Commercial Resources Incorporated (CRI)

Commercial Resources Incorporated Best Professional Services Provider in Iowa

Whether our assignment covers bookkeeping, accounting, payroll, human resources, professional employer services such as health insurance and 401(k) benefits, web marketing, or web management, we pride ourselves on being leaders helping clients develop a solid business foundation. Today’s business environment is a complex mix of increasing regulation, fast changing technology, and even faster changing social paradigms and trends. Our experience shows that true competence and integration of systems in all areas yields greater efficiency of operation and cost savings for our clients.

Accounting
Accounting services can actually be divided into 2 segments: Bookkeeping and Accounting.

We do not charge accounting rates for bookkeeping functions. While popular with traditional accounting firms, it is offensive to our sensabilities as it will be yours when you find the difference it makes in your bottom line.

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Payroll
Have you ever worried about payroll?
Have you ever had questions about whether or not you are filing your employment taxes correctly?
Every time you sit down to process, is payroll a headache?

Support for hourly, salary, commissioned tipped and piece-work payment based employees
A variety of payment methods, including payroll check, direct deposit and, in some cases, a debit card arrangement
Payroll input methods via phone, fax and the Internet
Filing local, state and federal government paperwork (W2s, W4s, FICA, FUTA, SUTA)
Tax Reporting and Compliance
Certified Payroll, Job Costing and Departmental Billing
Prepare and distribute payroll checks
Payroll data maintenance
Prepare and distribute payroll checks
Response to I9 inquiries
Vacation and sick leave tracking
Direct deposit of wages to bank accounts
Federal, state and local withholding and tax deposits
Direct deposit of wages to bank accounts
Reporting and job costing
Direct deposit of wages to bank accounts
Payroll software management and accounting (GL) entries
Year end W2s and W3s
Payroll related record keeping, audits, inquiries and verifications.
Time clock management
Tax changes administration

Human Resource
Have you ever had a bad behaving employee and needed advice? Who do you call?
Do you ever wish you had a business friend to bounce ideas off of?
Is good employee retention difficult to come by?

Our Human Resources Outsourcing Services Include:

Site-specific Employee Handbooks
Termination Assistance
Unemployment Claims & Hearings
Policy & Procedure Manuals
EEOC Compliance
Sexual Harassment and Managerial Training
Pre-Screening Interviews
Drug Testing Policy
Human Resource Consulting
Employee Orientation
COBRA Administration
Fair Labor Standards Act Guidance
Employment Eligibility Verification

Professional Employer Organization
PEO Brand Statement per NAPEO:
“Professional Employer Organizations enable clients to cost effectively outsource the management of human resources, employee benefits, payroll, and workers compensation. PEO clients focus on their core competencies to maintain and grow their bottom line.”

PEO’s, through a contractual relationship, provide:

Relief from the burden of employment administration.
A wide range of personnel management solutions through a team of professionals.
Improved employment practices, compliance and risk management to reduce liabilities.
Access to a comprehensive employee benefits package, allowing clients to be competitive in the labor market.
Assistance to improve productivity and profitability.

What is co-employment?
A relationship with CRI involves a sharing of employer responsibilities between ourselves as a PEO and our clients. This employment relationship is referred to as co-employment.

Employers (you the client) continue to direct the day to day activities of your employees and CRI, as a co-employer is responsible for many human resource administrative functions and manages employee benefits administration, manages automated payroll processing and payroll tax preparation and filing, and is the “employer of record” on employees’ W-2s. We also handle, state unemployment insurance and claims and much more.

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Regulatory Compliance
Do you find it difficult to keep up with the ever changing rules and regulations of business?
Are you worried you may not be in complete compliance with all of the IRS and State government rules?

We can help with a number of the following compliance issues:

HIPPA
COBRA
Benefit Orientation
Employment Verification
Tax compliance
New Hire Reporting
State compliance
Federal Compliance
IRS Intervention

Business Services
Need help organizing and starting your new small business?
Not sure who to turn to and want to avoid costly CPA and Attorney Fees?

We can help with:

Business Creation
Business Compliance
Business Consulting
Operations Procedures
Maintain corporate records, books and minutes

May 26, 2011 at 5:11 pm 2 comments

Commercial Resources Incorporated Professional Services Firm in Iowa

Commercial Resources Incorporated in Iowa or CRI has created a unique position in the marketplace as the premier small business administrative services provider. We are the one agency that is uniquely experienced, organized, and staffed to build your bottom line no matter where in the United States you are. CRI currently handles a very diverse client base.

The depth of experience allows us to fully leverage the relationships between our experience, our clients, and the bottom line. Our ability to deliver on our promises – time and again – is what makes CRI both so successful and so admired among our peers.

Professional Capabilities
At the very heart of our business is a deep and abiding commitment to support business potential. At the heart of a successful business is a driven mission, one that should create business building potentials and outcomes. It should be evident to the customers and clients, to the staff, and hopefully to the buyer that the business is a well oiled machine requiring only the slightest nudge from its owner from time to time.

CRI is organized to serve as your business’ success steward, from the earliest days of on-boarding to the day the reins are handed to someone else. CRI will adjust according to need, bill only for the work done, have the most appropriate person do the work, or simply “take care of it all”.

CRI’s client handling skills are second to none. We were born of the entrepreneurial spirit. We understand what it means to be standing in your shoes better than any other provider in the industry. We have 18 “in house” businesses of our own to prove it.

National Operations
CRI has gone to great lengths to make working with clients anywhere in the country a snap. It wasn’t a snap putting it together. First we had to bring in two separate ISP lines at the maximum speed available. Next we install switchers to make sure our office is running at maximum available speed at any given time. Next comes the redundancy of dual hubs to make sure if one drops the other takes over. Then there is the firewall system, the server, the backup server and the dual remote offsite servers located at different locations throughout the country. And that is just for our accounting systems.

To make it better we partnered with a web app software developer / provider to customize a remote delivery payroll system. We call it CRISaas (software as a service). Then we created the first link of its kind to merge the online payroll system to the internationally acclaimed high end accounting Sage Software program called MAS90.

What does that all mean? Our payroll competition will be scratching their heads asking, “How did they do that?” We like that. And as an FYI to our competitors, we could use a little competition to help us raise the bar a little higher.

Web Marketing and Management
The world is changing fast, often much faster than web sites and their updates. CRI has turned the tables on the traditional method of creating, changing, and updating web sites with their new Web Marketing and Management division.

Web sites have always taken a huge amount of time and investment to get it right. Often by the time you’re ready to “publish” the site it is antiquated. We’ve change that. Call us about how our company can help you enjoy a completely different web experience. We have the systems and the talent to do what most small businesses only dream of and we can do it at a fraction of what you have experienced. Warning… we don’t do it like anyone else does. One or two paradigm shifts and you’re on your way to a much more productive web experience.

CRI Project Plan
CRI has invested heavily in other opportunities to help our clients be more successful. One way that we’ve done this is to work with web application and programming developers to deliver a free project management tool to our clients. www.criproplan.com. It is a web based software application that allows our clients to manage their projects from anywhere in the world and anytime they want. Gone on vacation to Fiji and want to know who’s doing what and how things are progressing? Piece of cake. Go to any web browser log in from a web browser and you’re there. You can tell what is going on with each project, check updates, leave comments, send e-mail messages or just see who has been working on the projects and when. Very cool stuff and it is FREE to CRI clients. Just another way we put our money where our mouth is when it comes to our commitment to small businesses.

May 26, 2011 at 4:26 pm Leave a comment

Bill Burch Entrepreneurship Locker Room Talk

The University of Sioux Falls in Sioux Falls, SD recently started an Entrepreneurial Studies program and Bill Burch, President of Commercial Resources, Inc., was invited to be the key note speaker at the college as part of the program’s public introduction. The event was open to college students, professors, and most importantly – entrepreneurs themselves.

Sioux Falls is no rookie when it comes to business. In CNBC’s 2010 “Top State for Business” rankings, South Dakota moved up from #12 to #7, and the city has been rated numerous times by Forbes Magazine as the best small metro area for business and careers (siouxfallsdevelopment.com). It is with good reason that the University of Sioux Falls decided to implement the Entrepreneurial Studies program.

Bruce Watley, a professor at the University of Sioux Falls and past resident of Centerville, Iowa is playing an integral role in the Entrepreneurial Studies program at the University of Sioux Falls. He quoted, “Centerville was a big part of my life. Moving was hard, but I’m thrilled that Sioux Falls and specifically the University of Sioux Falls have been so welcoming and anxious to pull me in and let me be part of making a great place even better.” Watley’s extensive experience in entrepreneurship, Marketing Degree and MBA make him a significant member of the staff at the University of Sioux Falls. He is a professor of several undergrad, MBA and DCP programs at the University, and is a long-time friend of Bill Burch’s. Watley thoroughly enjoyed having Burch as a guest and said “Bill made a real positive impression on the class and faculty, including the chair of the business school.”

The combination of Burch’s work experience and natural entrepreneurial abilities made him the perfect candidate as the key speaker for the event. Burch founded Commercial Resources, Inc. (CRI) in 2003. He was a frustrated business owner and manager fighting for ways to get benefits to small businesses without enough employees. He was constantly digging for ways to pull all of the businesses into one payroll, struggling to eliminate the waste of having multiple “book keepers” and managing multiple businesses and literally hundreds of special projects all at one time. As with most any valued creation born out of need, Bill identified the need for CRI.

Commercial Resources, Inc. has earned and sustained a hard-won reputation for excellence and value. The work of his teams – which represent multi-million dollar businesses – is some of the most recognizable, high-impact and firmly grounded in his industry.

During his Locker Room Talk, Burch covered three major topics:

The entrepreneur gets paid last
Entrepreneurs must concentrate on what they do best
Entrepreneurs can never stop learning

A significant quote of the night from Burch is as follows: “The weight of our country’s success lies on the shoulders of the entrepreneur. Regretfully, government has taken advantage offloading a number of their gifts of support to our populous onto the small business owner. The time has come for the small business owner to push back and for government to get a grip on how they are killing the goose that lays the golden eggs,” said Burch. He urged the audience to recognize their true potential by pushing themselves to their limit in their business and everyday lives. He closed by saying, “You don’t know how far you can go until you’ve gone too far.”

Burch was very impressed with his overall experience at the University and said, “I have never been more impressed with a community’s entrepreneurial spirit and drive. It’s no wonder that Sioux Falls is leading the nation as a Top 10 place to start a business.” Burch felt the opportunity changed his life and the lives of some others for the better. The attendees left that night with not only a revived spirit, but with some new and valuable friends, as did he.

November 5, 2010 at 5:41 pm 2 comments

Drake Tourism Project in Centerville, Iowa

Recently GoCenterville.com and Commercial Resources, Inc. (CRI) along with local partners rolled out the new Drake Tour project. “The goal of the project is to keep interested people informed of activities near the Centerville, Iowa area and to get input from those interested in helping make the GoCenterville.com – Drake Tour – a success” said Bill Burch, Owner of Commercial Resources, Inc.

There are several strategies that CRI used to promote the project and put Centerville, Iowa on the tourism map. Cheryl White of Commercial Resources, Inc. added the Drake Tour to the gocenterville.com website and placed an ad in the Des Moines Register Sunday edition in the Experience Iowa section. Cheryl wrote a grant to request funds from Central Iowa Tourism and submitted an ad to be published in three spring 2011 issues of Our Iowa magazine. She created the Drake Tour Brochure which includes a map identifying the location of the tour sites and a summary description of sites tourist will visit. In addition, Cheryl created “Ask me about Drake” buttons for staff to wear.

Pat McAfee, of CRI, participated in the cutting out and painting of 7 Drake billboards and coordinated the commercial construction of 4 Drake Billboards. Pat researched and contacted TV media outlets Channel 3, 8, and 11 about the Drake Project. Pat spoke to and emailed Drake Tour information to:

15 Iowa Tour Operators.
17 Travel Federation of Iowa agencies
12 State of Iowa government agencies
18 members of Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation
12 members of CenStates Chapter TTRA
Editor of Our Iowa
Editor of Midwest Living
Drafted press releases to send to area newspapers

In preparation for the Drake Tour Opening event, Pat:

Arranged for 2 tour buses
Prepared the tour schedule for each bus
Arranged to serve guests lunch
Contacted various travel agencies within the state of Iowa

Pat is keeping a close eye on expenditures to make sure that they are able to accomplish their goal within the budgeted monies available.

CRI was thrilled to share that the seed money to jump start the activities was generated by thoughtful and interested local businesses who rented brochure spaces in brochure displays at Honey Creek Resort. They are grateful for everyone involved in making the project a synergistic success, and gave out a special thanks to Honey Creek Resort for giving them the opportunity.

GoCenterville.com and the Drake Tour Project are off to a stellar start. CRI is on schedule and exceeding original commitments and expectations.

November 4, 2010 at 8:51 pm Leave a comment

Iowa Woman Effectively Teaches Children the Important of Music

Sharon Burch, a local native to Centerville, Iowa, knew that there were multitudes of chances for the music education field to grow. Sharon and her husband Bill Burch, a local entrepreneur to the Centerville area and manager of many businesses there, live on the outskirts of Centerville near the Lake Rathbun area.

Sharon has three books to date.

A background on how she got started writing:

Sharon looked at other ways teachers taught their classrooms—they used styles such as flash cards, learning exercises, interactive games, and books to impart knowledge on younger children that they would use for the rest of their lives. In essence, smarter children in the future. She sat down and thought of the different possibilities and it hit her: why not bring all of these concepts into one principle mean of learning. As she sat, a vision formed in her mind. The vision, after many hours of thought and development, was Freddie the Frog.

His last two adventures revolved around the learning of the musical staff and its notes, but in this adventure, the tale is spun a little differently. Freddie and his best friend, Eli the elephant, find themselves stranded on an island near Treble Clef Island. They follow mysterious “Wahooooos” through the jungle and try to communicate with the different members of the island. During this adventure, the two learn about the importance of movement in music, and discover that they landed on Tempo Island. While they, they learn musical rhythms, such as the quarter note, eighth note, sixteen notes, and rests. They also learn about repeat signs and various Italian musical connotations, such as presto, largo, adante, and allegro.

Sharon, with the help of Bill Burch, soon developed Mystic Publishing Company. To order the books, one can simply go to [order@freddiethefrogbooks.com] or check out Sharon’s website at [www.sharonburch.com]. Also, Freddie has his own website at [www.freddiethefrogbooks.com]. Bill Burch may be contacted at [www.williamburch.com]. Freddie the Frog is a great interactive tool for children to use. In today’s society, it is important that children learn to appreciate music and art in the world. If they learn to do this, from such pioneers as Sharon Burch and illustrator Tiffany Harris, we can look forward to a future rich in values that are both beneficial and supportive to higher learning.

November 20, 2009 at 12:06 pm Leave a comment

Rural Iowa Business Purchased by Georgian Company

Recently, in Keosauqua, Iowa, a small-town business is under new ownership. Barker Company Ltd., which has roots both in Keosauqua and Centerville, Iowa, was purchased by Hill Phoenix, Inc. Barker’s creates and produced many items, from specialty merchandise that are shipped to grocery stores, to similar products that appear in convenience stores and numerous food service stations.

The company will now become part of Hill PHOENIX’s specialty products division. Hill PHOENIX officials say they plan to continue operations at the manufacturing facilities in both Keosauqua and Centerville.

Hill PHOENIX is based in Conyers, Ga. The company manufactures commercial refrigerated displays and other refrigeration systems.

Upon news of the purchase, Bill Burch, President of Commercial Resources, Inc. who manages over a dozen businesses in the Centerville area, stated, “Purchases of businesses like this are a common and expected part of industry. As with all change, it will understandably be met with concern and speculation. I trust that the quality, work ethic, and attitudes of the community will speak for themselves if Hill Phoenix ever chooses to assess the operation of Centerville’s plant. Our companies will be excited for any opportunity to work with or support Hill Phoenix in their efforts here.”

Members of Commercial Resources, Inc. and other businesses owned/managed by Burch [such as The Shoppes at Bradley Hall, The Columns, The Continental, Mystic Publishing, and the Exline Country Store] are also excited for the growth of business in the small Iowa town.

November 20, 2009 at 12:01 pm Leave a comment

Freddie’s Next Adventure

After Freddie the Frog and the Thump in the Night, the tiny frog, Freddie goes in to hibernation. When he wakes up, he discovers that he is no longer on Treble Clef Island, and is in dark, strange new place. Everything he remembers is gone: his friends, family, and especially his friend, an elephant named Eli. Similar to the previous book, Freddie the Frog and the Thump in the Night, Freddie the Frog and the Bass Clef Monster teaches elementary students about music, this time the bass clef instead of the treble clef. As Freddie makes his trip through this strange land, the things he does and the people he encounters teaches children about the bass clef through an interactive disc that is included in each book.

From Centerville, Iowa, to the rest of the United States, and soon, possibly, the world, Freddie the Frog is slowly making its way into classrooms everywhere. With the introduction of Freddie, you will find that many students will develop a natural aptitude, and love, for music that they will keep with them for the rest of their lives.

November 20, 2009 at 11:56 am Leave a comment

Betterment Made in Small Town

In the arena of senior skilled care, where State of Iowa regulations are forcing many small skilled care communities to close, The Continental Care Center at Seymour, located in Seymour, Iowa are bucking the trend. Morgan Cline and Bill Burch purchased the community in an effort to prevent its planned closing. Their leadership combined with the leadership of Beth Owens, the administrator combined with the unusual dedication of a crew pulled together from the deep rural rolling hills of southern Iowa are making for unusual success.

In just two years, this group has done something unheard of. They’ve taken a community whose fate seemed sealed and brought it back to life. Since the purchase, Cline and Burch have invested over a half million dollars into the community. “90% of the investment was to improve care. We still have a long ways to go to make it look nice but families are very smart about recognizing care as a priority.”

Beth Owens, when asked how The Continental Care Center at Centerville could survive, in a town was on the verge of a “ghost town,” answered:

I can’t speak for others, but here both the new owners and myself as a manager tried to clearly communicate expectations by alerting staff of our high quality of care standards, that systems and policies will be changing, and doing the hard work of making sure things do change. Bill Burch, Morgan Cline, and the rest of the staff try to lead by example – as a manager I strive to show concern for the residents at all times, spend time listening to residents, staff, and families, make sacrifices where important and I try to work hard to show your concern for the success of the business. Thanks to the management and ownership working together to set strong goals and establish priorities, we spent money where money should be spent, on important quality of care. I think this witnessed to the community, residents and staff that we do invest in the best for them. Since we took over, we’ve done things like installing a new sprinkler system, a new fire alarm system, a new wireless monitoring system, a new stand up lift, a new copier, recruited the best dietician consultant, a fantastic foot doctor, provided new therapy services, recruited the best Medical Director to replace our prior one due to retirement, and improved staff pay. If our occupancy holds we plan to provide more benefits in 2010.

Betterment of The Continental Care Center shall continue in the future. Owens, Burch, and Cline all have such dedication to small-town America that this is just the first step in a long line of steps to improve Main Street America.

November 20, 2009 at 11:51 am Leave a comment

Dealing with Changes—From Failure to Success

The small town of Seymour, Iowa, located about 20 minutes from Centerville, Iowa near the Missouri border, experienced change. The small skilled-care community in the town was on the verge of closure, when Centerville entrepreneur, Bill Burch, the owner of Commercial Resources, Inc., with the help of Morgan Cline, took a project under their hands to revamp the center. Their leadership combined with the leadership of Beth Owens, the administrator combined with the unusual dedication of a crew pulled together from the deep rural rolling hills of southern Iowa are making for unusual success.

In just two years this group has done something unheard of. They’ve taken a community whose fate seemed sealed and brought it back to life. Since the purchase, Cline and Burch have invested over a half million dollars into the community. “90% of the investment was to improve care. We still have a long ways to go to make it look nice but families are very smart about recognizing care as a priority.”

Beth Owens, when asked how the staff at the center in Seymour is doing, answered:

They are doing great! When the staff becomes overwhelmed due to increase in workload, we try to stay focused on the importance of taking good care of the residents. We have a lot of opportunities to praise them for a job well done and we expect them to be part of the solution. Most of all, when a dedicated staff like ours are doing their best and asking for help, you do your best to help them!! Especially the CAN’s.

Similarly, when asked about the comments that have been received from the residents, responded:

They can tell there is a difference. I hear things about our culture and that they sense a deep level of commitment and care. I’m a little surprised they don’t complain about some of the things we don’t have looking nice yet, but they don’t seem to care at all as long as we are committed to giving those they love good care.

Finally, when asked about what Owens, Bill Burch, and Morgan Cline are most excited about, Owens responded on behalf of the three:

A lot of things! Great occupancy, great average response times to resident needs, and we’re really looking forward to some planned renovations that will make the building look more appealing. The owner’s promised that resident care would come first, staff care would follow, and then sensory upgrades to the building. The resident care is in place. The staff pay and benefits are well under way. 2010 should see some nice improvements in the building which will improve quality of life for both residents and staff! It is going to be a great year!

November 20, 2009 at 11:41 am Leave a comment

Music Teacher Tries Her Hand at Entrepreneurship

Freddie the Frog’s beginnings in Freddie the Frog and the Thump in the Night tell the tale of Freddie, a mischievous frog that lives on Treble Clef Island. With drawings created by Tiffany Harris, the story follows Freddie as he makes his way across Treble Clef Island, each letter of the musical staff representing a different part of the island. On his last note in the staff, Freddie meets Eli. Eli is an elephant. Freddie and Eli become the best of friends and they travel across Treble Clef Island, looking for adventure, and, along the way, learning even more about music fundamentals that will help children become more musically inclined in the future.

Sharon introduced her story of Freddie soon after its creation to her class of elementary music students at a local public school in Centerville. She immediately saw the results and the way the students began asking for Freddie at the beginning of every class. Soon, students couldn’t get enough of Freddie.