The Main Street Post

If Hurricane Sandy local effects taught us anything, it’s the need to be prepared for the worst. Maybe your home is ready but, certified public accountants ask, are your finances?

PHILADELPHIA PA – Would you be able to keep your financial life in order during an emergency? Hurricane Sandy and other recent disasters underscore the importance of planning ahead. The Philadelphia-based Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) on Monday (Jan. 28, 2013) offered these tips to ensure your bases are covered if a crisis occurs.

Have Important Documents Ready
Which insurance policies will you need if you suffer damage to your home, business, or automobile, or if you or a loved one are injured? Locate these policies and keep them in a safe place. A safe deposit box would work, or you could send copies of your documents to a family member or trusted friend who lives in another location and is unlikely to experience the same natural disasters that you might.

If your documents are in electronic form, consider backing them and any other important information up to a “cloud” storage option; that should keep everything safe and easily accessible. Cloud storage – essentially large disk drives at an off-site location, accessed through a secure online system – is an increasingly popular way to save mission-critical information so it is accessible even amid disasters.

What other documents will you need? If your residence or business is damaged, an inventory of your home or office contents can help with the insurance claims process, especially for valuable items. Keep a list of key phone numbers on hand as well, like emergency services, insurance agent, and close friends and family.

Keep Cash on Hand, And Gas Up the Car
If there are power outages, stores might be unable to take credit or debit cards. Having cash will enable you to make necessary purchases. In addition, power losses can prevent gas stations from opening. That can lead to lengthy gas lines or long trips to find an operating station. Stores will quickly sell out of bread, milk, canned soups and foods, and other basic items. If you have forewarning about a disaster, don’t be caught short on the necessities.

Be Prepared to Communicate
If your family is spread across a wide range of locations, develop a communications plan in advance to share information on everyone’s status. A phone tree is one option, in which one person serves as the main contact and he or she passes on details to several people, who then each pass on details to several others.

Those with online access can also communicate through social media networks. Choose a solution that best suits your family’s needs, then consider a alternative plan in case the Internet or phone access are unavailable.

Plan to Keep Your Business Running
A communication plan is also important for businesses. Depending on the level of disruption, businesses might need to communicate with employees, vendors, investors, or other stakeholders. The communications plan should be part of an overall business continuity plan, a much broader strategy to ensure the company can be up and running as quickly as possible.

A business continuity plan should address all contingencies and include options for operating from a different location if necessary. It should also anticipate how the business would function with limited personnel, or if inventory, supplies, or other necessities are delayed or unavailable.

Planning ahead can mitigate many difficulties associated with disasters. For more information on how to prepare, find a certified public accountant in Pennsylvania at the institute’s website.

POTTSTOWN PA – Hurricane Sandy may have left greater Pottstown area property owners with building damages, but members of the Building Industries Exchange (BIE) of Pottstown and Vicinity Inc., 801 N. Charlotte St., warn those damages could become worse if improperly handled.

The BIE office on North Charlotte Street

The BIE, which is a chapter of the National Association of the Remodeling Industry, reports that con artists often show up at a property owner’s door after a storm like Tuesday’s (Oct. 30, 2012) blows through. They may offer a “great deal” for their services, based on using materials left from a neighbor’s job, but they also may demand a hefty down-payment up front.

That’s when homeowners should remember a “great deal” isn’t always as great as it seems, according to BIE Director of Operations Eileen Gilbert.

Fly-by-night operators frequently drive vehicles with out-of-state license plates, or set up temporary offices from which they can move quickly once authorities start looking for them.  Before writing a check, and especially before allowing an unknown individual into your property, BIE suggests owners should:

• Get the name and address of the company that person allegedly represents;
• Get all details of an offer in writing and carefully review it. Understand everything in the contract, and ensure it includes any verbal promises made;
• Determine how long the company has been in business, and call organizations with which the contractor is affiliated to determine its legitimacy;
• Ask for references and contact each one; and
• Don’t fall prey to high-pressure tactics, such as “this is the only chance you have” or “by tomorrow the extra materials will be gone.”

The BIE is a non-profit trade association serving the construction industry and their allied businesses since 1952. Its members voluntarily subscribe to a strict code of ethics.

Photo from the BIE