White Nelson’s Managing Partner Participates in Business Growth Conference Panel Discussion

May 31, 2011 Category: Uncategorized [ No Comments ]

White, Nelson & Co. LLP’s Managing Partner Dave Doran participated in the “All in the Family,” panel discussion relating to issues in family businesses, at the 27th annual Business Growth Conference on Monday, May 9 at the Anaheim Marriott. The conference was presented by the USC Marshall School of Business and Harvard Business School Alumni Associations of Orange County. www.bgc2011.org

Running a family business is rewarding, challenging, and potentially divisive. It can bring a family together or pull it apart. The panel discussion was titled “All In The Family: Family Legacy or Epitaph?” and addressed issues such as:

• Can you clearly separate your business role from your family role?
• How about making sure that family time is kept focused and not mixed with business issues?
• Have you ever wondered how to bring a spouse, child, or even a parent into our business? Or maybe more importantly, how to keep them out (or even kick them out) if they don’t have what it takes to get the job done?
• Do you have an exit strategy that includes succession planning as well as estate and tax planning?
• How and when do you bring in non-family members as part of the management team?

“Dave has a wealth of experience working with successful family owned businesses and he enjoyed sharing his insights,” remarked Scott Jones, Director of Practice Development. Jones served as moderator for “Business Plans that Get Funded,” another panel discussion at the conference.

Dave Doran is a Cal State Fullerton graduate and CPA with over 35 years of public accounting experience. He works with clients in a variety of industries, including manufacturing, distribution, financial services and health services. He’s active in a variety of professional and civic organizations, and serves on the Board of the Irvine Chamber of Commerce.

White Nelson Welcomes 11 New Members

May 24, 2011 Category: Uncategorized [ No Comments ]

4 Staff, 7 Interns

White, Nelson & Co. is pleased to have added 11 new members to its team, four employees and seven interns. The new employees include Michael Mancini, Tamara Reed, Kyle Stevens and Amy Weng. The new interns include Greg Hickman, Patricia Nguyen, Kathryn Lemen, Brett Richardson, Renee Venezia, Anastasia Vorontsovsa and Jennifer Yuen. The new staff and interns have already contributed to the firms efforts during “busy season” and are working with clients across a wide variety of industries.

“We’re pleased to welcome these young professionals to our team,” remarked Greg Coleman, an Audit Partner with the firm. Coleman added, “While there has been some pretty dismal unemployment news in the past few years, I’m pleased to report that at White Nelson we’ve recently experienced some positive growth and we’re looking forward to a bright future.” Three of the four new staff members are former interns, Coleman added: “Our internship program has been a rich recruiting ground for us. Many of our interns have gone on to become regular staff and have spent their entire careers at White Nelson.”

White, Nelson & Co. LLP provides a full range of accounting and tax services that support some of Southern California’s most successful and entrepreneurial companies. It was founded in 1948, and is the 3rd largest accounting firm headquartered in Orange County. White Nelson represents over 1,200 business and 1,800 individual clients. Website:www.whitenelson.com

Six Facts the IRS Wants You to Know about the Alternative Minimum Tax

May 19, 2011 Category: Uncategorized [ No Comments ]

The Alternative Minimum Tax attempts to ensure that anyone who benefits from certain tax advantages pays at least a minimum amount of tax. The AMT provides an alternative set of rules for calculating your income tax. In general, these rules should determine the minimum amount of tax that someone with your income should be required to pay. If your regular tax falls below this minimum, you have to make up the difference by paying alternative minimum tax.

Here are six facts the Internal Revenue Service wants you to know about the AMT and changes for 2010.

• Tax laws provide tax benefits for certain kinds of income and allow special deductions and credits for certain expenses. These benefits can drastically reduce some taxpayers’ tax obligations. Congress created the AMT in 1969, targeting higher-income taxpayers who could claim so many deductions they owed little or no income tax.
• Because the AMT is not indexed for inflation, a growing number of middle-income taxpayers are discovering they are subject to the AMT.
• You may have to pay the AMT if your taxable income for regular tax purposes plus any adjustments and preference items that apply to you are more than the AMT exemption amount.
• The AMT exemption amounts are set by law for each filing status.
• For tax year 2010, Congress raised the AMT exemption amounts to the following levels:
  • $72,450 for a married couple filing a joint return and qualifying widows and widowers
  • $47,450 for singles and heads of household
  • $36,225 for a married person filing separately
• The minimum AMT exemption amount for a child whose unearned income is taxed at the parents’ tax rate has increased to $6,700 for 2010.

Use the IRS AMT Assistant to determine whether you may be subject to the AMT. Taxpayers can find more information about the Alternative Minimum Tax and how it impacts them by accessing IRS Form 6251, Alternative Minimum Tax —Individuals, and its instructions athttp://www.irs.gov or by calling 800-TAX-FORM (800-829-3676).

White, Nelson & Co. LLP Sponsors Nonprofit Management Forum

May 16, 2011 Category: Uncategorized [ No Comments ]

Non-Profit Volunteers, Staff Offer Tips on Recruiting Successful Board Members

White, Nelson & Co. LLP sponsored a nonprofit forum discussion on board development for nonprofit organizations on April 15, one in a monthly series of presentations for non-profit leaders in Orange County.

The 90-minute discussion included tips on identifying prospective board members, recruiting them to serve on boards and encouraging their active participation in the organization. It was held in the board room of CresaPartners, Fashion Island in Newport Beach, with 25 non-profit leaders in attendance.

“Quite often, when we’re recruited to serve on a board, we don’t know how we fit in to an organization. We need to be taught,” commented Jeff Shepard, founding principal of CresaPartners and Chairman of the Board of the Child Abuse Prevention Center in Orange. Shepard noted that he had recruited 15 board members since he began serving on the Center’s board, not all of whom turned out to be a good fit for the organization. “It’s important to find someone who has a passion for your cause, and has the time and ability to commit to serve on the board,” he continued.

Donald Voska, CFO of Goodwill Industries of Orange County, noted that Goodwill had a rigorous interview process for serving on its board, to ensure that Board members will be successful in their volunteer role. Voska explained, “We believe that those willing to go through the process are promising candidates to serve on the Board.”

Dawn Reese, General Manager and CFO of The Wooden Floor (formerly St. Joseph Ballet) in Santa Ana, believed that an important consideration for recruiting Board members was the life cycle of the organization. She explained, “Newer non-profits, for example, might have a greater need for technological expertise as they establish their offices, rather than organizations that have been in existence for a long time.” She also believed that term limits for Board members can help keep a Board fresh and motivated.

Attendance at the event was limited to 25, explained Scott Jones of White Nelson, to encourage active participation of participants. The event was one in a series offered by the Orange County Nonprofit Management Forum, sponsored by White Nelson, Brown & Streza, BNY Mellon Wealth Management, Hays of California Insurance Services and CresaPartners. Its purpose is to provide important managerial information to non-profit executive directors, CFOs, COOs and other senior management officers, and to provide them with a peer-to-peer forum to discuss related topics.

The next non-profit forum will feature a lunchtime discussion of tax compliance and audit issues at White Nelson’s offices in May. New participants are welcome. For information, contact Scott Jones at via email at nonprofit@whitenelson.com

Fire Starters – New Disclosure Rules for Employer Sponsored Plans

May 10, 2011 Category: Uncategorized [ No Comments ]

By Cary Boring and Claudia Sawaf
Trilogy Financial Services, Inc.

In 2010, the Depart of Labor (DoL) issued several proposals and final regulations concerning employer sponsored retirement plans. Failure to comply with these regulations could start a fire that would be hard to put out and leave plan fiduciaries personally responsible.

Who is a Fiduciary?

Many of the actions involved in operating a plan make the person or entity performing them a fiduciary. Using discretion in administering and managing a plan or controlling the plan’s assets makes that person a fiduciary to the extent of that discretion or control. Thus, fiduciary status is based on the functions performed for the plan, not just a person’s title.
Specific fiduciary duties include:

1. Act for the exclusive benefit of participants and beneficiaries.
2. Pay only reasonable plan expenses.
3. Carry out duties prudently.
4. Diversify Plan Investments
5. Adhere to the terms of the plan’s documents.

Fiduciaries that do not comply with these regulations may be personally liable for restoring any losses that were caused from the breach. New disclosures to be introduced by January 1, 2012 will consist of:

Service Provider Fee Disclosures. Retirement plan service providers must disclose fees charged for the services to the fiduciaries that will allow them to assess the fees and deem them either reasonable or not within guidelines. Fiduciaries will need to review the information in order to stay within compliance of ERISA rules.

Participant-Directed Plan Fees and Investment Disclosures. 401k participants must be given adequate information regarding the fees and expenses concerning the investment options. Fiduciaries must follow new specific steps in order to meet the ERISA regulations concerning the transparency for investment and plan costs.

Target Fund Disclosures. Fiduciaries will now have to offer more detailed information regarding target date funds.

In order to stay in compliance we recommend regular independent and objective plan reviews conducted by a qualified Third Party Administrator and Financial Planning Firm. Costs are usually minimal and in some cases complimentary. Please also see the Fiduciary Checklist available for valuable information to assist you with the changing landscape of ERISA regulations.

Article provided by Cary Boring & Claudia Sawaf, Trilogy Financial Services, Inc. Securities and advisory services offered through National Planning Corp (NPC) Member FINRA, SIPC and a Registered Investment Advisor. Trilogy Financial Services, Inc. and National Planning Corporation (NPC) are separate and unrelated companies.