Allen & Company, PC

10/09/2025

Should we look forward to Wendy's attempt to rebrand itself? Check out this article regarding its new "Project Fresh" initiative.

Wendy's quick service restaurants are the latest business in the fast food industry to attract former customers and improve their sales. The board of directors and officers have been unhappy with the decline in stock value and, after spending a lot of money, have decided to introduce a new "Project Fresh" plan in order to revitalize the brand and grow profits again.
Wendy's will spend millions of dollars most likely in marketing and Creed UnCo consulting fees to develop data-driven advertising and reconnect with its customers. They will spend even more money in new technology and research related to the customer experience.
Wendy's, please consider some free advice. Take a look at the one or two other quick service restaurants that are dominating the industry, which is evidenced by long lines and repeat customer business each and every day by doing three things that customers value. This includes having a clean dining room and restrooms, high quality food and beverages, and friendly and respectful service. It's that simple.
Almost all of the fast food restaurants other than the few at the top simply could care less about cleanliness, product quality, and service, which is obvious as soon as one steps inside the door. Personally, I rarely dine at fast food restaurants other than the couple of quick service restaurants that demonstrate consistent, reliable, and predictable quality, but when I last visited a Wendy's, Popeyes, and McDonald's, the restaurants were so filthy, the food was so processed and mediocre, and the greeting was so unfriendly and unintelligible, I haven't returned. Pursue the three basic objectives of sparkling cleanliness, awesome food, and amazing service and you won't need to spend millions in order to regain customer loyalty.

10/09/2025

Wendy's quick service restaurants are the latest business in the fast food industry to attract former customers and improve their sales. The board of directors and officers have been unhappy with the decline in stock value and, after spending a lot of money, have decided to introduce a new "Project Fresh" plan in order to revitalize the brand and grow profits again.
Wendy's will spend millions of dollars most likely in marketing and Creed UnCo consulting fees to develop data-driven advertising and reconnect with its customers. They will spend even more money in new technology and research related to the customer experience.
Wendy's, please consider some free advice. Take a look at the one or two other quick service restaurants that are dominating the industry, which is evidenced by long lines and repeat customer business each and every day by doing three things that customers value. This includes having a clean dining room and restrooms, high quality food and beverages, and friendly and respectful service. It's that simple.
Almost all of the fast food restaurants other than the few at the top simply could care less about cleanliness, product quality, and service, which is obvious as soon as one steps inside the door. Personally, I rarely dine at fast food restaurants other than the couple of quick service restaurants that demonstrate consistent, reliable, and predictable quality, but when I last visited a Wendy's, Popeyes, and McDonald's, the restaurants were so filthy, the food was so processed and mediocre, and the greeting was so unfriendly and unintelligible, I haven't returned. Pursue the three basic objectives of sparkling cleanliness, awesome food, and amazing service and you won't need to spend millions in order to regain customer loyalty.

07/07/2025

Michael Allen has just published his first book, Accounting For Business Success: Transforming Your Garbage Into Treasure! If you or someone you know is attempting to do the accounting for a small- or medium-size business, then this is the book to get the financial statements and the business decisions correct.

If you or someone you know has any interest in purchasing either the eBook or paperback version on Amazon and reading one, two, or even three chapters, I would really appreciate a short review for a successful launch.
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=accounting+for+business+success&i=stripbooks&crid=1M3IH2ZL7J0YT&sprefix=accounting+for+business+success%2Cstripbooks%2C91&ref=nb_sb_noss

If you don’t have any interest in writing a review or maybe don’t have the time, no worries. I completely understand! But a review could lead to a sale from someone who really needs their company’s financial information to be correct. If the financial information is recorded incorrectly, the financial statements will be wrong. And if the financial statements are wrong, then so too will be the business decisions. And if the business decisions are wrong? Well, the business could join the 96% of businesses that fail after ten years after taking too long to correct ill-fated marketing decisions or react to overspending.

Many business owners using accounting software believe that by simply using the software that they’ll get accurate information about their business. They may download the transactions directly from their business bank account internet site and then do nothing else, like actually categorizing the transactions in the proper accounts. They may be saving a little money by not hiring a professional to assist them with their accounting, but they may be doing more damage in the long run to their business in the process. The accountants at Michael’s firm, Allen & Company, have seen business owners incorrectly record equity transactions as expenses and income transactions as accounts payable and then they are surprised at the end of the year when the nice accountant informs them that their taxable income is hundreds of thousands of dollars higher than the net income reported in their software! May this not be you – or your friends.

This book will help business owners, their managers, and their bookkeepers attain a basic understanding of how to prepare accurate and timely financial statements without formal education and training. Who wants to spend four years in college learning all of this?

Readers will learn:

• Why their cash balance doesn’t necessarily equal their net profit
• How to record their business transactions
• How to close their books and prepare financial statements
• How to interpret the meaning of their financial statement numbers
• About key performance indicators to measure the success of their business
• Where their cash is coming from and where it’s going
• How to prepare budgets and cash forecasts and take control of their business

Those who purchase this book will also gain access to some very powerful resources such as reports to analyze the financial health of their business compared to their competitors and worksheets to define and track their goals (I hope they have goals!). Business owners attempting to do their own accounting can turn their financial garbage into a treasure trove of information to ensure that their business succeeds! Thank you!

03/21/2025

We've seen tax information delivered to us in many different methods. Paper documents delivered by U.S. mail or overnight delivery and in-person drop-offs, documents sent by e-mail or fax, pdf documents saved on USB drives, images sent by cell phones, and documents uploaded to a client portal. I've even seen receipts tucked away in a ziplock sandwich bag and in an Olive Garden brown sack! But it wasn't until a couple of days ago that we received a Saran-wrapped folder through a slot in our front door. Hmm. Whatever works, I 'spose!

01/25/2024

Today's tax strategy is simple, but many investors don't always follow it. Hold stock for more than 12 months to take advantage of the lower long-term capital gain tax rates. If stock prices are decreasing, you may wish to calculate the stock price break-even point to determine the price to which the stock can fall and still be advantageous to hold for long-term capital gain treatment, that is to cover the purchase price and costs of ownership.

01/05/2024

Do you use a space in your home exclusively and regularly for your business? It's not typically a huge tax deduction, but you could claim a portion of expenses such as mortgage interest, real estate taxes, home insurance, utilities, security monitoring fees, and depreciation as a deduction. Every dollar helps, right? If you plan on selling your home at some point, just be aware that any depreciation allowable (whether actually deducted or not) will offset the future home sale gain exclusion.

12/20/2023

Do you have a business? Do you have a child? As a tax savings strategy, you might consider having a child under age 18 work for your business. Yes, the child actually needs to provide services of some kind. The business will obtain a deduction for the wage expense, but the wages are not subject to Social Security, Medicare, or unemployment taxes. If the wages paid do not exceed the child's standard deduction amount, he or she may not be required to file an income tax return.

11/29/2023

Do you have a sole proprietorship or single-member LLC business? Is your salary less than the F**A wage base ($160,200 for 2023)? If so, you may be able to reduce your Self-employment (SE) Taxes substantially by electing S Corporation tax status. Business net income reported on Schedule C of a personal income tax return is subject not only to ordinary income tax but also SE taxes of 15.3%.

11/21/2023

Today's tax planning tip is simple. Purchase securities or shares of mutual funds that pay qualified dividends that are taxed at the lower 0%, 15%, or 20% capital gains rate, depending on the level of overall taxable income. These are generally dividends from domestic C Corporations or foreign corporations incorporated in the U.S. or otherwise readily tradeable on an established U.S. securities exchange.

11/15/2023

Many people and businesses pay too much income tax because they do not know how to reduce their income tax. The goal of income tax planning is to minimize tax liabilities without sacrificing other personal and financial goals. Two basic techniques to reducing income tax are avoiding tax altogether and deferring income tax to the future. Avoiding tax includes generating tax-free income, creating tax deductions and credits, and shifting income to other family members who are in lower tax brackets and to whom one might intend to provide some support anyway. Deferring tax includes reducing or eliminating your taxes today by postponing them to sometime in the future when the tax bracket might be lower. Deferring taxes provides funds currently so that they may be invested in order to make more money in the meantime.

A strategy for today is simple. Convert taxable securities such as corporate bonds to tax-exempt securities such as state municipal bonds. For example, the Internal Revenue Service does not tax Georgia municipal bond interest income and neither does the Georgia Department of Revenue.

11/16/2021

Allen & Company is hiring for tax season!

Title: Seasonal Accountant Department: Accounting
Report to: Shareholder(s)

Basic Function: To help people and businesses use their financial information to achieve financial independence and enjoy their lives. This involves performing business accounting and financial statement compilations, assisting with financial statement audits and reviews, and preparing various tax returns during our busy season from February 1 through April 29.

Duties:

• Transform the lives of our business and individual clients so that they can achieve their goals, have more financial freedom, and have more time to enjoy their prosperity.
• Provide highly valued services that directly and positively affect our clients’ lives in a manner where they are treated specially.
• Contribute to society by making a difference in the lives of our clients, helping them to enjoy their lives and achieve success.

Benefits:

• $25 per hour for seasonal accountants.
• Work/life balance. We understand that family is important and offer flexible schedules for our hourly firm members with an opportunity to take on as little or as much client responsibility as they desire.
• An environment that encourages our firm members to be creative, have fun, and to be innovate.
• Challenging and interesting work for our firm members.
• Opportunities to enhance our professionals’ skills and help them become better people.
• Recognition for our firm members’ outstanding accomplishments and successes.

Firm Description: Allen & Company, PC is a certified public accounting firm in Kennesaw, Georgia providing traditional accounting, tax, and consulting services. However, the firm’s focus is on partnering with businesses to proactively assist business owners in improving their business processes and, ultimately, their net profits and cash flow. We believe that our firm members are human capital investors seeking a decent return on their investment rather than merely assets or inventory. In order to provide a fair return on our firm members’ investment in us, we continually ask ourselves how much the firm is worth to our firm members rather than asking how much our firm members are worth to the firm.

Minimum Requirements: We are looking to hire people who are passionate about meeting the needs and desires of our clients and proactive in assisting our firm grow and acquire new clients. Energy, optimism, discipline, and friendliness required. Working toward a Bachelors degree in Accounting required. Proficiency but not necessarily mastery of Microsoft Excel and Word required.

Please contact Michael Allen if you are interested in this position.

[email protected]

04/02/2020

Allen & Company Newsletter - Coronavirus (COVID-19) Relief Programs -

In response to the Coronavirus (COVID-19), the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) was signed into law on March 27, 2020.  This largest stimulus in U.S. history will provide many individuals with stimulus payments and many businesses with financial relief.   Individuals ...