The Wrap

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to change our world, companies are forced to change the ways that they do business. For many companies, one of the greatest concerns of today is obtaining the working capital needed to help their business survive this season. 

In this special edition of The Wrap, our hosts welcome Hanny Akl CPA, CFE, CEPA, CVGA, a Member of Warren Averett and the Firm’s Transaction Advisory Services Practice Leader, and Roger Spain, CPA, CFA, a Principal in Warren Averett’s Outsourced CFO practice, to discuss working capital and the things that businesses should do and know in order to make a strategy, execute a plan and make strong decisions in an uncertain time.  

This podcast episode features discussion about:

·       The main things that companies should know in order to project how much working capital they’ll need

·       The metrics to consider for making informed decisions for your business when it comes to working capital

·       How to maximize liquidity

·       The importance of communication with external vendors and lenders

·       Considerations for mitigating the impact of payroll costs when considering working capital

The COVID-19 global pandemic has had wide-reaching impacts in almost every facet of operations for businesses. Many companies are facing challenges today that weren’t even in their wildest dreams a few months ago. Business leaders are facing difficult decisions about the futures of their finances, operations and employees.

Recent legislation from the federal government has been designed to help businesses stay afloat, promote the health and safety of employees and retain their team members, but what does that mean in the face of the immediate challenges companies are facing? What relief is offered? How do you find it?

In this special edition episode of The Wrap, Warren Averett advisors Will Aderholt, CPA and Adam West, CPA, join our hosts to discuss how businesses can stay financially healthy as much as they can during a global pandemic. 

In this episode of The Wrap, Paul calls for an unscheduled podcast episode to bring in John Cox, CFA, CAIA, the Chief Investment Officer at Warren Averett Asset Management, to discuss the COVID-19 pandemic and what it means for investors. 

The discussion in this podcase episode includes:

• Economic ramifications of COVID-19 that investors should be aware of 
• How COVID-19 compares to other health concerns when it comes to the markets
• How different industries have adapted to changes in the marketplace
• What the Federal Reserve has done to help the economy

Disclosure

In this episode of The Wrap, Paul and Kim summon an unscheduled podcast recording to discuss the challenges that companies are facing as a result of the novel coronavirus pandemic across the globe and what they should do to adequately respond. 

This podcast episode covers considerations for:

• How business should be forecasting their financial futures
• Evaluating your supply chain
• Business continuity or disaster recovery plans
• Paid time off and sick leave offered to employees

Will Aderholt, CPA of Warren Averett and Brownlee Currey of Currey & Company join The Wrap to weigh in on the factors that matter most to businesses in light of COVID-19. 

Employee benefit plans can be complicated.

If you read the sentence above and you’re still with us, we’re guessing that you’re probably one of the business leaders who understands their importance, even despite the complexities. (Well done!)

It’s true that offering retirement plans to your business’s employees comes with costs, responsibilities, and the task of adding new words and acronyms to your vocabulary, but is it worth it? Do businesses really need to offer benefit plans? Where should a company even start?

In this episode of The Wrap, our hosts talk to retirement plan experts Steven Causey, CPA, AIF and Kyle Bonds, ERPA, QPA, QKA about the fundamentals that businesses should know about offering a retirement plan to their employees. 

After listening to this podcast episode, you’ll be able to:

• Be familiar with the main types of retirement plans
• Know what costs come along with offering a retirement plan to your employees
• Understand your business’s responsibility when it comes to the retirement plan your business offers
• Have a basic understanding of the aspects of the SECURE Act and how it impacts retirement plans

Considering the proper aspects of state and local tax implications is an important piece of the due diligence strategy for anyone looking to sell or acquire a business. 

But, state and local tax matters can get complex quickly based on a company’s footprint, where it is operating and the details of the transaction. What should you know in order to minimize your tax burden and be sure your company is in compliance with relevant regulations?

In this episode of The Wrap, state and local tax (SALT) experts Reba Pennington, CMI and Colleen Aldridge, CPA join Kim and Paul to discuss what businesses should consider when it comes to SALT when they’re looking to buy or sell.

After listening to this podcast episode, you’ll be able to:

• Know what due diligence is and why it matters for your business’s state and local taxes
• Prepare your business for a potential sale when it comes to state and local taxes
• Identify important areas of state and local tax to consider when buying a business
• Keep an eye out for post-transaction state and local tax issues
• Consider important factors that can help you structure a deal in a way that can minimize your taxes

All that glitters isn’t goals. Or, maybe we should say, not all goals glitter. 

Businesses put a lot of effort into setting goals, defining metrics and pinpointing objectives—but are they doing it well? To be effective in reaching a goal, a business must first be effective in setting one, and, while specific goals may be different for a start-up than they are for an international corporation, the struggles behind setting the right goals can often be the same. So, how should businesses approach setting goals in order to be the most effective?

In other words: is your business worth its weight in goals?

In this episode of The Wrap, Chris Mason, the founder of Mindshop, joins Paul and Kim to discuss how businesses should approach goal-setting, how to gather the right information that can guide you through the goal setting process and how to rally your organization behind common objectives. 

After listening to this podcast episode, you’ll be able to:

• Consider how to effectively set and unify goals for a business with multiple locations
• Equip your team to set their own goals for the organization 
• Use a replicable framework for setting strategic goals for your business

Statistics show that companies that focus on diversity are more likely to succeed than those that don’t.

That’s because having employees with different outlooks, experiences, skills and knowledge allows companies to approach a service, product or project in different ways, which fosters effective innovation.

But if your company hasn’t been focusing on diversity, where do you start? What does incorporating a diversity initiative mean for your business’s culture? How do you provide helpful training for a topic like diversity?

Special guest, Marsha Sampson Johnson, the former Chief Diversity officer at Southern Company, and April Harry, Warren Averett’s Chief Operating Officer, come together on this episode of the Wrap to discuss what it looks like for companies to intentionally foster diversity and inclusion within their organizations. 

After listening to this podcast episode, you’ll be able to:

·       Consider how your organization can foster a diverse and inclusive environment

·       Understand how to encourage conversations about diversity and inclusion among your team

·       Evaluate your internal processes and systems for any unconscious biases

A Board of Directors has significant influence over a nonprofit’s finances, strategy and governance. So, it only makes sense that nonprofits looking to be as effective as possible in advancing their mission need a solid Board of Directors. 

If you’re looking to build the best board possible for your nonprofit organization (which—of course—you always are), how can you tell if your board members, or the candidates you’re evaluating to be future board members, have what it takes to propel your nonprofit and your mission?

What should you look for in a board member?

Is it financial savvy, nonprofit know-how, community connections, or is it a formula that’s different than what you might expect?

In this episode of The Wrap, our hosts Paul and Kim meet with Warren Averett’s own Michelle Sanchez, CPA, an expert in nonprofit strategy and finances, and guest Clara Reynolds, President and CEO of an impactful nonprofit in central Florida, the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay, to discuss how nonprofits should go about building a strong Board of Directors. 

After listening to this podcast episode, you’ll be able to:

• Set, communicate and agree on expectations between your nonprofit and your Board of Directors
• Effectively vet potential board members to determine if they’re the right fit for your nonprofit and for the role
• Equip your board and help them to feel comfortable in their role as your advisors
• Move forward with securing diversity of thought within your board
• Weigh the pros and cons of having term limits for your Board of Directors

Some of the most valuable insight about your organization comes from outside of it. Businesses seeking to be as efficient and effective as possible need a strong team of advisors in order to identify both opportunities and blind spots.

But when it comes to actually assembling that council of advisors for your company, it can be difficult to know where to begin. 

Paul and Kim invite you to their discussion with Dorothy Tucker, CPA and Jake Driggers, CPA as they outline what spots businesses should fill on their advisory boards, where to find the right professionals who can add value to your business and how to vet them.

At the end of this podcast episode, you’ll be able to:

• Select a lawyer, banker or other advisor based on a few key areas that will matter most to your business in the long term
• Outline a basic roster of the four main spots to fill on your business’s board of advisors 
• Identify opportunities to connect and network with potential advisors
• Evaluate if your investment in an advisor’s services is worth what you’re getting in return