Unity Ceremony

One of the most beautiful parts of a wedding ceremony is the unity ceremony.  I first witnessed a candle lighting ceremony 10 years ago at my god-daughter’s wedding.  It was a part of the ceremony in which both families signified the unification by lighting candles from one “unity” candle.  It was beautiful.

A few years ago I witnessed this same unity ceremony with the use of sand!  At first I thought is was a sorry substitute for the intimate candle lighting ceremony, but after seeing how beautiful the vessels of sand turned out I had a change of heart.  The sand vessels also serve as a beautiful reminder of the unity of man and wife and their families. 

Both unity ceremonies are beautiful.  In my opinion, they should be a part of every wedding ceremony.

Wedding Decorations

Wow!  You’re getting married!  Planning can be as much fun as it can be stressful.  Everyone wants everything to be just perfect.  Whether on a shoestring budget and a Rockefeller budget, your wedding can be as beautiful and memorable as you want it to be.

Wedding decorations are an important and intricate part of any wedding.  Decorations for the church and reception hall may include: streamers, flowers, centerpieces, wedding favors, shower favors, bridesmaids gifts, runner for walking down the aisle…WHEW!   That’s a lot!  And I probably forgot a few items!

Making your wedding planning process as easy as possible is something I strongly recommend.  Finding  professionals who can help you find your individual style while maintaining your budget   is essential.  Why not take some of the stress and time out of planning your wedding.   If you’re like me, then  a DIY (Do It Yourself) wedding is not your cup of tea.  Why not let the professionals help while you go have a spa day?

 

Wedding Invitations

So!  He popped the question!  You said YES!!!  Now the fun begins!  Once you’ve agreed on the date, the place where you will be married and a place for the wedding reception, the color scheme and/or wedding theme, the next step is to select your wedding invitation.  

Choosing the wedding invitation is one of the biggest decisions the bride will make.  It is the first impression that guests will get about what type of wedding you will have; informal, formal traditional.

It’s a good idea to have the color(s) of the invitations match the colors that you’ve chosen for your wedding; bridesmaid gowns, groomsmen ties and cummerbunds, flowers and decorations.  If you have a theme you may want to incorporate that into the scheme of you invitations as well.  Other things to take into consideration when selecting your invitations including card stock, paper texture, font etc.

The most important function of the invitation is the RSVP cards.  Receiving the RSVP’s back in a timely manner will help you to have an accurate number of people to prepare for and give an accurate account of how much money you will spend on the reception.

Your wedding is the supposed to the one of the most important, most beautiful days of your life!  We hope you allow us to help you with your invitation selection!

HER...TODAY: Member Benefits

HER...TODAY: Member Benefits: Click Here to register and get your promotional codes for discounts! Thank you for your interest in membership with HER…Healed Empower...

Vendor fraud takes many forms

Vendor fraud is like a leaky water main. Little by little it drains your company's resources, but is often hard to detect. One survey found that U.S. businesses lose $65 billion annually to fraud, or about 5% of their revenues. And much of that fraud is committed by company suppliers, with or without the help of insiders.
Common schemes include the following:

• Overbilling. A supplier may alter an invoice by nudging the unit price higher or paring down the quantity to be delivered. Although billing departments make honest mistakes when preparing invoices, a pattern of such anomalies may warrant investigation.

• Bid rigging. One of your employees, often in collusion with a vendor, may bypass certain suppliers and award a contract to a higher-priced firm — for a piece of the profits.

• Kickbacks. To secure a company's business, a vendor may cut a deal with an insider. A portion of the vendor's revenue may be "kicked back" to the employee as compensation for steering business a certain way.

• Fictitious vendors. In some cases, an employee will scour vendor files and find a company that's no longer in business. Using that firm's name and letterhead, the employee then prepares invoices and steers payments to a personal post office box or bank account.

• Delivery fraud. Sometimes goods show up at the shipping dock, but they're damaged. Or the quantity to be delivered doesn't match the packing slip. Again, honest mistakes happen. But if such "mistakes" occur week in and week out, be suspicious.

To prevent vendor fraud, consider implementing these policies:

• Establish an anonymous fraud hotline. Most frauds are exposed by tips, often from those inside the company. To find the leak, you may need to dig.

• Screen new hires. Rigorous background checks can prevent problems later on. Someone who's been convicted of embezzlement at another company may not be the best choice for your purchasing department.

• Validate your vendors. To prevent fictitious vendor schemes, regularly review each supplier's tax identification number, street address, and contact information. Remove duplicate files and purge defunct vendors from your records.

• Watch the shipping dock. Log every delivery and compare packing slips with goods delivered. Set specific delivery times, preferably when business is slow, so your employees can concentrate on the matter at hand.

• Get regular audits. If employees know that the auditor is coming, they may think twice about conspiring with vendors.

aconner@atconnercpa.com

Direct deposit of your tax refund can go awry

Ever since Congress passed the Pension Protection Act of 2006, you've had the option of depositing your income tax refund directly to an individual retirement account or IRA. In theory, that sounds like a good thing. Like paycheck contributions to a 401(k) account, depositing tax refunds directly to an IRA ensures that they're "out of sight and out of mind." You don't receive a check in the mail, and the refund doesn't show up in your checking account. So you're less likely to spend it on tires for the car or a vacation in Mexico.
Instructing the IRS to deposit your refund to an IRA is accomplished by filling out a one-page form (Form 8888). By attaching this form to your tax return, you can split your refund and have it deposited to as many as three separate accounts. (Direct deposit to only one account can be designated directly on your tax return.) The IRS touts four advantages to direct deposit: faster refunds, more secure payments, convenience (you don't have to make a trip to the bank), and less cost for the government.
But the process can go awry in at least three ways:

• Wrong year. Let's say you want your tax refund designated as an IRA contribution for 2012. If the custodian of the IRA doesn't get that message and applies the refund to 2013, you may have problems. In fact, the mistake may affect your tax liability for both years. For 2012, you may owe more taxes because contributions aren't credited against your income; for 2013, your contributions may exceed IRS limits, resulting in penalties. So it's crucial that the custodian of your retirement account knows your intentions.

• Wrong account information. Transposing routing or account numbers, or mistyping even a single digit may result in major headaches. At the least, your refund may be held up. At the worst, your money could end up in someone else's account. Also, if the wrong account type is designated, your bank may not accept a direct deposit.

• Wrong refund amount. Math errors happen. If you miscalculate the tax refund, or if the total of the amount to be allocated doesn't agree with the total refund claimed, the IRS will likely send a check for the corrected

www.atconnercpa.com

Group Travel Planned Simple

So you’ve reached the decision to visit Ocho Rios, Jamaica with your family and friends. Awesome choice! The only thing is you have no idea on what to do next in order to get the word about your group trip. One other problem is, you’ll need to figure out how much time will everyone need in order to pay for their trip and who will be responsible for taking payments since you’ve come to the conclusion that, although  you’re the group’s organizer, you simply won’t touch no one else’s money. Believe me; I hear these exact questions at least 4 times a week. Worry no more! I’m going to walk you through and offer tips and advice on how to plan your family and group’s vacation so that you can be worry free and everyone is happy. If you follow the tips below, be prepared for nothing but a sweet reward upon arrival!

Tip #1 -Host A Travel Party

Yup! Everyone loves gathering for family & friends social outings so why not gather with a focus on vacation? Host a travel party! Recommended time to host the party is at least 12 months prior to departure. For instance, if you’re planning to travel in November 2013, it’s a good idea to present the idea to your family and group in November 2012. Why? First, as mentioned, you want to engage everyone to your idea and how you think it would be nice for everyone to vacation together. Also, this will open the floor for additional suggestions and ideas. Sooooo, host a party with a theme. If you chose the Caribbean and you are interested in Jamaica, have your party set on the theme of Reggae music, Caribbean vibe and have some authentic Jamaica food to go with it. You can even decorate your house or venue with beach attire to represent the beautiful white sandy beaches that are home to the island. This will set the tone for your vacation idea and help pull in the “Yes! I’m in!”

Tip #2-Invite Your Travel Professional

You read correcto! After the first meeting and you have a solid commitment from all who are going on the trip, set the date no later than 45 days after the first meeting for an info session on the destination of choice. But this time, invite your special guest, your Travel Agency. Depending on who you are working with, they may be willing to come out and help you with the party. Since they’ll bring brochures of your destination this will go over well with your guests because it will add more excitement and a tease. Plus, if you invite your Travel Professional, you can leave all the talking and Q&A session to them. BAM! You win again. Told you this will go smooth!

*Suggestion* If your Travel Agency is not available for your event, simply let them know what you are doing. Although they may not be able to attend the info session, they may be willing to call during the event and you can place them on speaker so that everyone can listen in. Also, ask if you can stop by to grab some brochures for your guests. 

Tip #3-Face 2 Face With Your Travel Professional

After the info session, arrange a date to meet face to face with your Travel professional. Be sure to make this appointment no later than 10 days after the info session. Remember, time is everything in the travel industry. And, with the travel party and the info session now over, those who are committed are ready to book! The last thing you want is a delayed process and people backing out. Once you and your Travel Agency have discussed what you are looking for, they will draw a Travel Request Form detailing your group’s information, destination and what’s included in your package. It will resemble that of a contract. Once this is all finalized, you are ready to go. At the meeting, be sure to ask all the questions that were raised during your party and info session. Especially those questions that you are still not clear on. Once your questions have been answered and you are satisfied with the rates, dates, and package amenities, you can make your official announcement on where your group will vacation at in 2013!

Tip #4 -Deposits & Payments

Be sure you leave your Travel Professional’s office with a clear understanding of how paying for your vacation will work. This is especially important when working with groups. Remember, if you don’t ask, it’s assumed you already know. Key questions to ask are what are our payment options? Can we pay over the phone? Do you accept PayPal? How will I receive an invoice? Are passports required?

Once you’ve asked these questions it’s time to move on to the next and final step of the group travel process. Your Travel Professional will help you create a customized payment plan for your group. You will NOT have to be concerned with hunting anyone down for payments. That’s our job! On the flyer will be a detailed payment plan including the final date to make initial deposits, future payment dates and amounts of all payments. Below is an actual plan for a group trip taking place during Mother’s Day Weekend 2013 with a Travel & Social Club here in Philadelphia. My agency detailed the payment plan so that payments would be affordable and not over whelming. Take a look…

“Deposit Deadline 09/01/2012

Initial Dep of $150 Per Person Due by September 1, 2012 (No Extension Date)

Min Per Person Dep of $100 Due by October 1, 2013

Min Per Person Dep of $100 due by November 1, 2013

Min Per Person Dep of $100 Due by December 1, 2013

Min Per Person Dep of $100 Due by January 3, 2013

Min Per Person Dep of $100 Due By Feb 1, 2013

Final Payment Due No later Than March 25, 2013”

Notice that it looks almost like a uniform in that all payments except January and the final payment are due on the same day but different months. This is important because not only is it a repeat, but your group will treat this almost like a “good” credit card bill. Although the trip isn’t taking place until May, we created the plan to accept the final payment in March. While the point of a payment plan is to alleviate the stress of having to pay for your trip upfront, it also becomes boring having to keep paying!   double. Because our clients make monthly payments on their trip, when their final payment is due and if  

Overall, this can take every bit of 6 – 10 months planning. But don’t stress. It’s all worth the hassle! Well planned vacations are often the best ones. Your group will be happy that you’ve taken the time to put this together. And honestly so will any Travel Professional! At Wallet Happy Vacations we work with families and groups all the time. I can’t stress enough how many people I’ve spoken to intended to back out or cancel their “idea” of bringing family and friends together through travel prior to calling us. My suggestion is this, don’t ever back out before you’ve asked all the questions. While this is a very dedicated task indeed, it’s also very rewarding to any Group Leader. Oh, did I mention that Group Leaders travel for FREE?! Of course there are stipulations. But, after all of the hard work, I’m sure you’ll qualify!

So, go ahead and start planning for 2013. Your family and friends await the annoucement!