CNU’s national award winning Small Business Institute® (SBI) offers free business assistance to small firms located in the Hampton Roads area. The primary mission of the SBI is to enhance the success of small businesses by providing the business owners with workable, practical, and feasible short-term solutions to complex business problems. Common types of assistance offered include:
- business plans
- management & human resources plans
- marketing plans
- market research studies
- legal & regulatory plans
- corporate philanthropy plans
- promotional plans
- accounting, financial, operational, & business systems analysis
- online social media
Teams of senior-level business majors and business minors, under faculty supervision of the SBI Director, provide semester-long business consultation to selected small business and non-profit organizations. Selection of clients and students is based on application and interview with the SBI Director.
SBI Director
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William Donaldson, M.B.A. Office: BTC 443 |
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Participation
The VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) Program is a one credit hour course. 10 to 15 accounting seniors, who have successfully completed the Individual Income Tax course at CNU, volunteer to prepare basic tax returns from early February to April 15. The students have to pass an IRS administered test and attend a software training workshop. The VITA program targets low income taxpayers. Students prepare federal forms including Form 1040, Schedule A and B, compute the Earned Income Tax Credit and e-file the returns. The students gain hands on experience while learning to use a commercial tax software program. The CNU VITA site prepares over 200 e-filed federal and state returns, 30 paper returns and 10 amended returns. The VITA program is coordinated by Professor Gabriele Lingenfelter. To learn more about this program e-mail gabriele@cnu.edu
