Finance Telephone Seminars - Training Resources

Economic Nexus Standards in State Taxation BenefitsA state's ability to impose taxes on a multi-state business is limited by 'nexus' standards rooted in the U.S. Constitution. In 1992, the U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed its longstanding rule and held in Quill Corp. v. North Dakota that nexus requires some form of physical presence in the taxing state. In today's economy, however, states are continuing to push nexus limits farther than ever  more...

IRA and Qualified Plan Distributions BenefitsThis teleconference is specially designed for those who advise their clients on IRA and qualified plan distributions. This program will focus on the required minimum distribution rules and how one can have an IRA payable to a trust and still have it qualify as a designated beneficiary. This teleconference can help you spot and avoid some of the common mistakes taxpayers make with their  more...

Understanding Your Summary Plan Descriptions BenefitsEmployers who sponsor ERISA covered health and welfare plans are required to communicate the terms of the plan to participants in a summary plan description. The SPD is an important disclosure document that describes, in understandable terms, the rights, benefits and responsibilities of participants and beneficiaries in ERISA covered health and welfare benefit plans. The SPD must include  more...

Protect and Collect - The Effective Use of Engagement Letters BenefitsToday's economy finds companies in every industry, including professional service firms, looking at best practices to keep revenues steady and to decrease liability. The collection process has become more burdensome as cash flow tightens across the country. With more and more lawsuits arising against professional service providers and their firms, law firms, accounting firms and even  more...

Affordable Housing: Finance and Development, How to Maximize the Available Resources BenefitsToday's housing market has been severely impacted by the subprime mortgage crisis and a downturn in the general economy. As a result, finding capital and equity to build affordable housing has become more and more difficult as investors sit this one out while the market stabilizes. This teleconference will highlight the issues, problems, causes, recent trends, what can be done and what is  more...

Rewards Transformation: A Unique Approach to Total Rewards Strategy and Design in the Current Economy ...he material is especially useful to business leaders, HR, finance and total rewards professionals who are interested in retaining top talent while reducing total rewards costs. You will gain an understanding of the rewards transformation approach, how it can be applied to your organization and other total rewards cost reduction strategies you may want to consider. Human resource professionals,  more...

Federal Tax Classification of Series LLCs BenefitsThe series LLC may be the solution to many issues that confront federal tax practitioners on a daily basis. For example, the series LLC is very useful in situations where long and expensive regulatory processes are involved with a new state law entity. The series LLC also can be used in asset backed securitizations in place of business trusts in those states that treat single member LLCs  more...

Payroll Tax Pitfalls: Preventing IRS Penalties and Personal Liability for Late Payments BenefitsAmong many other legal obligations, employers face the ongoing requirement to timely withhold and remit payroll taxes to the federal government. People responsible for fulfilling a company's payroll tax obligations often do not realize the substantial penalties that can be imposed by the IRS against the company when payroll taxes are not timely deposited or paid at all. Additionally, in  more...

Matrimonial Considerations in Estate and Trust Planning BenefitsThis teleconference will review matrimonial implications to estate and trust planning. It will focus on the use of trusts and other estate planning techniques before marriage and during, after and before remarriage, to protect assets from matrimonial claims. Practical planning concepts; drafting considerations; income, gift and estate tax implications; and ancillary considerations will be  more...

Emerging Trends in Infrastructure Finance - The Stimulus and Beyond ...nfortunately, as the era of government-led and government-financed infrastructure comes to an end because of diminishing resources, alternatives must be explored. Governments in Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom have long recognized the need to look for alternative ways to develop and construct both transportation and social infrastructure (schools, hospitals, prisons, etc.), but this  more...

Changes to Cafeteria Plans: What You Need to Know to Prepare BenefitsThe IRS recently issued new rules which replaced parts of the old regulations. These new rules are exciting but require you to review and act on your old documents. The information provided will assist you in decisions for the upcoming plan year and how to prepare for the changes. Human resources and benefits managers, attorneys, controllers, CFOs finance directors, payroll managers,  more...

Preparing an Accurate Form 1041 BenefitsWith more individuals using trusts in estate planning, knowing how to prepare an accurate Form 1041 is becoming more important than ever. Properly computing taxable income and correctly allocating taxable income between the entity and its beneficiaries can avoid not only challenges by the IRS but also disgruntled beneficiaries. This teleconference will help you understand the main rules on  more...

Fundamentals of SBA Lending: Documenting, Closing and Funding the SBA Loan ...ks and other lending institutions with the opportunity to finance commercial loans to small businesses and, at the same time, secure a 50 to 90 percent loan guarantee from the federal government. While the program can be quite profitable, it's not without its risks. Compliance with SBA regulations is mandatory to ensure success and profitability. With seismic changes occurring to the program  more...

Form 5500 Reporting Update BenefitsEmployers who offer an employee benefit plan must file an annual report regarding the plan's financial condition, investments and operations, unless specifically exempt by law. Filing the Form 5500 will satisfy this. This teleconference will help you understand when you need to file a Form 5500 and what you need to file, and will focus on some recent changes that may impact your filings.  more...

Multifamily Project Finance and Development ...performing or well conceived new projects. The looming 'refinance crisis' for multifamily projects financed with CMBS and with soon-to-expire construction loans will only add to the challenges. This teleconference will explore a variety of debt and equity programs, including some new and nontraditional ones that are available to help in addressing the credit market issues. Presidents, vice  more...

Funding Trusts in Estate Planning BenefitsIt is all too common for clients who go through the time and expense of creating a revocable trust to not properly fund the trust. Failing to fund a revocable trust will often defeat the very purpose for creating such a trust, i.e., avoiding probate and the public disclosure of assets. This teleconference will provide an overview of the mechanics of contributing property to revocable  more...

Current ERISA Fiduciary Issues for Financial Institutions BenefitsFinancial institutions have long been faced with difficult and complicated issues under ERISA's fiduciary rules. The current economic downturn has given rise to a new round of legislative and regulatory initiatives regarding ERISA's fiduciary rules and has more generally affected the manner in which ERISA may affect financial institutions. In addition, the regulatory environment continues  more...

Current Issues in Attributional and Agency Nexus BenefitsA state's ability to impose taxes on a multistate business is limited by nexus standards rooted in the U.S. Constitution. In 1992, the U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed its longstanding rule and held in Quill Corp. v. North Dakota that nexus requires some form of physical presence in the taxing state. However, physical presence is not limited only to direct presence. It may also be established  more...

Construction Project Management in Remote Locations: Site Considerations and Unique Challenges ...ments and how they were combined into a comprehensive and finance-able package will be addressed. Learning Objectives - You will be able to analyze and select the appropriate project structure. - You will be able to compose logistics and transport planning. - You will be able to examine site gaining. - You will be able to arrange demobilization and closeout. Engineers, project managers,  more...

Buying and Selling Partnerships, LLCs and Other Similar Entities BenefitsCorporations and alternative entities have distinctly different frameworks for defining the tax, economic and management rights and obligations of their equity owners. But oftentimes business people and their advisors structure and negotiate purchases and sales of equity interests in alternative entities using concepts from the corporate model. Failing to account for the differences  more...

GASB Statement No. 51: Rules for Intangible Assets Come to Governmental Entities BenefitsIntangible assets have been present in government operations for many years, but until now there have not been specific rules on how governments were to account and to report for these assets. GASB Statement No. 51 changes this situation. We now have specific rules on how to account and report for these types of assets. These rules go beyond what is typically found in the private sector as  more...

Show Me the Money: Determining Return on Investment for People, Projects and Programs Benefits'Show me the money!' is the mantra of the day. Senior leaders in private sector, public sector, and social sector organizations want to see value for investments made in people, projects and programs. This value, more than ever before, is defined in terms of return on investment. Until you can produce solid, verifiable numbers that prove the worth of investments, you may never gain the  more...

Tax Implications of Generation-Skipping Techniques - Planning to Minimize the Generation-Skipping Transfer (GST) Tax nBy attending this teleconference, you will learn key elements of the GST tax rules, including the rules for automatic allocation of GST tax exemption. Benefits and differences between different types of basic GST tax planning techniques, including various lifetime planning and post-mortem planning along with the implications of leveraging GST tax planning with discounted assets will also be  more...

Successfully Maneuvering the Tax Maze of Amortization Rules nEfforts to simplify the rules on capitalization and amortization of intangible assets and benefits have resulted in a few lengthy sets of regulations that are often not easy to remember or apply. This teleconference provides a framework for identifying and applying the tax rules for the acquisition and creation of intangible assets, as well as costs to facilitate such transactions. Special  more...

Developing an Effective Property Management Plan ...finance has changed dramatically. Are you interested in making more money? Having more free time? Living life with less stress? If you are a professional HOA property or community manager, or if you are thinking of becoming a HOA property manager, you will want to know what's new in property management. Become acquainted with the newest technology and how you can profit successfully. Understand  more...

Tax and Practical Aspects of Business Succession Planning nClosely held family businesses are often as important to the owners of that business as are their own children. With business failures increasing in today's economic environment, the importance of a well planned, dynamic and long-term succession plan is vital to the continuation of the family business as it is passes from generation to generation. Tax considerations are one part of that plan, but  more...

Convergence of Estate Planning, Trust Administration and Financial Advice nIn the current volatile and uncertain economic climate, estate planning advisors and their clients need to re-examine conventional estate planning wisdom, better understand how fiduciary performance will be tested and evaluated, and more carefully assess the perceived benefits and actual risks of a variety of investment types within planning structures.  more...

Internal ERISA Audits: Getting It Right Before the Government Shows Up nEmployee benefits plans are subject to a large number of requirements imposed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act and by other laws such as the Internal Revenue Code. Failure to comply with these complex and ever-changing requirements could lead to substantial penalties or even the meltdown of the plan. This teleconference will highlight a number of these requirements and show you how  more...

Understand and Interpret Financial Statements nIn 90 information-packed minutes, you will gain the essential knowledge you need to read and interpret financial statements. First, you will learn what the major financial statements - the balance sheet, income statement and cash flow statement - tell you about an organization and how they tie together. You will examine the concepts behind the major sections in the financial statements, such as  more...

401(k) Plan Costs Including Recent Update on Supreme Court Rule LaRue v. DeWolff, Boberg & Associates Inc. nUnhappy employees, U.S. Department of Labor investigations, IRS investigations, massive class action lawsuits - an ever-expanding list of factors bombards sponsors of 401(k) plans and places companies and their management potentially in the cross hairs. From Enron, Worldcom and Sarbanes-Oxley, to the more recent massive class actions filed against Fortune 500 companies regarding 401(k) plan  more...

Lease vs. Buy: Choosing the Best Option ...finance business equipment through lease programs or by purchases is one of the most difficult and important decisions faced by businesses every day. Making the wrong choice can not only result in economic loss but significant disruption of business, loss of time and opportunity. This teleconference will provide you with a comparison of the benefits and pitfalls of financing business equipment  more...

Current Trends in Transit-Oriented Development nAs the United States faces the most severe economic recession since the Great Depression, one sector of real estate - transit-oriented development - is situated to protect investors from the economic downturn and deliver attractive long-term profits. TOD provides a new investment opportunity for both the public and private sectors as our cities are faced with the challenges of rapid price  more...

Same-Gender Marriage Rulings: Impacts on Employee Benefit Plans Across the Nation nIn May 2008, the California Supreme Court ruled that the state cannot deny same-gender couples the right to marry. Same-gender couples - many of them, in fact - flocked to California and started getting legally married on June 17, 2008. But then in November 2008, California voters approved Proposition 8, which bans same-sex marriage going forward. Massachusetts and Canada also allow same-gender  more...

Reading Financial Statements: A Creditor's Perspective nThis teleconference will teach you how to read and understand financial statements, especially from a creditor's perspective. It is also for investors and business owners who not only desire to expand their business, but who want a better handle on what the number on their financial statements mean and how they can become useful tools. This teleconference will impart useful and practical ideas,  more...

Payroll Recordkeeping: What You Need to Know nIn recent years there has been an explosion in the number of lawsuits and claims for overtime and unpaid wages under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Did you realize that liability for FLSA violations can be enormous? Recent reports estimate that over the last few years companies have collectively paid out more than $1 billion annually to resolve FLSA claims! Learn the role of the FLSA and its  more...

Restructuring: Changing Your Choice of Business Entity nEach business goes through various stages of its life cycle as it grows. The plans of its owners change, and management succession and exit strategies become more immediate concerns. As a result, initial tax and state law decisions need to be revisited, and when warranted, consideration of changes to a company's tax and legal structure may be advisable or necessary. This teleconference will  more...

Understanding the Apportionment Rules for Service-Based Businesses nApportionment of income for state tax purposes is "where the rubber meets the road." That is to say, the complex and varied rules for determining a taxpayer's state income tax apportionment percentage can provide opportunities - with careful planning - for state tax minimization or create traps that - without such planning - lead to multiple taxation. Service-based businesses face particular  more...

Understanding the COBRA Alternative Coverage Rules nThis teleconference is essential for company personnel who are involved with COBRA coverage and what can be done to reduce costs. In lieu of a company's traditional health plan, for COBRA purposes, the company is allowed to offer alternative health coverage although the procedure for doing so is quite complicated. n nDiscussed first is what constitutes the various forms of alternative health  more...

Latest Trends in the Rise of Unclaimed Property Enforcement nRegister for this teleconference and stay abreast of the latest statutory and state enforcement trends. You'll get an update on recent cases involving unclaimed property (state and corporate) and best practices you can use to address current internal controls, policies and procedures.  more...

Current Issues in Revocable Living Trusts Benefits Revocable living trusts are a foundation of many estate plans. The use of a revocable living trust generally provides for a confidential distribution of family wealth without required court interference and also allows for assets to avoid probate in most jurisdictions. Using a revocable living trust allows for planning in the event of incapacity without having to formally declare a  more...

State Income Tax Apportionment-The Sales Factor and The Throwback Rule Benefits This teleconference will provide an in-depth analysis of the sales factor used in state and local income tax apportionment. You'll learn all about the sourcing of sales of tangible personal property and services, including the dock sales test and market-based sourcing. Find out what you need to know about the throwback rule and the throw-out rule. Get expert advice on handling issues  more...