NAPA, which, for more than 90 years, has built its name on being a wholesale auto parts distributor serving largely auto repair businesses and fleets, is looking to grow its retail side. It is rolling out the program in 20 markets around the country, and, here in the Valley, the Gilbert store is one of the first to get the makeover. In addition to new signage, furniture, … [More]
Financially Serving the Hispanic Market
There’s more to serving the Hispanic market than simply translating messaging into Spanish. Language is a component, “but you need cultural relevance,” explains Luis Soto, a driving force in Vantage West’s recent designation of “Juntos Avanzamos” (“Together We Advance”) from Texas’s Cornerstone Credit Union League. “Vantage West is the first credit union outside the … [More]
The Expanding ATM Network
Allpoint recently added QuikTrip as a retail partner to serve the Phoenix area. The company works with banks and credit unions to provide surcharge-fee ATMs to the institutions’ customers at convenient, premier retail locations — the kind of well-known and trusted retail brand names that are already part of people’s daily routines. Financial institutions are moving to a … [More]
Considerations with Funding a Company
Determining the best capital structure for a business is one of the many difficult decisions owners and founders must make. Capital structures vary widely, and what may work best for one company may be completely wrong for another — depending on the industry area, resources available and management team. Different capital structures include bootstrapping (completely financed by … [More]
Keeping Business in the Family Way
Earlier in May, Cathy Hughes, an attorney-adviser for the Estate and Gift Tax Policy Office for the United States Department of the Treasury, sent shockwaves into the tax and estate planning community by announcing that new regulations would be implemented to make it much more difficult for families to transfer a family business to the next generation utilizing business … [More]
Business Strategies
Businesses create revenue and income relative to how they utilize assets. When a business owner goes into the marketplace to try to raise money, the bigger the business’s asset base, the better its position to do so — whether it needs to buy things to sell or make things to sell, says Michael Denning, Ph.D., professor of practice, marketing, at the W. P. Carey School of … [More]
Raising Awareness of Financial Resources
According to a recent Wells Fargo/Gallup national study, “Diverse Small-Business Owners Share Their Experiences,” 71 percent of women business owners say they feel very satisfied as a business owner and 89 percent would own a business rather than do anything else. Yet, surprisingly, the survey also found that women are largely unaware of the many resources available to help … [More]
Equity Crowdfunding Comes to Arizona
Arizona’s new crowdfunding law, which is intended to give small companies in the local Arizona economy greater access to capital, took effect on July 3, 2015. Arizona joins a growing number of states that have recently enacted laws permitting some form of equity crowdfunding. For startups and other emerging growth businesses that may not have ready access to traditional sources … [More]
Sweepstakes Offers: Legal Promotion or Illegal Gambling?
Many businesses look to hold sweepstakes, raffles, poker tournaments and other contests for marketing purposes. They don’t realize that these activities can amount to illegal gambling. “Gambling” generally means risking something of value for a chance to win a prize. With only limited exceptions, it is against the law for an Arizona business to benefit from gambling. … [More]
No More Fundraising Excuses
It is official. Philanthropic giving in the United States is not only on the rebound, it has fully recovered since the recession, marking the highest levels of giving in the country’s history. Yes, even despite weak and uneven economic recovery. According to the Giving USA 2015 report, charitable giving has risen 7.1 percent over the last year, totaling $358.38 billion. … [More]
Finance: Employee Wellness Benefit
Financial wellness is increasingly a concern of employers for their employees. “There’s almost universal awareness now that financial problems affect business,” says Mike Sullivan, director of education with Take Charge America, explaining that people do not attend to business as well as they would if they didn’t have financial problems on their mind. “So businesses need to … [More]
The Real Impact of Impact Investing
The Desert Botanical Garden of Phoenix relies heavily on one critical natural resource: water. For years its plants were nurtured with the same high-demand, potable drinking water running from residents’ taps. The environmental and cost-saving solution: non-potable water from the adjacent Salt River Project canal, offered to the “turf” industry at a 60-percent discount by the … [More]
Creditsafe Grows into West
Creditsafe, the world’s most-used supplier of online company credit reports, has opened a sales center in Tempe. “We wanted to be able to better serve our growing customer base in the west of the country,” says Creditsafe’s president of U.S. operations Matthew Debbage. The fast-growing company, which was founded in 1997 in Oslo, Norway, and set up its first U.S. headquarters in … [More]
Construction Funding on Credit
CreditSuppliers, an Arizona-based liability company, recently developed a FinTech (finance technology) designed for the needs of the construction industry — providing revolving lines of credit to contractors, subcontractors, merchants and suppliers. The new lending platform will provide contractors with Web-based help to jump-start their business and complete development … [More]
Captive Insurance Is a Financial Tool
An option businesses can use in managing their finances is captive insurance. Captive insurance is a separate legal entity — a corporation or limited liability company — that a parent company creates to cover insurable risks in a more cost-effective manner than insuring through a traditional insurance carrier. “It’s generally a wholly owned subsidiary of an existing business … [More]
Move Fast for the R&D Tax Credit Refund
Arizona keeps company with 36 other states in offering an R&D credit, with the distinction of not only offering the largest (24 percent) but also the unique attribute of having a refundable option. It is the refundable aspect that adds an element of urgency to this information, according to Tom Sanger, leader of accounting firm Moss Adams’ R&D tax services practice — … [More]
Millennial Money
The Millennial Generation will not be able to rely on pensions and social security in retirement. Instead, they will have to save and invest in the global stock market to meet their goals. To build wealth, young people must start investing early and buck conventional market wisdom. Millennial Money will explain the most common mistakes that hurt investors’ long-term returns and … [More]
Equity Deduction Window Is Closing
Equipment financing “is an active market,” says Michael Brown, president of Washington Federal’s Equipment Finance Division, headquartered in Phoenix, Ariz., which has experienced tremendous growth in the six years since the nearly-century-old institution added the product to its portfolio. And this month is ripe to see even more activity in this area in the final weeks before … [More]
