CORE IT Becomes a Qualified Government On-Line Supplier
	CORE IT Welcomes Senior Resource Manager
	CORE Software Introduces Renaissance Architect
	For the Employer
	Look Beyond the Salary Bottom Line, Part II: Cost Analysis The Hidden Costs of Hiring Employees versus Contract Consultants
	For the Consultant
	Questions to Ask When Forming Your Business
	Ask the Expert
	What are the non-financial factors that influence the decision to hire a full-time employee or contract consultant?

We are proud to announce that as of July 1, 2004 , CORE IT Consultants has qualified as a Government On-Line (GOL) supplier. Specifically, CORE IT has been qualified in three PWGSC (Public Works and Government Services Canada) streams: Business Processes and Content (BP&C), Informatics Professional Services (IPS) and Human Resources Management (HRM).

The GOL initiative is “the Government of Canada's project to provide information and services on the Internet by 2005.” Included in this initiative is the Government's procurement process, which allows departments to procure services up to $5 million. In order to bid on these projects, suppliers must be pre-qualified for specific streams.

CORE IT Consultants is pleased to welcome Stacey MacLellan. As the Senior Resource Manager, Stacey is responsible for recruitment, consultant management and client support for CORE IT. She has over 13 years experience in sales and recruiting. Prior to joining CORE IT, she held management positions in companies across a number of industries, including professional services, IT hardware and software. Most recently she was Resource Manager for The Applications System Group (ASG).

“What attracted me to CORE IT was the opportunity to work with a company that has an impressive consultant base and is poised to meet the IT service requirement challenges in both the private and public sector,” said Stacey MacLellan, Senior Resource Manager, CORE IT Consultants. “I look forward to working with the CORE IT team to fill these requirements, resulting in extremely satisfied IT service professionals and organizations.”

Stacey holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication Studies from Wilfrid Laurier University , and has also completed numerous courses in the Certificate of Human Resources Management (CHRM) program.

Stacey can be reached at smaclellan@coreitconsultants.com or 613-271-3699.

CORE IT Consultants is a proud member of the CORE group of companies. As such, we are pleased to pass along some exciting news from CORE Software. Their new product, Renaissance Architect is a high-productivity .NET business application development tool. Renaissance Architect consists of a standard framework and components that take advantage of the freedom and virtually limitless scope of .NET, while enabling significant improvements in developer productivity and application performance.

“In today's software development environment, the success of an application development project is measured not only in terms of how well it meets the requirements, and how well the application performs, but also on how much it cost to develop, and how much it will continue to cost to maintain” said Rolf Christensen , President and CEO, CORE Software. “Renaissance Architect extends the robust .NET IDE and streamlines the most common and time-consuming tasks in the development of Web-based .NET business applications, ensuring the development of a more effective application at a lower cost.”

or more information on Renaissance Architect, visit www.renaissancearchitect.com .

Part I of this article provided you with an overview of the costs to consider when evaluating your choice to hire a full-time employee or a contract consultant to meet your IT needs. This article provides you with a cost analysis. For the purposes of this example, we have chosen a salary of $50,000 that you might pay for a full-time employee in your IT department and a higher rate of $70,000 that you might need to pay for a contract consultant for the same position. Hopefully, by the end of the article, you will see how some of the ‘hidden costs' of full-time employees can add up quickly. Please note that we have made a number of assumptions and estimations which would alter your evaluation.

Note: These calculations are based on 231 working days.
260 - (15 vacation + 6 sick + 8 stat holidays) = 231

Another cost to consider is the cost of terminating an employee. The Canadian employment law states that employers must provide two weeks pay for every year of employment. For an employee with a salary of $50,000 this would be a minimum of $2,083 for every year of service.

From this analysis it is easy to see why the use of contract consultants has become popular. However, in addition to a financial analysis you should complete an analysis that includes non-financial factors that will effect your operation.

For more information on how CORE IT can help you find highly qualified contract consultants to meet your hiring needs, contact us at info@coreitconsultants.com or 613-271-3672.

For the Consultant
Questions to Ask Yourself When Forming Your Business

You've made decision to launch your own business. Perhaps you're still considering the move? You've made decision to strike out on your own. Perhaps you're still considering the move. Regardless, you need to weigh a number of decisions about how you're going to operate. Some of these include:

What legal form will my business take?
There are three legal forms that businesses typically take: sole proprietorship, partnership and corporation. A sole proprietorship has a single owner who is responsible operating the business. A partnership is operated by two or more people who jointly carry on a business. A corporation is a legal entity that is distinct from its owners (shareholders) and those who run the business. There are numerous pros and cons associated with each form that you should consider so that you can make the decision that is right for you.

What level of liability am I willing to accept?
The owner of a sole proprietorship and the owners of a partnership assume all the risks of the business. They are faced with unlimited personal liability for the business' debts and obligations. A primary advantage of incorporating your business is limited liability. This means that the owners' liability is limited to the amount they have invested in the corporation. The perceived level of real risk may vary by individual and the type of work they are performing. However, the importance of liability should not be downplayed. You need to ask yourself if you are willing to take on the risk of unlimited personal liability to avoid the expense of incorporating your business.

What are the financial implications of the various forms?
There are financial implications of operating a corporation versus a sole proprietorship or partnership. These include start-up, tax and operating costs.

Start-up costs to incorporate a business may include lawyer and accountant fees, which can increase with the complexity of the business. There are also government fees to file an Article of Incorporation with the appropriate government organization. The amount will depend on your choice to incorporate with one or more provinces or federally. The cost is $200 for a federal filing and from $220 to more than $375 for a provincial filing.

There are also tax advantages that corporations enjoy. However, the net savings is dependent on numerous factors. For example, an individual in Ontario pays approximately 46 percent in income tax in the top bracket. A corporation pays only around 18.5 percent on the first $250,000 of profit. However, when you take the profit out of the corporation, you must pay around 25.5 percent tax. There is a slight benefit, but there are other tax advantages of corporations that you should consider. These include carrying forward losses of past years to offset profits in coming years, tax deferral, CPP contributions, RRSP contributions, Individual Pension Plans (IPP), dividends paid to other shareholders and many others. However, if you are actually an “incorporated employee” you will form a Personal Services Corporation. Under which, you will not get the lower tax rates, and the only expense that is deductible is salary. (SHOULD INCLUDE THIS LAST SENTENCE?)

Operating costs for a corporation tend to be higher than for a sole proprietorship or partnership. There are costs associated with paying and filing payroll (CPP and EHT) and corporate taxes, annual corporate federal and/or provincial report filings, and maintaining corporate records. Depending on the choices you make for your corporation, additional operating costs associated with having employees may include health insurance premiums, business insurance, sick leave, vacation pay, pension plans and others.

What are the long term growth goals for my business?
The long term growth goals that are set for a business may impact the decision on what form a business will take. If growth past the work of one or two people is your plan you may want to consider incorporating. Corporations can issue shares and bonds, which may present greater sources of capital. Perpetual existence is another attribute of corporations. This means that a corporation's continuity does not depend on its' shareholders or those who run the business. Finally, there is also a greater degree of credibility and status associated with corporations which may positively influence the growth of your business.

Keep in mind that these are only a few of the questions that you should consider. The best suggestion we can give is to seek professional advice from a lawyer, account and other professionals before making your final decisions.

What are the non-financial factors that influence the decision to hire a full-time employee or contract consultant?

The articles Look Beyond the Salary Bottom Line, Part I and II , provide an overview and analysis of the costs associated with hiring full-time employees versus contract consultants. While it is true that cost will be the deciding factor in many cases, there are other circumstances under which the savings you will realize by hiring contact consultants is outweighed by the importance of non-financial benefits associated with hiring employees. These will vary greatly from organization to organization and even from department to department and manager to manager. Some include non-financial benefits of hiring full-time employees and contract consultants include :

Full-time Employees

Contract Consultant