Bean Counter Bookkeeping

For the past four years I have utilized Remote Access programs like PC Webex Now to get to my clients computer without leaving my office.  Just this past year I have begun using the Remote Access feature through QuickBooks and I really like it.  Here's why:

• The client has the option of giving me full access to their computer or just allowing me to access the QuickBooks program. 
• It is priced on the lower end of the Remote Access Programs (Starts at $3.95/mo)
• I can print directly from the remote computer to mine
• It is not complicated to set-up

Follow this link for more information http://quickbooks.intuit.com/product/add_ons/remote_access.jsp or just contact me and I can walk you through it.

~Elizabeth

Are you opening a new business this summer? The IRS has many resources available for individuals that are opening a new business. Here are six tax tips the IRS wants new business owners to know.

1.  First, you must decide what type of business entity you are going to establish. The type of business entity will determine which tax form you have to file. The most common types of business are the sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation and S corporation.
2. The type of business you operate determines what taxes you must pay and how you pay them. The four general types of business taxes are income tax, self-employment tax, employment tax and excise tax.
3. An Employer Identification Number is used to identify a business entity. Generally, businesses need an EIN. Visit IRS.gov for more information about whether you will need an EIN. You can also apply for an EIN online at IRS.gov.
4. Good records will help you ensure successful operation of your new business. You may choose any recordkeeping system suited to your business that clearly shows your income and expenses. Except in a few cases, the law does not require any special kind of records. However, the business you are in affects the type of records you need to keep for federal tax purposes.
5. Every business taxpayer must figure taxable income on an annual accounting period called a tax year. The calendar year and the fiscal year are the most common tax years used.
6. Each taxpayer must also use a consistent accounting method, which is a set of rules for determining when to report income and expenses. The most commonly used accounting methods are the cash method and an accrual method. Under the cash method, you generally report income in the tax year you receive it and deduct expenses in the tax year you pay them. Under an accrual method, you generally report income in the tax year you earn it and deduct expenses in the tax year you incur them.

IRS Publication 583, Starting a Business and Keeping Records, provides basic federal tax information for people who are starting a business. This publication is available on www.IRS.gov or by calling 800-TAX-FORM (800-829-3676).

Visit the Business section of www.IRS.gov for resources to assist entrepreneurs with starting and operating a new business.

Are you a small business owner in Arizona?  There has been a big tax change in the way State Withholding is calculated.  If you recall the old A-4 form had percentages to choose from like 21% or 32.5%.  Now the numbers are much lower.

Here is how it works: Prior to July 1, 2010 the state witholding tax was a percentage of your Federal Withholding.  So if you checked the box 32.5% then that percentage was multiplied by the amount of Federal Withholding taken out of your check to arrive at your State Withholding. 

Now, the percentage you choose will be directly multiplied by your Gross Wages.  For example:  If you make $1000 a week and you check the box 5.1% as your withholding then your State Withholding for you weekly paycheck will be $51 ($1000 x 5.1%). 

It is super easy now to figure out how much you will be putting in for the year.  I like it

~Elizabeth

For more information or forms visit www.aztaxes.gov

Most business purchases can be made using a Debit Card that is linked to your Business checking account in lieu of writing that check out.   The trick is getting those items recorded in your QuickBooks check register so your account balances. 

One way to ensure the transactions are recorded is to use the feature that downloads all of your bank transactions into QuickBooks ~ but that is a topic for another post.

If you are still entering each transaction seperately - which I still tend to do for most clients- you will want to record Debit and (online payments) this way:

• From the Home Screen click on WRITE CHECKS
• Select the bank account you made the payment out of
• In the "Number" space you can leave it blank or type "debit" or "online"
• Enter date of transaction
• Enter the name of where you made the purchase
• Enter the amount
• Under the Account section choose the category (expense/Fixed Asset) the purchase related to
• Then choose Save and Close (or Save and New if you have more to enter)

Now those receipts are recorded in your check register.

As always I love questions and comments and am availabe for "Quick Phone Consulting" staring at just $30 for 1/2 hour.

Happy Recording

Saw this great tool from Amy at The Red Chair Blog and thought I would pass it along

There are so many facets to personal Financial Planning:

  ~Insurance

  ~Short Term Savings

  ~Long Term Savings

  ~CD's, Annuities, Bonds

  ~Retirement Accounts

  ~Daily Living Expenses

  ~ College Funds

Need I go on or did you already tune out?  Whether you listen to Dave Ramsey, Suze Orman, or the way the wind blows the fact is, you need to LISTEN.  The more you read about, absorb, and learn the better choices you will make. 

Here is a great blog I enjoy reading.  The Wodrich's talk about easy, simple concepts that start to put a few things in perspective.  So go on, head on over to see what CHIP and PAM WODRICH have to say today. 

~Elizabeth

For some companies there seems to be no end in sight to this gloomy economy. With constant restructuring it seems at times we can never get it right. Is there ever a time when your company will hit a point it is performing at its optimal level? Where there are no more improvements to be had, no more tweaking to be done. Will you, the business owner, ever be able to sit back and know you have created a well-oiled machine?

Sadly, I believe the answer is no. Even if you have the perfect product or service coupled with the exact price point that produces the right profit for your lifestyle it will never be right. It can never be constant. There will be employee turnover, technology advances, upgrades and new versions, system crashes, and general wear and tear. There are tax increases and rate changes. Laws are passed and guidelines change.

Companies evolve just like families evolve. They age and mature and although at the beginning they may need constant hand-holding that ease up over time there becomes new challenges and new issues. I have come to realize, much like families, the only way for companies to last through the years requires much of what a good mom gives to a family. Here are a few attributes I believe a great mom has: love, care, patience, and guidance. A good mother doesn’t push, she encourages. She creates clear rules and is firm to those standards, bending only when compassion overrides the punishment. She knows when to walk away – she knows when she has done all she can do. She doesn’t judge other mothers but learns from them. She is not perfect but she is sincere, trustworthy. You can count on her.

How has your company evolved over time? Are you in the new stage or have you reached those “teen-age years?” What can you give your company that you are holding back? Are you creating a foundation for you company that will propel it to prosper through 2010?

What would your mom say…?

As I type it I am still in disbelief... Year-end is only a 40 days away!!  Are your books all caught up to-date?  With the holidays, parties, events, and extra commitments it begins to feel very overwhelming. 

Here is my advice to you - JUST 15 minutes.  That is all you should take a day.  If you are in the process of catching up don't plan on doing it in one sitting.  It will never happen.  Attack the pile in 15 minute increments. 

Go ahead and set that timer then pull that paperwork in front of you and take only the alloted time to work on it.  It will help you to make fast, decisive decisions and you WILL see results. 

Let me know how it works ~ Elizabeth

Remember when receiving mail used to be fun?  It meant a postcard from Grandma or a Birthday Card from Auntie.  Now with all this technology those messages come in the form of an e-card or, if your Granny is tech-savvy, a text.

So when you open you mailbox you are now probably only seeing those dang bills and, lets face it, junk.   How do you handle your stack of mail? 

Are you Sifter and Setter?  Do you sift through your mail as you come in the door then set it down near the closest drop off point?  Never looking back...

~OR~

Are you a Decider and Divider?  Do you look at each item, decide if you need it and then divide it and put it in the appropriate spot?

I would recommend the Decide and Divide approach myself.  Here is how I do it:

Grab the mail - Peruse through it standing over your recycle bin.  Toss in any mail that you will never need or read (that includes those coupon books that you save in the junk drawer but have NEVER used!) 

Open the mail that you do need right then.  If you are an online bill payer then just go ahead and toss those envelopes right away.  Lay you bill open flat and place them in your Pending Bills folder.  (You have one of those right?)

Now you have room for you Butter because there is no Clutter :) 

(O.K. I will stop now!!) ~Elizabeth

Please don't tell me you have never reconciled your bank statements... Ok Good.  Glad to hear that every month you religiously sit down and go through that bank statement checking off those debits and credits to your accounts. 

If you are doing this then you are catching your bank when they, out of the blue, decide they need to be charging you a service fee. (BTW - please don't tell me you are payng a service fee??)

If you are reconciling that bank statement then you know that the check you sent to your consultant 3 months ago never made it there.  Could you have left it in the visor of your car and never mailed it??  No!!

If you are reconciling your bank statement you might have noticed that your cash deposit your summer temp took to the bank for you a month ago cleared the bank $100 short.  Did he need a short term loan?

If you WANT to be reonciling your bank account but just CAN NOT then call me.  I will log into your computer via a secure website and reconcile it for you.   Then I will tell you not to worry... the check cleared, the bank is holding up their end of the bargin, and you can totally trust that summer help!

~Elizabeth