Recent Articles

Dugan & Lopatka sponsors Naperville Chamber NFP breakfast on executive transition and succession planning

Dugan & Lopatka is once again proud to sponsor the Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce’s Not-for-Profit breakfast hosted by the Chamber’s NFP Advisory committee. This year’s breakfast is slated for Friday, September 8, at Naperville’s Hotel Indigo.

Karen Hurley-Kuchar, an executive with more than 20 years of experience and expertise in nonprofits, including executive transition and succession planning, will explore the importance of succession planning, how to put processes in place for transition, and how successful transition planning can have a positive impact on the entire organization.

6 tax tips for startups

Taxes are rarely the first thing that entrepreneurs think about. With that in mind, the IRS put together a short-list of tax related considerations for start-up businesses.

1. Pick a business structure. One of the first things you will need to decide is how to structure your business – as a sole proprietorship, a partnership, an S or C corporation, and so on. Each comes with different tax rules and different filing requirements, so the advice of an expert is invaluable.

2. Pick a tax year. How and when a business files its taxes is determined by its tax year, which can either match the calendar year, or be a fiscal year of any 12 consecutive months. In most cases, the business owner can choose whichever works best for them. But, calendar years are required for businesses with no books or records, no annual accounting period, or in certain circumstances laid out in the Internal Revenue Code or the income tax regs.

What's New in Finances: Don′t forget to review your insurance

When was the last time you reviewed your insurance coverage? An annual insurance review makes good financial sense. Here are points to consider as you review your various insurance policies.

Health care. If you have an individual policy, investigate whether your employer, union, or professional association offers a less expensive group policy.

Long-term care. Long-term care insurance may be advisable if you're between the ages of 55 and 72 and you don't have enough assets to fund long-term care.

Properly classifying workers remains a major problem

From an August 2, 2017, online Accounting Today post

Worker misclassification is a perennial issue for the Internal Revenue Service and state taxing authorities due to the perception that many employers are not properly classifying their workers.

By avoiding labeling their workers as employees, employers also avoid paying minimum wages, overtime, payroll taxes, worker’s compensation, unemployment, Social Security contributions, health benefits, paid leave, 401(k) benefits and unpaid leave under the Federal Family and Medical Leave Act. And workers have some benefits to being considered independent contractors, such as the ability to deduct certain business expenses that are not available to employees, the ability to set up their own retirement plans, and the fact that they are not subject to withholding. Of course, many workers want to be considered employees so they can get the benefits due employees, such as vacation pay, overtime pay and health insurance.

Cybersecurity threats proliferating for midsize and smaller businesses

Smaller organizations are targets for hacking and phishing attacks to get information that can harm them or bigger companies they do business with. This July 2017 Journal of Accountancy publication addresses these increasing threats.

Why would cyberthieves target a company other than the very largest - big enterprises with big payoffs? It's a question that many small and medium-size businesses (SMBs) ponder, arriving at the wrong answer.

Hackers have SMBs in their crosshairs as much - if not more so - than the world's biggest enterprises. Here's one reason: Small companies in the business-to-business space that serve large organizations often connect to the latter's networks and systems. In effect, the SMB is a potential conduit to the larger company's data assets.

Francis Zaharieva and Connor Quinn join Audit & Review Department

Dugan & Lopatka recently welcomed Francis Zaharieva and Connor Quinn to the firm as staff auditors.

Francis received her Bachelor of Arts in Finance degree from Calvin College and was previously a staff auditor for Castro & Company, an accounting firm in Alexandria, Virginia. She also served as a staff accountant for the National Rifle Association Foundation and Colonial Parking.

Connor is a 2017 graduate of Aurora University where he received his Bachelor of Science in Accounting degree. During his college career he served as a public accounting intern for Porte Brown in Elgin and as a corporate tax intern for the metal processing and distribution firm, Ryerson, located in Lisle.

Their responsibilities as Dugan & Lopatka’s newest members of the Audit & Review Department will include assisting a variety of companies and not-for-profit organizations including religious, educational, and professional associations with their audit requirements and accounting needs.