10 Ways An Accountant Can Help Your Business

Many businesses make the mistake of trying to do it all. One reason for failure of small business is poor financial record keeping. It is important to know where your business stands as you move forward in our current economic season. The IRS sets new tax guidelines quite regularly. Are you up to date and in compliance with all of the current regulations?

Here are some of the ways in which an accountant can assist your business:

·Prepare periodic financial statements and annual audit reports.
·Assist you in analyzing your financial statements, looking for problem areas or ways you could improve your financial management.
·Determine working capital and cash flow requirements.
·Help you develop a budget and a system of monthly reporting so that you can regularly check on you actual financial transactions in relation to what had been budgeted.
·Prepare tax returns and assist with tax planning.
·Set up a tax calendar and a system to help you comply with all filing requirements.
·Help set up your accounting systems.
·Assist with determining loan or capital requirements.
·Act as your advisor and sounding board in financial and administrative matters.
· Perform operational reviews to help you find ways to run more efficiently.
·Analyze product and customer profitability, and breakeven levels.

5 Tax Tips for Small Business

How Can You Reduce Your Tax Liability? Always Check Your Payroll-- If you have employees or if you are the only employee make sure your payroll information is correct. Pay close attention to payroll deductions, and pay them on time. If you are the only employee make sure you pay quarterly estimated taxes. It is often difficult to determine income beforehand. Check past records and keep all information in a safe place. Keep Track Of Your Travel Costs--If you use a vehicle for both personal as well as business, keep a record of use for business. Record all business calls, business trips to either deliver or pick up material, client entertainment visits or any other use of the car for business purposes. This will allow you to accurately deduct all the operating cost involved in the business use of the car. Keep Track of Meals and Entertainment Costs--If you entertain clients for business purposes make sure you keep the receipts for meals purchased. It is a good idea to write a note on the back of the receipt. The client you meet with, and the purpose of the meeting. The front of the receipt should already have the date and the place of the meeting. Keep Canceled Checks --When you write a check for a business expense, make sure you keep the canceled check. The cancelled check will provide any information that may be needed for tax purposes. Always include a note in the memo section of the check and record that memo when the check is written. Track Any Charitable Contributions--If your business makes charitable contributions, make sure you keep records. Most non-profit organizations are able to provide a receipt or statement of your giving. Make sure these statements and receipts are kept in the event a contribution is questioned. Want More Tips Call Us!

How important is a QuickBooks backup?

Backing up your QuickBooks file is very important. I find myself repeating this to clients often. I recently came across this article on the subject and thought it was an excellent article. By Anne Coles One of the most common questions from clients is, "How often should I back up my QuickBooks?" The best answer is "every day!" (Or anytime you are doing a data import or upgrading your version of QuickBooks). The challenge is that many businesses lack the discipline to back up their data daily. Unless someone has personally had to deal with recovering data, it's easy to bank on the fact that "it will never happen to them." The quick answer to how often a backup should be done is simple: How much data can you afford to lose and how much manpower can you spend to re-enter what you've lost? If you only back up once a week, can your small business afford to re-enter every piece of data (invoices, checks, bills, payroll, and credit card transactions) that was lost between the previous backup and the date of data loss? If you enter checks once a week, and only touch your QuickBooks file weekly, then a weekly backup may work fine for you. An accounting firm that handles bookkeeping and payroll for multiple clients needs a nightly backup. The right answer for most clients is usually no less than weekly, but daily is definitely the best. Storing your backups is the other critical piece to having a backup at all. Those clients who are very diligent about their backups often have the backup sitting on their desk or in a file cabinet near their desks. In the event of a fire or building disaster, the backups and the computers are often destroyed, and a high percentage of businesses hit by fire never reopen due to data loss. If you can clear the hurdle of making the backups, store them somewhere safe, preferably offsite. Either invest in a fire-rated safe, use a jump drive that goes with a trusted employee nightly, or burn a CD and take it to a safe-deposit box. As for actually making the backups, I have found the easiest solution is to setup an automatic backup of client's files direct to Intuit using their Intuit Online Backup Service. For those with an Annual or Enterprise Support Plan, the service is free. For those with up to one gigabyte of data (1GB), the cost is $4.95 per month or $49.95 per year. Up to 10GBs of data is $14.95 per month or $149.95 per year (prices current as of May 2009). Whether you use Intuit's Online Backup Service or another type of local or network drive, a backup is performed with these steps: With the QuickBooks company file open, choose File, and Save Company or Backup. Choose one of the three options: Backup copy – backup of everything you need to recreate the file. Portable company file – compact version that is easier to move or e-mail. Accountant's copy – compact version of your file that your accountant can open, make changes, and export for you to import changes later. read the rest of the article at http://www.accountingweb.com/item/107663

7 Summertime Tax Tips

Seven Tips for Students with a Summer Job Many students get a summer job during their time off from school. Here are the top seven things the IRS wants everyone to know about income earned while working a summer job. 1. Taxpayers fill out a W-4 when starting a new job. This form is used by employers to determine the amount of tax that will be withheld from your paycheck. Taxpayers with multiple summer jobs will want to make sure all their employers are withholding an adequate amount of taxes to cover their total income tax liability. To make sure your withholding is correct, visit the Withholding Calculator on IRS.gov. 2. Whether you are working as a waiter or a camp counselor, you may receive tips as part of your summer income. All tip income you receive is taxable income and is therefore subject to federal income tax. 3. Many students do odd jobs over the summer to make extra cash. Earnings you received from self-employment are subject to income tax. These earnings include income from odd jobs like baby-sitting and lawn mowing. 4. If you have net earnings of $400 or more from self-employment, you will also have to pay self-employment tax. This tax pays for your benefits under the Social Security system. Social Security and Medicare benefits are available to individuals who are self-employed the same as they are to wage earners who have Social Security tax and Medicare tax withheld from their wages. The self-employment tax is figured on Form 1040, Schedule SE. 5. Subsistence allowances paid to ROTC students participating in advanced training are not taxable. However, active duty pay – such as pay received during summer advanced camp – is taxable. 6. Special rules apply to services you perform as a newspaper carrier or distributor. You are a direct seller and treated as self-employed for federal tax purposes if you meet the following conditions: You are in the business of delivering newspapers. All your pay for these services directly relates to sales rather than to the number of hours worked. You perform the delivery services under a written contract which states that you will not be treated as an employee for federal tax purposes. 7. Generally, newspaper carriers or distributors under age 18 are not subject to self-employment tax. Links: IRS Withholding Calculator Form 1040 Schedule SE

reBlog from bqe.com: BillQuick Blog

I found this fascinating quote today:

Rather than circle the wagons, a positive attitude helps you conceive of a new service. Perhaps you see a way to leverage your assets—technology, people, experience, expertise and more—across multiple organizations, being able to deliver services remotely and/or at a lower cost. Maybe you think of a way to collaborate with the remaining staff at a client’s or prospect’s office.bqe.com, BillQuick Blog, Jun 2009

You should read the whole article.