Phoenix Arizona CPA | Arizona Tax Accountant | Arizona Income Tax

Running a small business is tough enough…running a small business that’s disorganized is a whole different ballgame altogether.

It’s not an easy task when there’s so much to think about and be done.  When most business owners start out they’re not prepared for all of the red-tape that goes with running a business.  Keeping up with the accounting aspects including taxes, payroll, inventory costs, and purchasing costs is unfortunately an after-thought in the mind of many business owners. Read the rest of this entry »

Can you do your accounting the old fashioned way with a ledger book? Yes, you can, but with all the accounting software out there, why would you?

In general, you probably wouldn’t, but I do know of a number of small businesses that have tracked their accounts in Excel for the first few years while waiting for the company to generate enough cash to buy an accounting package.

I don’t recommend this strategy because basic accounting software is not that expensive and keeping appropriate track of your accounts is important for your business. Keeping a good account allows you to track your profitability by customer, allows you to understand how your employees spend their time, and allows you to understand how your marketing dollars drive your sales. Read the rest of this entry »

GAAP is an acronym for generally accepted accounting principles. Financial statements are usually prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles that have been codified over a period of time. It is the responsibility of the management to prepare the financial statements.CPA will verify that it is in fact prepared in accordance with GAAP and issue a report with their findings. Usually, when you look at an unqualified auditor’s report, one can assume that the financial statements are prepared in accordance with it.

It would result in utter confusion, if businesses were to prepare their financial statements in accordance with its own unique accounting methods. Hence the fundamental idea was to provide a well defined set of rules that all can follow. This would make comparison of the same business over a period of time as well as comparisons with other businesses in the same industry possible. The data would be comparable. In preparation of the financial statements, one has to look at all types of transactions and determine the correct application of accounting principles. Read the rest of this entry »

These days’ small business owners have a choice of many quality accounting software programs with numerous undeniable benefits. Accounting software allows a business owner to become more efficient. They are set up so you don’t have to know double entry bookkeeping; and they can produce valuable reports to track your profit and expenses.

While accounting software has many benefits, they still don’t fulfill the needs of the majority of small business owners. I have worked with many small business owners who have spent the entire year tracking their books with their accounting software only to find at the end of the year that is was all wrong. Or worse yet, they had been paying a part-time bookkeeper to do it for them only to learn that the term “bookkeeper” is loosely defined. Tears have been shed, and rightly so. Read the rest of this entry »

Businesses generally make extensive use of spreadsheets both in accounting and all other business fields. Being a numerically based system of analyzing information spreadsheets are used throughout every accounting function as the technique presents an ideal basis to maintain accuracy and automate the collection of financial information.

Every small business needs to keep records of sales invoices and income received and purchase invoices in respect of expenses. It is not sufficient for accounting and taxation purposes for these receipts and payments to be left in the office or the back of a van in a carrier bag.  At some stage these prime bookkeeping documents need to be processed. Read the rest of this entry »

Double entry bookkeeping stretches back centuries perhaps even as early as the 12th century and is now accepted worldwide as the accounting standard to be employed by all companies in recording the financial accounting records. The first written explanation of the accounting system was reportedly by a Venetian mathematician Luca Pacioli towards the end of the 15th century. Read the rest of this entry »

Did you know that around 50% of small business owners don’t use saccounting software to process their accounting information?  Many resort to the excel spreadsheet to keep track of money coming in and money going out.  These small business owners would rather get on with their core business than worry about the administration tasks associated with accounting, even with a software package, because it seems like such a waste of time. Read the rest of this entry »

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 »

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 »

More and more small businesses are cropping up. Unlike the multi-million dollar companies, not everyone can hire professional payroll personnel. On paper accounting is headed to extinction and now-a-days small businesses require accounting payroll software solutions that help them save time and money simultaneously.

Business accounting software solution checklist: Read the rest of this entry »