Most people hear the word “audit” and hit the panic button, including business owners.  But there is an incredibly powerful tool called the LIFT Foundation Audit that can change the way you run your business for the better.

The LIFT (Legal, Insurance, Financial, Tax) Foundation Audit is a process we walk through with our business clients to help you accurately assess where the business is now, where it is going in the future and allows us to identify any gaps that could impact critical business objectives.  The process is broken down into four parts:

Legal — in this part of the audit, we review the legal structures that form the underpinnings of your business.  These include how your business is currently structured (entity formation), copyrights and trademarks, contracts, legal agreements (buy/sell, vendor, lease, etc.), a review of your personnel and employment practices, and a personal review to determine business succession and inheritance goals.

Insurance — here we will review all your current insurance plans and policies, both business and personal, to ensure you have the proper protections in place for you, your loved ones and your company.

Financial — we will conduct a thorough assessment of the financial systems you have in place to run your business and help you identify any gaps that could be detrimental to your financial future.

Tax — for this part of the audit, we will assess your current tax situation to determine that the business has been structured properly to take maximum advantage of tax benefits.  A review of business ownership is also included in this part of the audit.

The LIFT Foundation Audit is designed to help you take a proactive approach to the management of these four critical areas of your business so you can spend your time growing the business with a firm foundation securely in place.

If you would like to talk with a Family Business Lawyer™ more about performing a LIFT Foundation Audit on your business, locate one of our lawyers in our directory today.