4Thought Blog

As businesses continue to struggle under the weight of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, astute manufacturing owners and managers are looking for ways to adapt to the new normal.

One way to do this is to pivot from standard product lines into new niches. Although pivoting may enable your company to sustain operations during this time of crisis, changing gears can also raise other long-term strategic questions that you'll need to consider.

There's very welcome news for businesses with Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans.

Following on the heels of the House last week, the U.S. Senate on Wednesday passed a plan allowing companies more flexibility on spending their PPP loans.

Highlights include:

Many family businesses have been adversely affected by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

But there's a silver lining: Proactive tax planning can help your family business take advantage of potential opportunities in the COVID-19 era.

Here are some tax-smart ideas to consider.  

Is your Paycheck Protection Program loan $2 million or more? Then you’ll have to prepare for an audit if you apply for loan forgiveness, officials recently announced.

Here are some tips to position your business or nonprofit organization to receive the maximum allowable forgiveness, as well as to prepare for the subsequent government audit.

There’s some further welcome news for businesses and nonprofits that use GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) for their financial statements. There is now an additional delay on implementing fairly cumbersome new revenue recognition and lease accounting standards.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) voted last week to delay the start of new revenue recognition and lease accounting standards.

Even while conditions in some states have improved enough to allow some workers in exile to begin returning to their workplaces, life isn't likely to return to normal for a long while, thanks to the COVID-19 crisis.

First, some employees worried about the chances they could become infected might balk at the idea of returning to their offices even after you've decided that the risk is small and manageable enough to re-open your doors.

And second, some businesses and employees may decide that work-at-home arrangements should be more widely available all the time. As more employees experience a workstyle that doesn't involve a brutal commute but does offer greater flexibility in juggling work and personal responsibilities, you could face strong pressure to broaden that opportunity.

Chances are, employers don't need the force of law to make them care about the health of their employees, especially during the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

But it's still important to know what the federal workplace safety agency — the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) — has to say about employees returning to their jobs with a measure of confidence in their own safety.

OSHA's recent "Guidance on Preparing Workplaces for COVID-19" report offers a helpful blueprint. However, the agency stresses it's "only advisory in nature" and doesn't set any new standards. Also, it falls under the underlying law's overall requirement that employers "provide their employees with a workplace free from recognized hazards likely to cause death or serious physical harm."

Below are some points from the OSHA blueprint to help you consider workplace safety through a new lens.

At long last, there’s some guidance on how businesses can seek forgiveness for their Paycheck Protection Program loans.

Late last week, the U.S. Small Business Administration released a PPP loan forgiveness application and instructions, which you can access here. We spent the weekend reviewing this application and instructions and thought it would be helpful to you for us to share some of the most relevant highlights from this latest guidance.

We’ll have more to come in the future on documentation and other less significant aspects of the latest guidance. For now, here’s the most important information to know:

The recent Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act provides relief to employers struggling to stay afloat during the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

The nonprofit sector is no exception. In fact, some provisions in the new law are specifically tied to charities.

Following is a brief summary of seven key benefits for nonprofit employers and supporters.

The novel coronavirus pandemic has caused difficulties for millions of businesses — from family-owned restaurants and niche manufacturers to multinational airlines and oil companies. As the economy slowly reopens across the country, old ways of doing things clearly won't work for most business operations.

But there's a potential upside: Major economic disruptions may provide opportunities for managers and owners who can reject the status quo and "think outside the box." Over the short run, businesses that "pivot" in a timely manner may be able to stay afloat until things decisively turn around for the better. There also may be long-term opportunities to add value and update your existing business model.