remote work places, cyber criminals have greatly stepped up their efforts to compromise company networks, hack data and steal company information. How can you keep your business safe?
If you're a small to mid-sized business that does not have a dedicated I.T. department or person, you can still protect your business from these threats with basic cyber security best practices.
Join LSL IT Director, James Graham as he shares 5 musts for creating and maintaining cyber security measures for your remote workforce, and cost-effective solutions you can implement immediately.
On this webinar, James will discuss:
Creating a security culture: A top-down, security-minded mentality your management and employees will buy into, engage in and follow
Backing up your data: Difference between online & offline backup, how & when to back up, and how to test it
Basic controls: Password best practices, networking equipment guidelines, and using wi-fi safely
Multi-factor Authentication: How using this adds an extra level of protection to your computers, and recommended ones to use for your business
Training your team: Easy programs you can use to educate your employees on spotting phishing emails and suspicious links (and how to test them regularly, too!) so they won’t fall for scammer traps
We’ll also take questions through our live Q & A chat.
Government Focus
Private Business Focus
You just got your PPP loan proceeds. Now what?
You’ve just received your PPP Loan proceeds (or the money is pending). Just as with the initial loan application period, there is a lot of noise out there about what to do with the proceeds. What should your next steps be?
Dave Myers, MST, CPA & Tax Partner, and Mark Zimmerman, JD, MRED, CPA & Tax Director, give guidance on the things we believe you should be doing over the next 8 weeks.
This webinar will address:
- Where to deposit the loan proceeds: Is it better to deposit in your existing bank account or should you open a new one specifically for the funds?
- What to do with your employees: Furloughs and layoffs vs. retaining them on your payroll and how the decision relates loan forgiveness.
- When to bring back employees: Hiring employees back before or after June 30th and its impact on loan forgiveness, and examples of two possible limitations.
- How to maximize loan forgiveness: One great way to maximize loan forgiveness and the benefits to both your company and your employees.
- What’s new: Recent developments and guidance from the SBA and Treasury regarding the Paycheck Protection Program and the calculation of loan forgiveness.
Also includes a live Q & A chat.
Handling Employee & Business Issues During the COVID-19 Crisis
We know many of you and your businesses have been severely impacted by the coronavirus crisis and are looking for guidance on how to keep your employees safe while keeping your business running.
Amy Patton and Jeff Brown, Partners in the Labor & Employment group at Payne & Fears law firm, provide you with answers to your urgent questions related to the Coronavirus and the health of your business and employees.
Topics addressed on this webinar include:
- FMLA/sick leave
- Paid Time Off (PTO) use
- Employee terminations/furlough
- Worker Adjustment & Retaining Notification (WARN) Act
LSL Tax partner, Mike Agresti, covered:
- Extended tax deadlines and what that means for you
- Payroll tax credits
- Available SBA loans
We also included our live Q & A chat.
Pitfalls to Avoid When Selling Your Business
Your business is one of the most valuable assets (if not the most) you'll ever own. If you are thinking of selling your business in the next 3 to 5 years, it’s a great idea to understand what’s involved in the process and how to prepare for the event. What are some of the common challenges and red flags that can stall the transaction? How can you maximize your business value?
We’ve asked the Plethora Businesses team to share their stories, advice and best practices on the do’s and don’ts so you can leave your business on your own terms. There is no substitute for preparation if you want to get top dollar.
Topics to be discussed will include:
- Assessing key management and owner involvement
- Type of offers a buyer may make and their tax implications
- Company’s ability to withstand the rigors of a due diligence process
- Minimizing seller liability post-closing
What happens to your social media &
online accounts when you die?
Perhaps you've heard the horror story: a loved one is incapacitated or passes away and the family can’t access and control their phone, social media and online accounts because they don’t know the passwords or have permissions to access them. Instead of the family having control, they are at the mercy of Facebook or Apple, and it's a stressful battle to get them back.
How can you make sure you or your loved ones have access to these digital assets in case of an emergency or a death?
We’ve asked our friend Megan Moghtaderi, estate planning attorney at TLD Law, to share what you can do to make sure you (and your loved ones) are in control of these digital assets. She'll cover:
- What qualifies as a digital asset (think smart phone, airline miles, brokerage accounts)
- What powers actually control your digital assets
- What happens to your digital assets upon incapacity
- What you need to do to make sure those you designate will control them (and no one else) in the event you can't