Successful, experienced small business owners and non-profit leader know they can’t do everything themselves. And most can’t afford all the employees needed to get the job done, especially for jobs requiring specialized skills or for special projects. Outsourcing is often the answer.
Great; outsourcing it is! So how do you find a vendor to meet your needs? How much will it cost? Will you know if the job was done as expected?
The short answer – your business does. Your business, not the bank, is liable if one of your employees or some cyber-stranger gets access to your bank account and takes your business funds. Sure, if you’re lucky, your bank might detect the unusual activity and block it. However, that is unlikely and you can’t depend on it. This unhappy situation was highlighted recently by John Ydstie of NPR News – http://n.pr/1UX9ENo
Your business is a huge success. You get new customers every week. Your schedule is full and your team is busy. It’s really exciting. This is exactly what you dreamed about.
But is your business ready to grow? Can your back office – your financial and operational processes – keep up with your growth? When things are taking off is not a good time to find out that your processes can’t keep up with your growth.
Continue reading “Your Business is Growing – What About Your Processes?”
Operating as a sole proprietor is the simplest way to establish a business. No separate entity is created, like a corporation or a partnership. No legal agreements are needed to get started.
Income taxes for sole proprietors? Not so simple.
Sole proprietors are individuals in business for themselves. They have not incorporated and have no partners or other owners. Business income and expenses are reported on Schedule C, “Profit or Loss from Business,” and filed with the business owner’s individual income tax return. A separate Schedule C (or C-EZ, the short form) must be filed for each business operated by the sole proprietor.
News reports regularly include stories of another cybersecurity breach that compromises financial and personal data. Home Depot, Target, Internal Revenue Service, Office of Personnel Management. What organization will be next? What exposes organizations to these threats?
Many organizations invest in security to protect their data, funds, and reputations. However, protections don’t work if people inside the organization don’t work securely. A recent survey of IT security professionals conducted by Crowd Research Partners (“Insider Threat Spotlight Report”) reveals that many cybersecurity threats come from within.