4Thought Blog

Job applicants look at more than just wages when evaluating potential employers. They consider the whole compensation package, including fringe benefits and perks.

These add-ons enable employers to cast a wider net in the job market, helping them attract and retain top-quality workers.

Unfortunately, tax breaks for some fringe benefits were eliminated or suspended by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. However, some other fringe benefits are still deductible by employers and tax-free to employees.

Here are 14 popular benefits that remain on the books after the TCJA.

Even if your manufacturing company has been successful at selling its current line of goods, it's probably not smart to keep producing the same products indefinitely. Now, in fact, is an excellent time to expand your product offerings.

With global competition ramping up, the manufacturing market is only becoming more crowded and less certain. By anticipating customer needs, you can fortify your position and help ensure continued profitability.

Did you feel like your taxes were minimized last year? If not, it’s possible you may have missed out on some opportunities.

Federal tax reform through the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act provided some of the best tax benefits to businesses in more than 50 years. The corporate tax rate was slashed from the graduated maximum of 35% to a flat 21%.

If you find your construction company gaining a large influx of projects, the biggest problem will be the boost in the amount of capital you will need in comparison with your cash flow.

A jump in new jobs can strain your firm's resources, challenging the firm's capacity to hire field crews, its technology infrastructure and its cash flow. The upside, of course, is that a large backlog of incoming projects means more income and a lead time that lets your management team meet increasing cash flow demands. The more backlog of construction-in-progress the more big payrolls, more benefits going out, larger materials bill. And of course, everyone wants to be paid in cash.

This demand for cash can make it hard to ramp up to meet growth opportunities, but you can effectively manage it by using existing credit efficiently and taking out new strategic lines of credit.

A business owner's net worth and future income depends on the value of your business, whether you plan to sell it or pass it along to the next generation.

As you look towards your future, succession planning is the key to growing and getting the most out of your business.

First-year bonus depreciation has been around for a while now. However, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act set forth more-generous, but temporary, rules for 2018 through 2026.

Recent IRS guidance gives you additional flexibility to fine-tune the bonus depreciation break to suit your specific business and personal tax circumstances. Here's what you need to know.

Did you feel like your taxes were minimized last year? If not, it’s possible you may have missed out on some opportunities.

Federal tax reform through the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act provided some of the best tax benefits to businesses in more than 50 years. The corporate tax rate was slashed from the graduated maximum of 35% to a flat 21%.

Through the second quarter of 2019, the restaurant industry continued to demonstrate solid performance, weathering shifting dining habits, increasing labor costs and continually fluctuating commodity prices. Same-store sales rose a healthy 1.8% across the industry, thanks in part to strong consumer spending in restaurants.

But savvy restaurants didn’t rely solely on strong consumer spending – they continued to implement strategies which demonstrated a positive impact in 2018 and early 2019. Whether through limited time offers (LTOs), a strengthened digital presence, in-house delivery capabilities or menu price increases, restaurants are recognizing that a tailored approach to drawing in customers is the key to withstanding industry challenges.

The U.S. Department of Labor has issued the long-anticipated final version of its overtime eligibility rules. The changes will take effect on January 1, 2020.

As a result, the DOL estimates that 1.3 million workers will be newly eligible for overtime pay. Are any of them on your payroll? Read on to find out.

In today's environment, it's important for business owners to focus on the value of their company and what drives it. The objective of this article is to look at value drivers for operating businesses, as opposed to businesses that are asset-based, such as real estate or securities holding companies.

Under the market and income approaches, operating businesses are valued based on how much cash flow they're expected to generate in the future. In other words, cash flow drives value.

If you want to increase value, you need to increase sustainable cash flow.  Notice, we said the sustainable cash flow. While it might look good to have a short-term increase, an educated buyer will see through any non-sustainable increases and adjust those in determining the purchase price.