Make a Difference

Great video on performance - it's about 10 minutes and may give you an AH HA! Sometimes we need to see it differently, see the why in life - Thanks Dirk for the link.

Copy machines ??

Thanks to Pat in Texas for sending along this link. There is an advertisement for "left handed day" then the video begins.

That digital copier - did you know that it contains a hard drive? Did you know that on that hard drive is an image of all the documents that were made on that machine?

think about it !

Turn off the News

What would happen if you turned off the news for two weeks?  You could get to bed a 30-60 minutes earlier, you could get out and take a walk, you could take the time to enjoy your family, lower your blood pressure?

Interesting thought and it has come up in several conversations I have had recently.  I can hear "I won't know what is going on" as a sample statement.  Yet really, is it necessary to hear the news as it is delivered today?  What is called news now, feels more like commentary and opinion other than 'just the facts man'.  Since I value time, I often look at an activity to see how it adds to my life.  If the activity doesn't add a positive flair, then I look to remove it from my life.

Our news is generally negative, and if you are watching the 'news stations', the same negative news is repeated several times an hour.  Can you sit back and see what this news can do to your psyche?  I say, we would recover from this recession if we all turned off the news and got back doing business.  We would all benefit.

So can you take a break from the news?  Can you be more particular of the time you give to the news hawkers today?

Passing Peer Review once again in flying colors!

In accounting land, we CPAs a long time ago developed a Peer Review requirement as being part of the CPA profession. My colleagues decided that it was best to have a group of 'peers' keep an eye on our members. I can tell you, we are a tough group. The last person we want in our profession is one that would give a bit of tarnish to our name.

So every three years, all member firms go through a peer review examination. I've had the same firm examine my firm for the last three examinations and for this year's examination. I prepare files for examination, pull information about my license, firm license, continuing education, and then pull out client files to be reviewed.

Earlier tonight I opened an email with the following: "...... based on our review, nothing came to our attention that caused us to believe that the engagements submitted for review by Patricia J. Foley, CPA for the year ended June 30, 2009, were not performed and reported on in conformity with applicable professional standards in all material respects. Firms can receive a rating of pass, pass with deficiencies, or fail. Patricia J. Foley, CPA has received a peer review rating of pass." signed by Solakian, Caiafa & Company LLC.

This is great news for my firm, and actually over this past weekend at my HS reunion, it was hanging over one of my shoulders. Now that this review is complete, a few moments to relish the success and I begin to prepare for the next one in 2012!

"Excellence - High Standards are the Foundation for Great Achievements!"

Amazon

You may have noticed the Amazon link on the left hand side, that's new. I'm a new associate with the book and anything else store in cyber space. You will see over time, some links of books or other items that you may wish to acquire at this site. I will be giving you the opportunity to link straight through. Since I will post this link, yes, it is an advertisement, I will keep them small, and if you purchase anything on their site, yes, I will be paid a commission.

Now that is said, stop here first and link through to Amazon :) Thank you in advance,

Social Networks

Last week I was attending a seminar on risk, insurance, malpractice. A room full of accountants - now that can be scary!

This is a repeat session that I attend every few years as part of my risk insurance program. Of course we tell some war stories and hear about new court cases where the suits are just ridiculous. We often can get off on a tangent with lots of discussions on using computers, software, and now this cloud computing and social networks.

Social networks - well known like FaceBook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Ning and so many others. Their general purpose is to create and cultivate online communities. So folks join in and begin airing themselves in/on screen of the computer. The point is that this typing out there on these networks is recorded on quite a few servers and backedup on numerous more.

What one danger (there are quite a few) is that stuff you write or the stuff that is written about you and lastly who is in your friends, list, etc can and will probably come back to haunt you.

We are talking about everyone that uses them.... kids not a big deal until they begin to apply to college, now FaceBook account may be looked at to see if you are the 'right' kind of person or who you are likely to be 'hangin' with. Job interviews - another place that your tweets and LinkedIn bits could come under scrunity. As you continue in life, possible public service position, whether it be politics or an appointment to a position, once again what you wrote years ago could be found out without much work and come back to haunt you.

I use them, cautiously. It's nice to get picutres of my friends' kids, hear about some successful event, and share a good thought or two.

I would just say be careful what you write out there in cyberland's social networks.

ReFinance your Mortgage - Now

Yes, it is time to refinance my mortgage! Yes it is only 13 months old - yet with the way the market has been, rates have been coming down.

So you haven't thought about it yet? Pull out your papers, look at your current rate - can you lower it by 1 point? If you answer yes, then it is time to seriously look at the opportunities out there.

Where do I go? First of all, try your current lender. For me, that was a bust as my mortgage was sold on day one from one company to Countrywide, then acquired by the Bank of America. Yet, in today's market, many lenders are willing to give good deals to their current clients.

Next - I ventured out to the internet and had one of those sites send me interested lenders. Before I knew it, several emailed and called. That was three months ago. While it didn't take three months, I sat on the paperwork for a bit awaiting the dip of the rate. When it was a go - Village Mortgage - what a great group to work with, it is done (or should be by noon today!). My loan officer - Matt Rice - great guy is a dream to work with.

How much can you save? My rate is dropping from 6% to 4.875% and the savings if it runs the full length of the loan - $36,000+. Nice change! Since I'll pay it off earlier - with the current extra principal and the savings in the new payment - I'll be close to paying it off in 15 yrs - that's a savings of $90,000 - Nicer change!

Want to do the math?? visit my CPA website click on Financial Tools and click on Mortgage Calculators - it's Free. Better yet - you'll be richer because you did.

Good Customer Service

It does happen, good customer service, and when it does, it helps you feel restored in the human condition. Congratulations to Amsterdam as they get today's prize.

A little more than a year ago I puchased some pens for promotional purposes. A sleek medium blue, my name, etc etched on them and with blue ink. The pen writes really smooth, it's a click top so you don't have to worry about losing the cap.

Back in the thick of things in the 'season' my assistant, with abosulte certainity, put in another order - the price was great and with blue ink. When the order arrived, it looked good, and put them in the drawer. It's just about time that the first batch is running out. So break open the new ones - and to my dismay - it is black ink. UGH!

So I gave them a call - maybe they could ship out the replacement filler in blue ink? Nope that was not an option as the young lady on the phone in customer service told me. I gave her the order number and she looked it up - no problem she said, please write down your new order and they will be shipped out immediately. So the honest soul in me, so what do I owe, how do I return the other pens? Geez we didn't want to waste anything. No there was no extra charge, she said and apologized for the error so I wished her a great afternoon.

My blue pens with blue ink will be arriving soon. I'm smiling and loving the ease with which I could get it solved. Thanks again Amsterdam - You can continue to count on my business!

Beam me and my stuff up Scotty

My goodness - with today's age of all type of electronic gadgits, like 'in the cloud' and SaaS stuff, I wonder why the software developers are sitting around and not getting us new and more "user friendly" software to keep up with our lives.

I've been struggling with my Treo Smart Phone for too long. I've some 1000 contacts, use my calendar extensively, task list is important, and my notes are those little yellow stickeys I used to have stuck to my monitor are now all in my handheld phone device which is synced to my desktop. I was excited five years ago that I didn't have to carry my phone and my PDA, two separate devices. But this device - is slower than molasses on a February morning in New England. It's a memory problem and the "techies" can't seem to figure it out? Just recently when I was reviewing my "minutes" on my cell plan, and I'm up for a new phone - it seems that the phones out there do not have lots of memory? Duh moment?

Seth Godin's post The end of dumb software is right on point. As each of us choose to be "in touch" we need software and devices that will allow us to function so that we are not spending tons of time ($$) figuring out our techy gadgits. As I consult with small business owners, I need to have my gadgits working and working up to speed. Small business owners do not have the luxury of an enormous staff to take care of these items and do need the opportunity to be able to move ahead.

I'm so looking forward to the future to have more of my "info" at my finger tips or should I say lips, where it is all connected! Beam me up Scotty!

Tax Time

While this blog is for my personal views - there is those times I'd like to get up on my professional soap box.

For those of you who receive a paycheck from your place of employment, you may have noticed a slight change, a small increase. This change reflects the Making Work Pay credit that was passed by Pres Obama.

While this is nice, actually several of my clients called with their results - any where from 58cents to $3 in their weekly check. That is about $24 to $144 for this year. I'm not sure that letting the people keep a few more $$'s in their paycheck will make the economic boom that the Congress and President is expecting.

One warning - if you, as a taxpayer, plan the amount of withholding during the year to insure that with the level of withholding and your estimate payments is equal or exceed the safe harbor amount - Be Aware - since your withholding is decreasing you will not meet the safe harbor payment level and will be subject to a late payment penalty.

Make sure you and your tax preparer are aware of this "little" difference. It may be great now, yet it won't be pleasant in the future.

Geez - what a party pooper! The honeymoon isn't long enough. For more information visit my website Patricia J. Foley, Certified Public Accountant for up-to-date tax information.

Don't Make A Sale Department

It was just bad.... I do my backup's on-line with Iron Mountain - been a customer since I began my business (some ten years) as it was the only way to get a backup off premise. It is the greatest assistant - always works, even when I don't.

So with my new computer - I moved my files from the old computer to the new computer- that was easy enough. Now I need to get the backup to access the new drive and I'm loving life. So go on-line to "my account" LOL - I can not log in, then try the FAQ's, no luck, then I find a link to send an email and send one - that was 20 Days AGO!; (Iron Mountain is trying my patience) and by the way - they are charging new customers 1/3 of the price - some new pricing deal that current customers don't know about?. (sounds like the phone company!)

Day by Day ........ no email returned; so EIGHT DAYS ago - I call and am on hold for 30 minutes - finally get someone. He is trying though we are struggling with communication in english. Now I wish I studied French longer! I get the software fixed, yet the first line of the "support" doesn't really know the software. He had to keep putting me on hold to get answers to questions........ big sigh on my part. I get a "ticket number" on the billing question as he can't answer any of my questions.

Day by Day ........ no email returned; so TODAY - I call and am on hold.... yada yada yada skip to the action.

The chap says "oh you have a ticket number they are really working on it and they will get in touch with you". yeah?? when??? He said " I put a note in your file to let them know that you called today", "you know you are not the only customer". Oh really?? I promised him I will call every 12 hours!

Now pi$$ me off royally! -

So I found the phone number for Headquarters - Boston MA. Heck I'll drive up there. The Buck needs to Stop somewhere and I'm just the one to find who it is.

I get a real person that answers the phone - she1 - Operator.

I tell her the story and she sends me to - she2 - Receptionist.

I tell her the story and she sends me to the - he3 - he handles CT.

I tell him the story and he sends me to - he4 - the credit card department.

I telll him the story and he sends me to - he5 - on-line credit card department.

This he is Kevin- in PA.

I'm so fustrated that I could scream (I don't). Kevin can't access my account to make the change in the billing; Kevin can't get to the ticket number; yet I can hear him fevorishly typing an email; puts me on hold and comes back to say that a "tech" guy will call me back in one minute. So we hang up - the phone rings - somewhere from overseas - this guy Bradeeba6 assists me with that change.

A pleasant enough chap until I wanted the name of the "big cheese" incharge of customer service. I want to send him a letter - he gives me a generic email addresss... no way - I want a real live name of a real live person - one that is walking talking and breathing. I do finally get the name of the guy and he's going to get a real letter telling him about this adventure - should be a chance for some re-training :)

Back to the events..... LOL I still couldn't log in!

I get Bradeeba6 to get me Kevin back! I want my credit! Yesseree - Kevin calls back in a few more minutes and indicates (with an email follow up) that he will credit me two months at the old rate (equivalent to four months plus at the new rate).

Day by Day ......... Thank you Kevin in the accounting department!! Someone at Iron Mountain better give this guy a raise! He made it happen and may have saved a customer for his employer! I wished him a great weekend - possibly a beer or two :)

Average - That's not for me!

Most times I've several books going at the same time. Generally they may be of the same topic so I get a virtual discussion going with the various authors.

This time, I'm reading one author, Seth Godin's books. I've been following his blog - great writer both in books and the blog. Thanks to the Lucy Robbins Welles Library and CT's InterLibrary Loan program - as I've been able to assemble about 5 of his books so far.

One of his books - "the dip" - a little book that teaches you when to quit (and when to stick) is quite good. If you are in one of those situations when both ends are pulling at you and you don't know what / where / when to do or go, then this little charm is great.

One passage, I think, sums it up, Seth says (pg 44) " The next time you catch yourself being average when you feel like quitting, realize that you have only two good choices: Quit or be exceptional. Average is for losers."

If you are looking for a few helpful hints and strategies to get you through your "dip", then pick up a copy of the book - I guarantee you'll get a million dollar tip out of it.

A New Era Begins

January 20th - every 4th year or so - some 54 to date - and we, the citizens of the United States, had our President sworned in.

It's a new era - while his speech wasn't riviting, it continued to "sell" the hope to the country and to it's citizens and those around the world. Hope is the only way to get us up, pull up your boot straps, and get to work. Whether you voted for President Obama or not, it's time to put aside the cranky whatevers, and begin to work to get ourselves fixed from the delimina we have arrived in.

The Congress is heavily at work, I'm expecting to see President Obama's 1st tax law (how we are now going to spell relief) by the 24th of February. It's going to have serious pork involved - so get out your pen and pencil - nope - get the phone number of your congress men/women and call their office! Make yourself known. THEY WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!

Keep tuned - I'll be letting you know new "deals" that are going before the fed's and here in CT.

Really - though - call the people that are in office whether you voted for them or not,

It takes only one person to begin to create change - I hope you'll help us all out.

New Computer

Last Year was a big year with lots that I came into and accomplished......... except for getting a new computer.

So last week I completed my order with Dell - Monday night at 6pmEST. The Sales Guy - Alan - was okay, but he didn't remember an 8" floppy, a 5 1/4" floppy, and as to the 3.5" floppy - he said he had some recollections about it. Ouch - I've been around programing from my first computer experience at Hillcrest Jr High (1968)- where you had wires with plugs into a board and slap that board into a slot and power up the computer to have it do two or three transactions. Then it was the Main Frame at UCONN (1978) - with more than 700 IBM cards - color coded and bound together. I could get the computer to do a bunch of stuff, provided I fed them into the machine and waited and prayed I did not have a card punched incorrectly!

Fast forward - 2008 - I'm in my office, with 130 GB hard Drive, 1 GB of memory, 256m video display with two screens (that's only one of the three computers I use for the business) - and I feel like I'm back to 1978! Forty-eight seconds to open an application. I'll never get any work accomplished without a new solution. I work with about ten windows open at all times; of course business stuff that can be 3 or 4 ; spreadsheet or two; Word docs; database; email; Explorer with several pages open.

This week, Alan, the guy at Dell, assisted me with my purchase of a new computer. He said it would be 3-5 days for build and 3-5 days to ship. Short side 6 days - long side 10 ten days. So sometime next week - okay. If you ever ordered something from Dell, you know their customer communication system is amazing. By the time you hang up, the system begins to whirl, email after email - order received, build begun, boxed, ready for shipment, shipped, in transit, ...... then ding-dong the door bell rings - it's the FedEx guy bringing four boxes of equipment! Remember I said it was 6pm on Monday - and at 3:00pm on Thursday - it was here. Mind you the longest part of this little adventure for my new baby was the time it spent with the FedEx guy.

New twist - Dell does not include simple one-page glossy instruction on how to plug in the machine. Its on the machine - but how do you plug in the machine attach the #%$@#$% cables to it? No color coded map of anything. I get Alan on the phone - he gets the technical support - which sends me to the Dell site (mind you, you wouldn't have found it if you tried) the "Quick Reference Guide" - 76 pages long! Yet it is exactly what I needed.

Without too much trouble - I get my new machine up and running. Now I'm in the process of reloading various pieces of software. There is a new Wizard that didn't come with my previous Dell - a transfer wizard that enables (so they say) to transfer your data files via a serial cable. I'll let you know how that works.

By the way - now with an extra computer in the office - I needed an additional desk! Gotta love the Technology!