Mileage Matters

We’re going to cut to the chase here: mileage deductions are one of the most frequently missed deductions on business tax returns. It’s not a small deduction either, Intuit reports that mileage deductions average out to over $600 per self-employed subscriber.

That’s money you could be saving on taxes every single year. 

Mileage Tracking Apps

Quickbooks Online offers a plethora of apps you can use to make your experience better. Here we’ve got a list of the best software apps that you can use to track your business mileage!

Quickbooks Online Self Employed

If you are a sole proprietor and use a Schedule C for your small business, then you should consider using Quickbooks Self-Employed. It’s mobile phone app allows you to record your mileage and directly populate your tax forms through Intuit’s Turbotax software.

Mileage tracking doesn’t cost any extra on top of...

Why do we need to reconcile our bank & credit card accounts?

To keep it simple... Because we want to make sure the transactions reflected in your business records match the transactions recorded by your bank.

We use bank (and credit card) statements to double check that the accounts in our bookkeeping system, accurately reflect the transactions in the physical account they represent.

The use of systems like double-entry bookkeeping help ensure that you enter the correct numbers in the right places; bank reconciliations is the "bow" you tie on your account that lets you know that all of your transactions were recorded correctly, then they match the actual transactions and balances in your bank accounts to make sure you didn't make any mistakes.

Now you might be wondering, do ALL of my accounts need to be reconciled?  The simple answer is no.  But to help you know which accounts do need to reconciled, here's a quick refresher about how your accounts...

How much can your business REALLY afford to pay you?

You made the leap to self employment and struck out on your own. BRAVO! 

If you’re anything like us, you made that jump because you wanted to have financial freedom, flexibility, and to continue doing something that you love.  And if you’re really like us, you didn’t plan on working for free.

Don’t get me wrong, we totally get it, it’s a very fine line!  If you pay yourself too little, you can’t afford to eat; on the other hand, if you pay yourself too much, you might put your business at risk and not be able to afford important business expenses (like rent, payroll, or paper).  But how do you find the right balance?

Well it may be a fine line, but we’ve worked hard to take the guesswork out of the equation.  You can find our business owner paycheck calculator here.

But before I get into that let’s talk a little bit about your business!

Business, Profits,...

Tax season is many things, but no one describes it as fun. In our combined 25+ years of accounting and media experience we’ve seen the gamut of incredible and incredibly bad situations. Whether you’ve suffered from being unprepared, overwhelmed, or confused, we’ve been there with clients before, and we’re not going to let you go through it alone!

That's why we're going over some of the strategies we discuss in our free Tax Savings Guide.

Whatever the reason you dread tax time, we have ways that you can save yourself both headaches and money.

Tips to Save on Your Small Business Taxes:

Below are a couple of ways to help you save money on your small business tax return. Secure more deductions on your tax return and be less stressed in the process; it’s easier than you think! If you’re not familiar with the perks of good bookkeeping, you should check out this blog post breaking down exactly why it is so useful to your business.

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Previously we covered the difference between Bookkeeping and Accounting and the definition of Bookkeeping, so now that you know what it is, we’ll show you how to use it!

If Bookkeeping is the act of recording financial transactions, then a bookkeeping system is a system designed to record and view these financial transactions!

Basic Small Business Bookkeeping Overview 

Let’s briefly recap some important ingredients in this financial pie!

There are several basic (but very important parts) of a bookkeeping system: the basis, the entry system, and the usage of bookkeeping or accounting tools.

Basis refers to which method you’ve chosen to record financial transactions.....  cash or accrual basis?

Entry System refers to single or double-entry bookkeeping. It is closely tied to your tool of choice, as well. We highly recommend that you use double entry for bookkeeping, it is more accurate and provides you with more data. To make...

Quickbooks Online, or QBO, is a convenient cloud-based software that helps with your bookkeeping, financial health, and planning for your small business. It’s adored by both accountants and businesses alike!

Its simple-to-use features help save you time and money while it goes to work helping you manage the finances of your business.  Leaving you with the flexibility to work wherever you have internet access.

QBO is the bookkeeping software that we use with ALL of our hundreds of clients, and we’re going to go over a lot of the features that will be helpful to you here!

Features for Everyone

QBO has a lot of features. Frankly, it can be a little overwhelming if you’ve never used any financial software before. We don’t want you to feel out of your element though, so we’re going to walk you through the most useful features that QBO has to offer so you can confidently start managing the finances for your small business!

Overview

In our last blog we went over the best bookkeeping software available to you as a small business owner. Now we’re going to break down the two most popular and widely used programs, Quickbooks Online and Quickbooks Desktop. We use Quickbooks Online, or QBO because, for us it is the best option, but we’ll go over both programs with you here!

Feature Review

Both versions of Quickbooks offer you solid bookkeeping abilities, complete with double-entry for added accuracy. They each include features like invoicing, estimates, built-in reports, and the ever important ability to track expenses and income.

Desktop allows you to recalculate and rebill for job costs, where QBO doesn’t.  Desktop also lets you include discounts by customer.

Meanwhile QBO doesn't required software to be installed on a machine, and sharing your data with your accountant and staff is both instant and secure.  Quickbooks Online offers scheduled invoices...

If you’ve ever done a Google search for “Bookkeeping software”, you already understand just how saturated the market is with options. In fact, there are so many options that it can be hard to tell which best fits your business and personal needs. Some software is great for contractors or really small businesses, other bookkeeping software scales up with growing small businesses. We know your business is unique, so we want to show you the different options available so you can make the most informed decision for your business!

Never fear! This blog is going to show you the best of the best out there, and why it is just so good that we think you should consider them first!

Overview: Best Small Business Accounting Software

We’ve picked out the four best options on the market below: Quickbooks, Quicken, Xero, and Wave Financial. Only the last of the four (Wave) is free, but each program can be extremely useful to you as a small...

“OK, what’s the difference between bookkeeping and accounting?”

It might seem like bookkeeping covers all of the finances of your small business, but there’s a lot of other information that bookkeeping simply does not provide. Bookkeeping is really only a slice of the accounting pie, and a healthy business needs more than one slice of pie.

Accounting Basics

Accounting, at the most basic level, is the system of recording and summarizing business finances. Now that might sound really familiar if you read our last blog, but stay with me! It’s more than just recording the transaction like we do when bookkeeping, accounting also means verifying, analyzing, and reporting these transactions. Accounting also includes the theory and method by which you do all of the above.

Bookkeeping is one of the systems that makes up accounting. So you need bookkeeping to do accounting for any business, but successful bookkeeping does not require...

Consider Your Business name

A logo needs to represent your business, obviously! You’re going to want to have the business name somewhere in your logo. If the name is long, you might want to consider abbreviations or only part of the name.

You also have the option of using your design to show what your business is doing. You might not need a lengthy title to explain it.

A successful logo doesn’t have to convey a lot of information about your business. A successful logo helps people remember and quickly recognize your business instead.

Designing With the End In Mind

The most important thing to think about when designing your logo is where this logo is going to be displayed:

Will it mostly be in your emails?

Will you have it on business cards?

Will it be printed in advertisements or displayed online?

These questions are important because where your logo is displayed will affect what you can put on it.

The design rule of thumb is to always design for the ...