Easy Business is Hard Work

The holidays are coming. In the joy of the season, and the rush for gifts, don't forget....take a few moments every weekend to start sorting your tax receipts. Get your medical bills together, if there are any behind, pay them now. It can save you later. Don't forget your charities, especially at this time of year. Donations help those in need, and are still deductable.

Need help or just some more information? Leave a comment, or give me a call. I am listed in the business section in Google Real Accounting and Bookkeeping Solutions

Payroll Liabilities

Payroll is perplexing. It would seem straightforward enough, but if you offer health, dental or retirement benefits to your employees, the calculations become more complicated. And how can you be sure you are doing it correctly?

Maybe you outsource your payroll. You should still perform a verification calculation to make sure your service is correct. As an employer, it is your liability.

Maybe you are using your accounting software for payroll. Do you know how to set up the payroll module to perform the correct calculations?

Simple explanation of payroll calculations.

Independent Contractors How to calculate taxes

If you have your own small business and offer services, you could be an independent contractor. Before the end of 2009, calculate what your personal income tax will be. If you have not made tax deposits, it's a good idea to make personal federal tax deposits before December 31st to avoid any penalties.

Calculate the tax due on contract work

Get Your Business Out of Debt

If your business profit is on the downward path, review the key elements of your financial information. Review your Accounts Receivable for slow pays. Look over your vendor month end statements for invoices you already paid, or duplicate bills.

Review your selling, and administrative costs. Look at the details. You'd be surprised how much you can save with a simple analysis of your business expenses.

For information and a detailed guide, How to Get Your Small Business Out of Debt provides a detailed step by step program to get your business out of debt.

QuickBooks Easy to Use Easy to Misuse

QuickBooks for accounting and business is very friendly. Setups are done with walk-through promts. The HELP funtion is easy to read. But sometimes difficult to navigate.

QuickBooks promotes this product as user-friendly, and it is, for standard accounting functions. When using the more complicated functions for inventory, it's important to spend some time reading the HELP articles to understand the logic of QuickBooks. Each module, such as Accounts Receivable, Sales Orders, and Inventory, are dependent on the proper setup.

There are also some problems users don't pick up on until it's too late. For a summary of the common problems and solutions, review my article QuickBooks Problems.

If you have any questions, please email me, using the form on the website Penstruckbiz.com. I will be happy to help you.

Working from Home takes discipline

I work from home, and it can be challenging. I babysit a two year old, perform accounting and payroll for clients, and freelance for Examiner, Demand Studios and other sites. I have been letting my blogs slide. Try chasing a two year old between calculating and trying to formulate a thought!

I found an article in my email this morning. I subscribe to several newsletters in an attempt to remain in contact with the world, and gain knowledge. The article is 10 Tips to Make Working from Home More Productive,

This article contained great information. Some items I knew, but didn't practice. I only tracked my time when I was doing client accounting work, but it's makes sense to track how long it takes to research and write my articles. One article really can take 4 or 5 hours.

When I write for Parenting Teens, I don't want to through out the same old stuff. Some of what I find is a little verbage, and a lot of advertisement. Some just repeats what others say. I want to give new information to readers.

Working from home is okay. Learning to control time, remain productive, and maintain a semblence of work hours, with start and stop times, is a little harder to do.

Why get a financial statement audit

Has your bank or another creditor asked you for a set of audited financial statements? Ever wonder why?

When you contract a CPA to audit your statements, the CPA firm tests for proper accounting practice. They also test to make sure all of the transactions are recorded. Then they issue a letter, which is an attestation, which says whether your current practices are in line with GAAP.



To find out more about financial statement objective, read Objectives of a Financial Statement Audit.

Is Corporate Cash Hoarding a Lack of Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate social responsibility is not a high priority for U.S. organizations. A viable alternative to raising taxes on the wealthy and corp...