Human Capital


  • Payroll processing company for one employee

    I have a client with one employee - we are looking for a payroll processing company to pay the employee, pay the taxes and file all tax returns. Of course it has to be reasonably priced. The client is based in NYC.  I have looked at many companies and the most cost effective seem to be Sure Payroll…

  • Retention Bonus Accounting

    When do you recognize bonus expense when company grants a retention bonus payable 75% in year 1 and 25% in year 2 with clawback provisions?

  • Tax accountant interview questions...

    What are good questions to ask a tax accountant when interviewing them?  What are the best ways to determine if they are right for the job?

  • What do you do after you have been fired for not committing fraud

    It is great that our profession says we are not allowed to commit fraud. I was recently fired because I refused to fraudulently charge out a grant. I now have no references. I am forced to sue them and spend a significant amount of money to do so but I feel like the victim who has stolen my career …

  • Why do hiring decisions take such a long time?

    Seems like they can get strung out over weeks and months - and frequently they won't even get back to you once they have passed you over. What's up?

  • How to deal with a difficult boss who biased my annual performance review?

    I just got my yearly performance review at work, and the things didn't go very well. Some of it was positive, but a lot of it took me by surprise, and now I'm worried. I disagree with my boss, and I know that my review is biased. This is because I put in discussions some bad decisions which seem ag…

  • What interview questions to ask when hiring a Financial Modeler?

    I am looking to hire a Financial Modeler for modeling projects. Other than the usual HR type of behavioral questions, what technical questions can I ask to differentiate the better modelers from the crowd? An example I can think of is "In what circumstance is Vlookup preferred over a Index-Match co…

  • Best Practices for Commission Payouts

    We are in the process of reviewing our rules on commission payouts for our sales execs. Currently, we have quarterly goals and incentive structures for each rep/territory. We have not had a clear cut payout rule for commission on attainment of those goals, except for a general alignment to the idea…

  • Accruing a liability for Sick Days

    I joined a company where they are accruing a liability for sick days even though employees do not get paid for sick days if they leave the company. I always was under the impression that you only accrued for sick days (or vacation days) if there is an amount paid upon termination. Here there would …

  • Use of internal salary data in personal salary negotiations

    Hoping all senior finance execs can chime in with opinions on this one... I head finance and so am privy to all salary data within the company.  Recently, I requested a personal salary increase and one of the data points I used to support my request was salaries of others in the company.  Specifica…

  • I Took The Wrong Job - Now What?

    I have worked for a world giant very well known company for 8 years. Promoted twice and received several awards and recognitions within this 8 years time frame. 5 months ago I have quit my job to look for other opportunities outside the organization. I just wanted to have a couple of months of time…

  • Quitting Job vs Waiting For Bonus Payment

    I have been working for this company for 3 years,If i resign now will i be able to get my bonus or if I want to resign a day before the company closes for its annual holiday,do i still have to come back in January?

  • Recommend health benefits waiting period?

    We have just implemented health, dental and vision benefits for our 10 person company. Our health plan has a default one-month waiting period for new hires, but we can waive this so coverage starts on the first day of hire. I see the benefit of the waiting period since it provides a trial period be…

  • Transitioning From Vacation To PTO

    What Happens To Accrued PTO When Moving To An Unlimited PTO System? My company is moving from giving and tracking PTO to an "unlimited" PTO policy. It was inspired by the discussion on this site, actually, but we had been considering that in the past. Anyway, I'm wondering what we need to do with …

  • "Open" PTO policy

    My company is considering moving to an Open time off policy, where there are no number of maximum days specified for employees, but instead managers are given discretion around approving time off (with the exception of extended leaves which fall under a separately policy). This requires a high leve…

  • CFO interview questions and answers. What to ask and what to answer?

    I got a lot out of this article https://www.proformative.com/articles/what-not-say-job-interview, but was wondering what the community believed to be the case more specifically re: a CFO job search.I got a lot out of this article <a href="https://www.proformative.com/articles/what-not-say-job-in…

  • What should the priorities be for a new CFO's first 90 days?

    The new CFO's first 90 days are critical. What are the priorities?

  • CFO Performance Reviews

    What key things should a CFO be measured on?  I used to think company performance plus qualitative progress on the key initiatives they own.  BUT what happens if you are working very hard and achieving results and driving initiatives forward and the company is not performing overall?  Especially si…

  • Employee Bonus Plans - Salary & Bonus Mix

    I am looking for what a good mix is for Salary and bonus %. Primarily for Administrative staff.

  • How To Calculate The Entire Cost Of Employees

    Hi.  Does anyone have a good template for doing "all in" employee costing?  In order words, pay rate, burden, office space, equipment, etc.? 

  • Reimbursement for home internet

    What is the prevailing thought (i.e., do companies reimburse?, how much? is it a % of the total or a flat amount?,etc) on reimbursing off-site sales and service employees for home internet charges?

  • Would you prefer to be a big fish in a small pond or a small fish in a big pond?