Coffee anyone? Use the grinder for Flax seeds aka The care and feeding of your dog

It’s Labor Day so we’re taking the day off and maybe watching some TV – Golf, Godzilla, the Doctors? Doctors was talking about flax oil – I use my coffee grinder to make flax flour for muffins and dog treats. You can probably also use it to grind up rice for your own gluten-free flour.

Here’s my recipe for dog treats (400 degree oven)

1-15 oz can of pure pumpkin, 1 large egg, 3 T peanut butter

2 c flour, ½ c flax flour, ½ c oatmeal

1-2 Tablespoons of vegetable oil

1. Mix the first three ingredients together in a big bowl
2. Mix the next three ingredients in a smaller bowl
3. Pour the smaller bowl (flour etc) into the big bowl and mix to form a ball adding vegetable oil or water if needed

4. Grease your hands, counter, rolling pin, and some cookie cutters with vegetable oil
5. Roll out the dough about ¼ to ½ ” thick and make shapes
6. With leftover dough, keep forming back into a ball and roll out again to make more treats

7. Put them on a cookie tray and bake 20 minutes
8. Turn off oven and leave in the oven until cool – this makes them hard and better to chew

They keep pretty well, I’ve had them in an old candy container that doesn’t seal well for over a month and they’re fine. I love that my Retriever actually chews them instead of wolfing them down

Coffee anyone? Use the grinder for Flax seeds, aka The care and feeding of your dog

It’s Labor Day so we’re taking the day off and maybe watching some TV – Golf, Godzilla, the Doctors? Doctors was talking about flax oil – I use my coffee grinder to make flax flour for muffins and dog treats. You can probably also use it to grind rice for your own gluten-free flour.

Here’s my recipe for dog treats (400 degree oven)

1-15 oz can of pure pumpkin, 1 large egg, 3 T peanut butter

1½ c flour, ½ c flax flour, ½ c oatmeal (or 1-2 instant oatmeal packets)

1-2 Tablespoons of vegetable oil

1. Mix the first three ingredients together in a big bowl
2. Mix the next three ingredients in a smaller bowl
3. Pour the smaller bowl (flour etc) into the big bowl and mix to form a ball adding vegetable oil or water if needed

4. Grease your hands, counter, rolling pin, and some cookie cutters with vegetable oil
5. Roll out the dough about ¼ to ½ ” thick and make shapes
6. With leftover dough, keep forming back into a ball and roll out again to make more treats

7. Put them on a cookie tray and bake 20 minutes
8. Turn off oven and leave in the oven until cool – this makes them hard and better to chew

They keep pretty well, I’ve had them in an old candy container that doesn’t seal well for over a month and they’re fine. I love that my Retriever actually chews them instead of wolfing them down

Focusing on what we struggle with

While keeping up with the latest business/self-help trends, don’t forget your old favorites. While culling my library, I happened upon my dog-eared, sans-cover Seven Habits of Highly Effective People and started looking through it. Everything that was underlined, tabbed and scribbled on is something I still work on today and the details were a good refresher. Things like:

“Seek First to Understand …” ¹

• Recently a client scheduled a meeting with our insurance rep that seemed premature because we were still evaluating new carriers for the next year
• My first thought was to explain to her why we shouldn’t have this meeting
• Instead I simply asked what the agenda was
• The meeting wasn’t about rates or coverages; it was to get his input on improving the way lessees report claims to us. We didn’t hear about an accident or injury until the lessee determined they weren’t liable – could be days/weeks/months after the event, impacting our insurers’ ability to vigorously defend
• If I’d started by explaining my point of view, we’d have wasted our time on a non-issue

“Begin with the End in Mind” ¹

• My tendency is to be “Work Centered” ¹ meaning decisions about using my time and energy are too focused on how they impact my work
• It was a reminder to consciously work on being self-aware about my principles as they relate to work, family, friends, spirituality, money, environment, community et al and the ultimate goal of my life
• I still need to be more proactive in planning tasks and activities in support of that goal so I make better decisions about my time

It’s always good to remember to try to focus on what we struggle with.

1. Covey, Stephen R. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Franklin Covey, 1998.

2018 is the last year to claim NY minimum wage tax credit

Extended returns are due in 54 days (26 for p-ships).  Don’t forget to claim the minimum wage reimbursement credit: $1.35/hr credit for 16-19 yr old students paid min wage.  2017 and 2018 are the last years to claim it.  https://www.tax.ny.gov/pit/credits/minimum_wage_credit.htm

2018 is the last year to claim NY minimum wage tax credit

Extended returns are due in 54 days (26 for p-ships).  Don’t forget to claim the minimum wage reimbursement credit: $1.35/hr credit for 16-19 yr old students paid min wage.  2017 and 2018 are the last years to claim it.  https://www.tax.ny.gov/pit/credits/minimum_wage_credit.htm

 

The care and feeding of your salespeople

Expense reports are a pain in the neck, but most of us still use them – and many reimburse using paper checks. Generally salespeople hate this since they’re always traveling – I’ve had to get their bank info and deposit the checks for them so they could pay their credit card bill!

Adding a non-taxable reimbursement field to the payroll system to deposit them in the ordinary course of business with wages solves this problem (cr cash, dr a/p). You can even get a little fancier by adding more fields matching your expense accounts ie. Meals&Ent, Hotels, Mileage, etc. (cr cash, dr expense|dept), and you’ll realize more efficiency/accuracy by automatically charging the relevant department/profit center. Most payroll systems can handle uploads and/or push expense reports off to the HR department where the work load is more stable. It’s no excuse to tell your salespeople “I’m too busy, it’s year-end, quarter-end, budgets, whatever” – their work is just as important, maybe more 😉

Stop doing extra work and get a big thumbs-up from engineers

Did you know some of your accounting staff spend almost a month of their year wasting time?

If your company is still requiring engineers to requisition samples while designing products or process improvements then you are spending too much time on non-value added work, inhibiting innovation, and generally ticking people off.  Bite the bullet and give the engineers p-cards so they can quickly order things on the internet, get them, test them, and make a go no-go decision.  If it’s a no-go you’ve saved the work of qualifying and adding a vendor who will never be used, or adding items to your procurement system that will never be used.  You can trust the engineers to make good decisions.  Take a leap of faith CFOs!   Regarding controls, set up a protocol for receiving items (usually UPS or Fedex) that includes delivery to the department, review of MSDS, and proper sign-off.  Your banker will supply you an upload file for your journal entry so the charges are populated to the proper accounts and departments.   If there is material abuse, it will show up in those budget to actuals your staff will now have time to analyze.

 

Don’t let down your non-profit

If you’re like most CFOs, you are on the board of one or two non-profits; maybe on the leadership council of your place of worship.  You are considered an expert.  Don’t mess this one up.  When providing a receipt for cash or checks received from your donors the non-profit must comply with all of the following for donations greater than $250:

1)  It must be dated before the donor files their return, the due date of the return, or, if they obtain an extension, the extended due date;

2)  The date(s) of the donation must be listed.  If not listed, the donor may use a dated receipt or bank records;

And, THIS IS THE ONE SOME NON-PROFITS MISS,

3)  The statement must specify the value of any goods or services from the non-profit that were received by the donor.  This seems like a no-brainer, but if a place of worship does not state “the only benefits received are intangible religious benefits, such as admission to religious ceremonies“, the IRS may deny the deduction and the donor will have no recourse.  Likewise, all non-profits must make a statement of the benefits.  But, you don’t need to go overboard.  I donated money to a non-profit to have a brick placed with my Father’s name and I received a statement saying I received $80 of benefits that included the brick and a monthly newsletter I didn’t care if I received.  The IRS states that “”token” items and other certain membership benefits do not have to be described or valued.  This includes anything that cost the non-profit less than $9.90 (which I sure the brick did), and membership benefits like newsletters.  Check IRS.gov for details; don’t just take my word for it.  Do your due-diligence.

If you are a CFO helping out a non-profit, don’t let them down by missing important IRS requirements.  You may not claim to be a tax expert, but you represent your Company in the community and it will be assumed that you are capable, so either prepare yourself or don’t volunteer.

Stop doing extra work and get a big thumbs-up from engineers

Did you know some of your accounting staff spends almost a month of their year wasting time?

If your company is still requiring engineers to requisition samples while designing products or process improvements then you are spending too much time on non-value added work, inhibiting innovation, and generally ticking people off.  Bite the bullet and give the engineers p-cards so they can quickly order things on the internet, get them, test them, and make a go no-go decision.  If it’s a no-go you’ve saved the work of qualifying and adding a vendor who will never be used, or adding items to your procurement system that will never be used.  You can trust the engineers to make good decisions.  Take a leap of faith CFOs!   Regarding controls, set up a protocol for receiving items (usually UPS or Fedex) that includes delivery to the department, review of MSDS, and proper sign-off.  Your banker will supply you an upload file for your journal entry so the charges are populated to the proper accounts and departments.   If there is material abuse, it will show up in those budget to actuals your staff will now have time to analyze.

2018 TCJA UDATE for “Meals and Entertainment – you may be missing deductions posted 02/19/2013”

No more tax break on meals provided to employees while working. 

These “de minimus” fringe benefits are 50% deductible for amounts incurred or paid after 12/31/17.  They were 100% deductible in prior years.  https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p15b.pdf page 17 see TIP

IMPORTANT Some deductions for company cafeterias are now limited to 50% and eliminated in 2026 Check with your tax accountant today so you don’t have a surprise at year end

For those who extended their 2017 tax return, check your meals & entertainment account.  Did you know that meals provided for employees and consultants while working are 100% deductible?  https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p535.pdf page 44

Many companies lump all their meals together, but it is smart to have a separate general ledger account for all that food provided while working.  Name it employee expenses or something else that makes sense in your chart of accounts.  Depending on how often you provide those working lunches, or order in dinner for people who need to work late, you could be missing a big tax deduction that you can spend on more meals so your staff isn’t working grumpy on an empty stomach, or eating unhealthy snacks out of vending machines.