Accountant, Bookkeeping, Business Expenses, expenses, Small Business
Tax season is behind us, but that doesn’t mean it’s time to stop thinking about business expense documentation. In fact, now is the ideal time to get organized and create record-keeping habits that make sense for your company. Nobody wants to waste time digging through receipts and records just before tax day. Document your expenses now and you’ll save yourself and your accountant a headache later on.
Working with the Motl Accounting bookkeepers affords you the opportunity to not deal with all the effort and time it takes to stay organized with your expenses. We assist many businesses with bookkeeping services in Dundee, IL and the Chicagoland area. Below we share some of the things we recommend to our clients to keep their finances organized throughout the year.
Set up a Business Bank Account
One of the biggest mistakes people make when starting a small business is not creating a bank account dedicated to business funds. If you’re using the same account for personal and business spending, it’s easy to mix these expenses up and harder to locate specific purchases. Any business-related income should be pooled into a dedicated account. Only use business checking or credit cards when making purchases. Losing track of purchases will become a thing of the past. (more…)
Accountant, Bookkeeping, Small Business, Taxes
The Panama Papers leak has made waves across the globe and for good reason – celebrities, CEOs and even political leaders face accusations of widespread tax avoidance. An anonymous source leaked the implicating documents, and an international coalition of hundreds of journalists has sifted through each and every piece of evidence. The parties involved in the cover-up went to great lengths to avoid the law, and there have been calls for increased financial transparency among the super wealthy. The purpose of accounting is not to bend the rules, but to provide a wealth of knowledge for sensible financial decision-making. The Panama Papers leak shows us that accountability is the most important part of accounting and being an Accounting firm servicing many businesses in a metropolis like Chicagoland that has many businesses with global connections made us want to shed some light on what happened.
What Happened
Just over a year ago, the German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung received 11.2 million documents from an anonymous tipster. These papers, sourced from the Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca, included the hidden financial transactions of everyone from public officials to sports stars. These people used offshore shell companies within Panama to hide their money from their own national governments, and avoid paying taxes. Those accused of funneling money were able to stay anonymous for years because of a complex network of offshore accounts run by Mossack Fonseca.
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Bookkeeping, CPA, expenses, Small Business
If you’re a small business owner, you know that bookkeeping is both essential, and stressful. For those of you who have decided to keep track of your books on your own, you might actually be costing your businesses rather than saving money. Below we’ll explore a few common DIY errors, and the small business bookkeeping tips to help you save in the long run.
5.) Writing Off Items Incorrectly
Purchases must be logged correctly in order to provide you with accurate numbers when filing your taxes. For example, major purchases (assets that will be used over the course of a long period of time) are different than immediate expenses, and therefore should be dealt with differently. A major expense like a new printer/copier machine should not be written off as a direct expense, but rather should be depreciated over time. (more…)
Bookkeeping, Small Business, Uncategorized
From movie portrayals of IRS auditors as fear-mongering bullies to dozens of unnerving myths and urban legends, it’s fair to say that there is no shortage of negative perceptions about tax auditing. When it comes down to separating fact from fiction, tax filers want to know: Is the process really as bad as it seems in pop culture? In a word—No! In this month’s blog we’ll explain the auditing process and dispel some common misconceptions about tax auditing.
What is tax auditing?
You can think of tax auditing as a fact-checking process by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on someone’s personal or organizational taxes. An audit occurs when the IRS, which is overseen by the U.S. government, selects and investigates a tax return to ensure that all reported information is correct. Most often, the IRS is simply seeking clarification through something called a correspondence audit. This type of audit occurs when a return doesn’t match typical trends based on the IRS’ data. In this case, the IRS requests documentation from the filer, and the audit can be resolved quickly if everything checks out. An examination audit can be a little bit more involved and occurs when something looks truly irregular in a return. (more…)
Accountant, Accounting, Bookkeeping, Business Expenses, CPA, Deductions, expenses, Small Business, Taxes, Uncategorized
Cost accounting is a technique used to determine the best financial course of action. The primary purpose of cost accounting is to help decision-makers make decisions. By analyzing the cost of products, services, and projects, accountants can advise businesses of the best course of action regarding a particular transaction. To put it more simply, you calculate the elements of cost for product process (raw materials, labor, and expenses/overhead), compare that cost with the product price, determine the business’s revenue, and decide if and where savings are needed.
Cost accounting doesn’t have a singular approach. Cost accounting methods include: (more…)
