Category Archives: Accounting

Small Business Consulting: Fresh Eyes Equal Fresh Savings!

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Starting a business and running a business are difficult tasks. There are many different things to worry about, and financial issues are one of the main ones. Without a full understanding of all the financial aspects of a business, owners could potentially lose money or face even more dire consequences. A CPA can help with financial consulting and ensure that the business is on track to succeed.

Defining Business Structures

One of the most important small business consulting roles a CPA can play happens when you are starting your business. You will need to decide on the best structure, and the structure you choose will affect several different things. This includes taxes and what you will owe to the state you live in, and much more. A CPA can ensure that you choose the correct structure for your personal situation and the correct structure from a financial and tax standpoint.

Creating a Legal Tax Strategy

CPAs understand tax laws in-depth, meaning that they can help you create a legal tax strategy that accomplishes two things: keeps you in compliance with state and local laws and allows your business to keep as much money as possible. With financial consulting from a professional CPA, you will understand exactly what taxes your business must pay, when they must be paid, and what deductions your business can claim as well. This will allow you to keep every cent possible in a legal manner, so you are covered without paying in unnecessary money.

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Accounting Tips for Small Businesses

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Accounting is such a delicate part of having a business. It is that aspect that allows the business owner to keep track of the company’s transactions and make sure that cash flow is going strong. Accounting also takes care of computing the tax that the company has to give to the government. Not being able to do this can spell disaster and sanctions by the government.

To be able to do well with accounting and to keep the company’s coffers filled and fluid, here are some important accounting tips for small businesses.

1. It is best to utilize an accounting program

Accounting software is very useful today especially that people have entered the era of high technology. It is essential to keep up with the demands of expanding and growing businesses by adapting accounting software. Moreover, such software packages are quite easy to use as these can be operated by a business owner who has or does not have any background in accounting.

Accounting software packages available in the market today are customizable to suit the individual and unique needs of businesses.

With this accounting software is the need to hire a bookkeeper. A bookkeeper is needed to ensure that the data and records produced by the software are accurate.

2. Personal and Business Matters have to be kept separated

Even if the business is owned by just one person, the financial and personal finances should have to be separated. In fact, it is advised that these two should be placed in separate bank accounts so that accounting is easier to do and becomes less confusing. Should the owner need to borrow some cash from the business, it would be best to make a withdrawal or issue a check so that this becomes easier to liquidate.

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Challenges for Businesses

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Most businesses will be affected by the introduction of NEST (National Employment Savings Trust). Next year there will be a staged implementation as UK employers will need to have a qualifying workplace pension scheme and to enroll their employees into it. If there is already a company pension scheme than enrolling employees into it will meet suffice, provided the scheme meets certain criteria. If not, then a NEST can be used.

NEST will require automatic enrollment for any worker aged at least 22 but under 65 or State Pension age (depending on when they were born) who earn more than £7,475 per annum. Any worker aged at least 16 but under 75 earning more than £5,035 per annum may ask to be enrolled.

Between October 2012 and 2016 all employers will be required to contribute at least 1%, rising to 3% by October 2017, of each employee’s eligible earnings into a pension, unless the employee opts out.

For businesses with fewer than 50 employees the commencement date will not be until at least August 2014, with the smallest not being affected until 2016. The first wave of businesses to be affected will be the largest, with more than 50,000 employees. However, NEST schemes can be set up now by any employer and could be used as an incentive to staff. Early adoption may well not be popular though with employers who are already feeling squeezed.

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Understanding Accrual and Cash Accounting Methods

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Why is understanding accrual and cash accounting methods important for business owners, particularly for owners of small businesses? Many small businesses are used to using a ‘cash in cash out’ form of accounting, very similar to the format of bank statement, so why should they consider anything different.

It’s all got to do with knowing how well your business is doing month in month out, and just about how much spare cash you have in the bank at any one time. In order to operate a business properly, it is important that you can compare each month on an equal footing. This is an important factor in analyzing whether you are improving during the course of the year or whether you need to take some action to improve the way your business is operating.

Problems with Cash Accounting

You can do that by checking your bank balance! That’s where understanding accrual and cash accounting methods becomes important. With a cash system, every time you get paid by a client or customer you mark it as a credit, and every time you make a payment to your workforce or for raw materials you mark it as a debit. Money in – money out; it seems a simple way to keep your accounts, and so it might be – as long as you have no extraordinary expenditure in any month.

How about if you offer credit, as most businesses do? You might incur the expenses for the work or the product one month and not get fully paid for another few months. How about your annual business insurance: will you pay all that in one month and maybe end up making a loss that month because of your cash accounting system.

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