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Posts Tagged ‘CPA’
Monday, July 26th, 2010
As a business person, do you ever find that you are essentially living entirely off your cash flow? In other words, do you spend the money you receive as soon as it comes into your company?
While this “in-one-door, out-the-other” style of managing your cash flow isn’t unusual, it’s also not a method for achieving long-term success. Essentially, you’re just breaking even.
With the help of a virtual CFO or a CPA, you can determine the wisest ways to make the most of the cash coming into your business so you don’t allow it to slip needlessly away. Even if you can only put aside a small portion of it each month, you’ll be ahead of the game down the road.
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FinancialFutureCFO: Protecting your company for the future.
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Tags: Ahead, Business Person, cash flow, CPA, Game, Money, Small Portion, Term Success, virtual CFO
Posted in cash flow management | No Comments »
Tuesday, July 13th, 2010
It’s mid-summer and I’m here to tell you that if you think that all CPAs are lolling on the beaches, just running out the clock until tax time, you’re gravely mistaken.
CPAs actually work 12 months out of the year, though our press is frequently limited to January 1 through April 15. (And it’s more so toward the latter date than the former!)
If you’ve never worked with a CPA to help plan your business, I encourage you to start now. A well-rounded CPA will be able to guide you through the waters of this strange economic landscape and enable you to make the most of your current financial situation. Together, you’ll be able to tackle each obstacle and uncover each opportunity with panache.
What’s not to like about this kind of partnership?
Best of all, when tax time DOES roll around (and it always happens sooner than you expect, doesn’t it?), you’ll have a CPA on board who can efficiently handle the paperwork associated with your taxes. It’s a win-win!
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FinancialFutureCFO: Protecting your company for the future.
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Tags: 1 April, 12 Months, April 15, Beaches, Clock, CPA, Cpas, Current, Economic Landscape, Financial Situation, January 1, Limited, Mid Summer, Obstacle, Opportunity, Panache, Paperwork, Partnership, Running, Strange, Tax Time
Posted in Change your CPA | No Comments »
Friday, April 30th, 2010
Getting a tax extension may have felt like a huge relief, but don’t let yourself sit on your laurels (proverbially, of course!) and wait until October to begin organizing your taxes.
If you asked for a tax extension, make an appointment with a CPA right now so you can get the ball rolling. If you procrastinate until the last minute, you’ll be in a horrible situation and have to undergo unnecessary levels of stress.
Make life easier — get your tax returns filed this summer and avoid another tax time crunch in the fall.
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FinancialFutureCFO: Protecting your company for the future.
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Tags: Appointment, CPA, Horrible Situation, Last Minute, Laurels, Levels Of Stress, Organizing, Sit, tax extension, Tax Returns, Tax Time, Taxes, Time Crunch, Unnecessary Levels
Posted in Taxes | No Comments »
Tuesday, April 27th, 2010
So you don’t have a problem with cash flow. You are paying all your bills on time. You’re paying employees. Life is pretty good. That’s great!
But wait. What if I told you that your cash flow might be flowing in the wrong direction. Would it all seem so good after all?
Having a decent cash flow is a great start, but that doesn’t mean you’re maximizing that cash flow. You might just be going through the motions and missing huge opportunities to make sure your cash is flowing into places that will enable you to make more cash, do more things with your business, or invest in new products or services.
While I applaud anyone whose cash flow isn’t a problem, I still encourage them to evaluate that cash flow regularly. Sit down with a CPA or CFO and analyze your data. You may be able to increase your cash flow’s “water pressure” and get a bigger bang for your buck!
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FinancialFutureCFO: Protecting your company for the future.
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Tags: Business New, Business Products, cash flow, CFO, CPA, Decent Cash, Going Through The Motions, Invest, paying bills, Paying Employees, Right Direction, Sit, Water Pressure, Wrong Direction
Posted in cash flow management | No Comments »
Saturday, April 17th, 2010
If you’re getting a tax refund this year, it might be tempting to go out and spend it all on something you’ve been wanting to purchase, but I urge you to take a step back and put on your “prudent” hat.
That tax refund — whether modest or significant — can now be used as an investment. In what? How about your business or personal future?
Instead of thinking about your tax refund as a “windfall”, treat it as a way to make sure that 2010 and beyond are wisely spent (from a fiscal perspective). (This isn’t the lottery, after all!) Use it to become a better money manager with a little help from a CPA or virtual CFO.
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FinancialFutureCFO: Protecting your company for the future.
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Tags: Blow, CPA, Lottery, Money Manager, Personal, Perspective, Tax Refund, virtual CFO, Windfall
Posted in Taxes | No Comments »
Friday, April 9th, 2010
I cannot tell you how many of my clients miss out on great opportunities at tax time because they don’t save their receipts. Without receipts, it can be insanely difficult to figure out how much you spent in a certain area of your business.
Though you might not be able to do anything for 2009’s tax preparation, it’s not too late to get a jump on ensuring you’re not overly taxed for 2010! Below are a few tips for keeping track of receipts:
- Create a system for filing your receipts. Many people choose to physically staple or tape their receipts to a blank sheet of paper. While this might not be the most environmentally-friendly option, it will be easier to store (and find) them.
- Make a note on (or next to, if you tape the receipt to a sheet of paper) the receipt as to what category your purchase falls under. For instance, was it for office supplies? Marketing? Business equipment? (If you’re not sure which categories you should be tracking, devise a system with your CPA or CFO.)
- Once a week, record your receipts in a spreadsheet. That way, at the end of the year, you won’t have to perform this arduous task. Alternatively, you could track receipts daily, although I think that’s too cumbersome.
Here’s to making tax time a little less emotionally — and financially — stressful!
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FinancialFutureCFO: Protecting your company for the future.
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Tags: Arduous Task, Blank Sheet Of Paper, Business Equipment, CFO, CPA, Many People, marketing, Office Supplies, Receipt, Receipts, Spreadsheet, Tax Preparation, Tax Time, Taxes
Posted in Taxes | No Comments »
Wednesday, April 7th, 2010
You have a start-up company. So you ask your sister’s out-of-work friend to do a few jobs for you. And you pay her in cash or with checks.
Eventually, the work you have to give her becomes more regular (go, you!) and you’re paying her on a bi-weekly basis. But there’s no contract between you. There’s no deduction taken out of her pay. There’s no sense of worry. Until April 15th approaches, that is.
Many entrepreneurs find themselves in this odd position. Is she an accidental employee? Is she an independent contractor? Could be be classified as something else?
This is a place where a CPA should be brought into the picture asap. Otherwise, one — or both — of you could make a serious mistake come tax time… a mistake that could cost you much more than the investment you manage the relationship between you two correctly!
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FinancialFutureCFO: Protecting your company for the future.
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Tags: Blunder, Checks, contractor, CPA, employee, Jobs, Mistake, Odd Position, Start Up Company, Tax Time, Worry
Posted in Taxes | No Comments »
Monday, April 5th, 2010
Each day is one last opportunity to get your act together when it comes to filing your tax returns.
To keep you informed (and to give you something to read while you’re on a quick break), here are 6 interesting tax filing tidbits:
1. Can’t pay the taxes you owe? You should still file your tax return. The penalties for filing a late tax return dwarf the penalties for paying the tax return late! (And the IRS will allow you to set up a payment plan, with interest, of course.)
2. If you file for a tax extension, your taxes will be due on October 15th. However, this doesn’t give you carte blanche to wait, especially if you’ll just put off doing your taxes until October 14th!
3. If you keep finding that you cannot pay your taxes, you probably aren’t managing your finances well throughout the year. Contact a CPA or hire a CFO to help you in this area. It’ll make tax time much simpler.
4. Double-check all your information, even if it’s been prepared by a CPA. This includes bank account numbers, social security numbers and math calculations throughout the forms.
5. Don’t forget to sign the return! Many people skip this step… rendering the tax return useless until they get it back and sign it properly!
6. If you owe money, make sure you write your check out to the proper entity. It pays to be diligent!
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FinancialFutureCFO: Protecting your company for the future.
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Tags: April 15, can't pay taxes, CPA, file your return, filing tax returns, filing your returns, hire a CFO, manage your finances, October 15, payment plan, sign tax return, tax extension, tax filing, tax interest, tax penalties, Tax Returns, Tax Time
Posted in Taxes | No Comments »
Saturday, April 3rd, 2010
If you’re reading this and you haven’t started your tax returns, you might be one of the many who could best be described as a tax return procrastinator.
Fortunately, many CPAs do account (pun intended!) for this type of personality, so they may be able to tackle a tax return last-minute or, at the very least, help you understand what kinds of interest you’ll incur if you decide that you simply can’t file by April 15th and need an extension.
That being said, procrastination doesn’t pay off. Typically, individuals who procrastinate have a higher likelihood of making errors — many that could end up costing them unnecessarily — especially if they do their taxes themselves.
If you’re a notorious tax return procrastinator, do yourself a favor and head to a CPA today. Then, when April 15th is a memory, hire a CPA to help you get a jump on what you’ll need for next year. That will help you become more efficient in handling this aspect of your finances.
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FinancialFutureCFO: Protecting your company for the future.
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Tags: CPA, Cpas, Last Minute, Likelihood, Memory Help, Procrastination, Procrastinator, Pun, Tax Return, Tax Returns, Taxes, Type Of Personality
Posted in Taxes | No Comments »
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