February 16, 2021
I don’t believe in data entry. Do you know how many other things you could accomplish if you and your team could take those hours devoted to data entry and apply them to the areas of your business that need a human touch? Automating data transfer can free up untold amounts of time, not only […]
February 11, 2021
It’s officially tax season, and that means many small business owners are struggling to clean up their books from 2020 in order to hand information over to their tax preparers. Many people dread this time of the year. We get a lot of calls from business owners who desperately need help getting books into shape, […]
January 12, 2021
Business year-end and the subsequent tax season can be tumultuous times for small business owners. If you haven’t kept up with your bookkeeping tasks throughout the year, you find yourself hit with a deluge of work trying to get caught up. We’ve seen many instances where these circumstances have snowballed, leaving the business with several […]
August 26, 2020
Many small businesses like to think that their size insulates them from fraud. In reality, though, the opposite is true – small businesses are big targets for would-be fraudsters. According to the ACFE Report to the Nations, small businesses are two times more likely to experience billing and payment fraud and four times more likely to experience […]
June 19, 2020
“Because that’s the way we’ve always done it,” is a phrase I’ve heard a lot over the past several years. It’s become a canary in the coal mine for me, nearly always indicating there’s a process or platform that isn’t working for a business. People become used to all sorts of inefficient, irritating tasks under […]
April 16, 2020
The COVID-19 health crisis is forcing employers and business owners to make quick decisions, especially when it comes to handling their workforce. Should staff members continue reporting to the office or work from home? What do you do if an employee, or an employee’s family member, catches the virus? Are you required to provide paid […]
March 27, 2020
While remote work has been suddenly thrust into the spotlight, many of us have been doing it for years. The technologies that allow employees to work remotely have also enabled the rise of remote service providers in a wide variety of industries. Just twenty years ago, you probably choose your bookkeeper from a listing of […]
March 13, 2020
Wash your hands. Work from home. Use hand sanitizer. Self-quarantine if you’re sick. Wash your hands again. News about the global coronavirus pandemic and corresponding economic activity has many business owners feeling concerned. While no one knows what’s going to happen when all is said and done, we come at this crisis from a unique […]
February 15, 2020
Unless you have a dedicated accounting staff who sit together in a consistent office space and handle the finances of your business with little or no input from you, the advantages of Quickbooks Online program can be numerous. The ability to outsource your accounting function while maintaining onsite access is every business owner’s dream. However, […]
November 13, 2019
Although tax year 2019 is our second year filing under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), provisions of the law are still confusing to taxpayers, particularly as they impact small businesses. The fourth quarter is the right time for tax planning to reduce or defer your tax liability. Here are some highlighted changes that […]
September 24, 2019
As the end of the year approaches, many business owners are turning their thoughts to strategy and goals for next year. Along with those discussions comes a deep dive into the budget. In some companies, budgeting means copying and pasting from the prior year’s budget, adding a 4% increase across the board, and then adjusting the […]
September 12, 2019
As sponsors of the Jacksonville Business Journal’s Fast50 awards, we evaluated all of the applications and had the privilege of learning what the fastest-growing companies are doing to make their numbers. Sure, a smart business plan, adequate cash flow, and a growing customer base are all prerequisites to build a business. As we zeroed in […]
June 27, 2019
We spent last week at Xerocon, an annual event that brings together cloud accounting leaders for education, inspiration, networking, and good times (accountant-style). One recurrent theme was automation—perhaps an obvious topic for a cloud accounting conference since we’re all about automated business bookkeeping tasks, but also a prevalent topic in every business field right now. Countless […]
June 27, 2019
I heard a staggering statistic at last week’s Xerocon conference: 50% of small businesses fail without a financial advisor to help them understand their books. I looked deeper into the research and found another surprising statistic from Xero’s Make or Break survey of small businesses. Of 2,000 small business owners whose businesses failed, 65% of […]
May 30, 2019
Getting 2018 tax returns done was messy for so many taxpayers due to changes under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). Many people were surprised by smaller-than-usual refunds or even ended up owing money unexpectedly. If you struggled through tax season, now is the time to make sure that doesn’t happen again! After all, these changes aren’t […]
May 13, 2019
Like most other aspects of your business, your accounting needs change over time. If you started small, you likely used a basic spreadsheet to keep track of income and expenses before investing in a desktop or cloud-based software tool as things got more complex. For most businesses, doing it all in house (whether by the […]
May 1, 2019
If closing your books at year-end is key in preparing tax returns, then locking them down at month-end takes them to a whole new level. We all know the importance of having your Balance Sheet tied to the tax return after it’s filed, but do you wait until the end of the year to enter […]
March 18, 2019
In general business speak, there’s a good chance you use the words asset and expense interchangeably. In accounting terms, however, assets and expenses are distinctly different. They’re coded separately in your books and represented differently on your tax return. Understanding the difference of assets vs. expenses will have important implications for your business taxes. What’s […]
January 18, 2019
If you’re even barely awake in today’s world, you’ve heard the constant admonitions to go paperless. It’s better for the environment! You’ll be more organized! You can reduce clutter and only keep the things that spark joy! We’re pretty sure you don’t need to read another post about the benefits of paperless accounting — you already […]
January 14, 2019
As we work with clients to bring their accounting onto the cloud and provide cutting-edge business advisory services, we’re always evaluating our tools, technology, and methodologies to make sure we’re recommending the best possible solutions. One of our favorite cloud apps that we recommend to all clients is Hubdoc, which streamlines, organizes, and extracts data from […]
January 11, 2019
Have you ever had the experience of struggling to connect with a real, live person in a tech company? Whether you’re lost in a maze of automated phone system recordings or can’t even find a phone number to call, it’s downright frustrating. That desire to not get lost in a sea of technobabble is one […]
December 19, 2018
If you’ve ever purchased a business app, migrated your data, tried to use it, and realized it didn’t work—you’re not alone. We hear about this a lot. Business owners tell us that they tried to use accounting software or an accounting app to automate a particular process, and it was a big flop. We’re going […]
December 13, 2018
You might think we spill a lot of virtual ink waxing poetic about bookkeeping because we love accounting so much. Well, you aren’t wrong. We’re pretty serious numbers people here. You should be a fly on the wall at our office parties. But there’s another reason—our other passion is helping your business grow. Crunching numbers and […]
December 6, 2018
It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s a…cloud accountant? If the term cloud accountant sounds like something out of a mythical universe filled with unicorns and ethereal visions, well, you might be a tiny bit disappointed. But wait—you might also learn something really useful here! So don’t run away just yet. A cloud accountant is just like […]
December 3, 2018
If your business is involved in transferring money in some way (so, virtually every business out there), chances are you’ve written a check that the payee never cashed. Did you know that you’re responsible for reporting and submitting those outstanding checks to your state? That’s right—even though your recipient never cashed the check, those funds […]
November 2, 2018
Putting together a business plan isn’t something you do overnight, so it can feel unnecessary when you’re trying to get your business off the ground. As you get into the weeds with your business, however, your business plan becomes a compass for growth and sustainability. Here’s a story from one of our clients about how […]
October 31, 2018
When you’re starting a new business, you’re focused on a great idea. Then, all of a sudden, along comes reality—there’s a lot more to running a business than bringing a great product or service into the market. Here are the most common surprises our new business customers encounter in their first year in business. 1. […]
October 18, 2018
Supporting the thriving community around us is a critical part of our business mission, and our partners and friends at Hubdoc (based in Toronto) feel the same way. One of their core values is: Always curious, always learning, always growing That’s why they were excited to jump on board as a Buddy Check 12k sponsor. Although they’re […]
October 17, 2018
Ideally, every business begins by putting some basic processes and structures into place that ensure legal compliance and set you up for long-term success. In practice, so many new organizations start from a less stable place. It’s not uncommon for a business to start growing from someone’s garage, or maybe the founder just doesn’t have […]
September 17, 2018
Unless your small business is an accounting business, chances are you don’t relish spending time sitting down to do the books. Traditional desktop small business accounting software packages don’t help, either. They’re clunky, take a lot of manual labor to keep up to date, and seem to always need updates. Many businesses start out with […]
July 18, 2018
Listen, we get it. All these crazy new technology fads can feel a little, well, annoying. Can’t I just do things the way I’ve always done them? Why do I need to put everything on the cloud? Isn’t that how hackers found all those embarrassing celebrity photos? My way or the highway and that’s just […]
April 30, 2018
To Shred or Not to Shred… With tax season coming to an end, it’s a good time to organize your documents and properly dispose of any records you no longer need. In most cases, the IRS only has three years after the due date of your return (or the date you filed) to perform an […]
February 13, 2018
Xero recently announced the next phase of its partnership with Stripe: enabling Xero customers to accept Automated Clearing House (ACH) bank transfers via its integration with Stripe. “Our ultimate goal at Xero is to make sure small businesses are getting paid as quickly as possible, while making the experience from set up to reconciliation seamless,” said Craig […]
January 23, 2018
We check our phones about 85 times a day. Chances are, you’re reading this on one right now – or it won’t be long till you check it again. A staggering 70% of internet traffic now comes from mobile devices. This ‘smartphone addiction’ gets bad press these days. For any small business owners, rather than a […]
October 31, 2017
One of the most important financial statements your small business has is a profit and loss statement. As a start-up, your P&L statement is critical for analytical reasons, but it can also be used to assist you in getting the loan you need to finance your idea. It gives investors a clear overview of your […]
October 12, 2017
“Xero for us, was the perfect tool to give us the ability to easily understand what our financials look like at the moment” says Sebastian. Sebastian Freude, chief of staff at San Francisco-based Good & Co, has a belief that there are no bad employees or companies – just a bad fit. So it’s no […]
October 10, 2017
How Hurricane Irma Proves Your Business Needs To Be on The Cloud Last month, Hurricane Irma set new flooding records in Florida and the Florida Keys. In Jacksonville, we saw our own share of apocalyptic conditions. Hurricane downfalls left over 5 feet of water in their wake, surpassing the previous 1960s record of 49 inches. […]
September 5, 2017
Over the last 10 years, technology has driven huge amounts of change in the finance sector, redefining the very foundations the industry was built on. This fintech revolution is being powered by a wave of disruptive startups. They are completely reshaping the finance sector, otherwise known as the ‘root and branch reconfiguration’ of the ageing […]
August 22, 2017
Research suggests more than one-fourth of start-ups fail due to a cash crisis. While profits look appealing on an income statement, cash pays the bills. If you’re struggling to convert your sales into cash fast enough, consider the following ways for your business to get paid faster. Invoice Immediately Using Email Your clients aren’t obligated […]
August 18, 2017
Xero, the accounting software that allows ours clients to understand and grow their business every day, exists to empower small businesses. This is why there’s no greater reward than to receive positive praise from small businesses owners and key decision makers themselves. 5 out of 5 overall satisfaction In an annual survey conducted by Canstar […]
August 1, 2017
Article reposted with permission from Xero. A huge congrats is in order for our app partner, Receipt Bank. In one of the biggest deals in UK fintech since Brexit, it’s just raised $US50 million in a Series B funding round, led by Insight Venture Partners. Receipt Bank is one of the most popular integrations in our app marketplace, […]
January 26, 2017
On January 25, the Better Business Bureau issued a warning about a new email phishing scam that targets the users of Intuit’s QuickBooks accounting software programs. The scam email contains a subject line of “QuickBooks Support: Change Request” and looks like a legitimate email from Intuit. The body of the email requests a confirmation about […]
May 18, 2016
The new overtime regulations for full-time workers have passed. Employers will now be required to pay time and a half for overtime if a full-time worker makes less than $47,476 per year. While this is less than the originally proposed amount of $50,400, it it about double the previous threshold of $23,660. If an employee works […]
January 4, 2016
A common question we deal with is when to capitalize and depreciate assets rather than expensing them. It is often advantageous for a client to be able to expense smaller purchases rather than setting them up in depreciation schedules and either dealing with Section 179 rules or delaying the full deduction. The IRS has provided […]
August 26, 2014
2014 is a big year for changes in the health insurance world. The Affordable Care Act was set up to implement slowly over time and 2014 will see a lot of small business healthcare changes. Some of those changes will affect the Small Business Health Care Tax Credit. Currently, the credit is available for companies […]
October 17, 2013
You may have noticed a change in the quarterly payroll taxes you file with the State of Florida. They are no longer for Unemployment Compensation Tax. They are now for Re-Employment Tax. That might help you feel a little better about the higher rates you’ve been paying. Florida Form UCT… er… RT-6 Fortunately, the State […]
September 16, 2013
If your business has employees, there is a critical change in the law that affects you in a massive way… and it kicks in on October 1, 2013. Notices are due to all employees. Here’s what you need to know. Keep in mind that virtually all employers are subject to this notice requirement. Further, employers must provide […]
July 3, 2013
For years now one of the biggest fears with the Affordable Care Act has been that people might see delays in service due to higher volumes of patients. Instead we are seeing a much more welcome delay: a delay in the implementation of penalties for businesses who don’t comply. The Obama administration has given a […]