Small Business

Home sales increased in December, and housing professionals say the market is moving in the right direction. Residential building permits also rose for the year just ended.

Few organizations know as much about small businesses as Intuit, the maker of QuickBooks, which is the most widely-used small business accounting and management software in the world. Now, Intuit is giving back.

Sixteen years ago, the Los Angeles City Council adopted tough new guidelines on seismic retrofits for apartment buildings with soft stories built over garages.

Toy maker GoldieBlox was the winner of this year's "Small Business Big Game" contest, an annual program sponsored by Intuit, the maker of QuickBooks.Winning the contest earned the Oakland-based developer of STEM-focused toys for girls a 30-second commercial during the Super Bowl. STEM stands for the core areas of science, technology, engineering and math, and there is a movement to encourage more interest by girls and young women in these traditionally male-dominated professions.

Whether you were rooting for the Seahawks or the Broncos, or just watching for the commercials, you still probably didn't enjoy watching it as much as the owners and employees of one small California-based business.

The privilege of teaching leadership skills to firm leaders allows me the opportunity to identify various issues that are frustrating and sometimes difficult to negotiate. One of the issues that have risen to the top of the list recently is the age old issue of “Interruptions.”

The Conference Board and PwC Measure of CEO Confidence , which had pulled back in the third quarter, increased in the fourth quarter of 2013. The Measure now stands at 60, up from 54 in the previous quarter (a reading of more than 50 points reflects more positive than negative responses).

The new health insurance laws still have many individuals and small business owners scratching their heads. In an effort to help those in North Carolina, Tim Robinson, CPA, tax director at the CPA Firm of Hughes Pittman & Gupton, LLP, in the Raleigh-Durham area, recently spoke to financial executives on compliance with the Affordable Care Act. He discussed several tax penalties that will affect Triangle businesses with 50 or more full-time equivalent employees.