LBAHS Day 2018: Out of the Garden Project

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“I firmly believe the greatest responsibility we have as a firm is to serve our clients, our people and our community. Working with the Out of the Garden Project is one of the most fulfilling efforts in our year.”- Dave Recchion, Office Managing Partner, LBAHS Greensboro Office.

This year, LBA Haynes Strand got the amazing opportunity to go back to the Out of the Garden Project (OOTGP) to help out for a second year. Our LBAHS Day is an annual community service day where we close our office doors and focus on giving back.

Why Out of the Garden?

The Greensboro and High Point area is ranked #9 in the nation for food insecurity. Over 48,000 students in this area receive reduced price or free breakfast and lunches at school. Many do not know where their next meal is coming from after school and on the weekends. This is how founders, Kristy and Don Milholin, got the idea to start the Out of the Garden Project. They noticed children experiencing food insecurity at their children’s elementary school and felt called to make a difference.

OOTGP started as a small weekend initiative supplying 10 bags to families in the Piedmont Triad area. It has grown into a program now supplying over 1250 bags of food each weekend and operating 22 mobile food pantries.

The LBAHS staff jumped right in – cleaning the warehouse, sorting donated food, and packing bags for families. The atmosphere was filled with love and support as each team member realized the impact they were making in this community.

We are fortunate to have played a small part in this company’s great mission, “to provide tangible signs of love so that no child goes to bed hungry.”- OOTGP

To learn more about Out of The Garden Project and how you can help, CLICK HERE! We were featured in News & Record– “Day of service project helps food program”

Dental Practice Lifecycle: Introduction

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Over the next few weeks our dental team here at LBA Haynes Strand will be presenting a series of blog posts related to the lifecycle of a dental Practice. Items we will be highlighting include:

  • An overview and introduction to the stages within the dental Practice lifecycle
  • Key questions to ask when buying a dental Practice
  • Selling your dental Practice

As we move through these topics we will strive to provide up to date, informative and helpful information for today’s dental Practice owner whether you are in the first stages of starting your Practice or looking at retirement.

In the meantime, we would like to provide some additional information about a few members of our dental team here at LBA Haynes Strand:

Brad McKeiver, CPA, MBA, is a principal with our firm and leader of our Dental niche. He works extensively with dental professionals and Practices as a strategic business advisor to help our clients prosper. His name may sound familiar as Brad is active in the community through speaking and networking events. Through Brad’s leadership, our team has been able to lessen the tax and accounting burdens for our dental clients so that they can get back to focusing on their patients and their Practice.

Carrie Culpepper works as the lead dental accountant within our team. Using her extensive experience with QuickBooks Online she works alongside our clients to produce meaningful, reliable reporting to assist in business decisions and other areas of dental Practice ownership. Carrie relies on her background in theatre to help clients use their numbers and reporting to “tell the story” of their business and their success.

Katie Sabin is the newest member to our dental team. Katie focuses on ensuring the accuracy and completeness of the financial statements for all of our dental clients. She primarily concentrates on preparing monthly reports for clients in order to deliver them the most precise and up to date information for their business. Her enthusiasm and eagerness to expand her knowledge on the dental industry makes her a great addition to our team!

We look forward to sharing our knowledge with you as we work through the lifecycle of a dental Practice.

If you are interested in automatically receiving updates such as this, please subscribe to our blog.

Tax, Investment, & Planning Opportunities in 2018

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LBA Haynes Strand works with our partners at HK Financial Services to provide wealth management planning strategies for our clients. Last week, LBA Haynes Strand and HKFS presented an economic update webinar. We understand that life and schedules are extremely busy, so we wanted to provide a copy of the webinar for our clients and friends who may have missed the live showing.

In the video, our speakers, John Bly, Principal and CEO at LBA Haynes Strand, Ann McCorkindale, Partner Emeritus at HKFS, and Suzanne Tudor, Director of Financial Planning at HKFS, discuss volatility and opportunities in the global synchronized expansion.

They also review financial and estate planning under the new estate tax law.

Tax, Investment, and Planning Opportunities in 2018

We hope you found this video helpful. Please feel free to contact us with any follow-up questions that you may have. Our partners and financial advisors are ready to meet with you!

Dental Practice Lifecycle: Start Up & Acquisition

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Every dental Practice follows its own unique lifecycle, however, there are a few main phases it will pass through as it continues to grow and evolve that we’d like to focus on:

  • Start Up & Acquisition
  • Growth & Maintenance
  • Sale of Practice & Retirement

Before you enter any phase, we highly encourage any future Practice owner to seek out professionals who specialize in the dental industry.  There are many pain points that can be avoided by working with a CPA, attorney, banker, etc. who specialize in the dental industry and can guide you in the right direction from step one.  Once you have your Practice advisory team in place, it’s time to look at the next big questions: Do I want to start from scratch or purchase an existing Practice? And where will my funding come from?

Our dental team works with doctors on both sides of the start-up. With future Practice owners looking to start from scratch we develop a business plan to help obtain bank financing for the next steps in the ownership process. This document gathers and presents information related to many aspects of your future Practice: demographics of your proposed location, expected revenues and expenses, and a breakdown of desired loan funding just to name a few. Your business plan is what provides information to banks to show your Practice is a worthy investment. More importantly, it gives you a guideline and stepping stone to launch your Practice with confidence.

If you’d prefer to purchase an established Practice, our dental team works with you to find purchase options and review these options through our Practice Scorecard Analysis and due diligence process. Much like the Due Diligence period of buying a house, this is where you have a chance to review various aspects of the Practice and determine if it’s right for you. Many items are looked at during this but we help our clients to focus on what the historical financial data of the Practice shows and how it will apply to you, your future ownership of the Practice and if this coincides with your ownership goals.

Do you have your specialized team in place? From start-up services to exiting your practice, our team serves as strategic business advisors that are there with you every step of the way.

Next week, we will be discussing Phase 2: Growth and Maintenance.

If you are interested in automatically receiving updates such as this, please subscribe to our blog.

5-Time Inc. 5000 Honoree

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Coming in at #3267 on the list with a 120% 3 year growth rate, LBA Haynes Strand has made the Inc. 5000 list for fastest-growing private companies in America for the 5th time in a row! We are proud of our team and this great accomplishment.

List Details

The list represents a unique look at the most successful companies within the American economy’s most dynamic segment—its independent small businesses. Microsoft, Dell, Domino’s Pizza, Pandora, Timberland, LinkedIn, Yelp, Zillow, and many other well-known names gained their first national exposure as honorees on the Inc. 5000.

“Making the Inc. 5000 for the fifth year in a row demonstrates the forward thinking ideas and growth strategies our firm continues to implement year after year,” says John Bly, Principal and CEO at LBA Haynes Strand.  “Our team continues to focus on our growth oriented core value and it can be seen through this accomplishment. We know how hard it is to be recognized on this list and are proud to be a 5-time honoree.”

Not only have the companies on the 2018 Inc. 5000  been very competitive within their markets, but the list as a whole shows staggering growth compared with prior lists. The 2018 Inc. 5000 achieved an astounding three-year average growth of 538.2 percent, and a median rate of 171.8 percent. The Inc. 5000’s aggregate revenue was $206.1 billion in 2017, accounting for 664,095 jobs over the past three years. Complete results of the Inc. 5000, including company profiles and an interactive database that can be sorted by industry, region, and other criteria, can be found on INC.

“If your company is on the Inc. 5000, it’s unparalleled recognition of your years of hard work and sacrifice,” says Inc. editor in chief James Ledbetter. “The lines of business may come and go, or come and stay. What doesn’t change is the way entrepreneurs create and accelerate the forces that shape our lives.”

Methodology

The 2018 Inc. 5000 is ranked according to percentage revenue growth when comparing 2014 and 2018. To qualify, companies must have been founded and generating revenue by March 31, 2014. They had to be U.S.-based, privately held, for profit, and independent—not subsidiaries or divisions of other companies—as of December 31, 2017. (Since then, a number of companies on the list have gone public or been acquired.) The minimum revenue required for 2014 is $100,000; the minimum for 2017 is $2 million. As always, Inc. reserves the right to decline applicants for subjective reasons. Companies on the Inc. 500 are featured in Inc.’s September issue. They represent the top tier of the Inc. 5000, which can be found on INC’s website.

Dental Practice Lifecycle: Growth & Maintenance

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After the start-up and acquisition phase is complete and you have a regular patient base established, you’ll find yourself in the growth and maintenance phase.  At this point, you may be wondering how your Practice compares to others in the industry or maybe you’re ambitious and curious about growing into a two-Practice owner (three-Practice, four-Practice or more)!

As you progress through your Practice ownership lifecycle, benchmarking becomes increasingly important.  This helps to provide information on areas your practice may be able to improve upon.  For example, did you know the average dental Practice pays about 18.4% of their revenues in clinical wages?  This means if your Practice collects $50,000 in a single month, about $9,200 should be paid in wages to your hygienists and assistants that month.  How does your Practice compare?  Reviewing these industry averages monthly can help guide decision making within your practice.  We will go into more detail on these averages later in this blog series.

If owning one Practice is going smoothly, you may be curious about the possibility of purchasing/starting a second Practice.  Our team is able to work alongside you to review your current Practice’s financial standings and the different ways you can grow into a two-Practice owner.  We work to answer questions like ”How will hiring an associate at my first practice impact my bottom line while I’m working at the second practice?” and  “Can the cash flow of my first Practice help support the second Practice?” along with many others.

Our dental team has worked to develop various financial tools to help measure your practice against others and its potential for growth.  These tools include our monthly industry standards comparison to your practice and our Practice Scorecard which can be used to review options for the purchase of additional Practices.

Check back next week for the third and final phase of the Dental Practice Lifecycle: Sale of Practice & Retirement.

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NC Sales and Use Collections on Remote Sales

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The North Carolina Department of Revenue issued directive SD-18-6 on 8/7/18 to interpret the North Carolina sales and use tax law as a result of the United States Supreme Court decision in South Dakota v Wayfair.

Remote Sales Subject to Tax

The rules are effective prospectively to sales after October 31, 2018 by remote sellers that do not have a physical presence in North Carolina.  This prospective treatment does not apply to sellers that have a physical presence or other obligation to collect and remit North Carolina sales and use tax.

Remote sellers having gross sales in excess of $100,000 sourced to North Carolina or 200 or more separate transactions in the previous or current calendar year are required to register, collect, and remit sales and use tax effective the later of November 1, 2018 or 60 days after the remote seller meets the threshold.  Remote sellers that do not meet the threshold may voluntarily register with the NCDOR and collect and remit sales and use tax.  Remote sellers may voluntarily begin collecting and remitting sales and use tax any time prior to November 1, 2018.

Engaged in business is defined, in part, as making a remote sale if one of the conditions in G,S, 105-164.8(b) is met, basically if they advertise or solicit business in NC in any way through the media, internet, or distribution of catalogs.

Remote sale is defined as “(a) sale of tangible personal property or digital property ordered by mail, by telephone, via the internet, or by another similar method to a purchaser who is in the State at the time the order is remitted, from a retailer who receives the order in another state and delivers the property or causes it to be delivered to a person in this state.  It is presumed that a resident of this State who remits an order was in this State at the time the order was remitted.”

Remote sellers can register completing an online application through the Streamlined Sales Tax Registration System.

Dental Practice Lifecycle: Sale of Practice & Retirement

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After the start-up and acquisition phase and years of hard work growing your own dental Practice, you may be ready to hang up the gloves and retire but are not sure where to start.

The answer is to build a plan that starts years before you actually plan to retire or sell.  Having this conversation with your Practice advisory team in advance allows us the opportunity to guide you to that point and help achieve the maximum results for you and your Practice.

During this pre-retirement/sale time we find and develop answers for the hard questions like “What’s my Practice really worth?” and “How much cash will I receive from the sale?”  Using the answers to these questions we review options and prepare a plan to guide you to your best outcome.

Our Capital Advisors team has the ability to provide sell side representation to Practice owners in order to focus on finding qualified buyers. Over the years we have developed a process that allows us to find our clients the “right buyer” that may otherwise not have been found. This “right buyer” is the one who sees the most value in your Practice and is able to provide you, the seller, with the right offer.

Remember – the end of your dental Practice lifecycle is the beginning of the next generation’s lifecycle!

Continue checking back for our continuing dental blog series. Over the next few months, we will address subjects such as buying a dental practice, profit & loss statement explanation, and how sales tax impacts dentists, along with many other informative topics.

If you are interested in automatically receiving updates such as this, please subscribe to our blog.

NCACPA Day of Service 2018

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LBA Haynes Strand, PLLC participated in the North Carolina Association of Certified Public Accountants (NCACPA) Annual CPA Day of Service on September 21, 2018. Our employees volunteered their time with various organizations throughout North Carolina and focused on giving back to our local communities.

Our Mount Airy office focused on collecting canned food in order to support Yokefellow Ministry. Yokefellow assists others in need during times of crisis. One way they provide assistance is with food. There were collection boxes set up in the Mount Airy office for collections throughout the week and our team collected additional donations at Lowes Foods on Friday, September 21st.

The Matthews office of LBA Haynes Strand held a collection drive for pet food and supplies to donate to the Humane Society of Charlotte. Our team set up a table at Lucky Dog Bark & Brew on September 21st to collect remaining donations from those who were not able to stop by our office during the week. We had great participation from both our internal staff, clients, and members of the local community.

Our Greensboro office volunteered their time at BackPack Beginnings on September 21st by packing bookbags. BackPack Beginnings’ mission is to deliver child-centric services to feed, comfort, and clothe children in need.

Not only did some of our Greensboro team volunteer at Backpack Beginnings on Friday September 21st. We also had a few of our employees give back at the Out of the Garden Project the day before. You can read more about their efforts on the NCACPA blog!

The NCACPA Day of Service is one of the many ways our team gives back throughout the year. We have an annual LBAHS Day of Service and are always looking for new ways to become more involved in the community.

Courtney Ageon

Courtney Ageon: Promoted To Principal

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LBA Haynes Strand is pleased to announce that effective January 1st, 2019, Courtney Ageon has been promoted to Principal. As a result, Courtney joins the principal leadership team. Courtney will remain focused on serving the tax, accounting, and audit needs of our clients across the southeast.

Dave Recchion, Greensboro Office Managing Partner, states, “Courtney is a natural leader and doesn’t need permission to lead. She has broken an extremely male dominated leadership barrier and proven that a woman is able to successfully achieve a healthy work-life balance. Consistently doing the right thing for the Firm and our clients, she effortlessly leads our team to success. LBA Haynes Strand would not be the same without her talent.”

After 20 years of service, this promotion is a result of Courtney’s hard work, loyalty to the Firm, commitment to our team, and dedication to providing quality tax services to her clients. She transitioned from an intern to a full-time staff member while attending graduate school and studying for the CPA exam. This was a true test of her time management skills. When LBAHS made the transition to paperless, Courtney lead the team with the development of internal best practices and training procedures.

Please join us in congratulating Courtney Ageon on this exciting promotion! Connect with Courtney on LinkedIn.

Winston-Salem Expansion

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LBA Haynes Strand, PLLC is excited to announce that we are expanding our firm’s presence into the Winston-Salem market.

Winston-Salem is a continually developing city in the heart of the Piedmont-Triad and is currently experiencing the largest renovations and development the city has seen in over 15 years. According to Journal Now, recent estimates show the growth in Winston will continue to rise over the next few years and is expected to hit a population of 250,000 by the next census in 2020. We are excited about this expansion and believe our firm will fit in well with the Winston-Salem community.

If you are an individual or business owner in the Winston-Salem region and would like to schedule a no-cost consultation with an established certified public accounting firm, contact us. Our team is ready to work with you.

Tax Deductible Expenses for Dental Associates

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Are you a 1099 dental associate at one or more Practices and not sure what you can deduct? We have compiled a list of common business expenses you should keep record of in order to offset your contract income. This is not an all encompassing list and we encourage you to ask us about additional expenses if you are unsure.

Common dental associate expenses to keep record of include:

  • Continuing dental education, including travel and meals
  • Dues and subscriptions – state society, study clubs, publications, etc.
  • Cellular telephone
  • Meals that occurred for a business purposes
  • Uniforms (potentially including shoes)
  • Small dental equipment and supplies
  • Licensing and other fees
  • Legal and professional services
  • Advertising expenses
  • Business insurance (not life insurance) – most commonly malpractice insurance
  • Health insurance premiums
  • Mileage between offices, to purchase supplies, to the post office, etc. – not commuting mileage (from home to office)
  • Home office expense for the area of your home used exclusively for business purposes
  • Any non-reimbursed business expenses from the host practice

Tax season is right around the corner. Don’t wait until the last minute and miss deductions, start today! To learn more about how we can support you this tax season, contact us!