Will Rogers once said, “Everyone talks about the weather, but nobody ever does anything about it.”

Sometimes I feel like that about business processes. I like to complain about them but don’t do enough to change them.

Think about some of your own experiences. Have you ever wondered who came up with the process being used to “service” you? I have had some recent experiences with major retail and service companies that were mind boggling at best – complicated package deals, pricing terms, and rebate requirements. Not only was I confused, but the customer service employees were struggling, too! It always makes me wonder how organizations establish and maintain effective internal controls around all this complication. more

Unintended consequences are an all-too-familiar aspect of tax laws, but it’s not often that they’re suspected of playing a role in a disaster of the magnitude of Monday’s Washington Metro train crash, in which nine people died. Legal blogger Sarah Lawsky drew attention to a possible tax connection in a post to Concurring Opinions this week.

Lawsky noted that in response to recommendations from the National Transportation Safety Board that it should upgrade the crashworthiness of its cars, the Metro claimed to be “constrained by tax advantage leases which require that WMATA [Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority] keep the 1000-Series cars in service at least until the end of 2014.”

These “tax advantage leases” are nothing more than standard sale-leaseback transactions, Lawsky believes, “in which WMATA sold equipment, including train cars, to another party and now leases it back. The other party gets various tax advantages (depreciation, credits, and so forth) associated with owning the equipment, and WMATA — which, as a tax-exempt organization, cannot use these advantages — gets cash. But apparently the leases did not include language that permits WMATA to break the leases if newer, safer equipment comes along.”

The latest reports from the crash investigation seem to be pointing away from the train cars themselves and toward failures of critical circuits in the rails. But that doesn’t diminish the impact of Lawsky’s point. It’s profoundly disturbing that the Transit Authority should be “constrained” by leases that were shaped in part by tax considerations and which “required” the organization to set aside what should be its first concern — the safety of its passengers. ###

Even in downturns, some sectors do well. Not surprisingly, the asset-based lending world often is among them, as companies look for alternatives to scarce bank debt. Asset-based lending – that is, any loan that’s secured by an asset, such as inventory or accounts receivable – grew 8 percent in 2008 to nearly $600 billion in loans outstanding, reports the Commercial Finance Association (CFA), a trade group.

Industries in which asset-based lending has been most prevalent include retail, steel, and food. However, these industries account for less than one-third of total outstanding loans, as asset-based loans become more common across the economy, the CFA noted. more

If your company employs foreign nationals (many IT departments do), send this article to your CIO and your head of HR.

Companies that lay off H-1B work visa holders need to follow a couple of important steps; failing to adhere to these rules could reverse the termination and require the company to continue paying wages and benefits to the H-1B visa holder until the matter is resolved through the Department of Labor. more

In the past few years, increasing numbers of states have succeeded in imposing income-related taxes on companies that lack any kind of physical presence within their borders. They’ve successfully argued that a significant economic presence — for example, revenue derived from use of intangible property within the state — can be enough to establish nexus.

Hopes for a rollback of states’ application of economic nexus took a hit yesterday when the U.S. Supreme Court decided not to review two key cases from the Massachusetts Supreme Court. more