Revenge is a Dish Best Served Cold – Use of the “Spite Clause” in Wills

Posting by Joel C. Susco, CPA, Principal

It was recently reported that one of America’s richest men made his heirs wait nearly 100 years before they could collect their share of the family fortune – not your average will.  Michigan multi-millionaire Wellington R. Burt knew he could not take his fortune with him when he died, but I guess he was bound and determined to make his descendants pay for crossing him.

Is this taking a grudge to a new level?  […]

May 24, 2011 Uncategorized Read more...

“How To” Series: Finding Unreported Employees

Posting by Phil Vivirito

Over the next few weeks, Phil Vivirito, Bond Beebe’s Director of Payroll and Compliance Auditing, will explain several fundamental payroll auditing principles.  This week he reviews the best practices for finding and analyzing unreported employees.

A population test determines if all eligible employees are being reported by identifying all the employees on the payroll and accounting for everyone.  If you have a year-to-date non-departmentalized payroll or W-2s, you can compare either to the Fund’s contribution reports.

Any employee […]

April 27, 2011 Uncategorized Read more...

Family Business Facts

From sports stats to TV ratings, political polls to weather forecasts, people just seem to love statistics. They’re easy to digest, encourage debate and can turn us on to things we may never have thought of before. From the oft-quoted “What percentage of family businesses survive into the third generation?” to the obscure, “How does compensation for CEOs in family companies compare to CEOs in non-family companies?” — here are a few of our favorite facts and stats about family business, […]

April 6, 2011 Uncategorized Read more...

Size Does Matter When Auditing Reports Made by Using Employer Shortcuts

Posting by Ayisha Henderson

Two commonly performed shortcuts employers apply to remittances are truncating hours or reporting contributions capped weekly using a Gregorian calendar – and they may have a material effect on contributions.  Materiality, however, often depends on the size of the bargaining unit.  Consider the following examples:

An employer who truncates hours for a bargaining unit of 10 employees would be less material to an auditor than a bargaining unit of 1,000 employees.
Similarly, if an agreement stipulates […]

February 28, 2011 Uncategorized Read more...

Five Bond Beebe Professionals Pass CPA Exam

Bond Beebe, a certified public accounting and advisory firm with offices in Bethesda, Maryland and Alexandria, Virginia, is pleased to announce that five professionals from the firm recently passed the Certified Public Accounting (CPA) exam: Jennifer Hohman, Chuck Creigh, Jobe Dupre, Josh Smith and Tara McKinney.  In addition, these individuals have met the educational, experience and ethical requirements for CPA Licensing.

Hohman, Senior Auditor, is a 2004 graduate of Kutztown University of Pennsylvania with a B.A. in Accounting.  Creigh, also […]

January 27, 2011 Firm News & Events, Uncategorized Read more...

Can You Hear Me Now? The Continued Importance of Clear Communication

 

Posting by Joel C. Susco, CPA, Principal

Have you ever heard or said, “Boy, this task would be much easier if we had better instructions,” or “I wish this task had been better communicated to us?”

No matter what your business is, much of your success is dependent on good staff communication.  We have found that our staff has been very receptive to the extent of information we provide to them.  Their feedback to us has been great.  We have heard, […]

July 7, 2010 Human Resources, Uncategorized Read more...

Undercover Boss: Oh to be a Fly on the Wall at Your Business

Posting by Joel C. Susco, CPA, Principal

Have you ever heard someone say, “I would love to be a fly on the wall and just see what goes on at my business while I am not there?”  I am certain many business owners feel that way.  They would like to know just how their employees truly feel and act, while the boss is away.  I recently watched a new reality series called “Undercover Boss,” and thought this was a great […]

April 19, 2010 Uncategorized Read more...

Geoffrey Brown of Bond Beebe Receives Family Business Advisor Certification

BETHESDA, Maryland (March 4, 2010) – The Greater Washington DC Family Business Alliance (“The Alliance”), the go to resource for family businesses located in Maryland, the District of Columbia, and Northern Virginia, announced today that Geoffrey D. Brown, CPA, a Principal with Bond Beebe, the founding company of the Alliance, has received professional certification as a Family Business Advisor from the Family Firm Institute (“FFI”). The FFI will present Brown with the certification during their international conference, “Family Enterprise: […]

March 4, 2010 Family Owned Businesses, Firm News & Events, Uncategorized Read more...

Audit Lessons Learned & Payroll Audit “Pet” Peeves

Posting by Kurt Needles, CPA

I was thinking of a couple different payroll audit situations recently, and what can make this process better, or at least less distressing, for all involved.

Stepping Into the Electronic Age

We do payroll audits for a national fund that involves multiple “locals,” and various contracts within those locals.  In previous years, we only received photocopies of the remittance reports on the multiple files from the fund office.  We then had to manually key the hours into […]

February 25, 2010 Uncategorized Read more...

Payroll Auditing on the Bayou

Posting by Kurt Needles, CPA

One recent payroll audit took us to the doorstep of one of our southern clients, in this instance to the residence of the company accountant.  Every payroll auditor detests auditing in someone’s home – it is just uncomfortable.  On this particular day I had to ring the bell several times before the door was answered.  Apparently the accountant had forgotten about the audit appointment because he was still in his pajamas.

After throwing on a robe, […]

February 25, 2010 Payroll Audit, Uncategorized Read more...