CPAs Should Educate SB Owners

Perhaps it's the job of the CPA or accounting professional to educate small business clients on the ins and outs of offering medical and other benefit programs to their employees.

The 2000 Small Employer Health Benefits Survey sponsored by the Employee Benefit Research Institute [1], Blue Cross Blue Shield Association [2] and the Consumer Health Education Council [3] found that the primary barrier preventing companies from offering benefits is the cost associated with employer-sponsored programs--53 percent of respondents said so.

However, analysts dug deeper into the results and suggested that small business owners were under-educated when it came to the business value of actually offering the programs.

Specifically cited as factors about which there was confusion were the tax deductions and regulatory changes that have changed the face of the small business insurance marketplace.

A full summary [4] of the findings may be downloaded in this Adobe Acrobat [5] file. The free Adobe Acrobat reader also is needed to view the link below.