While at no point with my feeble intellect do I wish to declare a “bottom” to the national economy in general and our industry in particular, I would like to mention that it may be a good time to create a dream sheet of equipment purchases/staff positions, etc. that you may like to have in the organization you envision your company to become.  The reason I mention this is that, for the few items I have been dreaming of owning in my organization (dump truck & a walk behind concrete saw to name a couple for me) but have been putting off purchasing have become incredibly affordable on both the new and used markets!  I don’t personally intend to make a lot of capital purchases yet, but I have my dream sheet ready.

Maybe there is a position in your company you wish to fill with a seasoned veteran that you don’t have to train extensively, or some capital equipment you would like to own but haven’t pulled the trigger on.  Both are in abundance and, in relative terms, are becoming more affordable. 

Check with your accounting professional, please,  but some tangible equipment purchases are eligible for a 50% bonus depreciation deduction.  This equipment must be original use.  Granted, your company will need to be profitable in order to use the extra depreciation, but those that are both profitable and have cash will find amazing deals on new purchases and may be able to write off 50% of the equipment in the first year!

When and what to purchase is completely your call.  But the stars are lining up to check off some of that wish list you never thought you could afford or were willing to spend any dedicated funds from your budget on.  Don’t forget your business fundamentals - cash only; maintain your rainy day fund; only purchase items that have a short payback period that you can recover in your job costs or charge on a separate basis; make sure the equipment satisfies a functional need and is not strictly a vanity purchase,  etc.  Call this one of the only upsides to this bear economy we have seen in about 1- 1/2 years.

Tags: bonus depreciation, purchasing, Wish List

This entry was posted on Monday, April 6th, 2009 at 9:35 am and is filed under Michael Moore Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.