- Accounting System Setup
Every business needs an accounting system to keep their books. Examples include QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, QuickBooks Enterprise, NetSuite, Sage, and Xero. You may have an accounting system that is industry-specific. The most important question is whether you have the best accounting software solution for your business.
We can help you with many aspects of your bookkeeping system: training to improve your efficiency, accounting software selection, setup of new systems, improved customization so you can get better information, migration to a new system, and streamlined workflow design.
If your accounting software meets your basic needs, but you need additional functionality, we can often solve that with an add-on accounting app. There are now hundreds of add-on applications for your accounting system that can improve a multitude of things: inventory, invoicing, time-tracking, bill pay, reporting, and so much more. We have excellent knowledge of the ecosystem of accounting systems and applications so that we can help you become more productive.
- Catch-Up and Cleanup Bookkeeping Services
If your bookkeeping is a little (or a lot) behind, don’t worry! We can have it caught up in a jiffy. We have many tools that can help us import or scan in older transactions to make the work go fast.
- Reconciliations
Each month, it’s important to reconcile key accounts, including your bank accounts, PayPal account, merchant accounts, credit card accounts, petty cash, and loans. The reconciliation is done by comparing your bank statement balances with the ones in your accounting system, then taking into account outstanding transactions. Any corrections needed to your books can be made on a timely basis so that your balances remain accurate.
- Receivables Management
You may need help with invoicing, accounts receivable management, and collections. We can assist with the preparation and distribution of customer invoices, proper recording in the accounting system, payment matching, payment recording, statement preparation, credit memo and refund processing, and collection of past due invoices.
We can generate reports to help you manage your customer records and accounts receivable better, including customer balances and aging reports. If you need help writing off uncollectible accounts or other adjusting journal entries, we can assist.
It’s important that you have the best billing system for your business. We can help with billing system selection, customization, implementation, and integration with your accounting system. Plus, we can train your team on the new system as well as review and improve your accounts receivable processes to make your business more efficient.
- Payables Management
We’re here to help you with bill processing, including submission, document management, approvals, check writing, and payments. We’re experienced with accounts payable management and can make sure you have the best controls set up to give you peace of mind. We can perform some of the more advanced functions, such as three-way matching, automated payments, expense report processing, invoice fetching, vendor management, automated data entry, and more.
Accounts payable is an area where automation has streamlined the process, and we can help you stay up-to-date and efficient with these new processes.
- Actionable Financial Reports and Dashboards
The whole point of bookkeeping is to find out where your business stands so that you can make educated financial decisions. We automatically generate an income statement and balance sheet each month for your business. These are key reports to help you measure the amount of revenue and profit you’ve made for the period.
Going deeper, there are many fantastic reports and dashboards that can be generated from your accounting system to help you hone in on an area so you can make smart business decisions about operational spending, hiring, marketing, capital purchases, and all of the things you need to know to run your business.
- Tax-Ready
Our bookkeeping services will provide you with a clean set of books that you can use to prepare your federal and state tax returns. We can make adjusting entries and perform year-end tasks so that you’re all set to turn your books over to your tax preparer.
- Sales Tax Collection, Filing, and Requirements
Many new entrepreneurs are surprised to realize that federal taxes are not the only taxes that they need to worry about when running a business. Depending on the types of products and services you sell, you may need to collect, file, and pay sales tax on items you sell.
Accounting professionals call this area of service SALT, which stands for State and Local Taxes. This area is changing rapidly due to a 2018 court case (South Dakota vs. Wayfair, Inc.) which opened the floodgates for interstate tax collection on online sales regardless of whether you’ve stepped foot in the state or not. States are hungrily looking for more revenue, and this is driving rapid change in state’s requirements for collection as well as expanding what’s taxable.
It’s almost always better to consult an expert in this area – even before you file your sales tax application with the states. If you owe sales tax from prior years, there are many “holidays” and amnesty options that professionals will know about.
- Accounting Controls
Managing a business has a lot do to with managing the risks associated with being in business. With every good accounting system (and where money is involved), it’s essential to maintain a proper set of controls. These controls start in your accounting system and expand to your team’s duties. Accounting professionals call this “internal controls,” and it’s a core accounting concept that impacts every business.
We can help you identify risks you may not know you’re taking and tighten up controls to help reduce your business risk.