Small banks trounce large banks in term of customer service, but you may still end-up at a large bank just because of its superior online banking capabilities.
Prevent bookkeeping fraud with two sets of eyes
The two most common causes of fraud in small businesses are when rogue employees or contractors write checks to themselves or deposit checks to their account instead of the company’s account. Those are very unsophisticated schemes and can easily be detected after the fact, but by the time you detect the fraud, the damage is already done. Here are easy techniques to avoid the fraud in the first place.
Preparing your 1099s – Deadlines and Process
There are many options available for preparing, sending and filing 1099 forms. They range from Do-It-Yourself to complete outsourcing options. However, all options have a common starting point: your QuickBooks file needs to be up-to-date through the end of 2011 and you need to have the proper information about your vendors on file.
How to interview a bookkeeper
Let’s assume that you decided to hire an independent bookkeeper as opposed to a bookkeeping firm like ProLedge. How should you interview and select such a bookkeeper? What are the most important selection criteria?
Your Bookkeeper Needs Web Conferencing Very Badly
What are the three tools that you should expect your bookkeeper to know inside out? QuickBooks, Excel and web conferencing. Yes, web conference tools are now critical if you use an outside bookkeeper to support your accounting needs.
Your CPA doesn’t want your QuickBooks file? Time for a new CPA.
If at the end of the year, you offer to your CPA to send him your QuickBooks file to prepare your taxes and he replies “No, just send me reports”, this is a huge red flag. You need to expect more from your CPA.
Bookkeepers & Accountants: Where to Draw the Line between the Two.
Bookkeepers and accountants are not interchangeable. There are tasks that clearly belong to your bookkeeper and others that belong to your CPA. In many people’s mind, the demarcation line is blurry and this is because, historically, both professions have had incentives to blur that line in order to grab billable hours away from each other. The reality is a lot simpler and cleaner.
Intuit’s 401k – An Intriguing Approach
Intuit, the maker of QuickBooks, recently entered the 401k market and is getting some good traction. Why is it worth noting? After all, there are hundreds of 401k providers out there and most are investment institutions with much better financial pedigrees than Intuit’s. However, Intuit is taking an innovative approach that might fill a void for small businesses.
Your Bookkeeper is not Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor. Does it Matter?
The bookkeeping profession is as unregulated as it gets. There are no official certifications like they have for CPAs, financial planners and many other white collar service professions. It’s a good thing as I’ll explain below, but it leaves many small business owners wondering how to identify the good from the bad among bookkeepers. In this profession, education and certifications don’t mean a whole lot, but if there is a certification that carries any significant weight, it is Intuit’s QuickBooks ProAdvisor.
Darn Receipts! 10 Tips on How to Organize your Financial Records.
Keeping good financial records is a common nightmare for most small business. What should you keep? How long? Is electronic OK? How to organize all these documents? Here are some high level guidelines.