Mountain Views News          Saturday, July 14, 2012

14

BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS

 Mountain Views News Saturday July 14, 2012 


BUSINESS TODAY

The latest on Business News, Trends and Techniques


By La Quetta M. Shamblee, MBA


DOES NONPROFIT 
MEAN NON-
COMPLIANCE? 

OR BAD 
PRACTICES IN THE 
NAME OF GOOD 
CAUSES 

It is no longer shocking to hear 
of news reports about fraud 
and the misappropriation of 
funds in corporate America. 
However, it is shocking and 
even more disappointing to 
hear of nonprofit organizations 
that operate outside of the 
boundaries of ethical business 
practices.

How is it possible for some 
nonprofits to establish a pattern 
of unethical practices while 
continuing to raise funds from 
the public? Simple, their leaders 
have become experts with the 
“smoke and mirrors” process. 
The “worthy cause” provides 
the sufficient tugging at the 
heartstrings of donors who want 
to be a part of helping out, giving 
back, making the community 
better. The “feel good” aspect 
of helping those less fortunate 
provides the perfect distraction 
to forestall the public asking 
basic questions that would serve 
to establish a healthy baseline of 
accountability for nonprofits. 

Unethical practices begin 
with what seems to be 
minor decisions that are in 
conflict with established laws, 
guidelines or principles. The 
practices evolve into habits 
until they become engrained 
into the organization’s culture. 
One of the first red flags is 
waved when decisions, actions 
and program outcomes are not 
aligned with the agency’s own 
mission statement. Beyond 
reciting the mission statement 
at public events and printing in 
on the agency’s website, do the 
agency’s interactions with its 
staff align with its mission? If 
an agency purports to care for 
and serve low-income clients to 
help them build better lives, yet 
has no problem paying full-time 
staff at or near poverty-level 
wages, add another red flag. It 
is impossible to do for clients 
what they are unwilling to do on 
behalf of their own staff serving 
their clients.

Some executive directors expect 
paid staff to “volunteer” beyond 
normal working hours on a 
routine basis. Their position 
of power and authority places 
them in a role to decide the 
employment fate of nonprofit 
employers who have to earn 
a living. Expectations that 
staff are obligated to go “above 
and beyond,” often translates 
into unpaid overtime as a 
requirement. Compliance 
is often gained through 
intimidation, however subtle. 
This practice is a blatant 
violation of labor law, as well 
as an added insult to employees 
who work in the nonprofit 
sector where the average wages 
for virtually all categories of 
jobs are lower than the same 
or similar positions in the 
government or for-profit sector.

Agencies that accept grants or 
contracts from government 
entities are required to 
demonstrate and report on both 
the activities and outcomes 
of the funds received. This 
requirement for public funds 
don’t constitute a perfect system 
for accountability, but much 
more reliable than the lax 
standard and common practice 
of self-reporting required by 
most private foundations and 
individual donors. The lack 
of accountability systems is 
particularly true for smaller 
organizations. As a rule of 
thumb, agencies that operate 
with government funding 
on a routine basis have more 
standardized systems and 
procedures in place to provide 
detailed tracking and accounting 
for all monies spent. The most 
pervasive violations are usually 
found in agencies that rely 
exclusively or heavily on grants 
from private foundations, since 
self-reporting is virtually all 
that’s required by most of these 
funders.

The manner in which staff 
are treated and the level of 
transparency surrounding an 
agency’s financial activities 
reveal volumes about the 
integrity of the organization 
and its top leadership team.

“Meet and greet” plus “friend and tweet” equals relationship marketing

I love the new social media tools but I don’t think they can ever replace the magic that happens 
at a live event or an in-person meeting. Truly, that is the only real opportunity to experience the 
personality behind the brand. I think today’s relationship marketing is a mix of old school “meet 
and greet” with new school “friend and tweet.” 

Sometimes a successful social media presence begins off-line. The purpose of a networking 
event is to help you build a “network” of people with whom you exchange ideas, refer business, 
share knowledge, etc. Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are simply the most commonly-used 
communication tools that help keep you connected to continue those off-line conversations. Meet 
off-line, stay connected on-line.

Here are two ideas to help you build a social media presence off-line:

Focus on building a quality network of people when you attend networking events 

Strike up conversations with like-minded people and those with whom you’d like to stay connected. 
Ask them if they would like to stay in touch on-line through Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or 
whatever tool you choose. 

 

Create your own event or host an event

Join forces with a local chamber, non-profit or other business and host a networking or educational 
event. Bring people together, create a sense of community and exchange ideas. For example, my 
business, HUTdogs, has partnered with lots of businesses that want to reach other local business 
owners. They provide the space; we provide the presentation and bring in the people. We have 
held our social media seminars at interesting business locations like an indoor batting cage in 
Monrovia (Grand Slam), at Arjay’s Window Fashions in Ventura, The Santa Anita Race Track, 
Chambers of Commerce, libraries and the 300 Pasadena Bowing venue. Hosting an event is great 
exposure for a business or non-profit. It helps build your “know,” “like” and “trust” factors and 
creates good word of mouth.

 

About MJ: MJ and her brother David own HUTdogs, a creative services business that also 
specializes in Social Media Education for business owners. Join their conversation on Facebook 
and get good tips and tricks about social media, www.facebook.com/hutdogs 

Sign up for this event or view other upcoming classes at: www.hutdogs.com/workshops/schedule


OMG! OH MY GOSH DID YOU 
KNOW…………….. By Patricia Richardson, M.B.A


QuickBooks has always 
provided power users 
with behind-the-
scenes shortcuts to save 
keystrokes and mouse 
clicks. Now all end-users will enjoy icon/menu-
based timesavers, as well as prompts to have 
QuickBooks do the otherwise tedious and 
repetitive work for them. 

This year the Memorized Transactions function 
has been improved. Upon opening a data file you 
will now see a pop up window that lists memorized 
transactions that are due. As the user you can 
now select or deselect specific transactions to be 
entered automatically. If one or more memorized 
transactions are not chosen to be entered at the 
time, the following window will pop up: “Enter 
Memorized Transactions Later” – this message 
indicates that the memorized transactions will be 
available upon the next login into your company 
file. 

Also new this year is an expanded frequency 
list for Memorized Transactions that allows 
users to select the frequency for automatic 
transaction entries (i.e. never, daily, weekly, or 
or every-other month). These enhancements to 
Memorized Transactions allow users to select 
which automatic transactions to enter. Prior to 
this improvement, it was “all or nothing.” For 
example, consider a scenario at the beginning of 
the month if you apply the Memorized Invoices 
function for 105 rental properties; this updated 
function will allow you to generate the complete 
list of rentals to review. If a tenant has moved and 
you don’t want to create that particular invoice, 
you can deselect it and create only the invoices 
that you need. QuickBooks creates them all at 
once based upon the memorized information. 

…On another note the IRS Offers Tips for 
Safeguarding Tax Records

IRS Special Edition Tax Tip 2012-10, June 11, 
2012

Hurricane season has started and the IRS 
encourages individuals and businesses to 
safeguard their tax records against natural 
disasters by taking a few simple steps.

Here are four tips from the IRS to help you 
prepare in case a disaster strikes.

1. Backup records electronically: Taxpayers 
should keep a set of backup records in a safe place 
away from the original set. Keeping a backup set of 
records, bank statements, tax returns, insurance 
policies, etc. is easier now that most financial 
institutions provide statements and documents 
electronically. Even if the original record is 
available only on paper, it can be scanned into an 
electronic format. With documents in electronic 
form, taxpayers can download them to a portable 
backup storage device such as an external hard 
drive, CD or DVD that can be transported easily 
in the event of an untimely evacuation.
2. Document valuables: Taxpayers should 
photograph or videotape the contents of their 
homes, especially items of higher value. A 
photographic record can help an individual 
prove the market value of items for insurance 
and casualty loss claims. Photos should be stored 
at another offsite location. To document your 
valuables, the IRS has a disaster loss workbook, 
Publication 584, Casualty, Disaster and Theft Loss 
Workbook, which can help taxpayers compile a 
room-by-room list of belongings.
3. Update Emergency Plans: Emergency 
plans should be reviewed at least once a year. 
Personal and business situations change over 
time, as do preparedness needs. When employers 
hire new employees or when a company 
changes functions, plans should be updated and 
employees should be informed.
4. IRS Ready to Help: If a disaster strikes, 
affected taxpayers can call 1-866-562-5227 to 
speak with IRS specialists trained to handle 
disaster-related issues. Taxpayers can request 
copies of previously-filed tax returns by filing 
Form 4506, Request for Copy of Tax Return. 
Taxpayers can also request transcripts showing 
most tax return line items by logging on at IRS.
gov, by calling 1-800-908-9946 or by using Form 
4506T-EZ, Short Form Request for Individual 
Tax Return Transcript or Form 4506-T, Request 
for Transcript of Return. 


More information on preparing for disasters can 
be found at IRS.gov. Forms and publications can 
be downloaded at IRS.gov or ordered by calling 
1-800-829-3676

Patricia Richardson the owner of Monrovia 
Computerized Business Service and is a local accountant, 
educator and trainer working to help business owners 
realize their business mission and vision by empowering 
them with tools and training in areas that may not be 
their core competency. For additional information, 
e-mail: patti@qbworkshop.com.

 


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