Author: Jennifer Brazer

Keeping an enterprise running can be challenging, specifically in today’s competitive and high-paced economy. Whether you own a start-up or a well-established business, it is easy to find yourself in trouble with bookkeeping unpredictably. When this occurs, and you are no longer able to keep up with your corporate debts, you may be speculating 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 – and 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, primarily because of inadequate capital, poor credit activities, and too much debt. Gratefully, we have come up with a periodical order to follow when paying your priority debts.

1.    Taxes

The money you accumulate for federal payroll taxes and 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 authorities 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 charge you with corruption for failing to deposit your payroll taxes applicable.

2.    Payroll

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

3.    Aged Payables

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

4.    Utilities and Rent

You can’t run a company without power and a phone line. Lights, internet service, heating, and air conditioning, etc. are necessities. If you are overdue on your utility bills, your facilities can be cut off and leave 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.

5.    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’s concern is to keep these relationships healthy.

6.    Secured Debts and Dues You Have Assured

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

7.    Insurance Payments

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

8.    Large Bills vs. Small Bills

Keeping your business credit score high is an imperative contemplation when you are forced to order 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 delinquency to the credit agencies. Conversely, occasionally you might need to pay smaller bills to smaller 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.

There is no denying that cutting business expenses and controlling costs has become extremely challenging today. Modern trends indicate that companies need to reduce their expenses to achieve their business goals and objectives effectively. However, establishing control over your business and finances requires a large amount of motivation, knowledge, skills, and expertise. Why? Because only a clear-cut strategy and well laid-out plan can make cutting down your monthly expenses hassle-free.

Are you cutting business expenses? Not a problem!

Moreover, a reduction in business expenses and an increase in revenue can significantly impact a company’s profitability and are two ways by which companies can maximize their profitability index. According to industry experts, increasing sales and revenue is problematic because it requires a lot of planning and strategy. It takes time and effort to come up with a brilliant execution plan. On the contrary, cutting business expenses is something that can be done quickly, without much stress. All that it takes is a little bit of your time. Moreover, it is essential to review your bookkeeping and accounting records to establish a clear picture of your company’s standing before making any solid decisions regarding controlling your costs.

Reduce Supply Expenses

If you expect to reduce supply expenses, you need to look outside your traditional vendor’s pool. Look for the vendors, manufacturers, or suppliers who can offer you the best price as large discounts help you cut business expenses and costs. Bulk purchasing is ideal in every sense. Always seek multiple bids to get excellent rates and never make a long-term contract for supplies with a single party or vendor as the saving can have a significant impact on your bottom line.

Lower Financial Expenses

Hiring an in-house accounting or auditing professional can be a costly decision. That’s why most businesses rely on external accounting agencies or individuals who offer competitive rates for their services. Cutting back on your business expenses means saving money on insurance and additional bills. To meet financial emergencies and consider a business expansion, you need to regularly contribute to your savings account. Lastly, don’t take on unnecessary debt to make ends meet because you may eventually find it hard to pay back the money you borrowed from the bank with interest. Before making such decisions, you must do a thorough cost-benefit analysis and future forecasting.

Take Advantage of Social Media Marketing

Traditional marketing can cost you a fortune. This high cost indicates that you need to look at cheaper alternatives like social media marketing such as Facebook, Twitter, and other similar dynamic platforms. You can build your customer base there, as studies have revealed that social media marketing is more effective than traditional marketing on the mainstream media, ultimately reducing your business expenses.

Try to Achieve Economies of Scale

By maximizing your productivity in manufacturing, you can expect to take your expenses to a minimum level. Improved R&D and market knowledge will help you achieve economies of scale, which is ideal for maximizing your profitability.

Review Your Finances and Business Books Quarterly

To get a clear picture of your finances and business condition, you need to review, maintain. And manage your business books, if not monthly, then quarterly. Moreover, to cut business expenses, you need to audit your monthly subscription billing. Switch to the software applications or talent that are worth your investment and money.

Look for Affordable and Suitable Office Alternatives

You can always consider relocating your office to a more affordable area to cut business costs. Often, in the age of digitalization, companies don’t need to have their office located in prime, expensive locations. You can move your office to a convenient location that offers affordable rates to reduce commercial rents.

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.

Today, cyber-attacks mostly target large corporations and their databases, including emails. Company emails are one of the most frequently targeted categories because they usually hold sensitive information that the hackers yearn to get their hands on.

The information obtained from emails is often used to disclose company secrets to rival companies that could devastate a business. Many emails contain sensitive and private information about employees, including their credit card numbers and social security number details. In the critical effort to protect company emails, here are ten tips for protecting all company emails.

Train Employees

One of the most crucial ways to secure company emails is to train employees in the latest trends in data protection. Inform your employees about any behavior that could put the company at risk. Make sure that they follow all safety procedures in place to keep the email safe from cyber attacks.

Always Delete Old Emails

Another safe practice to use when protecting company emails is to delete emails that are no longer needed. The inbox is usually filled with hundreds of emails every day. The best approach to keeping the email safe is to save emails that contain sensitive information about the business, its clients, suppliers, and products in research and development. Such emails must be kept safe from data theft and hackers. The best method is to save such emails on a separate device for protection. Once the email is secure, delete the original email from the inbox and the junk or deleted folders.

Encryption

Using encryption to protect the data in company emails allows companies to have complete control over sensitive information. Encryption is useful for preventing data theft during a cyber attack. Using encryption is the best method for keeping information about the employees, business operations, and clients from data theft.

Creating Strong Passwords

Encourage your employees to use strong passwords that contain a unique combination of letters, numbers, and symbols. The password must be eight characters long or more for added security. The stronger the password of an email account, the harder it will be for hackers to get into the system and steal information from emails.

Avoid Unsafe or External Networks

When accessing company emails, make sure that no one is using an external network to gain access. Company networks are usually protected and encrypted. Therefore, it is much safer to use the company’s local network to access the emails safely. External networks are vulnerable to cyber attacks as it lacks the necessary security protocols for safe data transfer from one device to another. Being on a secure network will make it hard for the hacker to steal data from company emails.

Do Not Share the Address with Anyone

To keep the company emails safe, it’s always better not to share sensitive information with others. Keeping the company’s email address for corporate use only will be a significant step in protecting the company emails. Never use the corporate emails for online shopping or any online subscription that requires an email.

Reset Passwords

Always be cautious about the corporate email password that you use as an employee of the company. Keep changing the password every few days and try not to have the same password for every other email account. Resetting your password regularly will keep the emails protected, making their access to hackers difficult.

Never Open Emails from Unidentified Sources

The best approach to protecting company emails is to train employees not to open email attachments from unidentified sources. Hackers usually try to send Trojan viruses hidden in a seemingly innocent attachment. The Trojan virus or a key logger can have devastating effects on the emails’ safety and the entire corporate data.

Avoid Sending Private Emails from Corporate Emails

Company emails should be used for inter-company communications and not for expressing private sentiments to friends and family. Avoiding using the corporate email account for personal use can help prevent accidentally leaking company information to outsiders.

Protect Email From Malware

Malware can access the inbox, and employees can accidentally download dangerous malware that could infect the entire network system. It’s better to hire expert services to protect emails and data in them to keep it safe from hackers.

Conclusion

The protection of company emails is a significant task for any company. Effectively protecting the company’s emails will help protect the identity of the employees, business operations, and the entire clientele of the company.

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.

A spring cleaning refers to the ritual cleaning of homes in the spring. In the winter, everything is packed due to the brutal nature of the cold weather. When spring comes around, people open their windows, doors and clean their homes out thoroughly.

In business, this term ‘financial spring cleaning‘ refers to the actions performed to streamline all business aspects. In this routine, you primarily focus on increasing sales, revenue generation, and managing daily operations. It would be best if you took the time to refresh your finances.  Notice of pending invoices, old bills, and a revision of business plans should all be examined to take immediate and necessary actions. These steps will save the business from loss and complications and benefit you much in the long run.  So, how do you open your proverbial windows and doors to rid your business of the clutter?  Let’s take a look.

Re-Examine Payment Policies

Increasing cash flow is the key to grow a business and enjoy a debt-free company. A small business owner should sit with their accountant with bookkeeping records. From transactions and customer history, determine the number of customers whose payments are pending and for how long. Generate an aging table for accounts receivable to know the period for which each payment is pending.

Categorize the customer according to the time of outstanding amount, i.e., 30 days, 90 days, or 120 days. This aging table is used to collect overdue payments, evaluate payment policies, and have a solution for the customer who is habitual in making delayed payments. If you get payments from a customer early, you may be saved from borrowing money or going into more debt.

Assess Pricing Models

The other crucial part of a financial spring cleaning strategy is an assessment of your pricing. The pricing of your small business should be comparable to your market competitors. Pricing should be at profitable levels, and you are not at a loss. But in fact, pricing is a problematic area for many small businesses. Many market conditions affect pricing, and it is not easy to manage prices. Still, the best strategy is to keep the pricing of products and services comparable to your market competitors.

Review Cash Balances

The coming of summer characteristically causes many businesses to postpone their huge purchasing decisions until the fall. This is typically a crucial time for small businesses because they have to pay fixed expenses like utility bills, office rents, etc. whether revenue is falling and you are at a loss. During this slow business period, you must prepare yourself well for the fall, maintain enough cash balances to get through successfully until your regular business is back. Reviewing of sufficient cash balances is a significant step for financial spring cleaning. If you contain adequate funds, it’s sensible to go for a working capital loan or a new line of credit.

Discover Opportunities for Re-Negotiations

Almost all businesses need to make long-term contracts. These contracts may include leasing an expensive piece of equipment long-term instead of purchasing it or making a long-term service contract. All of these agreements are done to save money. Sometimes, a considerable amount of fixed costs are allocated each month to pay for these contracts’ fees. These contracts should be reassessed, and re-negotiation opportunities should be explored so that money can be saved.

Analyze Your Subscriptions

Many small businesses subscribe to different types of software. Some of them are only required for a specific project or a limited time, but you don’t remember to cancel that subscription due to hectic business routines after it is no longer needed. In many cases, these are automatically renewed, as software companies have your credit card numbers. Each month, subscription fees are deducted, and you may not even notice. A financial spring cleaning provides you the opportunity to re-evaluate all recurring expenses and cancel such subscriptions that are not in use.

Final Thought

Just like spring cleaning is necessary for cleaning your home and enjoying the refreshing feeling of doing so, a financial spring cleaning is also an excellent step to refresh your small business’s productivity and improve its financial health. To keep your business prosperous, a periodic and detailed review of the business and adjusting accordingly is necessary.  And good news!  It doesn’t have to be spring for you to start!

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 that encompasses a wide range of 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

To survive in an extremely competitive environment, businesses need to effectively maintain their financial resources or pack their bags and go home. In the demanding era we live in, business finances works 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, which may eventually lead to overall business failure. Some of the most common ways a business can be financed or money can be raised business loans, private loans (family or friends), mortgage loans, crowdfunding, etc.

Critical to Business Success

Entrepreneurs or business adventurists worldwide face many difficulties in generating business finances for their unique business ideas. But even those who manage to generate 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 to be a smart choice. This allows them to concentrate on the business’s core affairs 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 for maintaining 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 need to develop new and effective ways to get things right—the very first time. No one is a born genius. It’s your motivation, inspiration, and result-oriented approach that encourages you to learn the game’s art before taking on challenges head-on. For managing the finances of a business, you need to educate yourself and get ready for the tough accounting job ahead, as the financial recording is no easy feat.

The entire fate of a company is dependent on financial recording and analysis—the better they are, the higher the results. This clarifies that the management and bookkeeping of business finances require accounting knowledge, skills, and complete accounting know-how to keep finances in order and be perfectly streamlined.

Keep Your Personal and Private Finances Separate

For developing more command and control over your personal and business finances, you need to deal with them separately to avoid confusion. The outflow of cash has to be managed well for keeping a proper track of your business transactions.
This will help where your money is going and helps when submitting tax returns at the end of the term. Small businesses often find themselves strangled 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

Excellent accounting tools and techniques have made things more accessible than a traditional and manual recording of business transactions. If you haven’t yet moved to cloud technology for maintaining a real-time track of your money and resources, we suggest you do it right away. Today, you have many options from which to choose. However, integrating the right accounting software or technology is crucial.

Hire a Professional Bookkeeper

You may have basic accounting knowledge and experience in keeping transaction records that 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, which means that you still have to create it no matter how far you run away from it. This allows you to 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 or, even if they do, they are often in a disorganized or cluttered form. To establish 100% command and control over your business, you need to manage your finances and cash flow carefully. It is better to hire a qualified bookkeeper for achieving intended outcomes and pave your way to business success.

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.

Most small business owners come up short on cash flow even though their businesses are gaining revenue. Cash flow is the net amount of cash and cash-equivalents moving into and out of business.

The simplest and quickest way to sort out cash flow problems and improve your business’s cash flow is to collect receivable income as soon as possible and slow your payments down wither your suppliers without burning bridges. But this formula cannot be applied for long and without proper planning. 

Plan and implement policies to improve cash flow in the company.  Here are five ways to improve your cash flow:

Bookkeeping

Keep an eye on your Budget

• Keep a strict check and balance on the expenses going on in the business. Do not sign any reimbursement application before double-checking the purpose, date, and invoice number.
• Avoid frauds.
• Cut down on unnecessary expenses.
• Manage business operations more effectively.

Decrease Expenses in the Business

• Eradicate unnecessary expenses in your business. If your advertising is costing you too much, then utilize social media and directly interact with your potential customers on those outlets.
• Try not to borrow money for rapid business growth.
• Do not mix your expenses with the business expense.

Delayed Customer Payments and Discounts

• Many customers delay their payments. If you are running short on income in a small business, quickly generate invoices, and immediately send them to customers. This will minimize the delayed payments by the customers to some extent.
• Offer your customers some discounts if the payment is made within a given time frame before the deadline. Always encourage your clients to pay quickly.
• Keep a check on discounts being given to the customers. Reducing prices often negatively affect the net profit ratio and revenue in your company.

Overstaffing

• Business owners have to manage a lot of business operations. Especially at the start of business, many small business owners hire more staff than is required. Overstaffing harms small business income and growth.
• If your business wins a project and needs more staff to accomplish the task before the deadline, you have to increase your company’s payroll. A temporary project also increases the expenses in a company. This is a common scenario in construction companies, landscapers, and designers. Construction businesses often outsource their employees depending upon the complexity of projects. This process is predictable and calculable. Prepare in advance and plan out the finances and other issues. You can set money aside for the last season in business or borrow money for the project funding until the next season yields revenue.
• You can manage your employees by re-arranging shifts or paying overtime until the project is finished.
• This management is a way to improve your cash flow

Clear Debts and Liabilities Early On

• List all of your debts and other liabilities that your company has to pay.
• Make a priority list.
• Keep monthly savings in another account for the debt payment if taken or for making other on-time payments by your company.
• Keep the money for the monthly payment of the debt. Do not use this money for any other purchase. Otherwise, the debt with interest will keep piling up.
• Sacrifice the fast track for slow growth, or you will have to take debt for your small business.
• Managing your liabilities and paying them on time will also improve your cash flow.

Section Your Customers, Suppliers, and Inventory

• Focus on your inventory. “Was the purchase made necessary, is the stock not ‘too much’?”
• Manage your inventory. Do not purchase extra stock.
• Focus on your suppliers. Who supplies you on time and better terms and conditions?
• Focus on key customers that give your business a significant margin in profit and generate great revenue.

Conclusion

Cash flow problems are prevalent among small-sized businesses. Business owners should know the ways to improve cash flow in a company. Managing expenses, keeping an eye on accounting and bookkeeping, on-time payments, receiving payments on time, and clearing out debts are ways to improve a company’s cash flow.

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 Major Consequences for a Business that has been Hacked

When your business is hacked, it affects not only information related to the business but also your clients’ information. For a business owner, situations like these can end up with gravely negative consequences. The hacker could gain full access to all of your business’s bookkeeping, which could be disastrous.

There may be a small business owner thinking, “I run a small business. Who would hack me?!” Regrettably, you’re mistaken. Smaller businesses are more prone to hackers and security threats than larger businesses are.

Marketing is another area that can deeply hurt your business if your website is hacked. If you receive malicious codes on your website, it will intensely influence your search rankings. Search engines like Google bring your website up, not just for links and content, but also if that particular website is secure for users. If your website is compromised, you will find a deflation of your domain until you get it cleaned up.

Loss in Sales

Bad news travels faster than the speed of light. If your business website is hacked and information has been compromised, it is most likely that the public will stay away from your business, no matter what.

Reputation can be Damaged

Once your business website is hacked, it can be a challenge to get your good reputation back. It is tough to win consumer trust in the first place. Rebuilding their trust is even more challenging. The best you can do is spend hours and hours on public relations, marketing, and reputation management.

Costs from Compensation

Once you know your business website has been compromised, you need to win back your clients and consumers. You may need to give compensation to your clients by offering identity theft insurance and free credit monitoring. It may be free for your clients, but it is a lot more than free for you.

Legal Action

Unfortunately, lawsuits are routine nowadays. Irrespective of if you win or lose, legal action expenditures can be quite huge. If the breach happened because your company made mistakes, it’s probably safe to assume that the law will not stand on your side. This is not to say you shouldn’t still attempt legal avenues for restitution or justice.

Fines

Here’s some good news for you. If an individual’s credit card is used fraudulently, they are not required to foot the bill. The bank will do a refund. And now, the bad news. You will be passed on those charges by the bank as a fine.

Audits by the Government

Irrespective of the country you are doing business in, if it is large enough, there is a possibility that the country’s government will come knocking at your door to perform an audit. There may even be a chance that they decide to impose a fine on your company if they find non-compliance to guidelines like PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard).

Costs for Remediation

Don’t think that the consequences end here. You will also be required to fulfill internal remediation costs. What are the remediation costs, you say? Well, these costs comprise of the following:

1. Costs to inspect what happened
2. Costs to improve your security position
3. Costs of firing and hiring employees
4. Costs of whatever it will take to remediate your inner information security environment

Conclusion

With such dire consequences like these, you can see how easily the costs mount up when a business is hacked. Most businesses find it extremely difficult to recover from not complying with the PCI DSS Standards.  The best you can do is ensure that you follow your area’s rules and regulations and initiate security standards into your company.

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.

Compliance means adherence to or obeying a specific set of laws and regulations. Compliance in a corporate sector or business means the company obeys all legal rules and laws required to manage the business, consumers, and employees. Compliance is an indicator of how responsible a company is.

Compliance regulations are categorized into two types:

• The government imposes internal compliance regulations on individual entities.
• State authorities
• impose external compliance requirements.

Internal compliance requires that records of business dealings, transactions, sales, profits, inventory, loans, investors, and lenders are well-maintained, transparent, and updated.

External compliance requirements include annual reports and franchise tax.

Importance of Compliance in a Business

• The compliance of a business depicts that it is corruption-free and well-integrated.
• Legal problems and penalties are prevented.
• Operations and processes are improved.
• Better image and public relations.
• Less employee turnover.

Compliance and QuickBooks:

The following are the few critical and significant compliance regulations required to be entirely managed using QuickBooks.

Payroll Taxes

Regarding payroll, there are a few legal requirements. The first is withholding payroll taxes from employees’ paychecks. Second is that the business owner must pay half of the FICA taxes of employees. Third, and lastly, severance pay is also included in taxable FICA wages, according to recent affirmations of the Supreme Court.

With a paycheck calculator, paycheck withholdings can be estimated quickly using QuickBooks.

Employee Classification

Classification of employees is one of the most critical compliance regulations. In July 2015, the Department of Labor issued an interpretation of an administrator. This interpretation explained that most workers are categorized as employees and should not be considered independent contractors.

A high degree of adherence, compliance, and regulations is required for employees. Withholding of taxes from employee paychecks is needed. And they are entitled to benefits.

In contrast, contractors are not entitled to any employee benefits. No withholding from their paychecks is required. Less regulation is implemented on them.

QuickBooks is a comfortable and perfect solution to classify paycheck withholders using W-2S while using the 1099 Wizard for contractors.

Wrong classification of employees can result in steep fines, but QuickBooks is the perfect remedy.

Credit Card Fraud

The complete guide to QuickBooks’ EMW regulations replaces old structures with new ones, i.e., EMW. EMW chips are implemented to impose more responsibility on business owners for fraud prevention. This EMW chip system is implemented by the authorities who issue credit cards and process payments. Suppose the equipment is not upgraded to scan EMW chips; your liability to prevent fraud on credit cards increases. QuickBooks is perfectly equipped with this innovation.

State Regulations

Regulations of every state are different. Business owners must know their particular state’s rules to avoid fines and penalties. A few examples of codes are:

• Many states have increased the minimum employee wages.
• Paid sick leave is granted in some states.
• Few states require to file employee paperwork early. This paperwork should match federal regulations and requirements.

QuickBooks is a great tool to handle these accounting regulations.

Overtime Regulations

QuickBooks helps in compliance with overtime regulations. Overtime regulations differ with each state. Just enter information on the QuickBooks app to calculate employee overtime and track employees’ working hours.

Stay Tax-Ready

Various types of taxes are required to be paid by the business owners. All expenses are categorized in QuickBooks and easily converted to taxable sheets. Take pictures of receipts or scan them and attach them with expenses via the QuickBooks mobile app. Using QuickBooks, your data is well organized and prepared to file for taxes. Tax savings can be increased due to better compliance.

Affordable Care Act

Affordable Care Act states that businesses with more than fifty full-time workers must grant health benefits. A full-time employee works thirty or more hours a week. QuickBooks is used to track the working hours of an employee. By accurate calculation of working hours, you can follow government regulations effectively.

Conclusion

QuickBooks has apps and software that are used to calculate and maintain the data required for perfect compliance.

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.

Organizations have to think diligently about their approach to running a business in a digitally evolved, connected, and complex world. They should consider things strategically regarding every aspect of their business in a digitally revolutionized arena to ensure they concentrate on the right elements in programs, projects, and transformations.

This is of paramount importance as we live in an increasingly interconnected society and economy where we have to reflect on and respond to how we treat this technically complex environment far more than ever before in history. Here, information and cybersecurity is another brand new vital consideration. Many tasks and activities a company has to perform to protect themselves from all kinds of matters that threaten the trust and digital identity, besides many others.

Mastering Cyber Resilience

Today, the digital world demands companies to consider how they manage their business applications, identity, infrastructure, privacy, and several other domains since they carry out their strategies and plans in response to the ever-changing digital environment in which we all are operating.

Thus, organizations have to be smart and vigilant. It implies that we have to understand what and how it happened and its impact and intensity in the occurrence of an incident, and how we should respond to it. However, with digital prudence in an entirely new dimension, vigilance and watchfulness are inherently complex domains for several organizations. However, a sense of prompt action is crucial for them as they operate in their unique environments. Ultimately, when something unexpected occurs, organizations have to be steadfast and able enough to comprehend the event’s significance and how to bring normal business operations back into speed as soon as possible.

Resilience and determination to find a prompt digital solution are crucial components that every organization must consider. This is because there were almost 800 significant breaches in the US only in the initial six months of 2017. That is about four every day, including weekends, according to a Wall Street Journal report. This report also signifies that rising cybersecurity threats make it to the top chief executive’s worry lists as a data breach could potentially harm their jobs and businesses.

The fallout of cyber-attacks on organizations such as Equifax, Target, and Yahoo has thrust corporate bosses and technical staff to the front line of cybersecurity problems and significantly changed their working processes. Business owners and managers should never assume that cyber-breaches are something that occurs only to others. They can happen to anyone, including your customer’s accounts. Consequently, we must take matters seriously. However, a group of information and security experts claimed that, in November 2017, most businesses are hardly prepared to handle any cyber-attack issue.

Approximately 600 US and UK cyber professionals gathered as a key part of RedSeal’s 2^nd annual Resilience Report.  This group found four central areas of significance that, unless addressed promptly, will undoubtedly expose organizations to potential cyber threats.

Areas that Expose Organizations to Cyber Threats

1. The complex landscape of the digital world that is exceeding security teams’ capabilities and technical competencies.
2. A lack of preparation is immensely pervasive, with merely a quarter of respondents’ organizations examining their cybersecurity status and response to a potential incident every year.
3. A dangerous gap between discerned and actual detection times.
4. In many cases, diligent compliance and not the extraordinary strategy is driving security planning. Almost 97% of respondents outlined that their external control and regulations play an extensive role in their cybersecurity and resilience planning and execution.
   
   

The poll emphasizes the importance and urgency for the advocates of cyber strategy to leverage and proactively chase resilience, the skill, and ability to keep and support business while steering an attack, which is the latest gold standard. All in all, being prepared is the essence of the best defense.

On the cyber front of the digital world, the digital resilience (or the ability to hold the bad agents when inside your network and safeguard high-value business assets like customer data and content from exfiltration) can protect not only your corporate and brand networks but also your vital financial assets.

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.

Closing Your Books – Year-End Checklist

Closing your books at the end of the year is a routine task, and a sound bookkeeping system makes the process pretty basic. Subjecting to your company, the closing process comprises the year’s transactions, ensuring that they are all appropriately categorized. Adjusting entries for company activities must be done and searching for errors or missing information in the data.

New businesses closing their first year often face significant challenges at the time of closing because of their inexperience. However, adhering to the basics of the closing process will ensure that everything works out smoothly. More prominently, closing your books allows you to precisely account for your company’s financial doings from the year. These highlight balances will carry forward to the upcoming year and create the outline for the next year’s financial reports. Here are a few basics that will help you close out at the year-end.

Reconcile Your Bank Account

The balance on all of your books should be equal to your year-end statements. Mainly, if you have been entering all of your numbers by hand, it must be ensured that all bank statements, credit cards, and money accounts are accurately reconciled. Even if you use bookkeeping software, double-check all of the numbers. The best way to ensure that your bank accounts are reconciled properly is to hire an adept team of experts to make the entire process easier and eliminate the possibility of costly mistakes.

Review Payroll Expenses and Income Statements

When closing your books, you must ensure that your monthly and year-end payroll expenses match each other. You will need to approve this before filing the annual IRS Form 940 and reconcile the year’s expenses. You must be very careful with handling payroll expenses as it is the government’s money that you are assigned to hold until the year-end when taxes are filed. You could land in serious trouble with the IRS if your payroll expenses are not handled correctly. Outside of issues with the IRS, improperly reported expenses and incorrect statements could put you or your business in a financial bind that will be challenging to overcome.

Furthermore, your income statements need to be carefully studied to guarantee that everything is categorized fittingly. If the classification is troubling you or unsure about your payroll taxes, it is best to seek professional help as they have the right team with a voracious approach towards this task.

Evaluate Accounts Receivable and Invoices

Guarantee that you have cleared your year-end invoices and make sure that all sent invoices have been reimbursed. It can be easy for an invoice to go unnoticed among so many year-end tasks, resulting in an over or understatement of accounts and cause strain at the last minute. Therefore, it’s essential to keep track of all of the small details without any negligence. Also, ensure that all of your revenues are recorded in the defined period.

 Fixed Assets and Depreciation Expenses

If you have made any big fixed asset purchases this past year, they must be accounted for in your balance sheets. Check your current fixed asset inventory and look into the minutiae of sales, disposal, or depreciation as fitting. Tackling issues related to depreciation when closing your books can be a tricky task and require professional services.

You will also have to run a taxable sales report to confirm that you have paid all of your sales taxes. Ensure that you do not neglect any of the above-mentioned basic tasks because it can land you in serious trouble with the IRS.

Conclusion

Closing out the year for a business can be stressful. Multiple tasks need to be performed to ensure everything is prepared for the next year. Bookkeeping will ensure that from a financial standpoint, your business functioning at the highest level 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.