December 10th, 2009 by Sam Smith
Two recent CFO analyses support the conclusions that Brent Abrahm and Joe Lane have reached regarding the impact of the newly enacted NOL carryback legislation. A Nov. 11 article asks "where's the cash," and advises businesses to "look behind them":
"The expansion of the NOL carryback period will accelerate a $33 billion refund of previously paid taxes for much of Corporate America in a very short period of time," says John McMahon, director for business tax services at Ernst
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November 11th, 2009 by Brent Abrahm
On November 6, President Barack Obama signed into law the Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009 (Public Law Number P.L. 111-92). This legislation provides welcome relief for companies across a wide range of industries that are working to stabilize their businesses and prepare for the eventual recovery of the economy.
According to the official Senate Committee on Finance release:
The net operating loss carryback (NOL) provision is expanded to allow U.S. companies of ...
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October 19th, 2009 by Jim Burnett
The state of the construction and equipment industries is worse than most people realize. According to a new project just launched by our partners, Associated Equipment Distributors:
While the country is in recession, the state of the construction and equipment industries is more like a depression, reflecting the worst conditions our industries have seen since the end of World War II. Skilled, well-paid workers are idle while we tolerate a transportation infrastructure that is ever ...
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October 12th, 2009 by admin
The Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation has just released its 2009 State of the Equipment Finance Industry, an important report that Accruit is proud to have sponsored. Key findings include:
- Not surprisingly, the financial crisis had a major impact on the equipment finance industry.
- Access to capital is very limited.
- The equipment finance industry is showing signs of increased consolidation.
- In 2008, banks gained some market share from the previous year, while independents lost market share.
- Respondents to
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September 29th, 2009 by Sam Smith
Prediction is a big, big business these days, and even those of us who aren't explicitly in the prediction business probably do all we can to make sense of the future. Does your company do marketing research? Do you track the financial pages? Do you keep abreast of the latest innovations in your industry (or any industry, for that matter)? If so - and most of you probably answered yes to at least one of ...
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September 29th, 2009 by Sam Smith
Ever since the Internet began gaining popular awareness in the mid-1990s, the topic of how businesses can productively use various new media technologies has been a subject of ongoing interest. Along the way we've had a series of innovations to consider: first it was the Net, and the current tool of the moment is Twitter. In between we had, in no particular order, Facebook (not that Facebook has gone away, of course), CRM, mobile (SMS, ...
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September 22nd, 2009 by 1031 Tips
A few years back I went to see a blockbuster hit movie during the holiday season. While waiting to buy my ticket I heard a lot of discussion about how many times the viewers in line had seen the movie. You know what I am talking about - “I’ve seen this movie three times; once with my brother, once with my best friend, and once with my girlfriend.”
At the time I was working as a corporate trainer for a sales-dominated ...
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September 16th, 2009 by Sam Smith
I've written several pieces on the "macro-succession" crisis I see facing American businesses. One challenge to my central thesis (which I've heard a few times, in fact) comes from people who think that the massive loss of institutional knowledge and expertise I predict as a result of Boomer retirements (which have already begun) won't occur because many of these people are choosing to work past the age of 65 (and ...
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September 8th, 2009 by Sam Smith
Once upon a time the business world was dominated by hierarchical organizations that derived both their structures and mechanistic management philosophies from military thinking that traces its lineage through Frederic the Great all the way back, literally, to the Roman legions. And by "once upon a time," of course, I mean "at this very minute."
The truth is that way too many American companies today act as though their employees are some ...
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August 18th, 2009 by Sam Smith
Associated Equipment Distributors (AED) have launched a new blog dedicated to addressing the business concerns of companies and professionals in the heavy equipment industry. The content so far looks to be of tremendous value:
- Kim Phelan, AED's Executive Editor and Director of Programs looks at the "Profile of the Banker's Ideal Dealer."
- Jeff Lefebvre, Ph.D., President and Founder of PriSim Business War Games, considers the current economic climate and argues that there are
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