Resources

Core Values and Characteristics Part 2

The Blumer Team’s Core Values are what we believe in.  They’re what drive our work.  Today we, as a team, want to take a few minutes to break down each of the 5 core values that we have adopted.  Commitment leads to Loyalty People who are committed to the success of the team/company/goal, will do what needs to be done to find that success and are respectful, honest & loyal to those team members and company who are working towards the same success/goals. - Jenny Andrejack, Customer Ally Jason and Julie define commitment as “really embracing your job description and [...]
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Core Values and Characteristics Part 1

By now you probably know a little bit about Blumer CPAs.  You know we are intentional in every aspect of the firm, from onboarding clients to internal operations and firm values.  We wanted to take some time to shed some light on our internal Core Values and Characteristics that we appreciate as a firm.   Each week we set aside time in our team meeting to do “Core Values and Characteristics” call outs.  I’ll be honest.  When I first started at Blumer CPAs, this was hard for me, but over the last couple of years, I am learning to embrace the [...]
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IRS Wisely Delays $600 threshold on Forms 1099-K

The IRS issued an announcement on December 23, 2022 that caused a massive sigh of relief from third-party settlement organizations everywhere (as well as from tax preparers and small businesses): A planned increase in reporting requirements for Form 1099-K was delayed from 2022 to 2023. For a little background, the IRS defines a third-party settlement organization (TSPO) as an organization that facilitates payments, usually to merchants, through a third party network. These include auction-payment facilitators (think PayPal) or other merchant services providers (think American Express, Visa or other organizations that process credit card payments to businesses). Prior to the American [...]
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The Inflation Reduction Act: What’s Really In There?

The Inflation Reduction Act was signed into law on August 16, 2022. In this time of rampant inflation and the drastic moves by the Federal Reserve in hiking interest rates, which is hitting us all painfully in the wallet, something called “The Inflation Reduction Act” sounds fantastic, right?  A law that will help bring down inflation? Bring it on! Except…wait a minute, what is in this law, exactly? And how is this law going to reduce inflation? Good questions. Let me take a few minutes to try and answer them for you as we take a brief tour of The [...]
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Protect Your Business

Protect Your Business (and Your Contractors) with Forms W-9 and W-8 BEN We are fast approaching the end of the year. Which, among other things, means we are fast approaching the time when accountants everywhere start gearing up to prepare client Forms 1099 for the 2022 tax year. So if your accountant starts asking you if you have W-9’s and W-8BEN’s for all of your independent contractors, know that they are thinking ahead to the year-end tasks that keep you, as a business owner, in compliance. Compliance isn’t the most thrilling concept. And remembering to collect all of those Forms [...]
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Our Firm is 25 Years Old: What Have I Learned?

We’ve just hit a pretty amazing milestone in our firm. My Dad started our firm in November 1997, 25 years ago now. And 6 years later, he let me join the firm to lead the firm into the future. It was so special to celebrate this anniversary with my Dad recently, with Julie, my wonderful partner and friend, and our whole team at our team retreat. I know it’s common to write the obligatory “25 Things I Learned from Leading our 25 Year-Old Firm” but I’m not going to. I’m just going to share two key areas where I’ve learned […]

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We’ve Updated Our Key Agency Financial Metrics!

If you’ve been a Blumer client for any length of time, you know we are all about processes: consistent, regular, documented workflows that make client work flow smoother and allow us to hit a high level of quality in our financial support of our clients, day in and day out. What might not be so obvious is that we are also all about making steady, continual improvements in our processes. When we hear client comments or see trends that make us rethink what and how we do things, we get together as a team to analyze the issue, come up […]

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How to Deal With A Slowing Economy Part 2

How to Deal (as a Business Owner) with Inflation, Recession, and Other Tough Times, Part 2 A recent article in the New York Times just last month had this headline: “Is Recession Staring Us Down? Already Upon Us? Here’s Why It’s Hard to Say.” Say what? There is no denying we are in for some interesting economic times ahead. I’m sure this is weighing heavy on the minds of most business owners right now. But, as I mentioned in last month’s blog post, there are certain fundamentals that will always be true when a business faces a crisis. We covered [...]
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How to Deal With A Slowing Economy Part 1

How to Deal (as a Business Owner) with Inflation, Recession, and Other Tough Times, Part 1 Recession. Inflation. Stagflation. Economic downturn. Global slowdown.  We’ve all read the headlines. We’ve all scratched our collective heads at the ever-changing predictions on an economic downturn.  It’s something every business owner has on their minds right now: Are we going into a recession? Are we already *in* a recession? How do we deal with inflation? And what do we do if things get worse? The questions (and the worries) can be endless. So what are the answers? Are there any answers?  I can’t tell [...]
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Case Study: How a World-Class Agency Transformed for the Better During COVID

Challenges Bukwild is a 25-person design and technology studio based in Sacramento.  Since its inception in 2001, some of the best-known brands in the U.S. have turned to Bukwild for help—Amazon and Pandora, DoorDash and CLIF Bar, California Olive Ranch and Coachella. But with the killer portfolio and millions in revenue came major growing pains.  COO Donald Fierros recalled the challenges with business strategy and keeping everyone on the same page in 2018:  “As a company, we were trying to be everything to everyone. We had a lot of communication issues as well. People holding different definitions of things in [...]
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