Slow Corporate Pays - A Small Businessman's Nightmare

basics accounting - There was an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal on April 19, 2013 titled "Firms Pinch Payments to Suppliers," by Serena Ng. The article told of how big corporations are stringing out the little businesses and suppliers to the tune of on average now 75-days. Further, if the small business wants to get paid sooner, they can use vouchers at the bank, a lot like factoring or borrowing on receivables, or in some cases the corporation will pay them quicker for a steep discount.

basics accounting - Without a decent cash flow, there will not be any profit for you to take home in your business. It's unfortunate that corporate America uses small businesses as their piggy banks. Sometimes I think that they have too much power, and they can often really shaft the little small business person. Okay so let's talk about this shall we?


basics accounting - Back in the 80s and 90s it was often considered wise to demand net payment in 30-days, with a 2% discount if they paid in 10-days, eventually those all got lengthened, 2/30, Net/60 for instance. Today, the fees and loans are akin to pay-day type loan-shark loans. It's as if the small business has no choice, and yet, I can't think of a single corporation dealing with the public or consumer that allows their invoices to go past 30-days. Your cell phone company, cable company, power company, water company, etc. are in the middle of a shut-off phase I imagine if you let things go that long. Where is fair I ask?

basics accounting - Before retirement, I ran a franchising company, and one thing I've always warned our franchisees, especially the young men and women who were new to business was to "be careful with your collections, don't let large customers string you out on receivables." If you get behind collecting on all the money that is owed to you from all the bills you sent out and if those customers get too far behind, there's a chance you may never collect your money, but in the interim it's worse, because you don't have that cash flow, the money you need to pay your employees, pay the rent, and make all the payments.
But in that article Proctor and Gamble for instance notes that it frees up some $2 billion in cash to switch to the net 75-day strategy. Well, as shareholders we like the sound of that, but as a small business supplier, I'd be a little concerned about paying the rent, and employees, especially in this day and age of ObamaCare and rising taxes. Indeed I hope you will please consider all this and think on it.

The Many Things That Quickbooks Can Do

Easier navigation / user interfacing
Improved inventory management
basics accounting - QuickBooks, once considered good accounting software for small business, has successfully made the transition to a highly effective solution for midsize corporations and meets all customer account management, inventory tracking, payroll, accounts receivable management, and overall corporate accounting management software needs.In order to survive in today's business climate, the agile business needs to select appropriate management software.
Scanned document and "image" attachments to accounts, inventory, and transactions
Customer choice of installed, remote desktop, or hosted application licenses

An overview of QuickBooks Enterprise reveals a number of enhancements over the "Pro" and "Premier" versions, some of which are as follows:
QuickBooks Review - Products/Services and Invoicing Management
Greater security and advanced user roles and permissions (115 separate activities)

QuickBooks Enterprise facilitates sending statements immediately to one customer or thousands of customers, including the option to print or email statements. Even more important is QB's ability to micro-manage the product and services mix, and multiple pricing options, thus ensuring the optimization of revenue by making certain no individual product or item, service, or special handling/shipping add on is omitted from invoicing. The integration of the pricing management feature with the inventory control features also allows automatic price updating as inventory prices increase.
Custom reporting flexibility enhancements

QuickBooks Review - Advanced Inventory Management
Scalability from 5 to 30 users
AR management, using QuickBooks, is easy, measurable, and effective. QuickBooks also offers flexibility, plus detailed accounting of customer accounts, inventory management, vendors, and employee payroll. In addition, the ability of QuickBooks to integrate with auto-call vendors and third parties for enhanced collections activity can save time and money for the company when a more focused collection effort becomes necessary.
The many QuickBooks Enterprise inventory management enhancements increase efficiency with such features as auto-PO generation, and the ability to attach individual item images to the item description and location data. The auto PO feature will detect low inventories for any item category and automatically send multiple purchase orders to all vendors who supply the products. And as mentioned earlier, cost increases in specific inventory items can bet set to automatically increase related product pricing to customers. This feature protects profit margin and revenues with less chance for error.


QuickBooks Review - Accounts Receivable Management Made Easy

"Always On" audit trail
Perhaps some of the most impactful improvements of Enterprise over previous versions are in the accounts receivables management area. The software will alert the AR team when customers' payments are due, or almost due, and provide options as to how and when to contact the client.


Clicking the Collections Center button will show the customer name and beneath it, a link to each overdue or almost due invoice. QB can open the invoice on the screen and display the balance of each overdue invoice, and days overdue. This screen includes the customer phone number as well as an option to add day & time stamped notes for any collection calls.

Greater customization of customer, employee, and vendor accounts
The AR team can elect to send an email to each customer notifying them that they are overdue, and automatically attach a PDF of each overdue invoice. Or, QB can transfer vital information to third-party software which will contact the customer with the correct information regarding balance the need to pay. If it becomes necessary, QB can also send the appropriate data to a pre-collections or collections firm electronically to conduct phone and/or written follow-up.


We can integrate directly with your Quickbooks software for the easiest accounts receivable management around. Just bill once and deposit your customers' payments.

Choosing The Right Accountant For Your Business

If yours is a growing business, it's recommended that you hire an outside accountant or an accounting firm that can offer you financial advice. By using an outside firm, you can save more money than you would by hiring a full-time employee, plus you'll be working with individuals who have a higher level of experience. An accounting firm will be able to help you with tax return preparation, financial analysis and financial statement preparation.


An accounting firm can not only help your company with tax returns, they can also help you develop a sound business plan and provide assistance with long-term tax planning and personal tax planning. Since there are so many choices out there when it comes to accounting firms, it's vital that you keep in mind that you'll be trusting the accountant your hire with the financial future of your business. One thing you should ask yourself is if your business needs to hire an inside accountant or an outside accounting firm.
No matter which kind of accountant you decide to go with, there are a few qualifications that you'll want to check before you make any final decisions. Make sure that the accountant is a Certified Public Accountant with all of the required schooling and continued education. Your accountant should also have experience in your particular industry and be able to handle the complexity of your business.
When your business transactions start to become more complicated, it might be time for you to bring in either a full- or part-time inside accountant. Bear in mind that an outside accountant's fee will increase along with the size of your business, so you might be better off breaking down and hiring an in-house employee if your business continues to grow. An in-house accountant's duties include: daily financial transactions, fixed asset accounting, cost accounting, payroll, cash management and variance analysis, among other tasks.
basics accounting' - Having a successful business requires making the right choices, like selecting an accountant with the right qualifications and experience necessary to take good financial care of you and your business. "How to choose an accountant" is a question that many business owners ask themselves when they want to get a better handle on the financial functions of their business. Either that or their current accounting software simply isn't getting their business where they want it to go. In any case, it's best if you allow a licensed accounting firm to handle all of the financial aspects of your business, even if you don't think that you need an accountant.

Now that you know more about how to choose an accountant, you can get back to focusing on running a successful business and leave the financial complexities to someone who knows what they're doing.

Various Types of Tax Service Providers

Finance Lawyers
These are effective and efficient workers. They are the most typical professional service providers. CPA's have the degree in accounting and shall be accredited by their state. They need to acquire annual education classes for re-certification.
There are companies who go for well-known tax service providers. These groups operate to further put in order annual revisiting for a cost. Most of the time, they cater refund advance loans. These often survive all over the country and are staffed with expert auditors, accountants and financial analysts. They are also able to hire very promising non-professionals and accounting students, whom they train to develop skills for various types of finance reporting and analysis. However, it would be best to require a licensed preparer to ensure they know the fundamentals of tax codes.

They are not the ones who file the returns but they are superior in a corporation in the sense that they offer recommendations in empowering the viability of reports. They also provide suggestions on subtractions that the business will benefit from. For any company who wants to hire finance lawyers, try to coordinate with your local Bar Association to verify the attorney you are considering for the position
While there are a lot of people thinking they just organize returns, CPA's actually take charge of financial dealings, business and planning suggestions and proposals. The CPA does these recommendations during their full-time or part-time work, whichever they prefer. Hiring a CPA is necessary for bulky businesses.
basics accounting' - Every year, when the month of April comes, everyone's in a hurry to finish preparing his or her returns. While a lot of people are capable of planning and strategizing for their own returns, business leaders and other people with notable assets and reserves hire professional help from tax service providers. There are different types of homework services for these professionals planning returns for such people. There are registered agents, accountants and attorneys who make sure everything is kept at its best form in handling returns for their client.
While attorneys can appropriate themselves in a different field of expertise, there are some who turn out to be finance lawyers. There are various laws involving finance and tax that can be a very worthwhile sphere for such legal representatives. Finance lawyers guide clients with issues regarding their returns, tax refuge and drawing official procedures for communal tax and a lot more.

Professional Service Providers

Certified Public Accountants

If you are looking for a Sacramento tax services provider to audit and account your finances, then be sure to check out Capital Tax Services Inc first and consider whether their top quality service fits your company needs!

Factors Tax Preparer Needs to Consider When Resolving Dependency Claims

To make sure that everyone is aware about the situation, there is a need to for the tax preparer to coordinate that only one return list is eligible for any qualifying child. If none of the parents claim, the person with the greatest gross income succeeds the usage of the exemption.
The process in breaking the tie is very critical for any accountant, and someone needs to gain expertise in doing so. One needs to make sure that the payers have to be aware of the methods of determining who is entitled to claim dependency exemption. Similarly, the IRS uses these approaches to determine the rightful person to use the dependency claim.
If a client mistakes claiming dependency for someone else, this can be very expensive. Thus, as one who plans the client returns, one needs to make sure accurate data is generated. Erroneous claims force additional payment and forfeiture of credits connected on dependency claims.

The most typical case is for both parents who are filing for dependency claims for a qualifying child. In this case, the parent who resided with the child the most nights gains the exemption. In a rare case that the nights are exactly equal, parent with higher adjusted gross income will get the exemption.




There are two kinds of dependents - both of which are at the major study area for someone who files and plans returns.
The most essential approach in these kinds of problems is to explain the information through a tax preparer course about dependency claims. It is much easier to obey the rules first before submission of returns. You wouldn't want the IRS to enforce these guidelines for exemption for the same person due to dependency claims.
The first criteria are for a qualifying child - who takes priority over another for relative criteria. Most of the time, when a person meets the rules for qualifying child for two or more, that parent prevails for dependency claims. But, professionals find more benefit for grandparents claiming qualifying child dependency. The bureau accepts this so long as both payers resolve this prior to filing returns.

basics accounting' - A tax preparer needs to be very alert especially whenever there are dependency claims. In most cases, conflicts arise when disagreements about sharing the custody of the child after a nasty divorce. Dependency exemption is questioned in such situations. There are also some instances when parents who were never married try to dispute these dependency claims.
If you're in the hunt to find a tax preparer in Sacramento who has vast knowledge of the field, it would be best for you to check out Capital Tax Services Inc now and see whether their services would be the best for your business.

When You Don't Have a Bookkeeper

If you don't hire someone who will make sure everything is organized and systematically arranged, your financial reporting team may lose important documents along the process. If you decide to carry out the financial undertakings, you will definitely find it hard to come up with an accurate analysis of your data. Thus, this will certainly reflect on your prediction trends and can curve your decision-making schemes.
Here are some of the things that might happen when you don't hire a bookkeeper immediately.
Another thing you may want from people who work tediously on your finances is their expert opinion and recommendations when it comes to matters that needs to be decided immediately.

If you do this yourself or you rely your tax computation to online software or another person with a different expertise, the chances are you'll be filing inaccurate reports. This can get you into a lot of trouble especially when the bureau notices discrepancies in your declarations. Once this happened, they can charge you with tax evasion and the business in operation will be put into a state of crisis. This might start your business downfall.

One of the major tasks of any bookkeeper is to prepare necessary financial documents for filing of tax returns. They are the ones tasked to sort through the entire list of financial transactions and find the ones, which are valid for declaration. They are also the ones who take in charge in documenting every financial report essential to provide balance with the statement of accounts and tax declaration.

Expert Opinion

basics accounting' - These days, if you don't have a bookkeeper, you're missing a lot. Running a business can be very hard but if you have an accountant to manage all your finances - more so, if you hire a company for a more efficient job handling, everything can be taken lightly. There are a lot of advantages in hiring people to do auditing, tax preparation, accounting, financial reporting and analysis helping you ensure that your financial status is stable and profit is increasing.

Your Financial Transactions' A Mess!
Errors in Your Tax Returns
While there are risks involved, they can help you formulate your plans and decide on the things that can definitely provide you the ignition for your next projects. All in all, it is safe to stay that when you hire a professional bookkeeper, whether individually or from an accounting firm, you're sure to have a lot of benefits.

Contracting Profession Gaining Momentum

basics accounting' - Following the much discussed and greatly anticipated budget last month, many professionals were left confused as little appeared to have changed at the hands of the country's most powerful (besides a slight reduction of the price of beer) and contractors especially were left gnawing at their fingernails as any mention of their predicted tax status changes were brushed over in a single sentence. Any government or revenue announcements are awaited with baited breath, and with a history of nasty surprises, this year's annual budget was poised to be a belter.
The 2013 budget was in fact met with a pinch of misunderstanding, a touch of distain and a hefty dose of boredom, as the tax paying public were met with a relatively unsympathetic speech and not much to get excited about afterwards. While politicians are very much people that the public love to hate, the extreme scrutiny under which George Osborne, David Cameron and Ed Milliband were put after the event was nonetheless surprising. Thousands took to the internet, blogging and tweeting their views, from commenting on the Chancellor's budget announcements, to predicting when the Prime Minister will go bald.

Many limited company professionals had expected an update and announcement concerning 'office holders' in terms of IR35 and those who had expected further guidance in this area were left disappointed with what HMRC offered, the promised 'clarity' remaining undelivered. 'Announcements' relating to the contracting profession are usually of great importance to those in the field, the self-employed area of work being one that comes with both boundaries and limitations. In recent years, the state of contracting has seen a number of changes and alterations occur following government statements, more so than in the previous decade. From changes made to the IR35 legislation to revenue issued self-help business tests, contractors have been subjected to a great deal during the past year and a half and it isn't surprising why.
So what are the reasons for this upsurge in government interest in contractors? Instead of gritty tax nonsense, the answer in fact lies with the sheer number of people entering the profession of limited company trading. As a professional route, being a contractor would have seemed highly out of the ordinary during the 90's and even throughout much of the 'noughties', but in today's society, becoming a contractor and trading through limited companies has become a prominent and competitive line of work.


As Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs never miss a trick, with a vast influx of professional tax payers leaving the PAYE system and entering contracting, their grip on limited companies has been increasingly tightening. Through the IR35 legislation, the revenue have been monitoring and investigating potential tax avoiders since the year 2000, but it has only been in recent years that an IR35 upsurge has occurred. From oil riggers to IT consultants, contractors from every profession are all at risk to HMRC's legislative regulations, and with the government interest gaining momentum (despite the recent budget) it looks as though contracting is becoming progressively more prominent.