Client entertainment is a cornerstone of running a small business. The tax law known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) has given many small business owners anxiety regarding what is considered a deductible business expense beginning in 2018.
Cybercrime does not discriminate between small business and large corporations. All businesses need to be on alert. Hackers have created elaborate phishing tactics and are able to impersonate communications from executive management often seamlessly. We’ve come across to savvy business people who have fallen victim to attempts to gain access to money in the past month. Below are two stories and what could be done to avert a loss:
Before you know it, the holidays will be here, filling up the calendar with more to-dos and festivities. Don’t put off the year-end planning details of bank reconciliations and estimated tax payments until the last minute. We advise all business owners to provide a clean version of your financial records to your accountant on or before November 15. Save yourself the stress and start the cleanup now!
When hiring new employees, it is important to consider all the steps and pieces of your business that will be impacted by the human resource investment. Not only are you paying the hourly wage or salary, but also potentially:
It’s that time of year, rounding out the fall season and sliding into the last few months of the year. We get lost in the day to day work and those unexpected events. Take a moment to take stock in what you and your business have right now and see where you are compared to where you started the year.
In short, yes. It is recommended that small businesses reconcile their accounts at least monthly, although some small businesses reconcile daily for cash flow reasons. This step-by-step video shows how to reconcile your bank account using QuickBooks.
The process of comparing your balance (known as the book balance) to the bank’s records (bank balance) is important for the following reasons:
It’s nearly the fourth quarter and year-end is just around the corner. A lot of small business owners wait too long to get their financials in order. Closing the books for the year doesn’t have to be a race to the finish, it can be a jog. Below are a few things you can do now:
Many small business owners advocate doing payroll in-house as it’s considered easy and keeps them involved. The truth is, doing your own payroll can be a time drain and is costly. While you’re not paying the nominal fee for a payroll service, you’re spending your valuable time on a task that is likely below your pay grade.
Below are a few reasons why you should consider outsourcing your payroll.
When is it too late to start a budget? Some business owners don’t use a budget, and as a result, aren’t sure where money is being spent. Maybe you created some projections at the beginning of the year but are missing the mark on the sales side. Even though half the year is over, you can gain some valuable insights by assessing your first-half actual results to create a new budget.
Do you struggle with keeping track of your Travel Mileage at your small business or startup? Do you find keeping track of your mileage to be a tedious task? I do. At the end of every year, I go through my calendar, note all the business events that I drove to, calculate the mileage using Google Maps, add up the miles on an excel spreadsheet (and I don’t drive nearly as much as many of you), and after multiplying by the allotted mileage reimbursement, I have entered a tidy business expense.
