Skip to main content

14 Items to Pay Close Attention to When Applying for the 8a Certification

If you have been thinking about submitting an 8(a) application to the SBA, the list below shows the items that you should carefully review BEFORE you submit your application. Once you submit your application, even a simple change will undergo much greater scrutiny by the SBA and will very likely result in delay of your approval or even denial of your application.
1. Firm Website
a. Is the 51% owner of the firm listed at the highest position within the company?
b. Does the website taut the skills and expertise of other members of the management team?
c. Does the website have a different address than the address that is being used on the 8a application?
d. Does the website present the firm in a professional manner?
2. Credit Report
a. Have you pulled your personal credit report lately?
b. The SBA will do so, they are mainly looking for undisclosed assets of the principle members.
c. Do you have any judgements or leans against you, SBA will decline you if you do.
3. Secretary of State Websites
a. Do you have other fictitious entities (corporations or limited partnerships, etc.) that exist but are not being used to conduct business?
b. Do any of these entities have a similar name or related purpose to the firm for which you are seeking to obtain 8a?
4. Google Search
a. The name of the company and its principles should be searchable in Google.
b. There could be information on the web that either needs to be removed because it will mislead the SBA or explained as part of the 8a application process.
5. LinkedIn
a. Your and your key employee's LinkedIn profile should match the resume you are submitting to the SBA.
6. References
a. Do not list references as part of your 8(a) application that you have not called and told what you are using them for.
b. The SBA has called our clients in the past, especially when an application is 50% or less of a presumed group or their spouse works for them and applying for 8a.
7. Zillow Values
a. The real estate values you are listing in your personal financial statements should be vetted against Zillow.
b. If the Zillow values do not accurately reflect the value of the property more credible evidence will be needed as part of the 8(a) application.
8. Review Resumes
a. The majority (51%+) owner's resume should show experience in the industry in which the 8(a) application is being submitted.
b. A resume that is not credible and shows that the owner of the firm could not run the business can cause a denial of the 8(a) application by the SBA.
c. Make sure the duties show executive duties (customer development, policy monitoring and enhancement, procedural leadership).
d. Evaluate all key employee's resume for anything that could give the SBA cause to examine negative control from that employee for a more substantial technical background.
9. Contemplate Arrest Record
a. Often applicants forget about a misdemeanor received decades ago, and mistakenly don't disclose them during the 8(a) application process.
b. This can create a denial because the SBA will view this as an integrity issue.
c. The SBA runs an FBI background check on all applicants, so a failure to disclose will be caught by the SBA.
10. Corporate Bylaws
a. Language in corporate Bylaws that relates to voting rights and company control needs to be reviewed.
b. If the bylaws are confusing, it is advisable to simplify them.
c. Keep in mind any bylaw that alters control of the firm from the 51% owner's unconditional control could result in a denial.
11. Contracts
a. The firm's contracts with its customers should be reviewed and the owner of the firm should be the signer on all contracts.
b. If the owner is not signing these contracts, and a different individual has been delegated for that task, additional exploration will often be conducted by the SBA to determine if the contract signer is in control or is a crucial component to operate the firm.
12. Signature Cards
a. The 51% owner of the firm in most cases should be the only signer on the account(s).
13. Leases
a. The lease should be in the name of the firm applying for 8a.
b. If the firm subleases space from another firm in the same industry, or another connection to the landlord exists, considered carefully whether or not this landlord can display control, or if there is an appearance of co-mingling of resources between the 8a applicant firm and another.
c. Expect the SBA will pay close attention to the business lease.
14. Purchase Agreements
a. If the firm applying for 8a was purchased, and there was existing debt in place, there must not be recourse.
b. In addition, if a controlling interest was purchased from a past owner, that owner can no longer work at the firm, or this will generate a control issue if the purchase was in the last two years.
c. The transaction should have taken place at fair market value.
Ez8a makes sure that the guidelines shown above are met, or that a good explanation for any deviation is available when the questions arise from the SBA.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Our Culture And National Identity

Our Culture And National Identity Our country, Ghana is a multi ethnic, multilingual and multicultural state: it contains many ethnic groups, many languages and therefore, many cultures. There are several problems generated by the ethnically and culturally plural structure of our nation. One problem is how to weld the consistent ethnic groups into a new,certainly, larger socio-political association for the welfare and benefits of all the groups, how to create a unity out of plurality; in short, how to integrate the constituent ethnic groups into one nation: this is the problem of nation – building, which is expected to result in national integration. Another problem is how to avoid ethnic conflicts which can tear the nation apart. There is also the problem of how to create a national culture that we can describe as “Ghanaian culture”, rather than Akan culture or Ewe culture or Dagomba culture or Ga culture, and so on. A further problem is about the creation of a national identity, so...
Post a Comment
Read more

IBM Developed A Chip To speedup Internet Services Using Light

IBM Developed A Chip To speedup Internet Services Using Light IBM says it has developed a chip that makes it easier to shuttle data about via pulses of light instead of using electrical signals. The firm says it should offer a way to move large amounts of information between processors in computer servers at higher speeds than at present. These provide computing power and data used by apps and other net services. One third-party expert said the significance of the innovation was that it was much cheaper than other options. IBM New Chip Details of the development are to be presented at the International Electron Devices Meeting in San Francisco later. Optical connections The team behind the development said that using light, rather than the flow of electrons, to transmit data has two key advantages.Data can be sent longer distances between different parts of a server centre without the risk of losing information.Data transfer speeds are faster as light can be used to carry mo...
Post a Comment
Read more

Five ways Microsoft plans to get you to upgrade to Windows 10

Five ways Microsoft plans to get you to upgrade to Windows 10 Microsoft wants Windows 10 on one billion devices by 2018 - and its tactics for hitting that ambitious goal are about to get more aggressive. From next year, Microsoft will be more direct in pushing Windows 7 and 8.1 users to upgrade to its latest OS, in an attempt to bolster the 110 million-strong Windows 10 userbase. Here's how Microsoft is about to crank up the pressure to make the switch. 1. Windows 10 will automatically begin installing itself From "early next year", Microsoft will change the status of the free Windows 10 upgrade so it is classified as a Recommended Update. Given that most home machines are set up to install Recommended Updates automatically, the change to Windows 10's update status will lead to most Windows 7 and 8.1 machines beginning the upgrade. However, Microsoft says that before Windows 10 is installed users will need to manually confirm the installation, giving them a chanc...
Post a Comment
Read more