Small Business Succession Planning – Part I/II
At the eve of the turn of the last millennium, I was surprised to discover, during a conversation with a colleague from a prestigious New York bank, that small law firms, defined, roughly, as employing less than two handfuls of attorneys, were considered risky business—an opinion supported by their high failure rate. Therefore, the bank […]
Task Definition & Duration Estimation for Projects, Part III/III
We continue with our series on task definition and duration estimation. In the previous post we focused on decomposition of the work breakdown structure to define tasks. This time, we describe the process for estimating task duration. Task Duration Estimation Informally, to estimate task/activity duration, list the tasks to be performed to accomplish the project […]
Task Definition & Duration Estimation for Projects, Part II/III
In the previous post, I advised on the failure to properly define tasks and alerted you to the subtleties in effort required in defining tasks for projects as opposed to tasks for an ongoing business process. On this occasion, I will focus on the formal process for task definition through the decomposition of the Work […]
Task Definition & Duration Estimation for Projects, Part I/III
Task Definition A task or sub-task is best described as a subdivision of a project. Its duration is, usually, a few months and performed by an individual, group, or organization. Improperly defined tasks can lead to poor quality work, slipped schedules, delays, stress, confusion, anxiety, dissatisfaction with outcomes, mission creep, missed goals, and, alas, a […]
The current state of AI in tax and accounting
Artificial Intelligence, i.e., machine intelligence that recognizes its environment and makes decisions that exploits its chances of successfully achieving predetermined goals, has made its way throughout our lives promising to impact on mundane tasks, error reduction, data analysis, forecasting, and advice. The promise is more so in business and markedly in the accounting field. This […]
ERC Eliminated by IIJA
The death knell of the Employee Retention Credit (ERC)—a provision of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, H.R. 748, (CARES Act,) an economic stimulus bill passed by the 116th U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Donald Trump in March 2020—has been sounded by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA.) The […]
Deduction Changes in 2018
The new tax law eliminated several beneficial deductions and credits. Many filers may have the opportunity to receive a significant tax break, while others may see theirs decrease as a result of new deduction rules. Unfortunately, most people won’t know exactly what part of that spectrum they will fall under until they fill out their […]