4Thought Blog

It’s challenging to succeed in the manufacturing industry without a plan, or at least some written goals. A basic plan should include your annual budget. Even better, it should include multi-year budgets and projections.

Forecasting may be time consuming, but is a necessary step in predicting and controlling future success. Many of the most successful manufacturing companies we work with not only engage in forecasting, but do so with their entire executive team and on a regular basis. 

Don’t just file away your company’s financial statements. There’s a lot business executives can learn by reviewing their financial statements – including their balance sheet and cash flow statement – in detail.

Below are five key indicators from your company’s financial statements every business executive should analyze for greater business insight:

Brewery owners wear lots of hats – in addition to your CEO duties, you may also handle your company’s production, bottling, canning and/or kegging, marketing and hiring. You might even shovel the sidewalks in the winter.

A critical job responsibility that should always be on your mind is that which a CFO handles. Your brewery may not be big enough to warrant having a CFO, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t think like one.

After long delays, Pennsylvania last month finally enacted its 2017-2018 state budget, which includes some significant tax changes for both businesses and individuals.

The following article covers some of the most significant revisions, including changes to Net Operating Loss deductions, tax changes for online retailers and a new deduction available to manufacturers.

The largest chunk of revenue being provided by this bill comes directly from the authorization of the Commonwealth to utilize annual payments from the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement to issue bonds. This is estimated to generate $1.5 billion of revenue for the 2017-2018 fiscal year.

Read on for details on the most significant tax changes for both businesses and individuals:

If you owe personal or business taxes to the state of Pennsylvania, now’s a good time to consider paying up.

The State of Pennsylvania recently enacted a Tax Amnesty Program, its first since 2010. Through June 19, 2017, the state has authorized a tax amnesty program that will waive all penalties and half of the interest owed on eligible tax delinquencies.

Any taxes administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue are eligible for the amnesty program, including both business and personal taxes.

Pennsylvania is now offering additional and expanded tax credits to its businesses.

Included in Act 84 of 2016 – signed into law in July – are new and expanded tax credits especially intended to boost business. Noteworthy changes include the creation of a new Job Creation Tax Credit especially for veterans and the permanent extension of the R&D Tax Credit.