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Tax Planning for Options

As a result of the higher tax rates and new taxes mandated by the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 and the Affordable Care Act, tax planning is more important than ever. Multiple-year tax planning is especially valuable if your income includes stock-based compensation, since you can control the timing of sales and option exercises […]

Business Tax Planning

Businesses looking to reduce their income tax expense for this year need to implement tax planning strategies now. With 2013 rapidly drawing to a close, have you developed a proactive tax plan to reduce your tax expense? In order to maximize the tax benefits available, you should consider two general strategies: Use of traditional timing […]

Online Accounting Software

Desktop accounting software and online accounting software hosted in the cloud are different. Do you know what the major differences are between online accounting software and desktop accounting software? Before making any change in accounting software, small businesses must evaluate what the differences are between each choice. In general, the differences between online accounting software […]

Unrelated Business Income Tax

The tax on unrelated business applies to most nonprofit organizations exempt from tax under section 501(a) including charitable, religious, scientific and other organizations described in section 501(c); employees’ trusts forming part of pension, profit-sharing and stock bonus plans described in section 401(a); individual retirement arrangements; state and municipal colleges and universities; qualified state tuition programs; […]

Keeping Your Tax Exempt Status

Thousands of nonprofit organizations have their tax-exempt status revoked each year. Most of the revocations are involuntary and result in a time-consuming and costly reinstatement process. Have you taken the necessary precautions to ensure your nonprofit organization will retain its tax-exempt status? At a minimum, nonprofit organizations should ensure they incorporate the following procedures into […]

Importance of the Audit Trail

The audit trail contains all of the physical records that document each step in a business transaction. The audit trail simply verifies through visual sources that a procedure or transaction has occurred. A well-constructed audit trail validates the information contained in financial statements and allows a business to meet government record keeping requirements for tax […]

Daily Bookkeeping

Although bookkeeping isn’t regarded as the most exciting or creative aspect of running a small business, it is a critical process that must be performed daily in order to generate the financial data needed to make business decisions. Do you carve out time each day to record your business’ financial transactions? Keeping clear and accurate […]

Worker Classification

It is critical that business owners correctly determine whether the individuals providing services for them are employees or independent contractors. Have you reviewed the circumstances of the service providers used in your business? The determination of worker’s classification as either an employee or independent contractor is important because each classification has its own set of […]

Balance Sheet Account Reconciliations

Financial information is critical for the success of any business. Regardless of the size of a business, owners and managers need accurate, complete and reliable financial information in order to make informed decisions that affect the growth and direction of their business. One of the best and most common methods to achieve this information requirement […]

Bank Reconciliations

The bank account reconciliation is used to compare the bank balance of a financial account with the accounting records (i.e., book balance) at any given point in time. Do you reconcile the bank accounts of your small business on a regular basis? It is normal for a business’ bank account per its accounting records to […]