Documenting business travel expenses causes administrative headaches for employers and employees alike. Typically, employees are required to collect receipts as they travel, noting the time, place and business purpose of each expenditure. They then must submit monthly expense reports that are subject to approval of their supervisors. Sometimes, administrative delays occur if documentation is incomplete or  Continue Reading »

Here in Maine, Fall is often a time to stop and enjoy the beautiful foliage, but it is also the time to start your year-end tax planning for 2015, and to tie up loose ends that remain from the 2014 tax season. However, be aware that the October 15th extension date has passed. Here are  Continue Reading »

Privately-held Maine business owners might need appraisals of their interests for many reasons, including: Small business loans, Strategic planning, Mergers, acquisitions and shareholder buy-ins (or buy-outs), Equitable distributions of marital estates, Minority shareholder disputes, Bankruptcy, and Gifts and estate planning. A business valuation is just a formality, isn’t it? Many Maine-based business owners only perceive formal  Continue Reading »

A financial expert witness builds on a solid foundation constructed by a reputable source to reach a reliable conclusion. At times, multiple sources are used to reach a conclusion, and these are the assumptions and sources underlying the expert’s opinion. However, in order to survive a Daubert challenge in federal court, an expert requires the  opportunity to  Continue Reading »

Many small businesses today have a significant amount of intellectual property as part of their value. Sometimes it can be difficult to actually place a value on this type of property. It can be hard to understand, as it’s often quite technical. Also, there are different types of intellectual property, and each asset is unique.  Continue Reading »

It may seem far away, but the year will be wrapping up before we know it. Small business owners need to keep in mind all that needs to be submitted to complete required documents. Here are some important items to keep in mind when finishing up the tax year. Remember, not all may apply to  Continue Reading »

A Maine-based small business owner might assume that they will save money by doing all accounting and bookkeeping work themselves. Oftentimes, however, these business people realize that isn’t necessarily the case. These tasks are often complicated, and can take up quite a bit of time. A small business owner can find several advantages to outsourcing  Continue Reading »

City of Baton Rouge v. Jay’s Donuts, Inc., 2014 La. App. Unpub. LEXIS 722 (Dec. 17, 2014) An expropriation case centering on taking a successful donut shop for public use raised fundamental valuation issues, such as the proper methodology for capturing the full extent of the owner’s loss. The city’s business valuator relied on fair  Continue Reading »

Maine-based small businesses want brilliance and innovation from their employees while they are on the payroll, but they also want their employees to keep those qualities to themselves if they leave the company. Non-compete agreements attempt to that to control any damage that could occur when an employee leaves. With this type of an agreement,  Continue Reading »

All Maine-based small businesses have their share of customers who take forever to pay, and even plain old bad apples who just won’t pay up. Some companies, however, seem to be battling long and unproductive billing problems with their customers more often than not. Business owners want to avoid falling into this rut. If more  Continue Reading »