Some views of our new business office at 3232 Rio Mirada (north end of Buck Owens Blvd.).

Once again State Farm Insurance has shown their support of the Kern County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the Hispanic business community with a contribution of $10,000. At a lunch meeting on March 6, Greg Sherlock, Public Affairs Specialist for State Farm presented the check to the Chamber's President, Lou Gomez. Accompanying Mr. Sherlock was Sylvia Walker, Assistant Manager in Agency Recruiting. The money will be used to sponsor some of the chamber's events and to continue the business assistance programs they provide.

We are moving again! It was great while it lasted but our lease has run out and wasn't renewed here at the Weill Institute. We need to vacate the office by the end of April and will hopefully be able to move sooner.

But we have found a very nice office at 3232 Rio Mirada (north end of Buck Owens Blvd.). We will be sharing space with the advertising agency, Armijo & Lopez. Our new home is much smaller than the space we have now, but it is well within our budget and it's very cozy. However, we will have to find a location to have our Board of Director's meeting once a month so if any of you have any suggestions, please let us know at the chamber office.

Certification time for small businesses cut from 6 months to one day

As part of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's promise to give California's small businesses and disabled veteran business enterprises (DVBEs) better access to the $9 billion annually in state contracts, Rosario Marin, Secretary of the State and Consumer Services Agency today introduced online certification for state contracting. This online process will dramatically reduce the time needed to certify small businesses and DVBEs for access to the bidding process. Previously, the process could take as long as six months. Now, it just takes one day for small businesses (SBs).

The Association of Certified Examiners (ACE) reports that U.S businesses lose about 5 percent of their revenue through employee fraud, and small businesses are particularly susceptible. Experts indicate that the best defense against fraud in a small firm is a set of internal controls, periodic audits, and a system of checks and balances among workers. Small firms have fewer people to complete tasks, but rather than having one worker with all the financial responsibilities, for instance, owners should break up the financial task to ensure fraud is caught early. Small firms lose about $190,000 on average to employee fraud, while the overall average is $159,000. ACE notes that small businesses are most often hit by check tampering frauds, particularly because one worker is responsible for writing checks, recording the payments, and reconciling the bank statements. Experts also warn that businesses should examine their insurance policies to ensure that employee thefts are covered, should they occur.