Author: Jennifer Brazer

Spend Time Carefully

A common concept is that money is the asset for small business owners, but time is the real asset. If you lose money for any reason, it will come to you one day if you work hard. What cannot come back is the time you have once wasted. So, spend your valuable time carefully on activities that make a difference for your business.

Many small business owners spend much time at trade shows and exhibitions to increase exposure and sales. They collect hundreds of cards from people who are interested in your product. After the trade show, you contact them to get a purchase order from them, but they are not interested in your products. Your goal is not to waste time on such dead ends.

Identify potential customers and spend time with them. Answer their queries about quality, price, return policies, and customer service in detail, making them happy and satisfied clients. These customers will not only purchase your product but refer others to you. This referral will increase the sales of your small business like no other.

Listen to the Customer’s Problem

In today’s world, everyone is interested in their problems. The same rule applies to your customers. They are interested in their problems and seek help to resolve them. Your foremost strategy is to ask customers about issues they are facing as a small business owner. Ask them about their needs and the types of products they are searching for.

When you ask customers about their problems, they feel heard and important. They happily tell their situation in detail. After listening to them completely, start discussing the solution that your product will provide them. The seventh feature of your product may be the solution, but while describing your product to this particular customer, tell them that seventh characteristic first. After finding a solution, the customer feels relaxed and will listen to the rest of your sales pitch discussion happily and attentively.

The customer who finds a solution in your product will likely buy it, and this small business strategy will increase sales.

Contact prospective customers yourself

When a customer does not respond to your email, reply to your email instead of sending a new one. Replying to your email serves two purposes. One is that the client will see the original email. Secondly, you come to know whether or not the first email was received. If, after the second email, the client says that they are not interested in your product, that’s why they didn’t respond to the first. Stop wasting your valuable time and end up contacting them.

Often, the customer says they are interested but cannot respond to the first email for some reason. Accept them. However, if there is no response to the second email, send the third email after a few days. Ask the client directly whether you should stop contacting them or not. This email has a positive effect. An interested client will send a correspondence email as early as possible, and the other will send a refusal. After knowing the exact status, proceed accordingly.

Personal Communication

Personal communication can increase the sales of a small business. This strategy proves extremely useful because, after personal contact, the customer doesn’t consider your email just an automated response. In a private message, discuss the customer’s experience with your product. Ask them if they have any questions or concerns. In personal correspondence, the client should know you are trying to write them a private message despite your busy schedule. By valuing your prospective customers, sales can be increased tenfold.

Build an Energetic Team

Build a positive attitude of teamwork within your sales workforce. Could you not do things to divide them? The best sales team is the one that works together. They can communicate frequently and freely by building positive dynamics within a team. Sales are increased by utilizing information shared within the group. Teamwork increases sales in the long run, independent of the size of the sales.

Conclusion

An increase in sales can be achieved by following a few simple strategies. These strategies revolve around the customer always. As they say, the customer is always right.

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

Daily, many organizational activities occur, including production, distribution, sales, and business procurement. These processes generate invoices, memos, purchase orders, and documents daily. Most of these documents are through the accounting department, creating a mountain of paper for bookkeeping. Most of these papers contain sensitive information. Hence, it’s not possible to throw them out. Disposing of these requires special machines and shredders; they don’t come cheap!

Companies must invest in paperless accounting software to steer an accounting department toward going paperless. Usually, someone from an accounting department needs about 3 minutes to get a file from a cabinet. But in a real-life situation, it’s never 3 minutes. Adding distractions along the way, like going to the bathroom, talking to a colleague, getting a drink of water, and many other distractions, make it a 20-minute task! The estimated 20 minutes does not include the time it takes to consider the effort it will take if the file is misplaced or stored in a different storage unit.

Fortunately, with different accounting management programs and ERP solutions for corporate use, an accounting department can become paperless in no time, saving effort, time, and precious resources. Here, we will highlight five ways to help you keep the accounting department paperless.

Time Management and Document Handling

When your company’s accounting department is entirely paper-based, listing and storing each document needs a sophisticated and seldom confusing process. For example, every time a purchase order arrives in the accounting department, the accountant must place it in a separate section with the time and date it arrived correctly logged. Logging the time, date, client name, and order details helps retrieve the document, but it takes a lot of time and effort. Moreover, the accountant or bookkeeper is bound to make a mistake and incorrectly file the document at some point.

On the other hand, if you invest in accounting software, the accountant won’t need to file every document manually. The software will automatically generate invoices, sales reports, and purchase orders for every item. The accounting software will save time and make the entire documentation process simple, convenient, and easy to retrieve.

Reduce Supply and Storage Cost

The accounting department’s documents rely on storage facilities, cluttered with file cabinets and drawers overflowing with paper, printer supplies, and envelopes. The software will assist in making the accounting department go entirely paperless. With no papers to store and record, the department won’t need large cabinets to keep them. A paperless office in an accounting department will be cost-effective regarding spending money and space on storage units.

Make the Retrieval Process Easier

Having accounting software makes retrieving information about any specific file easier without the need to fish through thousands of files in a large cabinet. The software makes the accounting department entirely paperless by its streamlined operations. Each file has its code or a serial number that allows swift access to any file, anytime. Proper content management features of the software help organize all the files according to any category the company needs to transform the workspace into a paperless office.

Swift Response Time

When you have efficient paperless office software to handle all business operations and content management, it is easy for managers and accountants to reduce their response time for queries from different departments. For example, suppose a customer calls to complain about a product defect in a new purchase, using the designated serial number for the product. In that case, the accountant can retrieve all the necessary information about the product.

Invoice Processing is Easier and Faster

As the accounting software for bookkeeping relies on electronic invoice processing, it eliminates the need to make the accountant enter the data on the invoice manually. Using software makes the procedure of invoice generation and storage relatively easy. Some software has a scan feature that allows the accountant to scan any crucial invoices on paper.

Conclusion

Going paperless in any business is not just cost-effective and comfortable. It also makes it easier for accountants to record all the invoices. It makes it easier for an accountant to manage all the files and invoices needed for effective bookkeeping, as they are electronically generated. Going paperless in an accounting department is a step towards having a greener and better environment.

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

Keeping an enterprise running can be challenging, specifically in today’s competitive and fast-paced economy. Whether you own a start-up or a well-established business, finding yourself in trouble with unpredictably unpredictable bookkeeping is easy. When this occurs, and you can no longer keep up with your corporate debts, you may be speculating about what you can do to take care of your financial responsibilities while still protecting your business in the long run.


Businesses, like entities, sometimes suffer from too much debt. Taking on the right amount of liability at the right time can mean the difference between a business that scuffles and one that prospers. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), roughly 50% of small businesses are unsuccessful within their first five years, mainly because of inadequate capital, poor credit activities, and too much debt. Gratefully, we have devised a periodical order for you to follow when paying your priority debts.

Taxes

The money you accumulate for federal payroll, state sales, and income taxes does not belong to you; it goes to the government. And if you don’t pay these tariffs at the correct time, you will face stiff charges and penalties. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has broad authority to garnish incomes, take control of business gear and property, and even get a hold of funds from an Individual Retirement Account (IRA). It can also corrupt you for failing to deposit your applicable payroll taxes.

Payroll

Not only do some national laws impose fines for not paying your employees’ salaries on time, but if you don’t take care of the individuals who labor for you, you risk losing them and your industry. You may think of your workers as a family, but missing payroll may encourage them to look for other prospects.

Aged Payables

An aged payable bill is past due for 60 days or more. These bills threaten your corporate credit score, making it more problematic to secure future bankrolling.

Utilities and Rent

You can’t run a company without power and a phone line. Lights, internet service, heating, air conditioning, etc. are necessities. If you are overdue on your utility bills, your facilities can be cut off, leaving you in the dark. Try to look at your bookkeeping records and exchange a payment plan with your service suppliers. And don’t assume they won’t pull the plug if bills are left due.

Key Retailers and Purveyors

You depend on your key vendors and suppliers for your company to function. They also rely on you for their establishments to prosper, so everyone is concerned about keeping these relationships healthy.

Secured Debts and Dues You Have Assured

If your business is a sole proprietorship or partnership, you are individually accountable for all your business debts. If your business is a corporation or LLC (Limited Liability Company), you are only legally responsible for debts that you guaranteed. In either circumstance, you must pay these compulsions before any unsecured debts or loans are reimbursed.

Insurance Payments

You don’t want to function without liability insurance for any prolonged time, but if you need to eradicate a specific expense, you might have to take the risk. Before letting insurance lapse, try to lessen premiums by down-scaling coverage or increasing deductibles.

Large Bills vs. Small Bills

Keeping your business credit score high is imperative when ordering your payments. Missing large bills will have a superior negative impact on your credit score because they carry more mass. Also, big companies are expected to report a delinquency to the credit agencies. Conversely, occasionally, you might need to pay smaller bills to companies that depend on your business for their subsistence.

Final Note

Preparing for a cash flow problem while bookkeeping in advance by putting aside sufficient funds to pay your bills and creditors during sluggish economic times is your best defense against financial trouble down the road.

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

The construction industry plays a pivotal role in the growth and development of a sustainable economic environment. Unfortunately, certain factors can hinder construction growth. Financial constraints are one of the significant factors behind the stagnation in construction growth. Several studies have revealed a direct relationship between economic growth and the provision of funds for construction growth. In other words, the connection between economic growth and the growth of the construction industry is directly proportional –if one increases, the other will also grow.

Construction growth –What does it entail, and why is it important?

The term “construction growth” pertains to the pace at which the construction industry of society flourishes. Many housing projects and infrastructure developments ensure the growth of the construction sector. It helps create jobs for thousands, even millions of people. According to official statistics, over 10 million people in the United States were employed in the construction sector alone.

According to experts, almost $8 billion was paid to construction workers in the form of wages and salaries in 2016. These numbers reflect how significant the growth of the construction industry is, as it contributes significantly to the economy and provides livelihood to thousands of households. The construction industry also needs to grow to ensure the economy’s continued growth. But unfortunately, due to financial constraints, this growth has stagnated.

Financial constraints –How do they slow down construction growth?

Financial limitations can significantly adversely impact the growth of the construction sector. An increase in tax rates, stricter government policies, and a lack of trust in the local industry are some of the financial constraints that can potentially hamper the pace and growth of the construction industry. Without financial stability and freedom, investors and stakeholders in the construction industry are forced to diminish their expansion plans to ensure sustainability.

The interests of all stakeholders must be considered to nurture a prosperous economic environment. The lack of demand for new housing often leads to stagnation in construction growth. The lack of demand does not stem from the absence of need but from financial constrictions. When people cannot afford housing units, developers are forced to delay or slow down their future or ongoing projects.

Bookkeepers keep track of financial transactions made by organizations and developers over time; their records can be used to notice trends and ascertain factors that directly impact construction growth. Bookkeeping experts help stakeholders identify patterns, allowing them to identify factors that affect the industry’s growth positively and negatively. 

Even without analyzing the records, it is pretty evident that financial constriction means bad news for any industry. But, relatively, the impact of financial constraints is quite significant in the construction industry as it slows down the entire process. Slowing down wastes time and increases costs as construction materials prices grow.

Hampered by financial constraints, slow construction growth can lead to an overall economic crisis. The construction industry is the backbone of a nation’s economy as it involves the development of infrastructures such as roads, airports, hospitals, homes, and factories. Anything hindering construction growth can cause a crisis, such as a housing shortage for an increasing population.

Therefore, regulatory bodies must ensure no unnecessary financial constraints such as lack of funding or high tax rates. Financial constraints are extremely counterproductive as they directly and immensely negatively impact construction growth. The correlation between a country’s economic performance and construction is quite apparent, making ensuring that nothing hinders or slows down construction growth even more important. Exponential growth in the construction industry is integral to developing a sustainable economy.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the growth of the construction industry is vital for fostering a sustainable economic environment. Financial constraints, such as increased tax rates and strict policies, pose significant hurdles to construction growth. The symbiotic relationship between economic and construction growth is undeniable – when one thrives, so does the other. Financial stability is paramount; stakeholders must address the constraints to ensure sustained progress.

 Bookkeepers are crucial in identifying patterns and factors affecting construction positively or negatively. The impact of financial limitations on the construction sector is substantial, leading to delays, increased costs, and potential economic crises. Regulatory measures should prioritize preventing unnecessary constraints to safeguard the pivotal role of construction in economic development. Achieving exponential growth in the construction industry is imperative for a resilient and sustainable economy.

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

Managing Business Finances

Business finance is a crucial term in corporate finance and accounting encompassing various disciplines and business activities regarding managing money and other valuable financial assets. It teaches us about effective management and utilization of financial resources, investing strategies, accounting methodologies, and effective debt management. In short, it defines the fate of the business and the long-term growth and profitability of any company.

Significance

Businesses must maintain their financial resources effectively, pack their bags, and go home to survive in a highly competitive environment. In our demanding era, business finances work just like oxygen for survival, stability, strength, consistency, and growth. In short, money keeps your business running and your employees working to attain business goals and objectives.

However, the influx of money needs to be assured at the hour of need, or your business may face a financial crisis, eventually leading to overall business failure. Some of the most common ways a business can be financed or money can be raised are business loans, private loans (family or friends), mortgage loans, crowdfunding, etc.

Critical To Business Success

Entrepreneurs or business adventurists worldwide face difficulties generating business finances for their unique business ideas. Even those who cause desired finances often strive to maintain or manage their money—perhaps due to the lack of financial knowledge or management of money-related skills. They may have scarce resources, but hiring a professional accountant or bookkeeper seems bright. 

It allows them to concentrate on the core affairs of the business while their bookkeepers take care of the rest (money-related matters). Looking at the matter’s sensitivity, it is indispensable in managing business finances effectively to maintain a sustainable competitive advantage.

5 Crucial Tips to Keep Your Business Finances In Order

Get Yourself Ready For the Tough Job Ahead

To survive in a volatile economy, you must develop new and effective ways to get things right—the first time. No one is a born genius; your motivation, inspiration, and result-oriented approach encourage you to learn the art of the game before taking on challenges head-on. To manage the finances of a business, you need to educate yourself and prepare for the tough accounting job ahead, as financial recording is no easy feat.

A company’s entire fate depends on financial recording and analysis—the better they are, the higher the results. This makes it clear that the management and bookkeeping of business finances require accounting knowledge, skills, and, hence, complete accounting know-how for keeping finances in order and perfectly streamlined.

Keep Your Personal and Private Finances Separate

To develop more command and control over your personal and business finances, you must deal with them separately to avoid confusion. The cash outflow has to be managed well to track your business transactions properly. It will help where your money is going but also help when submitting tax returns at the end of the term. Small businesses often struggle to sort between business and private finances as they lack awareness, accounting knowledge, experience, and expertise in dealing with money-related issues. By sorting this out, you will have the exact status of your money.

Choose a Suitable Accounting Software

All salutations to superior accounting tools and techniques, have made things much more accessible than traditional and manual recording of business transactions. If you haven’t yet moved to cloud technology to maintain a real-time track of your money and resources, we suggest you do it immediately. Today, you have a myriad of options to choose from; however, integrating the right accounting software or technology is crucial.

Hire a Professional Bookkeeper

You may have basic accounting knowledge and experience keeping transaction records, but these may not be enough for your business. To effectively manage everything related to your business finances, you must consider hiring a qualified and reputable bookkeeper. This will help you solve financial discrepancies, and help you save a lot of money in the end.

Make a Budgeting Plan

By creating a budgeting plan, you will get things aligned and more organized than ever. Business budgeting is a necessary evil, meaning you must make it no matter how far you run away from it. It lets you know the business expenses and see whether they need to be cut if they exceed the limit or need to be financed with more money.

Conclusion

Indeed, many business owners do not keep records of their business finances; even if they do, they are most often disorganized or cluttered. To establish 100% command and control over your business, you need to manage your finances and cash flow carefully. Hiring a qualified bookkeeper to achieve intended outcomes and pave your way to business success is better.

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

In the world of internet security, the virtualization of services such as cloud computing storage is a high priority. Cloud computing, itself, for an IT infrastructure, is the ability to use, for example, computing power and storage like databases or network assets. While it is a highly versatile solution offering almost limitless benefits, it is simultaneously a complicated and complex affair of a business. Especially applications, the cloud can refer to the browser-based SaaS applications in which users must pay for the services. This has led to technological advancement by breaking traditional models of proactive technology.

The best database for your organization is deployed for cloud computing assistance, and many options are available. With so much out there, it can get confusing as all solutions are based on enterprise scenarios. Security, performance, and compliance are the top three most critical keys to focus on for all centrally prioritized organizations. The best practices are essentially required to manage the priorities of the database strategy for the enterprise model. Without implementing this, even the best database for your organization would not provide the optimum level of functionality.

Private Cloud Solution

Due to the customization ease towards business-specific needs, a private cloud solution allows more control over the enterprise environment. It is also a part of the IT infrastructure that has enhanced security, which boosts confidence in the solution’s security, as the IT system owns it. Due to the geographical position of a user, latency is an issue as the legacy application is impacted by the data and the user’s relative location—especially when using mobile devices- yielding an inferior experience for users.

If remotely located, the company offering the data would also contribute to an incredibly frustrating service usage. The best database for your organization cannot let users shed tears over poor performance that may be critical for their assigned tasks. Other concerns are industry-specific regulations and compliance issues that are severely strict. Some countries have set implementation policies and rules that do not always match the business in other countries, creating a policy nightmare.

Hybrid Cloud Solution

Hybrid cloud solutions are very flexible and more customizable than the previous solution. This solution allows managers to select and opt for elements from private or public clouds. Cloud bursting is the most significant benefit of this solution, which helps when more users suddenly show up and request services. The burst can help handle the system’s intake of extra users without downing the system. 

Its self-managing features allow more flexibility to handle workloads according to business requirements. The cons are that it’s highly complex, integration can take long periods, and connecting with public clouds increases potential security threats. It also may lead to overuse of services, whereas users are scarce due to auto-management.

Public Cloud Solutions

The scalability of public cloud solutions is phenomenal. The cost models let users select pay-as-you-go benefits that are an added advantage. With faster performance capability and new application induction into services offered, using legacy applications is challenging. Sprawling is a significant issue like a hybrid, leading to advanced security threats. Without strategizing for proper management and control, costs sometimes rocket, resulting in negated savings and lower system efficiency. 

Another shortcoming is data visibility, where the location is hard to determine where it resides once inducted into the database cloud. By its nature, the public cloud solution is homogeneous in that it works on different enterprise needs. Latency can be an issue depending on the enterprise architecture and how it is implemented, deployed, and utilized. Dependability is a high concern when choosing the best database for your organization.

Appliance Database

The data center takes care of self- or vendor-based appliance database management. Thousands of vendors provide this solution, but performance and support facilitation are more significant if one is selected for the whole setup. It can be disadvantageous to use a single vendor, creating a limiting monopoly, while application databases can become niche and seldom used. This solution is also expensive but can be cost-effective with the correct settings over some time.

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

More than 78 million people who pay taxes utilize tax professionals’ services to prepare their tax returns. Generally, any tax professional with an IRS Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN) is authorized to prepare federal tax returns.

Most tax professionals provide top-notch services but have varying expertise, skills, and educational background. One significant difference that sets them apart is their “representation rights,” also known as practitioner rights. These rights include representing their clients before the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

These rights fall into two categories: unlimited representation and limited representation. As the name says, absolute representation rights allow tax practitioners to represent their clients in any matter: audits, bookkeeping, related payment or collection issues, and appeals, to name a few.

On the other hand, limited representation rights only allow the professional to represent their clients whose returns are prepared and signed by them and only before revenue agents, customer service representatives, and IRS employees like the Taxpayer Advocate Service.

Comprehensive Guide to Credentials and Qualifications

Unlimited representation rights

Enrolled Agents (EAs), Certified Public Accountants (CPAs), and attorneys have unlimited representation rights before the IRS.

Certified public accountants

Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) complete the Uniform CPA Examination. Moreover, they have studied for a bachelor’s degree with at least 150 formal education hours and gained experience under a licensed CPA.

They must adhere to their board’s ethical and good character requirements and complete continuing professional education to maintain their professional competence and, most importantly, their CPA license.

For example, they may provide various services: audit, consultancy, forensic, and specialized tax planning and preparation.

Enrolled agents

The IRS licenses Enrolled Agents (EAs) must pass a three-part comprehensive enrollment exam, which tests their proficiency in federal tax planning, representation, and tax return preparation of individuals and businesses.

They are also subject to suitability checks and must complete 72 hours of continuing education every three years.

Attorneys 

State courts license attorneys. They have completed a law degree and also passed a bar exam. They have ongoing continuing education and standards of professional character.

Though attorneys can offer a wide range of services, some specialize in tax planning and preparation.

Limited representation rights

Tax practitioners with limited representation rights include Annual Filing Season Program Participants and PTIN Holders.

Annual filing season program participants 

Annual Filing Season Program Participants is a voluntary program that recognizes the individuals preparing tax returns, not CPAs, EAs, or attorneys. This program was designed to encourage education and prepare taxpayers for filing season.

The IRS issues the Annual Filing Season Program Record of Completion to return preparers who complete a specific number of continuing education hours in preparation for a given tax year.

PTIN holders 

Preparers of tax returns with a Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN) but no professional credentials and non-participants of the Annual Filing Season Program are also allowed to prepare tax returns.

However, this is the only authority that PTIN holders have. They cannot represent clients before the IRS (this rule does not apply to returns they prepared and filed on or before December 31, 2015).

Directory of federal tax return professionals with credentials and select qualifications

The IRS has a searchable and sortable public directory that contains individual tax professionals to help taxpayers determine their tax preparer’s credentials and qualifications.

The database contains the tax practitioner’s name, state, city, and zip code with limited and unlimited representation rights.

Reminder

All practitioners mentioned above, and individuals must have an IRS-issued PTIN to be eligible to prepare their tax returns lawfully. Furthermore, the IRS suggests checking the history and qualifications of their tax preparers and setting the terms before starting an arrangement to ensure that no discrepancies occur in your filing process.

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

When you order a product or service from a vendor, it may ask you to pay a portion of the price before delivery. Catering to prepaid vendor deposits can easily be ignored by the business, among other daily bookkeeping tasks. You must take extra precautions in recording these deposits if you want your books to be accurate. Because it is an upfront payment, it calls for serious attention. Losing sight of them may cause loss to the company because the products are received later, and you would be able to account for the payments later on.

The prepaid deposit has no potential loss, but it can become a task at the year’s end to record these expenses because they must be catered to in bookkeeping.

Why are Prepaid Vendor Deposits Required?

It is common to ask for upfront payments for specific products or services to minimize risk. The deposits help for some time and are either returned or added to the credit balance, depending on the situation. Depending on the deal, you may be required to make all or partial deposits. Vendors may ask you to make prepaid payments on large orders or if they do not have a history of doing business with you. In either case, you are required to make the payment to deliver the products.

The amount you pay in prepaid vendor deposits is accounted for as assets in your books because it’s your money, and someone else is just holding it for you. An account titled ‘deposits held by others’ is included in your current assets to cater for such expenses. You name it “deposits held by others” so you do not confuse them with your other accounts, such as prepayments on orders, liabilities, and retainers.

How to Account for Prepaid Vendor Deposits

Typically, you send a check to the vendor just like any other deposit. However, the only difference in this transaction is that the check is an asset rather than an expense. Therefore, it is posted as ‘vendor deposits’ in your bookkeeping. A given amount will debit deposits held by others, and the exact amount will be credited to your bank account. Anyone can require a deposit, whether a utility company or a landlord. Making these entries on your financials will ensure that everything stays updated.

Returning the Prepaid Vendor Deposits

Vendors must return your deposits after a fixed period, and the most frequent way of doing that is through a check. However, if you are inclined to conduct further business with the vendor, they may adjust it to your next bill.

When the check is received, you deposit it into your bank account, balance out the equation, and make an opposite entry in your books. Your bank account will be debited, while the deposit account will be credited. If the vendor does not pay you back and caters for the deposit in your next bill, you must convert this asset into an expense in your books. The bills will be debited, while the agreed amount will be credited to prepaid vendor deposits held by vendors.

In a scenario where the applied deposit to the next bill is less than the total, you would have to write an open balance check, which is deposited to the appropriate expense rather than the deposits held by others.

Running a business requires you to be flexible and follow your industry’s standard norms because everyone else is doing that. Eventually, you will have to work with them. Maintaining good relations requires viewing such prepaid vendor deposits as an investment in building good relations rather than a burden on your finances.

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

Finances play a critical and fundamental role in predicting your marriage’s happiness and prosperity. Lack of financial resources is one of the leading causes of stress in relationships. On the other hand, married couples who trust their spouse with economic issues often feel more secure with fewer arguments and more fulfilling intimacy.

However, such a level of trust and confidence is usually rare among newly married couples. Although you may know a lot about your spouse-to-be, there may still be considerable gaps in your conception about their finances. Here are nine money tips to live a happy and financially stable married life.

Have Open Conversation Related to Monetary Matters

Remember, intimacy and confidence regarding financial matters begin with better communication. Therefore, you must start conversations with your spouse on your personal and financial goals. Be fair and open when sharing your current resources as soon as you are married or, better yet, share them with your better half before getting married.

Define Shared Goals

Please discuss your mutually shared goals with your spouse, such as buying a home, having children, seeing them graduate from a renowned school or college, family health and life insurance, and retirement plans. Although financial planning may not be as romantic as other topics, you will have peace of mind in the long run if you share mutual financial goals.

Create a Budget

Budgeting is essential to achieving your personal and family goals, just as bookkeeping is crucial to managing your accounts. Most money tips explained so far revolve around budgeting. It helps us achieve a financial balance between our expenditures and our savings within our means, preventing us from getting into a debt burden. A newly married couple’s family budget expenditure categories include Groceries, Entertainment, Dining Out, Shopping, Traveling, and more.

Track Your Budget

Making a budget is easy, but that is not enough. Married couples need to maintain their lifestyles strictly on their pre-calculated budget. They must track their expenditure and saving patterns, changes in their earnings, and other financial matters and see where adjustments are needed to improve their budget. There are many great smartphone apps designed to manage personal finances. One is Mint, an app that automatically generates a personalized budget based on your income, expenses, and other relevant financial activities. It also ensures easy budget tracking and improves your financial outlook by providing money tips and essential understanding. 

Build an Emergency Fund

If you are not a couple who keeps an emergency fund set aside for rainy days, wait no longer and start to build an emergency fund for use on an urgent basis. It is one of the essential money tips for married couples, which should be your top priority if you want a stable monetary life. An emergency fund is typically money proactively set aside and helps you when an unexpected costly event strikes. Such events include and are not limited to the loss of a job, a significant home repair, a family illness, or any natural disaster. Consequently, it aims to save about six months’ worth of your family expenses as an emergency fund.

Have Weekly Money Meetings

Having weekly money meetings with your spouse is one of the most potent tips to stay on track with your budget and achieve financial goals. It ultimately strengthens the level of mutual trust and communication in your marriage. During meetings, newly married couples should discuss their budget for the current month, how they are doing with their financial goals, any upcoming bills, and anything else regarding money. Setting aside time to communicate financial matters helps the married couple stop worrying about money as they know their matters will be dealt with promptly.

Share Expenses

From household purchases like food and groceries to home buying, married couples can qualify for lower charges on bank transactions and retirement accounts and avail mortgages with easy terms upon combining their earnings and savings. Account management fees fall below one percent annually for couples with combined accounts of $250K-$500K and a maximum of two percent for smaller accounts.

Save For Retirement

Even if you are not married, you must ensure you are financially secure for the long haul. Consequently, you should start saving for retirement immediately if your employer offers a 401k plan and put in the maximum amount possible to benefit from any company matching. The compounding interest will grow your retirement fund. Thus, avoid being delayed.

Pay off Debt as soon as Possible

Debt can have damaging impacts on any person. It can affect married couples more significantly as the two individuals rely on each other and are responsible for their expenditures. Thus, start eradicating your Debt as soon as possible.

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity.

The need for bookkeeping and accounting will never die. They are the two most basic needs and goals of every business, regardless of size, scale, or industry in which a retail business operates. Since companies need to keep track of their income and expenses to improve their chances of increasing profitability, they need to implement sound bookkeeping and accounting practices to help their business grow in such a fierce environment.
The slightest financial miscalculations or projections can cost significantly and even kick a business out of the competitive race. For better financial decisions, companies must collect the necessary financial information and document and review their bookkeeping records accurately. 

What is Bookkeeping?

In simplest terms, bookkeeping records business transactions as they occur, which means documenting daily transactions in an accounting system. It helps businesses track their finances, cash flow, income, and expenses and develop a sound game plan to increase profits. In short, it reveals the company’s financial status that can further be matched against intended long-term goals.

Most small to medium-sized retail businesses prefer to do their books as it saves money. However, the idea that hiring the expertise of professionals is costly is just a mere perception. Many individuals and agencies offer unique bookkeeping and accounting services at competitive rates. Therefore, it is recommended that small to medium-sized retail businesses search for professional yet affordable individuals or agencies who can help them achieve their intended financial outcomes.

The Use of Advanced Software in a Retail Setting

There is no denying the fact that advanced accounting software can be as helpful as hiring a professional accountant to do the job. Accounting software is one of the most convenient and cost-effective ways to record, handle, and manage essential business books and financial records for a small to medium-sized retail business looking to maintain and manage its accounting in-house.

Some accounting software used in retail businesses can be purchased for $300-$800. Businesses can even buy monthly subscriptions to record transactions, manage their payroll, sales, and inventory tracking, and clearly understand their finances.

Why is Accurate Record Keeping the First Step towards Success?

As someone rightly said, accurate financial records lead a business to make ideal assumptions and wise decisions. Whether using credible accounting software or not, you must always keep a backup of critical financial documents like receipts, sales records, bank statements, loan status, past tax data, etc. A tangible file and hard copy of financial records, bills, and invoices must be appropriately maintained to handle situations such as data loss.

According to accounting veterans, planning for the worst scenario to happen to your business is ideal. The records of a retail business need to be backed up properly to avoid problems that miserably drag you into a severe financial crisis.

Accounting Expertise

Hiring someone with the proper accounting knowledge and skills can help you reduce your tax season troubles and save you money and time. For retail businesses that consider investing in accounting services to be troublesome and expensive, the investment made in hiring an expert will always pay off in the long run with accurate results. 

It is important to remember that acquiring an accounting service tailored to your business needs can be extremely helpful to your business in many ways. You can leverage more control over your company by concentrating more on the core affairs of running your business and allowing your accountant to ensure accounting and financial data are handled correctly.

About Complete Controller® – America’s Bookkeeping Experts Complete Controller is the Nation’s Leader in virtual bookkeeping, providing service to businesses and households alike. Utilizing Complete Controller’s technology, clients gain access to a cloud platform where their QuickBooks™️ file, critical financial documents, and back-office tools are hosted in an efficient SSO environment. Complete Controller’s team of certified US-based accounting professionals provide bookkeeping, record storage, performance reporting, and controller services including training, cash-flow management, budgeting and forecasting, process and controls advisement, and bill-pay. With flat-rate service plans, Complete Controller is the most cost-effective expert accounting solution for business, family-office, trusts, and households of any size or complexity. Reviewed By: Brittany McMillen

Brittany McMillen

Brittany McMillen is a seasoned Marketing Manager with a sharp eye for strategy and storytelling. With a background in digital marketing, brand development, and customer engagement, she brings a results-driven mindset to every project. Brittany specializes in crafting compelling content and optimizing user experiences that convert. When she’s not reviewing content, she’s exploring the latest marketing trends or championing small business success.

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