To friend or not to friend, that is the question

Therapists and many other independent professionals need to keep a clear line between their professional relationship with clients, not stepping over the line into being friends.

Many therapists are asking how to draw the line on dual relationships when they are also active on social media, and a client sends them a friend request.

For a great resource on how to respond when clients send a “friend request” on Facebook, MySpace, LInkedIn, Twitter, or other social networking sites go to   http://www.zurinstitute.com/facebook_clinicalupdate.html.

Thanks to Pat Wicklund of Leading Your Organization of One for the notice.

Three Steps to Protect Data from Rogue Employees

Robert Grapes, Chief Technologist of Cloakware, Vienna, Va., posted these tips at Business Week’s, Today’s Tip:

1. Know who has access to privileged information. Assess who has access to what data so you can understand and manage access as appropriate.

2. Apply appropriate policies to protect sensitive information. Create an actionable plan and put it into place, applying privileged passwords and access management controls throughout each level of information.

3. Update security and access credentials regularly to monitor and maintain control. Implement a regimented program to automatically update access management and passwords so you can ensure that the right people have the right amount of control over critical information.

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The Sky is Falling-Paulson as Chicken Little

Source: CPA Letter Daily

In his book “On the Brink,” former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson recounts the 48 hours before Lehman Bros. declared bankruptcy. Paulson explains the conversations he had with various Wall Street CEOs, including Ken Lewis of Bank of America, John Mack of Morgan Stanley and Dick Fuld of Lehman as federal officials and bankers scrambled to find a resolution. Paulson also delves into how he was feeling as he explained the situation to his wife. ” ‘What if the system collapses?’ I asked her. ‘Everybody is looking to me, and I don’t have the answer. I am really scared.’ ”

Lent is Coming-Consider a Financial Fast

Michelle Singletary writes the nationally syndicated personal finance column, “The Color of Money,” which appears in The Post on Thursday and Sunday. Her award-winning column is also carried in more than 120 newspapers. Her third book, “The Power To Prosper,” is scheduled to be released in January 2010. In her spare time, Singletary is the director of a ministry she founded at her church, in which women and men volunteer to mentor others who are having financial challenges. She was recently selected to receive the Distinguished Alumni Award from The Johns Hopkins University.

See her column on a financial fast. Good words here.

Savings Opportunities for 2009 from Tax Law Changes

IRS Fact Sheet FS 2010-4 provides a summary of new and expanded deductions and credits available for the 2009 filing season.  Here are some topics that are covered:

  • American Opportunity Credit helps pay for the first four years of college.
  • Many energy improvements qualify for expanded tax credits.
  • New vehicle purchase incentives.
  • Tax credits for low and moderate income workers.
  • Standard deduction increases for most taxpayers.

Read the full text at the link provided above.

Debit or Credit?

How Visa, Using Card Fees, Dominates a Market
By ANDREW MARTIN

Visa says it does not care how consumers use their debit card, as long as it is a Visa. But for now at least, the company says the only way to ensure that a purchase is routed over the Visa network is to sign.

“When you use your Visa card, you have a chance to win a trip to the Olympic Winter Games,” a new Visa commercial promises.

The commercial does not explain the rules, but the fine print on Visa’s Web site does: nearly all Visa purchases are eligible — as long as the cardholder does not enter a PIN.

Read the whole article from the New York Times, January 5, 2010.

Extended Business Carryback Period

IRS Rev. Proc. 2009-52 provides guidance under Section 13 of the Worker, Homeownership, And Business Assistance Act 2009.  Section 13 allows taxpayers to elect to carry back an applicable NOL for a period o 3, 4, or 5 years, to offset taxable income in those preceding taxable years.  It applies to NOLs for a taxable year ending after December 31, 2007, and beginning before January 1, 2010.  An election must be attached to the appropriate carryback form.  Here is sample language from the IRS website:

ABC Company is electing to apply Section 172(b)(1)(H) under Rev. Proc. 2009-52.  ABC Company is not a TARP recipient and was not an affiliate of a TARP recipient during 2008 or 2009.  We are electing a 4 year carryback period.