April 25th, 2019 Wisconsin has approximately 185 ESOP owned businesses. Van Horn Automotive Group was recently recognized as the Wisconsin ESOP Company of the Year. The Van Horn has been a family owned business for over 50 years. Joe Van Horn moved from Chicago, IL to Plymouth, WI to open his first store; and since…
Monday, April 22, 2019: 8:00 AM PDT Course Description — This webinar will describe the tax and financial benefits benefits, structure, and process of selling a privately held business to an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). Designed for CFOs and business owners, this informative course first describes the ABCs of ESOPs but will then cover: Special…
April 11th, 2019 Founded in 1959, Cleveland, Ohio based architecture and engineering firm Richard L. Bowen + Associates announced it will become 100% employee owned on April 1st through its Employee Stock ownership Plan (or “ESOP”) . Bowen’s ESOP was established in 2007, but in 2019 the ESOP will purchase the remaining 60% of the…
April 7th, 2019 Berkeley, Ill.-based KI Industries Inc., a supplier of decorative plastic and die-cast components, ranked No. 2 on the 2019 Best Places to Work list. It also happens to have an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (or ‘ESOP”). Getting employees more engaged after adopting an ESOP means different things for different companies. For KI,…
Attending the 2019 Employee Ownership Conference? If so, there are 3 easy ways to connect: #1: On Tuesday April 9th, hear Chuck Bachman speak about The 2018 Main Street Employee Ownership Act and its Impact on SBA Lending. Chuck is our Senior Corporate Counsel. As a CPA and attorney, he specializes in the design and…
In 2018, Menke & Associates, Inc. assisted a unique, deeply relationship-driven service business with its successful transition to 100% employee ownership. The company’s two shareholders had built a $40 million-dollar entity with a worldwide, disparate supplier network, multiple Fortune 100 clients, and global operations in a heavily-regulated industry and were ready to continue their ownership…
April 2nd, 2019 Evapco, an employee owned company (ESOP) and an international manufacturer of cooling and refrigeration products, celebrated 40 years in southwest Madera, California. Evapco Madera was the second manufacturing plant that Evapco created having being founded in Baltimore in 1976. Read More at: http://www.maderatribune.com/single-post/2019/03/27/Evapco-West-marks-40-years-in-business Employee Stock Ownership Plans or “ESOPs” are a viable tool…
March 29th, 2019 For Crafts Technology of Elk Grove Village, Illinois, building an innovative culture required asking for intellect, sharing ownership, and rewarding good ideas. The company, one of the oldest continually operating tool companies in the U.S., has expertise in cutting, tooling, and shaping ultra-hard materials. Their precision tools are used in the manufacture of…
March 28th, 2019 Vermont-based Chelsea Green Publishing is now fully employee-owned, marking the completion of an eight-year transition initiated by founders Margo and Ian Baldwin. Through an employee stock-ownership plan (ESOP), the company purchased ownership shares from the Baldwins on behalf of the 25 employees of the owners of the independent publishing house. Read More:…
March 27th, 2019 Democratic Colorado Governor Jared Polis’ administration is putting together an Employee Ownership Center within the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade The center will work with law firms and accountants to simplify the process and reduce costs associated with converting to an ESOP or Employee Stock Ownership model. Read more at: https://nonprofitquarterly.org/2019/03/26/colorado-says-it-wants-to-be-the-delaware-of-employee-ownership/ Menke & Associates,…
By Victor Alam, Esq We recently came across a company whose ESOP distribution procedures prohibited participants from electing a stock distribution. Those plan provisions were in the original plan document when the ESOP plan was first adopted years ago. When the company converted from an S corporation to a C corporation a few years later,…
By Trevor Gilmore Zweig Group’s recently released 2019 Valuation Survey of AEC Firms highlights an important trend in employee ownership performance. Zweig focused on nationwide AEC firms – i.e. architecture, engineering & construction firms, of all sizes. From a valuation perspective, firms with employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) performed better than non-ESOP firms in five…
Growing numbers of U.S. companies are giving workers financial stakes via employee stock ownership plans Aritcle by Judy Stringer. Reposted from the original article at Crain’s Cleveland Business There are a few lingering questions when it comes to Great Lakes Brewing Co.’s newly announced employee stock ownership plan, or ESOP. How many shares employees will receive,…
Reposted from the original article at Business of Home HEATH CERAMICS, MADE ITS EMPLOYEES INTO OWNERS. SHOULD YOU? JAN 9, 2019 FRED NICOLAUS In 2015, Robin Petravic and Catherine Bailey, co-owners of iconic California ceramics brand Heath, were looking ahead to the 15th anniversary of their tenure. Over the last decade, the couple had transformed the company from a struggling…
By John D. Menke, Esq. Now that the dust has settled following the passage last December of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (“TCJA”), it is clear that the new tax act confers substantial tax benefits on businesses and their owners and also makes ESOPs even more attractive, both for existing ESOP companies…
Session 1 – Introduction Session 2 – ESOP and Retirement Plan Basics Session 3 – Basic ESOP Transactions Session 4 – S Corporation ESOPs Session 5 – Plan Operation Features: The Four Hurdles Session 6 – Advanced ESOP Transactions Session 7 – ESOP Valuation Session 8 – Corporate Governance Session 9 – Key Employee Incentive Plans Session 10 – Administration and Recordkeeping –…
SAN FRANCISCO – June 1, 2017 – PRLog — Menke & Associates, Inc., the nation’s largest and oldest employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) advisory firm, announced today that they are becoming a Founding Member of Certified Employee-Owned® (Certified EO), a new certification program for employee-owned companies. “Menke & Associates is majority owned by its employees.…
The Brix Group, a leader in onboard entertainment and communication systems for the commercial vehicle industry, has become 100% employee owned. With the help of The Menke Group, The Brix Group has extended ownership to their employees by way of an Employee Stock Ownership Plan. In addition to helping create financial security for employees, the…
This is a one-and-a-half hour live Audio/Web Seminar that covers the basics of ESOPs from A to Z. This Audio/Web Seminar is designed for company owners and financial officers who want to determine whether an ESOP might be a good fit for their company. This program is designed to provide a broad overview of the…
SolarCraft, a well established Novato solar panel design and installation firm, has become 100% employee owned. With the help of The Menke Group, the principal owners of SolarCraft have extended ownership to their employees by way of an Employee Stock Ownership Plan. In addition to helping create financial security for employees, the plan is designed…
A new comprehensive tax reform proposal was introduced by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp on February 26th, 2014. Camp’s proposal would cut the tax rate for C corporations to 25% over a period of five years. It would also cut individual tax rates to two brackets (10% and 25%), but it would…
The following is a list of affected sections of the Code and the 2014 limitations of interest to the ESOP community Code Section Description 2016 Limitations 2015 Limitations 401(a)(17) Limit on the amount of annual compensation taken into account $265,000 $265,000 402(g)(1) Limitation on the exclusion for elective deferrals described in Section 402(g)(3) of the…
This may be the opportune time to take action to avoid the increase in capital gains tax rates that will most likely take effect next year. According to the Kiplinger Tax Letter, Congress will likely increase the tax rate on long term capital gains for high income individuals from 15% to 20% starting next year.…
ESOPs were first authorized by federal legislation in 1974. Since that date, there have been more than 25 separate pieces of legislation that have further defined what an ESOP is and what an ESOP is permitted to do. Despite this fact, significant misconceptions about ESOPs persist. The following describes some of the more prevalent myths…
A study released today by Alex Brill, former advisor to the Simpson-Bowles bipartisan deficit reduction commission and a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, finds that private employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) organized as S corporations increased employment over the last decade more quickly than the overall private sector. Among surveyed “S-ESOP” companies, the Brill…
An increasing number of companies are turning to Employee Stock Ownership Trust financing as a means to simultaneously raise low cost capital and provide increased employee incentives and retirement benefits while reducing the cost of qualified plan benefits. The Employee Stock Ownership Plan is a qualified plan under Section 401(a) of the Internal Revenue Code.…
Advantages to C Corporations Many companies that have ESOPs fail to realize that their ESOP can be used to the finance acquisitions with pre-tax dollars. Normally, when debt is incurred to finance an acquisition, only the interest payments are deductible. Principal payments are not deductible. However, if the acquisition is financed through an ESOP, both…
The Los Angeles Times featured an article about Howard’s Appliance & Flat Screen Superstores, which has been 100% employee-owned since 2000. The company, which started as a radio repair shop in San Gabriel, sold nearly half of the company over to the employees when the government approved employee stock ownership plans in 1976. Employees acquired 100%…
Mills James, a comprehensive creative media production company based out of Columbus, Ohio has made an animated film explaining how their Employee Stock Ownership Plan (and how ESOPs in general) work. Mills James employs about 150 employees and specializes in the following areas: Teleproduction, Broadcast Production, Business Video, Meetings & Events, Web Interactive and Original…
