Directors and officers (D&O) liability insurance enables board members to make decisions without fear that they’ll be personally responsible for any related litigation costs. Such coverage is common in the business world, but fewer not-for-profits carry it. Not-for-profits may assume that their charitable mission and the good intentions of volunteer board members protect them from litigation. These assumptions can be wrong.

Here are several FAQs to help you determine whether your board needs D&O insurance:  Continue Reading Does Your Not-for-Profit Board Need D&O Insurance?

While the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) reduces most income tax rates and expands some tax breaks, it limits or eliminates several itemized deductions that have been valuable to many individual taxpayers.

Here are five deductions you may see shrink or disappear when you file your 2018 income tax return: Continue Reading Your Deductions May be Smaller When You File Your 2018 Tax Return

Jen: This is the PKF Texas Entrepreneur’s Playbook. I’m Jen Lemanski, and I’m back again with Frank Landreneau, one of our International Tax Directors. Frank, welcome back to The Playbook.

Frank: Thanks, Jen. It’s great to be back.

Jen: I know there’s an incentive for exporters: IC-DISC. How has that changed with tax reform?

Frank: That’s a good question. It’s been around for quite a while, as you know, the IC-DISC is nothing new. What propelled its novelty is the tax reform of 2003 where dividend rates were now coupled with capital gains rates. There’s been legislation on and off of repealing it or modifying it or limiting it in some kind of way, but oddly enough, tax reform did not change anything with regard to IC-DISC, so it’s still a viable option for exporters.

Jen: So Frank, how can the IC-DISC be helpful for our viewers?

Continue Reading How Your Business Can Benefit from IC-DISC

Restricted gifts — or donations with conditions attached — can be difficult for not-for-profits to manage. Unlike unrestricted gifts, these donations can’t be poured into your general operating fund and be used where they’re most needed. Instead, restricted gifts generally are designated to fund a specific program or initiative, such as a building or scholarship fund.

It’s not only unethical, but dangerous, not to comply with a donor’s restrictions. If donors learn you’ve ignored their wishes, they can demand the money back and sue your organization. And your reputation will almost certainly take a hit. Rather than take that risk, try to encourage your donors to give with no strings attached.

Continue Reading How to Persuade Donors to Remove “Restricted” from Gifts

The Greater Houston Partnership’s next Houston Young Professionals and Entrepreneurs (HYPE) event, “Explore Your Passion,” is coming up on February 20, 2019.

The event, sponsored by PKF Texas, is designed PechaKucha style where young professionals can meet, talk and interact with various not-for-profit and volunteer organizations. Young professionals will have the opportunity to network and find their purpose to make a difference in Houston – whether it’s in youth development, education, health, social services, crisis services, family services and more.

For more information and to register, visit www.houston.org.

Stay up to date with more Houston events at our website: www.PKFTexas.com/Calendar.

When you file your 2018 income tax return, you’ll likely find that some big tax law changes affect you — besides the much-discussed tax rate cuts and reduced itemized deductions. For 2018 through 2025, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) makes significant changes to personal exemptions, standard deductions and the child credit.

The degree to which these changes will affect you depends on whether you have dependents and, if so, how many. It also depends on whether you typically itemize deductions.

Continue Reading These 3 TCJA Changes Affect Your 2018 Individual Tax Returns and More

Jen: This is the PKF Texas Entrepreneur’s Playbook. I’m Jen Lemanski, and I’m back again with Kimberly Wood, an Audit Senior Manager and one of the faces of the PKF Texas Transaction Advisory Services Team. Kimberly, welcome back to The Playbook.

Kimberly: Thanks for having me.

Jen: Last time you gave us an overview of the due diligence process. What are some ways to facilitate due diligence?

Kimberly: There are five key ways that the buyer can help facilitate this process:

  1. They can get their house in order, both financially and operationally.
  2. They can show a history of growth. They want to be able to demonstrate or perform a deep analysis of their historical branch level sales. This will just help the buyer see and understand the story better and show their potential for growth.
  3. They want to prove their potential. They want to be able to demonstrate opportunities for revenue, profit, and market growth.
  4. They want to prevent their partners or employees from diverting the process.
  5. They want to be prepared to sell at the right time.

Jen: Perfect. So now, does this apply to both buy side and sell side?

Kimberly: These are things that the sell side will want to do to get ready for the buyer.

Jen: Perfect. We will get you to talk a little bit more about some due diligence topics soon.

Kimberly: Sounds great.

Jen: For more information about due diligence, visit PKFTexas.com/TransactionAdvisoryServices. This has been another Thought Leader Production brought to you by PKF Texas – The Entrepreneur’s Playbook. Tune in next week for another chapter.

The results are in! The report of the third annual National Manufacturing Outlook and Insights Survey with Leading Edge Alliance (LEA Global) has been published and released.

The survey was conducted in association with leading accounting firms across the country, and the report benefits our clients as part of our ongoing efforts to help co-develop the client experience with us as trusted advisors.

Over 350 manufacturers participated in this year’s survey, providing their expectations, predictions and opinions for 2019. Located in over 20 states and Canada, the participants produce a wide variety of product, including machine/industrial, automotive/transportation, food and beverage, textiles, construction and more.

Results from the survey include:

  • The top 3 priorities for 2019 are growing sales, improving profitability and addressing workforce shortage.
  • More than 60% of manufacturers expect their sector to expand in 2019
  • Organic growth in the U.S., new product development and strategic alliances provide greatest opportunity for business in 2019.
  • The major hurdles for the year are increased raw material costs from new tariffs, rising labor costs due to inflation, lack of available talent and increased competition.

For the full report, visit www.PKFTexas.com/Manufacturing.

It was a full house at the PKF Texas office for the first official seminar of the year! We partnered with the Houston chapter of Financial Executives International (FEI) for this joint seminar.

Titled, “What’s Happening in the State of Capital Flow?,” the seminar hosted a panel of three speakers, moderated by PKF Texas Audit Director, Chip Schweiger, CPA, CGMA. Chip filled the hour with a compelling discussion between:

  • Michelle Lewis, Principal at CapStreet
  • Sammy Desai, Managing Director, Head of New York Investment Banking at Needham & Company
  • Alex Somers, Executive Director, Investment Banking at Tudor Pickering Holt & Co.

Every speaker offered their expertise and insight to the CFOs, controllers and other financial executives in the room about what’s going on in the public markets and the outlook for 2019. Topics discussed included non-traditional sources of capital, the exit environment when looking to IPO, impact of regulations on capital markets, the nature of buyers today, technology, cyber security and more.

For more information and to stay updated with future events, visit our website and subscribe: www.PKFTexas.com.