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SILKIN MANAGEMENT GROUP: More on the Debt Ceiling Debate

July 22, 2011 By Leave a Comment
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In yesterday’s Silkin Management Group blog, one of my fellow Silkin Management Group consultants wrote about the debate going on regarding raising the debt ceiling for the federal government. (You can access that article at this Silkin Management Group blog site: http://blog.silkinmanagementgroup.com/)

After reading the above mentioned blog, something caught my eye while reading a report concerning what is going on in Washington regarding this whole issue. I thought I’d pass it along to readers of our various Silkin Management Group blog sites.  It concerns a statement made by Congressman Ron Paul of Texas, made while questioning Ben Bernake, the chairman of the Federal Reserve.  Whether you think well of Congressman Paul or not, his statement is food for thought:

“Perhaps the most abhorrent bit of chicanery has been the threat that if a deal is not reached to increase the debt by August 2nd, social security checks may not go out.  In reality, the Chief Actuary of Social Security confirmed last week that current Social Security tax receipts are more than enough to cover current outlays.  The only reason those checks would not go out would be if the administration decided to spend those designated funds elsewhere.  It is very telling that the administration would rather frighten seniors dependent on social security checks than alarm their big banking friends, who have already received $5.3 trillion in bailouts, stimulus and quantitative easing.  This instance of trying to blackmail Congress into tax increases by threatening social security demonstrates how scary it is to be completely dependent on government promises and why many young people today would jump at the chance to opt out of Social Security al together.

I have always found it interesting, from a financial planning point of view, that the government takes our social security money and puts it in the general funds and spends it on anything it chooses to, like wars, rather than setting it aside for what it was designated for – paying Social Security benefits.  Yes, the amount of money coming in for many years exceeded the outgo due to the age discrepancies of payers and payees, but had the excess money not been spent elsewhere, there would be no looming lack of Social Security funds to deal with.  And Mr. Paul makes it a point that Social Security income can still pay for the present benefits payments, as long as the money isn’t taken for other uses.

Whatever your take on all of this is, whether you like Congressman Paul or not, I thought that readers of our blog sites, whether Silkin Management Group clients or not, would be interested in this debate from a financial planning point of view.

Dave McKevitt

Silkin Management Group Consultant

If you would like more information about Silkin Management Group and/or Silkin Management Group’s services, visit our website at www.silkinmanagementgroup.com



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SILKIN MANAGEMENT GROUP: FORMING OFFICE POLICY

October 14, 2010 By Leave a Comment
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Part 3

Silkin Management Group teaches its clients to provide clear cut office policy for the efficient running of their practice. Our clients, located throughout the United States and Canada, are all provided with our 400 plus page job description and office policy manual to help them get this basic management tool implemented.

As discussed in Part 1 and 2 of this series, which you can read on our other Silkin Management Group blog sites located here: http://silkinmanagementgroup.blogspot.com/2010/10/silkin-management-group-forming-office.html & http://blog.silkinmanagementgroup.com/?p=246, one of the most fundamental practice management tools that Silkin Management Group teaches its clients is establishing good office policies because policy is essential to achieving teamwork, cooperation and efficient coordination in any group activity. The necessary rules and procedures are outlined in office policies.

In Part 2 of this series, we presented a partial list of topics that should be addressed in written office policy.  Here are more items for addressing in your office policies:

Tardiness                                 Leave of Absence

Personal Time Off                   Jury Duty

Absenteeism                            Disciplinary Measures

Staff Meetings                                    Continuing Education

Breaks and Lunchtime            Worker’s Compensation Insurance

Unemployment Insurance       Health and Safety Rules

Problem Resolution                 Job Performance Reviews

All of these items, and many more are covered in the Silkin Management Group Office Policy and Job Description Manual that comes with the Silkin Management Group program. The Silkin program provides a doctor with the management training needed to effectively run a thriving practice. We have found in our nearly 3 decades of business that a practice only grows to the level of management skill of the doctor. Thus, providing the management education that most doctors never receive in school is vital to achieving a practice that provides the quality of life that all doctors deserve.

Part 4 of this series will cover additional topics that should be included in any practice’s office policies.

Bill Hickey

Silkin Management Group Consultant



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SILKIN MANAGEMENT GROUP: WHAT TAX CUTS?

October 6, 2010 By Leave a Comment
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Silkin Management Group’s articles of September 17th , 21st, and 23rd, which you can find on either this site or another Silkin Management Group blog site which you can link to here, http://silkinmanagementgroup.org/ went over a variety of information about the possible changes in the tax rates. One of the biggest arguments back and forth is whether discontinuing the previous tax cuts will harm small businesses or not.

The consultants at Silkin Management Group are continuously researching this subject for Silkin Management Group clients and non-Silkin Management Group clients reading our various Silkin Management Group blogs.

Given that Silkin Management Group clients are all small business owners, changes in these tax rates will affect them as well as other non Silkin Management Group small business owners. Whether you are a Silkin Management Group client or not, you should know all you can about this.

Today I found a good article by Rep. Bill Cassidy about this subject. You can link to it here: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1010/43158.html

He made several interesting points relevant to Silkin Management Group clients and non Silkin Management Group small businesses.

• He points out that no one is really getting a tax cut. If the tax cuts expire, rates will rise on Jan. 1. If the cuts continue, rates remain the same.
• He points out that “the question isn’t whether to lower tax rates for this or that income bracket. It’s whether to raise taxes and on whom.”
• He also stated that “the National Federation of Independent Business, the leading small-business advocacy organization, found that “75 percent of small businesses are organized as pass-through entities (sole proprietors, partnerships, S corporations, etc.) — meaning they pay taxes on their business income based on the individual tax rates.”

Read the entire article – you’ll find it very interesting. I feel that the data in this article sheds some light on the never ending debate between the Democrats and Republicans about this issue, with one side saying any changes in the top tax bracket won’t make any difference and the other side saying the opposite.

And, as mentioned in the previous Silkin Management Group blogs, we will continue to research this issue and suggest you “hope for the best, but prepare for the worst”. That’s the advice Silkin Management Group consultants are giving to Silkin Management Group clients.

Dave McKevitt
Silkin Management Group Consultant

You can follow Silkin Management Group at http://twitter.com/silkin.



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SILKIN MANAGEMENT GROUP: MORE ON THE TAX CUTS ARGUMENTS HOW WILL IT AFFECT YOU?

September 23, 2010 By 1 Comment
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How Will it Affect You?
Part 3

Silkin Management Group’s articles of September 17th on this site and Sept 21, which you can link to here, http://silkinmanagementgroup.org/?p=50 went over information about the arguments over the possible changes in the tax rates.

As a consultant at Silkin Management Group, we are continuing to research this subject and present information on it to Silkin Management Group clients and non-Silkin Management Group clients reading our various Silkin Management Group blogs.

Silkin Management Group clients have a great interest in this subject as they are all small business owners. The potential changes in the tax rates could affect certain small business owners significantly. Whether you are a Silkin Management Group client or not, this issue could affect you.

There has been lots of debate between the Democrats and Republicans about this issue, one side saying any changes in the top tax bracket won’t make any difference and the other side saying the opposite. To help Silkin Management Group clients sort this issue out for themselves, I offer two more articles for Silkin Management Group clients (as well as anyone else reading this blog) to read, which can be linked to here:

http://www.portfolio.com/business-news/2010/09/21/business-journals-study-shows-9-percent-of-business-owners-with-four-499-employees-could-see-tax-increases

http://opinion.latimes.com/opinionla/2010/09/which-businesses-would-pay-more-income-tax.html

The first article points out that this tax increase would affect 9% of tax filers, not the 3% that the Democrats are saying it will affect.

The second article from the LA Times (a fairly liberal leaning newspaper) points out several key points:
• That the bulk of the impact is on partnerships and subchapter S corporations, rather than the smaller mom-and-pop small businesses. Many Silkin Management Group clients fall into this high impact category.
• The businesses this would affect are the most successful. The more profitable a business, the more likely it is to take on new employees which helps the economy overall. Therefore raising taxes that takes away profits obviously leaves less for hiring and expansion. This is certainly relevant to Silkin Management Group clients.

And, as mentioned in the previous Silkin Management Group blogs, stay on top of this issue and “hope for the best, but prepare for the worst”. That’s the advice Silkin Management Group consultants are giving to Silkin Management Group clients.

Gary Crawshaw
Silkin Management Group Consultant

You can find out more about Silkin Management Group at http://silkinmanagementgroup.ning.com/



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SILKIN MANAGEMENT GROUP: SO WHAT'S THE STORY WITH CHANGES IN TAX RATES?

September 17, 2010 By Leave a Comment
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Silkin Management Group clients are all small business owners. Whether you are a Silkin Management Group client or not, if you are reading our various Silkin Management Group blogs, you are likely either a small business owner or someone involved in some way with small business.

In either case you are probably aware that there is a big debate going on regarding the extension or removal of the Bush era tax cuts. As a consultant at Silkin Management Group, my clients are interested in key governmental policies that can affect their bottom line. Thus I (as well as other Silkin Management Group consultants) am always looking for information about this that we can pass on to Silkin Management Group clients.

In my research, I ran across the following article which discusses both sides of this tax issue. I am presenting it here for both Silkin Management Group clients and non Silkin Management Group clients to check out. You can link to it here:
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2010/09/12/1284968/small-businesses-closely-watching.html

If you are a small business owner and operate in a fashion where your business income and expenses pass through to you individually (which some Silkin Management Group clients do), then the potential change in tax rates could truly make a difference. Many small businesses operate this way and, per this article, a change in tax rates could affect their ability to expand.

Many Silkin Management Group clients are set up as a C corporation in which the business income and expenses stay within the corporation and the Silkin Management Group client receives a salary and possibly profits from the corporation. In such a case there would be a potential change in tax rate for the Silkin Management Group’s client individual income if they made more than $250,000.

In either case, if you are a small business owner, you should follow this issue and “hope for the best, but prepare for the worst”. That’s the advice Silkin Management Group consultants are giving to Silkin Management Group clients.

Bill Hickey
Silkin Management Group Consultant

Follow Silkin Management Group at http://twitter.com/silkin.



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SILKIN MANAGEMENT GROUP: SUGGESTIONS ON STAFF CORRECTION

August 20, 2010 By Leave a Comment
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Part 2

Silkin Management Group’s initial blog article on staff correction, posted on August 19th can be found here: http://silkinmanagementgroup.org/?p=18.

As mentioned in yesterday’s Silkin Management Group article, we are continually helping Silkin Management Group clients with a variety of human resource type issues. We have found that clients new to Silkin Management Group have high on their “help wish list” training in dealing with staff, including hiring, training and correcting staff.

Yesterday we discussed that one of the most important things that Silkin Management Group implements with new Silkin Management Group clients is written office policies and job descriptions since clients new to Silkin Management Group rarely have proper job descriptions and office policies in place. Silkin Management Group clients are provided with Silkin Management Group’s 400 plus page manual of office policies and job descriptions for each position in the office as part of their Silkin Management Group program. It is vital to have these policies and job descriptions in place to properly correct staff.

As mentioned in yesterday’s Silkin Management Group blog, on a first offense you should show the staff member the policy and/or job description violated, have them re-read it and go over it with them to make sure they understand it and how their actions violated it.

On a second offense we recommend to Silkin Management Group clients to review the situation with the staff member and have them sign a copy of the policy or procedure that covers what was violated as an attestation that he/she understands and agrees to the policy and/or job description. Silkin Management Group clients are instructed to put a copy of the signed document in the personnel folder of the staff member and give a copy to the staff member to put in their staff binder. One can consider that this constitutes a warning.

We will cover additional offenses in our next Silkin Management Group blog.

Eric Korb
Silkin Management Group Consultant

Find out more about Silkin Management Group at http://www.ikarma.com/id/38354



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SILKIN MANAGEMENT GROUP: DO YOU HAVE A RETIREMENT STRATEGY?

August 17, 2010 By Leave a Comment
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Silkin Management Group clients vary in demographics. In fact Silkin Management Group clients exist in every state in the U.S. and every province in Canada. And Silkin Management Group clients range in age from fresh out of professional school to close to retirement. No matter your demographic, no matter your age and no matter whether you are a Silkin Management Group client or not, taking a look at a retirement and an exit strategy is a smart thing to do. And the earlier you start, the more likely you will accomplish your goals.

When looking at retirement, the first thing any financial planner will have you do is to determine how much money you’ll need or want to live on when you retire. At Silkin Management Group we have new clients take a serious look at their financial and practice goals for the long term. The Silkin Management Group consultant then has the Silkin Management Group client work out a financial strategy in terms of how much production and net income do they need to produce in order to set aside enough money each year to reach their goals.

Silkin Management Group does not recommend any financial investments to invest retirement accounts into – a Silkin Management Group client needs to have a good financial planner and/or investment planner to help them with where to put the money. Silkin Management Group simply helps them work out what level of production and net income they need to be at in order to have enough extra money every year to make their retirement goals through proper investments.

Also, a top priority for any Silkin Management Group consultant to look at with new Silkin Management Group clients is how to build up the practice so its worth is as high as possible when the Silkin Management Group client is at an age he wants to retire. The practice itself can be a very significant portion of any retirement planning but if, and only if, the practice is a good producing, high net practice with established systems and well trained staff. After all, who would want to buy a low net practice or a practice that was not run efficiently?

That’s why Silkin Management Group concentrates with new Silkin Management Group clients on establishing the proper management systems and staff training that will result in higher production, higher net, a well trained staff resulting in less stress for the doctor and a very saleable practice.

If you’d like to know more about Silkin Management Group, visit our blog: http://www.silkinmanagementgroup.blogspot.com/.

Jack Hennessy
Silkin Management Group Consultant



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SILKIN MANAGEMENT GROUP: PRODUCTS, SUB PRODUCTS AND PROCRASTINATION

August 13, 2010 By Leave a Comment
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Silkin Management Group teaches its clients how to properly manage their business. Why is this service necessary? It’s because most clients of Silkin Management Group are private practice owners in the health care field who have little to no training in business management.

There are literally hundreds and hundreds of basic management tools and systems that Silkin Management Group teaches its clients. I was reminded of one of Silkin Management Group’s key tools after reading an article today about procrastination in the Harvard Business Review (Silkin Management Group clients and non-clients can access this article here: http://hbr.org/2001/10/curbing-the-procrastination-instinct/ar/1).

This article discusses a study done at MIT about setting deadlines and how they effect whether a job gets fully done or not and whether it gets done on time. Many Silkin Management Group clients, when they first come to Silkin Management Group, have no clue about how to properly set deadlines, how to monitor compliance to orders and other basic management skills. This is one of the things we teach at Silkin Management Group.

The article points out that if you just set a single deadline your chances of compliance are poor. We have experienced the same thing at Silkin Management Group. The study further points out that if you set a final deadline and then tell the employee to set their own interim deadline, you’ll get a middle of the road result, but one better than no interim deadlines at all. Again, we have experienced the same thing at Silkin Management Group and with Silkin Management Group clients.

The best result, as pointed out in the article, and as we have experienced both in Silkin Management Group and with Silkin Management Group clients, is when you set a deadline, and then set very specific interim deadlines on a weekly and/or daily basis. This conforms with a management system we teach at Silkin Management Group having to do with clearly defining what product you are trying to produce and breaking that down into sub-products that are clearly delineated. We’ll discuss this more in future Silkin Management Group blog articles.

Dave McKevitt
Consultant for Silkin Management Group

Visit www.ikarma.com/user/silkinmanagementgroup for more information about Silkin Management Group.



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HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF AGAINST THE UNPRODUCTIVE EMPLOYEE

August 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment
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Part 2

As mentioned in yesterday’s Silkin Management Group blog which you can link to here: http://blog.silkinmanagementgroup.com/?p=238, dealing with problem employees is a major area of uncertainty and lack of training with many business owners and many of Silkin Management Group clients before they start working with us. Lack of knowledge in this area is very dangerous and can lead to incorrect actions taken with employees resulting in unnecessary liabilities which eat up time and money and can cause a great deal of stress.

We’ve presented and will continue to present relevant articles that we find concerning the various legal issues on dealing with employees. We have primarily used articles from The Law Offices of Timothy Bowles, P.C., a firm that we and many of our clients have used over the years for Human Resource issues. Today we present a follow up article from this firm on a method of protecting yourself when dismissing a “bad apple”.

Larry Silver
President, Silkin Management Group

For more information about Silkin Management Group, visit our website at www.silkinmanagementgroup.com. You can also contact Silkin Management Group at info@silkinmanagementgroup.com.


How to Fire a Troublesome Worker without Getting Burned

Susan is the supervisor for “Tony the Trouble-Maker.” Although Tony used to be the top producer in the division, lately he has been rude to Susan, fights with his coworkers, and refuses to take responsibility when something goes wrong under his watch. Susan is struggling to keep her unit in the black and this guy is weighing down the whole area. She is now ready to terminate Tony’s employment. However, Susan seems to recall Tony once boasted about how he successfully sued his former employer for “tons of dough.” Susan is concerned if she terminates Tony, he will file a lawsuit for wrongful termination, and Susan doesn’t exactly relish the unnecessary cost or distraction. How can Susan reduce the likelihood of post-employment litigation?

Susan should offer Tony an additional severance pay amount in exchange for a signed release and waiver. In theory, this is a simple transaction. Tony will receive additional money beyond his final wages so long as he signs a document in which he agrees not to sue the company for claims including wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment, retaliation, or breach of contract.

However, there are several pitfalls to this arrangement of which Susan must be aware in order to ensure the applicable state agency (such as the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing) or federal agency (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) will honor such a waiver. For example, if Susan’s company has at least twenty employees and Tony is age 40 or over, Susan must notify Tony that (1) he has up to 21 days to consider and sign the waiver after which time the company will withdraw the severance pay offer; and (2) he has another seven days to change his mind and rescind the agreement.

Handled correctly, we have found the great majority of departing workers will agree to such a severance package. Indeed, most don’t bother waiting for any part of the 21 day offer period to expire, instead signing and taking the severance check upon receiving and promptly reviewing the papers.

Our severance pay forms package includes a five-page overview of exact steps to take, two separate types of severance agreements and two corresponding checklists for the departing employee to initial and sign. By ensuring all these forms are properly understood and implemented, a company can take effective steps to prevent frivolous wrongful termination suits where the company judges it best to promote a worker’s smooth transition to other employment.

If you have any questions, please contact me or any of our other employment law attorneys.

Cindy Bamforth
Law Offices of Timothy Bowles, P.C.
One South Fair Oaks Ave., Suite 301
Pasadena, CA 91105
626-583-6600
email: information@bowleslaw.com



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IS THERE A JOB DESCRIPTION FOR AN OWNER OF A HEALTH CARE OFFICE?

July 29, 2010 By 1 Comment
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Clients new to Silkin Management Group often don’t have job descriptions for the various positions in their office. And, for certain, if they have some job descriptions they never have one for the owner of the practice. In fact it usually has never crossed their mind to have one.

The owner of the practice is the most important person in the practice. He/she is the one who sets the goals and is ultimately responsible for everything that goes on in the office and the success or failure of the office.

We provide all Silkin Management Group clients with an extensive office policy and job description manual covering all positions in the office INCLUDING the owner.

Here is some of the key points any owner should have as part of his/her job description:

PURPOSE:

To set the direction and the pace of the practice and demands the products of the organization are achieved.

To establish the practice and see to it that written policy is applied so that the purpose of the practice can be achieved.

To keep the group solvent and functioning.

PRODUCT:

Utilization of his/her Office Manager to obtain those products through proper alignment of actions which bring about continued prosperity and well being of the practice and its staff.

STATISTICS:

• Number of Active Patients
• Cash to Bills Ratio

If you would like more information about our copyrighted 400 page Job Description and Office Policy manual, contact us at info@silkinmanagementgroup.com. You can also find out more about Silkin Management Group by visiting our website at www.silkinmanagementgroup.com.

Bill Hickey
Silkin Management Group Consultant



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