Most people make an annual appointment with their accountant on or before April 15th each year, and then don’t see them again until next tax season. Others never even bother engaging an accountant, preferring to use cheap or free accounting tools to save a few extra bucks in the short term. But the reality is, an accountant can and should provide you with so much more than a completed tax return. A good accountant can help you make informed business tax planning decisions as well as advise against decisions that could be detrimental (and maybe even irreversible). To determine how your accountant can best serve you, begin by asking a few questions. To help you get started, we’ve put together a short list of questions everyone should ask their accountant. #1 Do You Offer Tax Planning Services? Financial decisions made today can mean the difference between significant savings and a huge tax bill in April, so it’s important to know whether your accountant can advise you on these types of decisions. Using an accountant to plan ahead can often help reduce your tax liability. He/she will be current on all the latest tax laws governing everything from asset purchases to expense rules so you can take advantage of every deduction available. These are decisions that can ultimately affect your individual, family and organization’s finances, so it’s well worth asking if your accountant can provide you with guidance along the way. #2 Do You Offer Business Consulting Services? Some accountants or…
Another tax season has come and gone, and as always, it feels like—despite all odds—a mountain has been moved. Maybe you had the nice surprise of a hefty refund, or maybe you had to write some checks you weren’t planning on writing. No matter which way your return ended up, there’s a good chance that the process of putting your taxes together exposed all the cracks and holes in your small business accounting practices. One way to shore up those holes before next tax season comes around is to outsource your small business accounting. And the benefits go beyond a less stressful tax filing. 1. Save Money Whether you hire an internal accountant or accounting team, or you outsource the accounting for your small business, there’s a price tag attached. For a small business, bringing on a new employee is no small decision. Their salary, benefits, and other monetary concerns have a serious impact on the bottom line. That cost typically overshadows what you would pay to an outside accounting firm. This is especially true if you’re one of the many small businesses that finds itself in that undefined space where accounting takes too much of your time to handle on your own, but there’s not quite enough to do to keep a full-time employee busy. Hiring someone to sit idly by for a good chunk of the work week is an investment that simply doesn’t deliver. 2. Save Time When you outsource your small business accounting, you’re contracting a…
When you’re running a small business, every penny counts, especially as you’re getting off the ground. By making the right decisions, you can spend money where it counts most, getting the kinds of returns that will ensure your business goes the distance. Accurate and timely bookkeeping is the secret to success for businesses large and small, new and established. Starting off with intelligent bookkeeping from the get-go, and keeping it as a priority as your business matures will save you a lot of headache and heartache, and give you the foundation you need to succeed. Keep Business and Personal Accounts Separate Even with the best of intentions, it becomes easy to lose track of where personal expenses end and business expenses begin, especially in the early days of your business. Keeping two separate bank accounts from the start will make life much less complicated. Make sure your business account has both checking and a dedicated credit card. With all the expenses in one place, you won’t waste precious time trying to figure out what goes where. You can also take advantage of rewards or cash back to put toward your business. Prepare for Taxes Year-Round Business tax preparation should be an ongoing priority. When you’re running a business, you don’t want surprises. And if you wait until the last minute to prepare for your taxes, that’s exactly what you’re going to get. Tracking, labeling, and categorizing expenses diligently throughout the year will save you from making unwanted errors, and help…