BCN News

We are proud to be a partner with STEM in Schools and Summa Caussa to help educate you on the ULTIMATE Ecosystem that is available to organizations and corporations to participate in.

We have spoken to hundreds of corporate executives and they told us of the challenges they face trying to understand what STEM and educational programs are best for them, and that meet their objectives.

STEM in Schools has developed a network of amazing partners that complement each other and deliver results.

BCN News has partnered with STEM in Schools and in our first in our series of conversations Karl speaks with STEM in Schools president Eduardo Galindo, Dee Memon, from Kids Robotics Academy and Max Ringleheim of Infento, North America.  They talk about their partnership together and how they are developing programs that are going to help shape the students of the future.

Karl is always talking to subject matter experts about how they can help companies grow. 

Karl had a great conversation with Jim Buffington, a leading expert in future-ready tax software and innovative accounting technology with Intuit, and gave some amazing insights on how ProConnect Tax,  is the ONLY professional tax software with built in-tax advisory and insights, that empowers the industry with digital tax strategies and compliance solutions for new laws.

Tax firms are currently encountering significant challenges, including ongoing staffing shortages and the complexities of preparing for 2025 tax policy changes. These combined pressures not only affect tax professionals' sense of accomplishment but also negatively impact their job satisfaction and career opportunities.

Tax professionals and CPAs are working long hours to manage tax reform and compensate for workforce shortages. A solution that not only enables them to offer clients significant savings with customized tax plans but also leverages automation to fill resource gaps and offers cloud-based flexibility to work from anywhere at any time is crucial—these advantages help busy tax professionals streamline tax workflows and adapt to tax law changes. Despite these hurdles, optimism prevails as Intuit’s ProConnect Tax software pioneers new paths in tax compliance and strategic tax planning for 2025.

Here are some great resource links to learn more:

QBOA for Accountants: https://quickbooks.intuit.com/accountants/products-solutions/accounting/online/

ProConnect Tax: https://accountants.intuit.com/tax-software/tax-online/

Education Center: https://accountants.intuit.com/training/

With inflation coming in hot in the last PCE report, the outlook for Fed cuts in the second half of 2024 is getting more bleak by the minute.

Rather than selling, homeowners are rethinking their money-making strategies and are entering the Short Term Rental market heading into the Summer. Homeowners need to know how to maximize profits and exactly what they need to do to comply with local regulations. 

Pam Knudsen, senior director of compliance at Avalara MyLodgeTax  discusses how owners can to set themselves up for success using AirBnB and other Short Term Rental market platforms with an actionable list of best practices.

About Pam Knudsen
Pam Knudsen is Senior Director of Compliance at Avalara MyLodgeTax, leading the Lodging tax team and Returns Experience/Reconciliation team for Sales & Use. She serves as a leading voice in vacation rental tax compliance and regulation, in addition to bringing in-depth experience across software/SaaS technology as well as ERP systems. Pam joined Avalara in 2012. 

Whimstay is dedicated to offering the best deals on last-minute vacation rentals.
We offer the biggest discounts on bookings made within 30 days of check-in, but we also ensure great deals year-round compared to other major booking sites.
We do this by partnering with professional property managers to offer exclusive discounts on properties that might otherwise remain unrented. On average,  guests save nearly 25%, and over $200 per booking.
Featuring an extensive selection of vacation rental homes, condos, cabins, villas, and resorts, Whimstay is becoming the go-to choice for savvy travelers.

Whimstay recently emerged as the industry leading travel site for booking last-minute vacation rentals at fantastic rates.

If of interest I can look into getting a media rate discount if you (or someone else from your team) if you want to try Whimstay to book a getaway yourself.

US based start-up Whimstay announced last month that bookings are up 400% last year compared with 2022 and that it attracted 1.2 million unique users to its site in 2023.

The improved growth is attributed to new features, functionality, doubling its number of listings and forming several strategic partnerships.

Whimstay has significantly outperformed other online travel agencies and booking sites, emerging as the marketplace leader for bookings made within 30 days of check-in.

Creating fun and accessible chemistry stories has been a labor of love for Colleen as a retired University of Arizona chemistry professor and author of a series of kid’s chemistry comic books. In 2023, the PBS short documentary, “Comic Book Chemistry” was awarded an Emmy. This documentary centered around Colleen’s vision, chemistry comic book series and her success with teaching college-level chemistry concepts to kids. During Colleen’s 30 years of teaching chemistry, she became aware that her students were struggling with basic concepts, including fluency with the symbols for the elements themselves. These comic books, videos, and activities are Colleen’s gift to all future scientists – one that will help them succeed in college chemistry.

Colleen holds a Ph.D. in chemistry from Penn State University, was awarded a Chateaubriand Fellowship to conduct research at the Universite Pasteur in Strasbourg, France under the direction of Nobel Prize Winner, Jean-Marie Lehn. Colleen was a tenured faculty member with research expertise in environmental toxicology, medicinal chemistry, and chemistry education. She has published four chemistry textbooks, over 30 peer-reviewed articles, and has presented her work globally.

Karl talks to Michael Steiner, Marty Strong and Dr. Jens Hartmann in our NEW series Masters of Disruption, which was the brain child of Marty Strong who is a Board Member of BEST Robotics.

Our spotlight shines on Dr. Jens Hartmann who is an award winning executive focusing on change management and culture change.

Dr. Jens Hartmann talks about the science of culture, and how the brain has a huge part to play  in preparing individuals and organizations for changing the dynamics of the future performances.