audit / fire

A couple things worth mentioning from last week. Thursday Gilford's had an audit from our workers compensation provider Liberty Northwest. Hadn't had an audit in a few years so there's always a little trepidation in the anticipation. Overall it went well. They basically want to see if we're claiming everything the correct way. Are our subcontractors licensed and bonded? Did I split every hour of a particular type of work our own employees did into its particular category correctly? For as long as I can remember I've been looking at the laminate (Pergo-type) flooring as a variation of hardwood flooring, but they let it be known that I've been wrong all these years and showed me the description of the category. It clearly states that they look at laminate like any other vinyl or carpet job. It's still incredible to me and makes me wonder why the last auditor never alerted me to it. I've been underpaying a full percentage point of the wages earned. For the year they were focusing on that translates to about $150. Not a huge deal. But it is forcing another audit next year...

One of our customers is a fireman with a background in the advisory side of the profession. He coordinated a carpet job with us in a few weeks and while he stood at the counter and looked around the office spoke what we all know to be true but never really focus on. If the building went up in flames tomorrow, we'd be in a world of hurt. No sprinklers, no alarm monitoring, valuable records lost. On the first point, we'd never put the money into retrofitting this old building with fire sprinklers. I suppose we're on the fence about monitoring. If the building started burning there'd be no stopping it anyway. As far as the records, that started bothering me. There are fireproof file cabinets that we can purchase to keep our payables and receivables safe for at least an hour as firefighters extinguish the blaze. A four-drawer file cabinet holds two-years worth of records. They say you should keep records for seven years. We'd need four cabinets starting at $1500 to $2000 each. As I thought about that scenario another idea entered my head about scanning everything as a backup and taking the laptop or whatever home every night. A new computer and scanner would need to be purchased. I'd also have to find a way to incorporate scanning into every bit of filing we do. Not to mention dealing with previous years if we could find the time. The attractive thing about that option would be the instant access we'd have to files in a digital form. Or we can just live like we have been with the possibility of a disaster pushed way back in our minds.