An old policy is making a comeback — and it’ll rack up extra expenses for your company. To hook business travelers for more expensive tickets, airlines are bringing back minimum stay requirements. It works like this: The cheapest seats on flights to certain cities will require a one- to three-night stay, which means travelers will have to choose between an expensive trip or a few nights away from home.

And that creates a dilemma for your company: The cheaper flight will also mean more nights at a hotel, additional meals and maybe extra days’ rental car expenses. So a super cheap-o flight could easily cost you more when you factor in the additional travel expenses.

Not to mention that some employees will automatically book a more expensive flight without thinking about the cost simply because they’re eager to get home and sleep in their own beds.

To prevent problems, alert upper management now so they can settle on a definitive policy for how to handle the situation. Because it’s only going to become more common.

Right now, United’s the only airline using this new rule, but others are expected to follow suit — soon.

Do any of your payments to independent contractors qualify as a “prohibited act?” A bill (H.R. 6111) has been introduced in Congress that would make misclassification of employees as independent contractors (ICs) a “prohibited act” and increase the penalties your company faces for doing so.

If the bill becomes law and IRS discovers you’ve misclassified someone, your company might have to pay damages to the employee (for missed benefits) and fines of up to $10,000.

With an estimated 10 million misclassified ICs out there, it’s not unthinkable that you have one or two on your books, especially if you work in certain industries, like construction, that are known to have chronic problems with classification.

To make sure your company’s not at risk, you might want to review the differences between ICs and employees with hiring managers. Key: Be sure they understand there are real penalties for confusing the two. This isn’t just about Accounting wanting to follow some esoteric procedure.

If your company has a lot of ICs who are former employees, or workers who have temporary or part-time schedules, consider reviewing their files too. Automatically classifying temps and former employees as ICs is a common mistake – if your company has done it, you’ll want to make the corrections sooner rather than later.

You’re overworked and now even CFOs are admitting it. The question is: What the heck can you do about it? Believe it or not, 35% of CFOs said heavy workloads were the number one concern for their financial teams, according to Accountemps.

With budgets getting tighter and company finances under closer scrutiny, the workload isn’t likely to ease up anytime soon.

If you’re managing other Accounting staff, you’re probably already grappling with this issue. Your best bet: Keep an ear to the ground so you can quickly jump on any imbalances of workload — and make sure staffers know that it’s OK to speak up if they truly feel overwhelmed. And don’t overlook the value of a “thank you” to let employees know you appreciate their efforts.

Most people don’t mind putting in extra effort as long as they know it’s for a good reason — and is recognized by higher-ups.

If the workload burden is your own, the best thing you can do is triage: Focus on urgent, high-priority tasks first, and get to the rest when you can. Rushing to get everything done in the same 40-hour week (or pushing yourself to finish a 60-hour week) will only lead to careless errors or poorer quality work.

What’s your tried-and-true coping mechanism when the workload gets to be too much? Let us know in the comments.

IRS just dropped a doozy on you: As of July 1, the standard business mileage rate will go up eight cents to 58.5 cents per mile. That rate is in effect until Dec. 31, 2008.

It’s a mixed bag for Accounting: On one hand, it should reduce the amount of griping you hear from employees who use their cars for business travel. On the other hand, it’ll require extra work on your part to get everyone up to speed.

If your company is matching the increase, be prepared to move quickly to get the word out to everyone who needs to know it. Because there’s so little time to prepare for the change, there’s likely to be some confusion.

Send a short, clearly worded memo to business travelers, managers who approve expense reports and any other affected co-workers. Better yet: Send one via email, and one on paper to increase the chances that at least one of them gets noticed.

As a further reminder, update any electronic expense report forms you have. If that’s not an option, place an “update” notice in an area that most travelers will see. That might mean the break room, A/P’s in-bin or any other highly trafficked spot.

Congress to change the rate again?
While IRS’ change is good through the end of the year there’s another potential change on the horizon. Currently, there are bills in the House and Senate that would raise the mileage rate to 70 cents – and make the change retroactive to Jan. 1, 2008.

It may take some time for the bills to make their way through Congress, but in an election year – with voters feeling the economic pinch of rising gas prices – it’s a safe bet that some version of the law will be passed.

Other rates to note
The rates for moving and medical mileage are also increasing to 27 cents per mile. (Use the moving rate if you reimburse an employee for a job-related move.) The charitable rate, set by Congress, is still 14 cents.

Looking to improve your retirement plan — or just have better resources to pass on when employees come to you with questions? Look no further:

Retirement News for Employers is designed to give you practical information on all aspects of retirement plans. At the site, you can subscribe to a free newsletter, or search through an archive of older issues for more info on a specific topic.

Everyone thinks their state’s got a difficult or expensive tax system. The real question is how well it stacks up against the rest.

The Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council (SBE) recently released “Business Tax Index 2008: Best to Worst State Tax Systems,” which ranks states according to how much their tax systems cost companies.

All told, the report measures systems over 16 different measures, including taxes on income, property and unemployment.

You can check out the details of the report, but we’ve got the overall results here. The five best state tax systems are:

1. South Dakota
2. Nevada
3. Wyoming
4. Washington, and
5. Florida.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a contest without losers. The five worst systems are:

1. Washington D.C.
2. New Jersey
3. Minnesota
4. California, and
5. Iowa.

Will the nation’s capital be able to hold onto the title for next year? Only time will tell.

You’re far more likely to hear from IRS auditors if you fall into one of these categories:

A recent study showed IRS audits of small business (those with under $10 million in assets) have increased 41% in two years.The news isn’t much better for companies with between $10 and $50 million in assets. They’re getting more attention from IRS too.  In fact, total audits for that group is up 29% since 2005.

The information comes to us from a study by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.

Starting June 28, SSA Business Services Online resource will have several features that make it easier for you to do what you need.

The changes are designed to make the process of logging in and using the site more streamlined. Among the changes you’ll notice:

• User IDs will not be deactivated over an expired password. (Especially helpful if you only access the site once a year.)
• Passwords now have to be changed every 90 days instead of every 365 days. But, if you miss the 90-day mark, you’ll still be able to log in with your “old” password. Instead of denying access, the site will simply remind you to update your password.
• During registration (for new and current users) you’ll be asked a series of five questions. If you ever forget your password, those answers will be used to verify who you are and give you access.

While the “experts” debate whether or not we’re in a recession, it’s more likely you’re asking yourself: “Is my company at risk?” There’s no short answer — it depends a lot on your industry, region of the country, how strong your internal procedures are — and what upper management is doing to respond to the current economy.

But there are a few things you can watch to take the pulse of the company. 

The following are common problems that often crop up during tough times — even for companies that are in a position to ride things out. If you catch them early, and are prepared to deal with them, you can help your company stay healthy until things turn around.

• Cutting costs — for the wrong reason. When business is bad, it’s a natural reaction to start slashing costs wherever possible. (”Maybe we can skip attending that conference this year …”) No doubt, that’ll save you some dough in the short-term. But a better plan is to look for more permanent savings. Savings that come from permanent changes, such as making processes more streamlined, reducing redundancies etc., may not look as earth-shattering, but they’ll give you a much bigger long-term boost.
• Customer short-pays. The best way way to deal with this kind of cash crunch is to stay ahead of it. If you have customers that you suspect are more prone to have cash problems, address it with management as soon as possible. Early steps like modifying contract terms, finding more affordable options, etc. can give longtime customers the breathing room they need to keep paying their bills — and without having to hamper an otherwise fruitful relationship.
• Cash & credit crunches. If there’s a chance you’ll have to stretch a payment to a vendor because of cash shortfalls or financing falling through, your best bet is to give ‘em a heads-up early. Will they be thrilled? No. But keeping the lines of communication open signals that you’re doing your best. A surprise non-payment is going to sour things a lot faster.
• Inventory pile-ups. It’s not unheard of for sales to drop off faster than purchasers can modify buying habits to reflect the new (decreased) demand for supplies and equipment. Accounting can play a key role in reporting numbers back to purchasing departments so they can react more nimbly in the face of a slowdown.

How is your department planning to ride out the economic storm? Share your stories in the comments below.

If you’ve been informed you have any mismatched employee/vendor names and taxpayer ID numbers, it’s time to take a second look at your follow-up procedures.

For any case of a “mismatch” IRS requires companies to start backup withholding on any future payments. But in practice, it’s common for companies to start withholding late — either because they’re trying to correct the problem or they simply overlook the task at first.

That could be a costly mistake, since word in D.C. is that IRS will soon be doing spot checks of companies that have gotten mismatch notices.