Properly managing your finances is an important part of keeping your business running efficiently and increasing profit. Implementing the right accounting and tax practices can go a long way towards keeping your business focused on its goals and identifying opportunities for growth. Add to Flipboard Magazine. This article will provide tips on how you can implement effective accounting practices for your firm, as well as employing the correct tax preparation strategies in order to benefit your business.
Important Accounting Practices for your Business
It goes without saying that your business should strictly adhere to accounting practices that are transparent, accurate and effective. The following practices can help you achieve these standards.
Prepare Monthly or Quarterly Financial Statements
As you run your business, it is essential to prepare regular financial statements, which will provide insights into how your business is performing. Your financial statements should include balance sheets, statements of cash flow, income statements, and gross/net profit. Accounting software can help you prepare these documents, or you could seek the services of an accountant.
Whichever option you choose, financial statements enable you to assess how profitable your business is, manage your expenses by identifying areas of improvement and being compliant with Canadian laws covering income and taxes.
Keep your records accurate and up-to-date
It is important to maintain accurate record keeping of all your business transactions. Utilize accounting software to record these transactions, or keep all your receipts so you can compile them at the end of the financial period. A small mistake in your records can lead to multiple complications when preparing your financial statements.
In keeping your records accurate, make sure you record all your expenses, income and outstanding debts in dedicated accounts.
Keep Business and Personal Expenses Separate
As a small business owner, it may seem convenient to mix personal and business expenses together. However, this can lead to confusion in how you run your business and it can decrease the visibility of how your company is performing. In addition, mixing the two expenses can lead to tax issues when filing your returns.
Tips for Preparing your Taxes
Closely Monitor your Income
Keep track of all your income throughout the year, and make sure all transactions are well documented. Receipts from sales made, services offered and allowances received should all be accurately recorded.
Keep Track of all your Business Expenses
Same as your income, all your business expenditures should be accurately recorded. Operational expenses, asset expenses, and other business related costs should all be recorded in preparation of filing your return.
Seek Professional Advice
Seeking the services of a professional accountant can go a long way towards helping you operate your business. An accountant can help you develop a process of recording all your transactions accurately, in addition to preparing your financial statements and taxes on your behalf.
Their knowledge of accounting and tax laws for small companies can help you ensure that your business is always compliant with the required regulations.
About the Author: Gerald Hunt
After graduating from the University of Calgary with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science, Gerald joined KPMG (Formerly Thorne Riddell) as a Computer Accounting Customer Service representative. In this position, Gerald installed accounting systems in over 200 different small to medium sized companies over a 6-year span.
In 1989, Gerald left KPMG to continue to work with small business clients in his own corporation installing computer accounting systems. While in this role, he was engaged by the DeVry Institute of Technology in Calgary to teach various courses. In time, Gerald moved up through the ranks of DeVry until he attained the position of Director of Finance for the Calgary Campus.
He also acquired his Masters of Business Administration from City University of Seattle, Washington in 2001. Gerald’s career has always been focused on small business, accounting, and education. Visit Padgett Business Services, and book a free no-obligation one-hour consultation.
If you are a keen sports fan, but you would like to know how you can make even more out of it, then you have come to the right place. Even those who would consider themselves an avid supporter or even player of any particular sport will know that it can be hard to ensure you are making the most of it. As it happens, there are a number of things you can do in this regard, and you should make sure that you are following all necessary lines of interest if you are serious about doing so for yourself. In this post, we are going to take a look at a few of the essential tasks you can carry out to ensure that you get the most out of participating in any sport which you might personally enjoy in your life. Add to Flipboard Magazine.
Many avid sports lovers do not ever really go that far into the process of understanding the underlying mechanics of it. But if you are keen on making the most of it, you might find that a little education in these matters could make a world of difference. There are a number of angles you can approach it from here – for a start, you could look at the biological route, and enjoy learning about the effect on the body in that way. Or if you wanted a more specialized approach, you might even want to think about getting a Master’s Degree in Kinesiology and finding out more about the way it all works as a system. However you do it, learning about the underlying science often has a way of making it much more interesting to partake in and watch, and can dramatically change the experience of both as a result.
Practice The Sport
If you have a particular favorite sport which you tend to partake in, then simply practicing it as much as you can is bound to be one of the best ways to ensure that you are getting as much out of it as possible. This might seem obvious, but it is important to remember that practicing is different to what most people take it to be. It is not a matter of just happening to continue playing the sport, although that too is important. It’s also about ensuring that you practice actively, consciously, by setting aside a time in which to practice certain aspects of the sport and so on. This is particularly beneficial, and is well worth considering if you are serious about making the most of it.
Take On A Variety
Ultimately, however, the best way is to make sure that you get involved in a variety of sports in your daily life. That way, you can be sure that you are going to learn as much as possible about all the sports you are playing, as you will appreciate them from a variety of angles. This is worth considering if you find yourself at something of a loss.
Feedback and data reports are the only way to track your business’s results and ensure that you’re running a company that will progress and move forward. Therefore, it’s essential that you have a solid plan in place which shows the methods you’re going to use to gain your information, and how you’re going to utilize the knowledge. The following are the key areas in your business, that will need to produce a steady flow of data; so take some time and check out if any improvements can be made to your tracking techniques.
Finance
Your financial analytics may well be stored in a comprehensive list on a spreadsheet somewhere; however, it’s time to start thinking about how to improve the tech that records your company’s accounting and spending data, and ensure that it’s as easy and quick to access as possible. If you feel that your small business need a helping hand when it comes to budget planning and forecasting, then analyst programs like PlanGuru might be a smart option for you to look into. Ensuring that you can understand and access a financial dashboard is another way to keep on top of spending and profit, so it’s worth taking the time to find the tech that’s right for you. Add to Flipboard Magazine.
Tracking your SEO and consumer traffic is vital to an online business, and it goes well beyond checking how many followers and likes that you have gained in the last month on each social media platform. Invest in the right tech that will help you to track and analyze the relevant information, and consider if a SERP tracker system is right for your company. You’ll need to continually improve and update your methods when it comes to your SEO, and decent tracking software will help you to decide on your next move, so that you can stay ahead of the business game.
If you’re in the business of selling products, you’ll need to ensure that you can find out exactly what’s in your inventory, along with when items are leaving your company’s storage and when new products arrive. Inventory knowledge and management are crucial so that customers know if an item is in stock, or when it will be returning so that they can purchase it. If a mistake has been made at the front end, you’ll be able to send out an apology and offer a solution to your consumer and alleviate any angry encounters; so researching into the best management system for your brand is worth the effort. You can check out Five Ways Inventory Tracking Technology Is Evolving to see what will be available to you.
You’ll never know where you’re going wrong unless you listen to your consumers and their feedback on your products and services. Ensure that you give every customer to leave feedback, whether through an email or a website, so that you can continue to improve and your business will be a success. Collecting all that data will mean nothing if you’re not listening to your customers and making the right changes, so ensure that you take their comments on board.
It is a well-known fact that your staff members are the backbone and heart of any company. Be it online or brick and mortar. You can have brilliant products, competitive prices, and great advertising. But without good staff, your products will not make their way to your customers and the profits will remain in their pockets. Good staff can also help to build customer loyalty. After all, shining customer service is what brings regulars coming back again and again. So how do you ensure that you’re always getting the most from your employees? Here are a few things to bear in mind. Add to Flipboard Magazine.
As we’ve mentioned, your business would be nothing without the loyalty of good staff. So show your appreciation. Never talk down to your staff and always treat them fairly. Make sure that they feel rewarded in their position. This can be anything from thanking them in person for taking on certain tasks, rewarding them for hitting or exceeding sales targets and treating them on special occasions. Perhaps you could throw a staff Christmas party, give them a personally written card on their birthday or order pizza into the office to liven up spirits on rainy days. Staff discount is also something to consider. It allows your employees to purchase your stock at a lower rate than the general public, which is an added benefit to their job role. It also has the added extra of bringing money back into your business and giving them a chance to experience the products that they are selling, allowing them to give more honest reviews and advice to your customers.
Have an Effective HR Team
HR stands for human relations and is a vital sector for any growing business. Individuals employed in this sector are able to hash out any problems between employees in all areas of your business. They can organize holiday leave, resolve problems between individual staff members, analyze individual sick leave and evaluate whether someone should be removed from a position or receive a promotion. If you want to keep HR in-house without employing a full-time team, Ellis Whittam’s Consultancy service supports you with all your HR challenges. Whether you need assistance with a one-off situation or prolonged support with long term people management, there will be a solution that will suit you, your business and your employees perfectly.
Check Up on Job Satisfaction
Communication is key to building a strong relationship between your employees, yourself and your brand. So talk to them! It’s important that you make sure your employees are happy with their job, working environment and support within the workplace. Take the time to answer any questions they may have about their role. Undertake regular, anonymous surveys through which they can highlight complaints or make suggestions for a more positive and comfortable workspace. Ensure that everyone knows exactly what tasks they are expected to carry out and have your staff take part in regular training schemes which can help everyone to brush up on their sales techniques and daily routines.
Employee reward programs are now being used by every company to motivate their employees and boost their morale. A reward program is quite different from handing over a promotion or monetary reward in an envelope. In today’s tech-savvy world, people want to choose their own reward and what better way to grant them their wish than GCodes.
Photo courtesy of Flickr, under creative commons license Add to Flipboard Magazine. GCodes is more than just an employee reward. It is a global currency for gifting that is gaining popularity every day. Today, e-gift cards have lost most of their appeal because it focuses on a particular gift that the person can purchase in a limited period. On the other hand, GCodes is a simple coding system that rewards employees from 10 cents to 2,500 dollars. What is more appealing is that the codes can be redeemed in a total of 85 countries with no currency conversion required.
GCodes vs. E-Gift Cards
GCodes
As mentioned earlier, GCodes is a global currency for gifting and is issued in British Pounds, Euros, CAD and USD. You don’t need to get any complex conversions done because they can be used all over the world. As a way of rewarding employees in a competitive work environment, GCodes, used by employers, can be redeemed and used to purchase a reward of your own liking.
With the help of GCodes, employers can reward their employees in the following reward forms, which they are free to choose:
Hotels and Travel
Virtual Rewards
Merchandise
Mobile Top-Up
Experiences (All expenses paid trip)
Merchandise
Retail Gift Cards
Event Tickets
E-Gift Cards
E-Gift cards are similar to physical gift cards but can also be used virtually. Today, companies are investing more in e-gift cards because they are easy to reward and can be used immediately. The only difference between GCodes and E-Gift cards is that the former can be used as a means of currency for purchasing anything whereas the latter is used specifically for gifting particular merchandise.
According to a Wall Street Journal, only 37% of the Americans look forward to a gift card as a present. We can say that the novelty of this present has worn off because most of the people do not receive the reward they are looking for. According to a survey by Rakuten.com, people who receive a gift whether it is physical or in the form of E-Gift card, either sell it or re-gift it. In some cases, it is even donated or kept somewhere in the house and forgotten. This is why; most E-Gift cards expire and lose their value.
However, when it comes to GCodes, they can be used to purchase whatever you want. In a work environment, GCodes are more valuable because it gives the employee an opportunity to buy whatever they desire. This allows them to work in a stress-free environment because they are getting the right reward for their dedication and loyalty.
Recent Comments