Phoenix Arizona CPA | Arizona Tax Accountant | Arizona Income Tax

Are you tired of not making any money? Then, now is a good time to fire your accountant and find a better one.

Thirteen years ago Hot Rod and I went shopping for an accountant.  Hot Rod’s buddy and partner Richard Yox had just died.  Yox had always done the books and filed the tax returns.

Yox took an aggressive approach to the IRS.  He was cross-hair-focused on making sure that Uncle Sam didn’t get one extra penny from Hot Rod & Yox Plumbing and Heating.  They got audited once in 1981.  The IRS wrote HR&Y a check for $11.  Since then we’ve never been audited.  I’m crossing my fingers and knocking on wood that I don’t ever have to go through an audit.  I suspect, however, that after dealing with Yox, the auditor stamped “DON’T GO THERE” on our file. Read the rest of this entry »

Don’t know your debits from your credits? Here’s a quick primer on how basic bookkeeping works and an easy way to understand debits and credits.

First, know that debits are not “deductions” and credits are not “increases”. Debit and credit are the names of the columns on bookkeeping ledgers (debit is the column on the left and credit is the column on the right). In double entry accounting (bookkeeping) the sum of each column must equal the other. In other words, the sum of all of the debits must equal the sum of all of the credits. By making sure that the sum of each column equals the other, the bookkeeper can eliminate arithmetic errors. Read the rest of this entry »

Every business functions through a range of disciplines, sales and marketing, operational skills, purchasing and management. A small business accounting software is also an essential tool to bring financial discipline to the business. No matter how skilled and well trained the business every small business needs a full range of functions to reach the highest levels of success. Read the rest of this entry »

If you were driving 80 miles an hour, in the dark, with your lights off, heading towards a cliff, would you like someone to yell, “STOP?”

OK.

Stop!

Do you produce financial reports - the balance sheet and income statement - every week?  Do you analyze sales, costs, cash flow, and debt every week?  If not, you may be heading for the cliff. Read the rest of this entry »

Discounting of Revenues and Expenses

Business valuation involves the study of many aspects of a business, including anticipated revenues and expenses. Because cash flows extend over time, a discounted cash flow (DCF) model can be a helpful tool.  A discounted cash flow analysis for a business valuation requires the analyst to consider two components: (i) a projection of ongoing revenues and expenses of the foreseeable future; and, (ii) a determination of the discount rate to be used. Read the rest of this entry »

Small business accounting is the latest one to attract the attention of many business owners as they find the larger accounting firms too busy in executing their tasks. Moreover, keeping a track on every day’s financial transaction is a tough job; hence, needs a specialist to take care of accounting records especially when you are a businessperson. Thus, these firms are turning towards these organizations for their proficient abilities to accomplish work within a short period of time. Read the rest of this entry »

Whatever your responsibilities are in your business or organization, you need accounting skills to perform at your best. If you are in sales, you learn your product’s features and how to show them to buyers. Those features include the cost or value proposition and how it affects your customers’ buying decisions.

Marketing managers study how to find and appeal to a product’s target groups. Working up price points can mean some detailed cost analysis. Production managers learn how to plan workflow to control costs. Senior managers use financial statements to speak to those outside about their business’s prospects. Whatever your management level, you need to Read the rest of this entry »

In the modem world no business can afford to remain secretive because various parties such as creditors, employees, taxation authorities, investors, public and government etc., are interested to know about the affairs of the business. Affairs of the business can be studied mainly by consulting final accounts and the balance sheet of the particular business. Final accounts and the balance sheet are end products of book-keeping. Because of the importance of these statements it became necessary for the accountants to develop some principles, concepts and conventions which may be regarded as fundamentals of accounting. Such fundamentals having wide acceptance give reliability and creditability to the financial statements prepared by the accountants. The need for ‘generally accepted accounting principles’ arises for two reasons: Read the rest of this entry »

A casualty loss is the damage, destruction, or loss of property resulting from an uncontrollable event that is sudden or extraordinary.  It can also be an order of the government to destroy or remove a structure for safety reasons because of a disaster.  These losses are considered a valid casualty, whether it is personal or business property, if they are as a direct result of a particular event that is sudden, unpredicted or destructive.  These events could be caused by fire, flood, earthquakes, theft or other similar events. Read the rest of this entry »

A tax audit is usually not a welcoming experience for anyone in business.  Whether it is in part or total, the experience can be a minor problem if the audit is only about certain records, or a major dilemma in accounting for a complete audit of the business. Read the rest of this entry »