• October 1 - Generally, the deadline for businesses to adopt a SIMPLE retirement plan for 2013.
• October 15 - Filing deadline for 2012 individual tax returns on automatic six-month extension of the April 15 deadline.
• October 15 - If you converted a regular IRA to a Roth in 2012 and now want to switch back to a regular IRA, you have until October 15, 2013, to do so without penalty.

Regardless of the type of business you're running — whether it's selling electronics, making furniture, or servicing automobiles — monitoring a few key financial indicators is often all that's needed to keep your company growing and prosperous. On the other hand, neglecting a firm's vital signs can lead to management by crisis and corrective action that's too little, too late.

A prudent business owner won't wait until the end of the year (or even the end of the quarter) to learn that revenues are declining, inventories are shrinking, or payroll expenses are spiraling out of control. Although annual financial statements provide historical perspective and a wealth of data for long-term planning, correcting current problems is a matter of timely insight and informed analysis. You want to know whether your business is losing money or growing — now, not later.

A company's key financial indicators often fall into one or more of the following categories:

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Income tax, payroll tax, capital gains tax — the fiscal-cliff law passed in January changed many areas of the Internal Revenue Code, including one you might not have focused on lately: estate and gift taxes. Here's what you need to know.

What's the current estate and gift tax exclusion? The exclusion is the amount you can transfer during your lifetime and via your will before estate or gift tax is due. It consists of two items. The basic exclusion is $5 million, and is adjusted for inflation annually. For 2013, the basic exclusion after inflation adjustments is $5,250,000.

The second part of the applicable exclusion benefits married couples. When you're married, your total exclusion can also include the unused portion of your deceased spouse's basic exclusion. Executors make this "portability" election by filing an estate tax return, even if an estate is not taxable and might not otherwise need to file.

Your personal basic exclusion plus the power to take advantage of portability means you and your spouse can transfer up to $10.5 million to your heirs, free of estate and gift tax.

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