Why We Don’t Do Payroll Audits – Reason 7

Posting by Larry Beebe, CPA

“Our Management Trustees Don’t Want us to Audit Employers”

Many years ago, I did my first payroll audits for a plan in the construction industry.  The employers had never been audited before, and I had numerous findings of unreported hours.  I knew that the union trustees would want to take immediate action to collect the amounts due.  What I found surprising was that the employer trustees were equally vigorous in wanting to pursue the delinquent amounts.  […]

September 2, 2009 Payroll Audit Read more...

Gettin’ Crabby With It: How One Family Business is Gunning for Baltimore’s “Best of” Lists

Posting by Joel C. Susco, CPA

When thinking of industries likely to feature family businesses, a natural first instinct is the independent restaurant industry.   But like many other family owned and operated businesses, it is often difficult to get past that second generation hump.  So it is really a success story when a family restaurant survives forty years, and more inspiring still when said establishment experiences steady growth and has accolades heaped upon it.

Read more about how local Hanover, Maryland’s […]

August 21, 2009 Family Owned Businesses, Uncategorized Read more...

Certified Fraud Examiner Designation

Bond Beebe, a certified public accounting and advisory firm with offices in Bethesda, Maryland and Alexandria, Virginia, announced today that Jeffrey W. Cramp, a Staff Accountant, has met the certification requirements to begin using the Certified Fraud Examiner (“CFE”) designation. The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (“ACFE”), a premier provider of anti-fraud training and education, administers the rigorous CFE examination and grants the designation to those professionals with proven expertise and education in fraud prevention, detection, deterrence and investigation.

Celebrating […]

August 17, 2009 Firm News & Events Read more...

A Flood of Epic Proportions

Posting by Larry Beebe, CPA

I had been trying to schedule a payroll audit for months.  The employer used every excuse possible to postpone.  The east coast had been pounded with heavy rain.  One rainy morning I was complaining to all who would listen that the employer in question would probably cancel again.  One of my “buddies” left the office and called me pretending to be the employer.  He said his office had been flooded and he had to postpone […]

August 17, 2009 Payroll Audit, Uncategorized Read more...

Why We Don’t Do Payroll Audits – Reason 6

17Posting by Larry Beebe, CPA

“The Employers Would Never Let Us Look At Their Records”

Of all the reasons cited for not doing payroll audits, this is probably the weakest.  If I were a contributing employer to a benefit plan, I would willingly open my books and records to the plan’s auditor.  I would want to show everyone that I am reporting honestly.  Management trustees for plans often insist that their companies be the first ones audited in each cycle.  If […]

August 17, 2009 Payroll Audit Read more...

Family Values: The Meaning of Shareholder Value in a Family Business

Posting by Geoffrey D. Brown, CPA

In this month’s Journal of Accountancy, there is an article titled “Four Options for Measuring Value Creation.” http://www.journalofaccountancy.com/Issues/2009/Aug/20091518> At the beginning it states that first and foremost, the role of a corporation is to create shareholder value.  While this is relatively easy to visualize in the world of publicly-traded securities, how does this play out in the world of family-owned businesses?

Publicly-Traded versus Family-Owned

In the publicly-traded sector, you’re creating value for shareholders that, in a […]

August 8, 2009 Accounting, Family Owned Businesses Read more...

Fundamentals Summer 2009 Newsletter

Bond Beebe publishes a quarterly newsletter regarding Employee Benefit Plans called Fund – a – mentals.  The Summer 2009 edition includes an article written by Bond Beebe Manager, Phil Vivirito titled “Payroll Audit Frequency in a Down Economy.”  Highlights of the article include how to determine which employees should be added for payroll audits, and how a Fund can determine which employers are at risk for becoming delinquent.

Read Fundamentals Newsletter – Summer 2009

August 5, 2009 Firm News & Events, Payroll Audit Read more...

Sex, Booze and Rock ‘n’ Roll: Don’t Let Your Family Business Become a “True Hollywood Story”

Posting by Joel C. Susco, CPA, Principal

Wineries and other alcohol-based enterprises are often family businesses, passed on for generations.  We’ve heard that alcohol impairs judgment – is this the case in the alcohol industry as well?  Perhaps not, but read on from the article at the link below to learn about the family squabbles, financial squandering, and foolish squelching of the voice of reason pointing to the downfall of the Seagram’s empire.  Lessons learned?  Maybe that the family business […]

August 3, 2009 Family Owned Businesses Read more...

Common Misconceptions about the Prevention of Occupational Fraud – Part 2

John Merchant,  CPA

As we discussed in Part 1 of this series of articles, when management of an organization relies solely on an annual audit of its financial statements by an independent CPA firm as its protection against occupational fraud, the organization is probably not nearly as well protected as management believes.  While an annual audit is a good idea, it must be supplemented by other fraud prevention policies and procedures.  One of the best steps management can take is […]

July 24, 2009 Accounting, Forensic Accounting Read more...

Fraud Within the Family Business: Damage Control for Both the Family and the Business

Posting by Jacqueline M. Thompson, CPA

There are many resources available to assist family members in working together, for creating the right governance structure, the correct management style, and the most desirable compensation practices for a successful family-owned business.  But what happens when the unthinkable occurs – when a family member commits fraud?  When one family member steals from the business, and, in essence, from the rest of the family?  To where does a business, and in many cases, a […]

July 23, 2009 Family Owned Businesses, Forensic Accounting Read more...