Just as a personal budget can help ensure enough money is saved for retirement, a business budget can help ensure the company can succeed long into the future. Budgets also help start-ups step off on the right foot. Even without historical expenses data, taking the time to forecast income and expenses for the month, quarter and year(s) ahead will help keep your business lean, efficient and open for business.
Want to make sure your business QuickBooks (QB) file agrees with your tax return? Best practice is to use your accountant’s adjusting journal entries or an accountant copy update file to bring your QB in line with the tax return. If neither are available, we suggest using the following approach.
Have no fear! When the opening balance does not match the
bank statement, there are two common reasons:
- There are previously reconciled transactions which were deleted OR
- A transaction which was previously reconciled was unreconciled
If you pay your employees every other week but your income is recognized monthly, your revenue will not be matched to the expenses that helped earn it. On your income statement (P&L), expenses would be understated some months and overstated others.
One of the benefits of hiring an accounting/bookkeeping expert is the ability to meet with them after month-end close, to have them explain your financial statements to you and to help draw your attention to important aspects of the financial data. A monthly financial review meeting is a good starting point to ensuring your business is staying on track. Here is what we recommend you review:
Intuit has aligned with a bank called Green Dot to provide QuickBooks Online users with an integrated checking account. This account, called “QuickBooks Cash and Envelopes,” is designed to house funds received from your QuickBooks Payments merchant services. Per Intuit, it “combines a checking account, savings envelopes, merchant service payments, and a cash flow planner all in one integrated interface.” Here is a quick look at Intuit’s selling points:
Are you a dentist who does work in exchange for IT services? Maybe you are a physical therapist who exchanges services with someone who does your social media. These are great examples of bartering.
While running your own business, you pay bills online, deposit checks with your smart phone and check your bank balance using the internet. So far you are managing quite well. Then something unexpected happens - an automatic bill payment you set up clears the bank and suddenly you are overdrawn.
The second draw of PPP funds is a life raft for many small businesses. There are a lot of great changes to the eligibility rules and uses of PPP-2 funds. Unfortunately, there are a few changes that many deem unfair.
When it comes to bookkeeping for small businesses it is important to have a year-end checklist to make sure everything is in order. Here is our year-end checklist:
- Backup of data made before correcting transactions
- Review Trail Balance
- Balance changed? Review Audit Trail, Voided/Deleted and Retained Earnings QuickReport for prior year.
