financial statements
Are You Safe From Fraud?
I can’t begin to tell you how many small business owners I have met that have been victims of fraud by bookkeepers that they trusted to do their accounting. That’s one of the reasons that virtual accounting services have become so popular. Last year at the requests of clients and prospective clients, we started a..
read moreAre You Watching Your Receivables?
In tough economic times, keeping a close eye on your receivables is vital. If your clients or customers run into difficulties, you may find your business not being paid. Consider these practices: Set a credit limit for your clients or customers. Send a statement as soon as an invoice is past due. Call when a..
read moreDid You File an Extension?
Most CPAs request that they receive everything needed to prepare the tax returns a minimum of 30 days prior to the filing deadline. If you don’t have all the information available, consider filing in a timely manner and amending the return later to save late filing penalties. As your virtual accountants, we are here to provide support and assistance to our clients.
read moreWatch Your Debt Level
When my daughters were getting ready to be married, my advice to them was "Only live on one salary because if you live on two salaries, you will always have to work." Why not keep your options open? Besides, saving most of the second salary will greatly increase your retirement options
read moreThere’s Good News and Bad News for Employers
There are two changes to payroll taxes that were announced this month. Congress dropped the .2% federal unemployment tax (FUTA) surcharge reducing the rate from 6.2% to 6% effective July 1, 2011. Employers still receive the 5.4% credit for paying state unemployment taxes (SUTA) on time, reducing the FUTA rate to .6%.
read moreWho’s Watching Your Back?
If you aren't watchful, you might miss them. That's where your trusted advisors come in. This month we are advising our clients (and you!) about 3 changes that will impact their businesses through the end of 2011. See the articles that follow for the good news and bad news for business owners.
read moreAre You Getting All The Deductions You Are Entitled To?
To qualify for the business mileage reimbursement, you need to diligently track the miles driven. To properly do this, at the beginning of your fiscal year write down your odometer reading. Throughout the course of the year, every time you drive for business purposes you should write down your beginning and ending mileage, the date of the travel, your destination and the purpose of the travel, i.e. client visit, sales call, seminar attendance, etc.
read moreProtect against employee fraud
The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners study shows that some of the best internal controls for reducing occupational fraud are: appropriate segregation of duties, surprise audits, fraud training for managers and employees, job rotation and mandatory vacations, a fraud hotline, employee support programs, internal audits, a written anti-fraud policy and a written code of conduct.
read moreWrap it Up!
Since our firm is totally paperless, after year-end we burn a CD for each client with all the documents supporting their income tax returns. Amazingly enough, we call it a Tax Support CD and we label it by year. This gives our clients all the documents they would need in case they were audited but it doesn’t mean that they’ll have boxes or file drawers full of papers. Included on the Tax Support CD are all of their bank statements along with our reconciliation reports, all the bills we have paid for them, any receipts they have given to us, sales tax and payroll reports, financial statements, any pertinent correspondence, W2s and 1099s that we sent or received for them, etc.
read moreSecurity threats lurking in discarded photocopiers!
We all photocopy or scan personnel information and other sensitive business data. Imagine that information sitting in a warehouse where photocopiers are being stored for resale and your private personal or business data can be accessed by whoever purchases the unit? Not good!
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