Category Archives: Legal / Accounting

By Rachel Phillips
In business, accounting is the day-to-day tracking of financially operations, both in the short term and the long term.
Not only does accounting serve the purpose of tax compliance and record keeping, but also recording metrics used for evaluating business performance. As such, it is a vital function for success in business.
However, with improving technology and the internet, it has become easier than ever for certain business tasks to be done remotely. As a result, recent years have seen an increase in businesses using outsourced accounting services.
When a business outsources accounting, they hire an outside professional to organize and evaluate their books and records.

by Stephen Ferraro,
CPA/ABV/CFF, MAFF, CVA, CEBC
Business owners need an ongoing planning process to grow, maximize business value and create the most successful business transfers. It’s just as important to work on your business as it is to work in your business.
The process should coordinate business valuation, growth planning and business transfer analysis with personal retirement planning. The ultimate goal…successfully operate, grow and transfer your business on your terms and time frame, while maximizing and protecting your personal wealth.
Maximize Business Value
To determine how fast you can get to where you want to go, you need to know where you are now. That’s why business valuation is so important.

BY DANIEL S. GLASER, ESQ.
Local. Real Estate. Attorney.
When buying or selling real estate, it is imperative that you have the counsel, guidance, and skill of a local real estate attorney.
For example, next week you are going under the knife for a triple bypass surgery. You are given two options on how to proceed: use the services of a cardiothoracic surgeon; or save some money by trying to do it yourself.
Yes, you may have a steady hand but going with option one seems like the better way to go.
While the hypothetical may seem unrealistic, the message behind it is real. When you are dealing with something very important, for example making the largest purchase in your life, seek assistance from professionals that have a plethora of experience in their field.

By Jennifer Farnsworth

As technology continues to grow and expand across the business sector, accounting firms have worked hard to keep up. 

Accounting advisory and consulting services have benefited from the way technology has allowed them to work with clients without meeting face-to-face. But these services still need to be personalized. Many local firms have found ways to balance technology with personalized service.

Kristen D. Berdar, CPA, CMA, a partner at BST & Co. CPAs LLP, runs the company’s Virtual Accounting Solutions Division. She said they offer outsourced CFO and accounting solutions for clients on a cloud-based platform, working entirely outside of the client’s office. 

They work to create a personalized service that is based on each individual client’s needs and goals.

By Kenneth J. Entenmann, CFA

What a difference three months make. At the end of the third quarter of 2018, every equity market index was posting significant positive returns, and the markets were focused on an overheating economy and the fear of rapidly rising interest rates. 

Suddenly, market psychology turned sharply negative, and the new fear was an imminent global economic recession brought on by trade wars, overaggressive central bank policy and an earnings recession. By year’s end, volatility spiked to levels not seen since 2008, and all the major equity indices were decidedly negative. International markets suffered the most, with the developed markets (MSCI-EAFE Index) falling 13.32 percent and the emerging market (MSCI-EM Index) falling 14.49 percent. 

The domestic equity markets fared better, but still posted negative returns for the year—Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 3.38 percent, S&P 500 fell 4.39 percent, Nasdaq composite fell 2.81 percent and Russell 2000 fell 11.03 percent—a very tumultuous end to 2018.

Debra A. Verni, Esq.

Recently, I received an email from one of my client’s daughters. It was mom’s 90th birthday and she took mom to a casino. 

Mom won $1,300 on a slot machine. When the staff member came over to cash mom out and give mom her winnings, she asked for photo ID. Mom let her license expire years ago, as she was no longer driving so she did not have a photo ID. 

The daughter asked the casino staff member if she could sign for mom as power of attorney because she had photo ID. They said no. Apparently, the rule is that the person who won the money (pushed the button on the slot machine) has to be the one to collect it, so she could not use the power of attorney to collect mom’s winnings. 

Although the power of attorney is a very powerful document, it is not powerful enough to collect casino winnings. So why do you need a power of attorney?

Charles Schwab, a full-service investment services firm, recently opened a new independent branch in Saratoga Springs.

Company officials said it offers a range of investing and personal finance guidance, tools and products. The office is at 46 Marion Ave.

The branch will also serve the neighboring towns of Wilton, Ballston Spa and Glens Falls.

Charles Schwab ranked “highest in investor satisfaction with full-service brokerage firms” in the J.D. Power 2016 Full Service Investor Satisfaction Study.

The Saratoga Springs branch is led by Schwab independent branch leader Maureen Parker, a financial services professional with 19 years of experience in investment management.

Prior to joining Schwab’s network, Parker was a financial advisor at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management. Previously, she served as a financial advisor at Merrill Lynch.