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Every year presents new opportunities to strengthen and grow your small business. Sometimes it’s just a matter of finding and identifying which of these opportunities make the most sense for your organization. 

A good small business conference is a great place to uncover ways to improve your business, whether you attend in person or send key members of your team. While some people may not think that leaving your office to attend an outside event may be all that beneficial, finance website The Balance lists five good reasons why you should consider attending small business conferences:

• Educational opportunities
• In-person networking
• Learn about competitors
• Marketing to potential clients
• Spark creativity and innovation

Whether you’re interested in just one of those benefits or all of them, there are plenty of conferences across the country that may be beneficial for you or some of your employees. We’ve identified some of the top HR conferences to attend this year, but you also need to consider marketing, finance, and other functions. Here are some of our top conference choices for small business owners in 2018.

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Professional HR conferences are a great opportunity for organizations to discover new ways to improve. For an HR professional, they provide a way to network with fellow experts in the field and learn about new tools, resources, and strategies. For a business owner, they offer a deeper understanding of how HR functions affect their business and provide a chance to allow their employees to find ways to strengthen the organization.

Every year, there are several HR conferences that organizations can choose to attend, whether those attendees need to earn Society for Human Resource Management recertification credits or simply want to learn more ways to help grow their organization. Here are some notable HR events to look out for in 2018.

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On Dec. 22, Gov. John Kasich signed legislation that clarified the 2013 small business tax statute, assuring that Sub S Corps adopting the PEO model will enjoy the same tax savings as all other Ohio small businesses. GMS took a leadership position in the industry that led to this legislative victory.

In 2013, Ohio business owners became eligible for small business deductions, reducing tax rates down to three percent. It wasn't until August 2016 that a client's tax practitioner noticed the issue on the Ohio Department of Taxation website containing instructions for the small business income deduction. FAQ No. 28 said that Sub S owner's wages paid by a PEO is not subject to the deduction.  

The client contacted their Client Services Manager, who in turn contacted GMS's Chief Financial Officer, Mark Watkins. Watkins realized that this was a major issue for all PEO clients who are Sub S Corps in the state. 

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The end of a calendar year usually causes business owners to do two things: Review the past year and learn from its successes and failures. They also start looking to the new year and set their expectations of what they want to accomplish. While a Professional Employer Organization (PEO) can’t help you with the former, it can help you tackle the latter.

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Payroll is an important part of every business. While some small business owners take the time and effort to handle payroll administration in-house, certain factors can signify that outsourcing payroll with a PEO might be in your best interest. Here are some signs that it may be time to consider a switch.

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QuickBooks software is the most widely-used accounting application for small businesses, according to Forbes. For decades, QuickBooks has been a popular option for small business owners and finance professionals to use on-premise, usually with one individual taking sole responsibility for accounting and payroll internally. More recently, QuickBooks has released a cloud-based version named QuickBooks Online, and along with it have come several new competitors in the online payroll and accounting software space.

While many of these platforms have similar features, relying on these accounting and payroll Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) applications also have many potential drawbacks for small business owners. The following are some of the things small business owners should take into consideration when choosing between a platform like QuickBooks or outsourcing these services.

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Group Management Services announced today that they have been named a Certified Professional Employer Organization by the United States Internal Revenue Service.

The designation was created as a provision of the Small Business Efficiency Act in 2014. This makes the CPEO solely responsible for payroll taxes and penalties and assures clients that they are partnering with a financially responsible and stable organization. 

“We’ve completed this rigorous certification process with in depth financial reviews and audits of our business processes as well a thorough background check of our upper management,” said Mike Kahoe, President of GMS. “This shows our customers and prospects that the IRS is holding us to a certain standard, which helps legitimize our growing industry.”

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When it comes to finding the right health plan for your business, the key is to find an option that makes sense for your business. One route that a business can go is to invest in TPA services for a self-funded health plan, which offers several benefits that can help owners save money and mitigate their risk with proper planning and support. Self-funded insurance also allows businesses to avoid some of the increased regulations on healthcare, which is a big reason why more small and midsize employers are choosing to self-insure, according to the Society for Human Resource Management.

With all that in mind, self-funding sounds like an intriguing option, right? However, there are a pair of misconceptions about self-funding that either dwell in the past or are not that relevant to business owners. Here are two reasons why owners avoid self-funding, and how a TPA can dispel those arguments.

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Whether you’re basing your budget on last year’s expenditures or planning every budget item from scratch, it’s important to review different HR needs so that you don’t come up short in the places where you need extra funds. Here are some key HR items that you should consider when planning a yearly budget.

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Escalating costs of healthcare and benefits have led business owners across the country to seek out a solution that makes the most sense for their company. Of the many options out there, self-funded health insurance has become a realistic opportunity for many small businesses thanks to third-party administrators.

These organizations, also known as TPAs, allow business owners to take advantage of self-funding, which can provide a “greater level of flexibility that comes with being able to tailor the plan to their needs,” according to the Society for Human Resource Management. The self-funding process can be complicated, but a good TPA can simplify the process so that employers can reap the benefits of self-funded insurance without having to deal with the risks of managing it themselves.

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