Business Stress Test ™ 

According to a 2014 Forbes article, between 36 and 53 percent of operating businesses in the U.S. are involved in at least one legal or court proceeding in any given year. Many of those businesses are sued by employees, contractors, vendors, clients, customers, and even business partners.

What’s even more concerning than the numbers is the fact that many of these legal issues and disputes could be prevented, or at least minimized, with the proper legal planning and compliance.

Don’t Become a Statistic

A ‘business stress test ™ ’ is like a legal audit for your established business to help you avoid becoming a lawsuit statistic. It’s a thorough review of your operations, procedures, and legal documents to identify any holes or weaknesses that are leaving your business vulnerable to lawsuits and other disputes.

The business stress test begins with a one-hour consultation to develop a personal audit plan for your business based on your specific needs and goals. Then, we’ll thoroughly and systematically audit your business with a hands-on, deep dive into your documents and operations.

What Does a Business Stress Test™  Include?

Every business is different, with unique needs, but your business stress test may include a review of the following:

• Contracts and Agreements – We’ll review your employee, vendor, lease, and sub-contractor contracts to determine if there are any holes or gaps that could lead to liability issues.
• Employee Handbooks – If you have employees, you need an employee handbook. We’ll examine yours to look for consistency, compliance, and thoroughness. If you don’t have one, we’ll help you put one in place.
• Formation Documents – If you want to run a legally compliant business, you must follow the formalities. We’ll review your Articles of Incorporation, Corporate Binders, Operating Agreements, and other formation documents to make sure they’re current and complete.
• Regulatory Compliance – Your business will have to comply with city, county, state, and industry-specific laws, rules, and regulations in order to operate legally. We’ll asses your regulatory needs and work with you to meet these requirements.
• Insurance Policies – Every business needs insurance, no matter how solid your contracts are, how thorough your handbook is, or how meticulous your formation documents are. The truth is, things still come up. We’ll work with you and your insurance agent to determine what, if any, liability exposure your business may face.
• Accounting and Taxes – We are not tax experts, but we will work with your CPA regarding business compliance and legal documentation. Your financial decisions and actions must be documented and reflected in your corporate books.  We believe in a collaborative approach to work with other professionals such as your CPAs to understand the big picture and help to make recommendations that work across your entire business platform.

Post-Audit Recommendations

After the legal audit is complete, our corporate attorney’s will prepare an organized and detailed evaluation that includes our findings and recommendations. Our recommendations may be simple or complex, depending on what we find. At the very least, we may recommend that you send internal memos reminding staff of policies and procedures or holding corporate seminars to educate your employees about issues like sexual harassment or OSHA standards. Sometimes, a business simply needs some reminders or refreshers.

If we find gaps in your compliance or documents, we may recommend something more thorough, like a meeting with your insurance advisor to strengthen your insurance policy, a renegotiation of your vendor contracts, or an update to your official policies and procedures or employee regulations.

Whatever the case, our recommendations will be specific to your business and the audit findings and they’ll be geared towards filling gaps, boosting your protection, and reducing your overall liability.