MPL General Counsel Corner – Do you feel like your head is on a bit of a swivel?

A year ago, I can remember writing an update that said things were getting back to normal as we moved further away from the Covid related shutdowns.  Fast forward to today and businesses are fighting supply chain constraints, hyperinflation, rising interest rates and the impact of international strife.  Contracts keep changing, people don’t want to be in the office full time, vendors push deliveries out and so on.    Do you feel like your head is on a bit of a swivel?

So, what can you do?  How do you solidify your business foundation, keep moving forward, and possibly grow into new areas?  To help trigger some thought, how about considering the following questions:

1. When do your vendor contracts renew?
2. What are the options if your key supplier goes out of business?
3. What is this whole “Force Majeure” thing and do I really have to worry about an “Act of God”?
4. What’s the point of paying for business interruption insurance, it did not cover me with the pandemic shutdown?
5. I would like to allow some of my staff to work virtually, but I am stuck in a long-term office lease with a lot of unneeded space.  What are my options?
6. I have key client agreements coming up for renewal.  What should I be adding or modifying in the agreement in this new pandemic environment?
7. With my employees working virtually all over the country (and even the world), what taxes am I responsible for?
8. Do I have the right strategy in place for my business?

This list could go on and on.  What are you going to do with your business and how will you react?  Remember, you are not alone and stranded on an island.  It may be time to sit down with your team (mentors, professional advisors and senior leaders) and talk about these issues.  I think you will find that the issues become less of an “issue” and evolve into more of a “solution”.

Happy Memorial Day to everyone and a heartfelt thanks to all those who serve (both past and present) our country!
Here are a few other things that may be of interest:

• Latest commentary from August Wealth Advisors (thanks to Howie Greenberg for sharing)
• Here are some of the latest updates from EisnerAmper
  • New York State Extends pass-through entity tax Election for 2022 to 9/15 (eisneramper.com)
  • New THRIVE SBA Program Helps Small Business Owners (eisneramper.com)
  • Neuroscience View Returning to the Office or Working Home (eisneramper.com)
  • Debt investing due diligence and ESG (eisneramper.com)
  • Sustainable Investing Challenges (eisneramper.com)
  • How Entrepreneurs can Succeed in the travel industry (eisneramper.com)

Helpful Resource Pages

• Knowledge Center (eisneramper.com)
• Trout CPA Blog | Tax & Business-Related Topics
• News & Analysis | Littler Mendelson P.C.
• Insights, Analysis & Perspectives for Your Business | RKL LLP (rklcpa.com)
• NFIB Research: Data and Trends Affecting Small Business Owners | NFIB
• The Tax Warrior Chronicles (taxwarriors.com)

As always, please don’t hesitate to email myself (jsanders@mpl-law.com), Andy Miller (amiller@mpl-law.com), Christian Miller (cmiller@mpl-law.com), Erik Spurlin (espurlin@mpl-law.com) or anyone in our office with questions or comments.  

Please see all of our prior updates at this link or if you would like to be added to our email list, please click here.