Steps for Improving Accounts Receivable Process

You need to set up procedures for accounts receivable if you extend credit to your customers. Account receivable arises when you allow customer to take immediate possession of a product or receive service in return for a promise to pay in future. In other words, this means you allow them to take possession of your products before they pay you.

If your business accepts credit cards, credit card company manages risk. But if customers are going to pay with cash or cheques, you must manage verification of payments and risk. X Trustworthy Source US Small Business Administration, US government agency, focuses on supporting small businesses. The Go to Source accounts receivable services includes setting up procedures for extending credit, generating invoices, maintaining records of payments due and payments receive, and performing accounting functions.

What Is an Accounts Receivable?

Its vital that you stay on top of your Accounts Receivable balances. This way, you can make sure that customers are reminded when payment due dates draw closer as well as follow up when payments are late.

If you are using Accounting software, you can run a weekly Accounts Receivable report to see which accounts are past due and which will soon be due. This can help you collect past due accounts. Proper Management of your Accounts Receivable balances is important.

Accounts Receivable For Business Owner

If you re new business owner, or have recently switched accounting methods from cash to accrual accounting, you may not be familiar with accounts receivable. Accounts receivable plays an active role in the accounting cycle.

Accounts receivable totals directly affect your net income since they are considered revenue, but subsequent collection of any receivables balances do not affect your retained earnings, since they are already part of your revenue total. In addition, accounts receivable is permanent account and is not affected by closing entries. Sending an invoice to your customers promptly helps to ensure that payment will be made promptly.

Send invoice immediately: Dont wait week before sending invoice. Once the purchase is complete, invoice should be completed as well.

Use accounting software If you can: One of the nice things about using accounting software is that once a sale is process, you can immediately invoice your customers.

Be sure terms are front and center on your invoice: If you expect payment in 30 days, be sure that note is prominently on the invoice. Remember, your customers ca pay you on time if they do know when payment is due. Note that sales tax is not included in this journal entry, because sales tax remittance is handled in a separate transaction. The easiest way to post customer payments is by accepting payments online. However, many people still have their customers remit payments through mail.

Read More :  Accounts Receivable Process: 8 Steps for Improving

Business Cash Flow Analysis : The Blood of Business Success

Business Cash Flow is certainly the lifeblood of your growing business even your business small or large size enterprise. In fact, it's what keeps you in business. To be a hit in business, you want to be ready to keep your finger on the heart beat of this lifeblood – it are often the difference between growing stronger in your niche or faltering and falling by the wayside. income must be monitored and forecasted at the initial beginning of the business or during the start-up phase, when the business sees a rise of sales, and when the economy is during a downturn. Simply put, cash flow management analysis are often a beneficial instrument for measuring your business’ activity.

Identifying Potential Business Land Mines

You can easily identify potential financial land mines which will set your business back by developing a income spreadsheet. There are computerized spreadsheet programs that you simply can use to make a income analysis, otherwise you can build your own employing a basic program like Excel. There also are templates which will be used for your income analysis that you simply simply populate with the proper figures. The income analysis tool that you simply prefer to use should be utilized then monitored regularly. Most business owners report doing a weekly analysis of their business’ income , but you'll choose a special schedule if you would like , like bi-weekly or monthly. The important thing is to be consistent and regular. As a business owner, you ought to fill out this analysis yourself, or you can hire an quickbooks accountant.

How to Prepare a Cash Flow Analysis ?

To begin preparing your cash flow analysis, start your spreadsheet by adding the cash-on-hand at the period’s beginning with the cash that's anticipated to be received from other sources. this may be a projected total of income, including receipt of assets and cash sales.

The next a part of the business cash flow analysis consists of money outlays, including expenses and other anticipated cash which will be spent by the business. Each significant cash outlay should have its own individual line on your spreadsheet. This includes lines for rent, inventory purchased, wages, salaries, taxes withheld or accounts payable, equipment purchased, benefits paid, sales, office supplies, advertising, equipment maintenance, fuel, cash dividends, debt payments, and so on. 

The formula for cash analysis is: beginning balance for the amount + income = ending balance. The ending balance will allow you to spot when and for a way much your income are going to be deficient, if at all. Identifying cash shortages and once they will occur will allow you to combat the matter and take steps to usher in additional cash to the business while halting the outflow of money wherever possible. If you discover that your business may experience a cash shortage when doing all of your income analysis, you'll take steps like posing for interim payments or deposits from clients, utilizing the utilization of a retainer if your business model involves it, and invoicing customers directly when a service is rendered or a sale is formed. Business Cash flow analysis is a valuable tool for all business owners and its necessary for the all the business.

 Read More : Business Cash Flow Analysis : The Blood of Business Success

Bookkeeping Tips: Transfer MYOB to Quickbooks

Here’s another of our Bookkeeping Tips: How to transfer data from MYOB to Quickbooks

Kathy sent us an email: ” Hi. I’m located in the United States. I have a client who wants to transfer his books from MYOB to QuickBooks. I’ve had no luck finding a way to do it in the US. Can you do this? Would you take on a one-time job if I send you the backup file from MYOB, and finally, how much would you charge? His is a very tiny graphics design company; he can’t afford to pay too much, otherwise I would just re-enter everything for the last 15 months or so.”

It is possible to transfer from MYOB to Quickbooks, though not as straight forward as either company would have you believe.

The first point to consider is that the Australian versions of MYOB and Quickbooks are different from the USA versions. A basic difference is that our tax year runs 1 July – 30 June whereas the USA the fiscal year is from 1 October – 30 September apparently.

When transferring from MYOB to Quickbooks, you may consider the following:

1) You can transfer card files – suppliers customers etc very easily between MYOB and QuickBooks – ask us how if you don’t know

2) If you need detailed transactions recorded, i.e itemised invoices to be transferred, then that’s where the expense occurs

3) we suggest to clients that they start a new file on the new software at the beginning of the new financial year

4) If it’s only a small company with not much money then you could just do journal entries to get the balances up to date in the new file rather than re- enter all the previous data

Read More : Bookkeeping Tips: Transfer MYOB to Quickbooks

We’ve not found a cheaper way to do it – we’ve looked at this problem many times before

There is a software program that costs around US $400 – then the time taken to extract the data from MYOB into the software and extract out into Quickbooks – not worth the time/trouble based on the budget – for what result?

How often would your client need to refer back to their previous MYOB files? Do they own the MYOB software, in which case they could still have it if/when they needed to refer to them?

Why not just refer back to the hard copies as /when required?

A Guide to Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable

What is Accounts Receivable?

Accounts receivables generally refer to the quantity owed to a corporation by its’ clients and creditors. Sales are often recorded within the sort of an invoice both paper and electronic. This invoice includes the entire amount of invoices, shipping costs (if applicable), taxes, payment terms, invoice number and original order number and outline of shipping goods.

Payment terms are extension dates given to the client supported credit terms set by the client and therefore the sales division when the first order is formed. This enables the client ample time to sell the products and pay the invoice. Payment terms generally speaking are 30 or 60 days counting on the agreement.

The assets department works closely with the bookkeeper to make daily and monthly sales reports. Invoices are considered assets and are want to calculate the general worth of the corporation by the controller. The assets department is liable for generating the aged accounts, reports and followers abreast of collecting overdue accounts.

Accounts Receivable services is a crucial a part of the corporate because it's the first resource for all the sales departments. It creates invoices, orders, shipping labels, picking slips and oversees that each one goods are shipped during a timely fashion. Essentially, it's the liaison between the sales, accounting and shipping departments. 

What is Accounts Payable?

Accounts Payable (A/P) are often roughly defined as a file or ledger account that records amounts owed to suppliers, contractors or individuals. An accounts payable clerk is liable for the weekly or monthly payment processing within a corporation. This included with such payments as; payroll, office supplies, merchandise and utilities.

The major portion of the work involves validating and processing invoices for payments, however; it does involve a couple of other processes.

Accounts Payable Services works closely with the shipping and buying departments so as to validate the supplier invoices to be paid. When a sale is formed by a corporation , a sale order is made with a singular identifier like a sale order (PO) number. This order records the date on which the initial order was made, expected arrival date of shipment, number of units purchased, cost per item and any shipping charges indicated by the supplier.This is a particularly useful tracking method for shipments coming into the corporate . If a shipment isn't received by the expected date, you'll be reminded to follow up with the supplier. Once the products have arrived, they typically accompany a packing slip or (bill of lading) attached to every box. This is what's employed by the shipper to verify what has actually been received.

All of our Certified QuickBooks bookkeepers are experts in Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable Services and that we understand the importance of doing things during a timely and accurate fashion. accounts payable and receivable for business is very important task but if you are doing it by yourself, then you may miss the important task of the business and you can not focus on the business. So, Why would you pay a full time salary, you can outsource for therefore much less? Contact one among our experienced outsourcing bookkeeping companies today for all of your Complete Business & Individual accounting needs.

Year end tax planning - 2020: For individuals and owner-operators

The Year-End Tax Planning guide is primarily intended for individuals who have accumulated a certain amount of wealth or who own their business (large or small). It includes nine year-end tax planning checklists and several helpful information tables.

 

What's new?

Response to COVID-19 - introduction of wage subsidies (eg Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy) and benefits (eg Canada Economic Stimulus Benefit); extension of certain payment and production deadlines.

Employee stock options - proposed limits to restrict the beneficial treatment of stock options.

Provinces and territories

Response to COVID-19 - introduction of various incentives (eg, reimbursement of BC PST on certain machinery and equipment); extension of certain production deadlines

• Alberta - decrease from 11% to 10% on January 1, 2020 and to 8% on July 1, 2020
  
• Nova Scotia - down from 16% to 14% on April 1, 2020
• Quebec - decrease from 11.6% to 11.5% on January 1, 2020

Small Business Rates

• Nova Scotia - decrease from 3% to 2.5% on April 1, 2020
• Ontario - down from 3.5% to 3.2% on January 1, 2020
• Prince Edward Island - decrease from 3.5% to 3% on January 1, 2020 and to 2% on January 1, 2021
• Quebec - drop in the going rate from 6% to 5% on January 1, 2020 and to 4% on January 1, 2021; small business CCPCs M&T rate remains at 4%
• Yukon - Decrease in non-M&T and O&M rates from 2% and 1.5% to 0% respectively on January 1, 2021

Research and development (R&D) tax credits

Alberta - credits are eliminated for qualifying expenses incurred after December 31, 2019, but a new innovation and employment grant that supports R&D for SMEs will be available starting January 1, 2021

Quebec - the expenditure exclusion threshold applies only to the R&D salary tax credit for eligible expenditures incurred for a taxation year beginning after March 10, 2020

Yukon - lower corporate rate to 12% for qualifying expenses incurred in tax years ending after December 31, 2020

Beneficial ownership records

New (British Columbia, Manitoba, Prince Edward Island) and planned (Nova Scotia, Quebec and Saskatchewan) provincial requirements for private companies to maintain ownership records

Year end tax planning checklists

The assistance of your PwC advisor is essential to properly analyze the following year-end tax planning strategies. In addition to tax considerations, your financial plan should take into account investment philosophies, sound business practices, and motivational goals. Owner-operators must ensure that sufficient funds are retained to achieve business objectives; Given the uncertain economic conditions, cash flow management is particularly important.

 Year end tax planning tips

With December 31st just around the corner, now is a good time to review some tax return & preparation services that need to be in place before the end of the year.

Read More : Year end tax planning - 2020: For individuals and owner-operators

Pay Deductible or Creditable expenses before the end of the year

Certain expenses can only be deducted from taxable income or qualify for a tax credit if the amount is paid before the end of the calendar year. If you plan to pay an expense that is tax deductible or qualifying for a credit early next year, consider doing so before the end of the year to take advantage of the deduction or credit on the income tax return.

Best 4 Ways Certified QuickBooks Proadvisor Help Your Small Business

Large corporate conglomerates have accounting and payroll departments. You're a tiny business, but that's okay, you love what you do. Your office manager has experience in QuickBooks, but she wrestles too much with its application to your business. You have unique needs with which the general software doesn't help. Don't panic, and let her know she can relax, too. There are companies out there that offer Certified QuickBooks Proadvisor to small businesses. Here are four ways they can help you.

 

 

Find the Perfect Version for Your Business by Certified QuickBooks Proadvisor

QuickBooks Software is a dynamic business software application. It goes beyond your Intuit payroll and accounts payables and receivables programs. You need a Certified QuickBooks Proadvisor version that works with your exact needs. Might have specialized invoicing or net bill under unique terms. You may also need customized payroll options because you have personnel who work swing or night shifts. When you enlist professional support, the business can determine which QuickBooks software is perfect for you.

 

Certified QuickBooks Proadvisor - Set Up the New Software and Convert Your Existing Database

Once the expert determines the best software for your business, Certified QuickBooks Proadvisor staff will install the software onto your office machines and convert your existing database into the new program. This ensures that you don't lose any important data during the transfer. Although exporting a database out of a previous QB version and importing it into the new one is fairly straightforward, you and your office manager might feel better leaving this task in the hands of an expert.

Once the new QB is set up and ready to go, you and your staff will be trained on how to use the software to your greatest advantage. QuickBooks Bookkeeping Services is a comprehensive program, and it has many features designed to streamline your accounting and payroll processes and make them much easier. When you don't have an expansive staff of CPAs at your disposal, the easier and more accurate the accounting portion of your business the better. You don't have time to troubleshoot numbers that don't match.

Offer Customer Support When Needed

After all, is said and done, you will not be without Certified QuickBooks Proadvisor. When you work with the best QuickBooks company, it will offer troubleshooting and customer service anytime your QuickBooks acts strange, due to human or machine error. You should never be left out in the cold when it comes to your accounting software, and you can count on the guidance when you need it if you purchase your QuickBooks Services from the right vendor. They should offer customer support whenever you need it.

Don't let the accounting portion of your business go by the wayside. This can cause major trouble when it comes to tax time and should you decide to seek investors. Make certain that your books are spotless and accurate by working with experts in Certified QuickBooks Proadvisor for your business. They can recommend the right tools, install them and train you on how to use them. You and your office manager may even find that the accounting portion of your business is actually fun.

Read More : 4 Ways Certified QuickBooks Proadvisor Help Your Small Business

QuickBooks Online or Desktop: Which One Is Better

There were many accounting software, however, one of the very prominent accounting software is apart from QuickBooks. The feature loaded software and the whole selection of products have always proven out to be super beneficial to the majority of businesses. Small and moderately sized businesses are one particular business that has been benefited probably the most. With so many versions of QuickBooks today, it often becomes downright confusing regarding the version which is good for us. We’ve brought for you a contrast of QuickBooks desktop pro 2017 and QuickBooks online. The majority of the QuickBooks users are perplexed regarding which version will work for them. You can find specific features for both of these which are making specialized inside their respective approaches.

QuickBooks Desktop Syncing

You can easily export your Payments, Invoices, and Clients to Quick Books Desktop version.

Due to the significance of your accounting information, we strongly suggest that you utilize the QuickBooks option to make a test company and do your first import into that company.  In this way, you can verify that the invoices, clients, and payments have already been imported as expected. An individual will be pleased with the Import results, then you can Import the file into your live Quick Books Company from that time.

Note: It is significant to keep track of payments and invoices which have already been imported the same payments and invoices and twice can cause a duplicate.

Exporting the QuickBooks File

• In Estimate Rocket, Open the Reports page from the top menu.

• Choose the Week or Day that you want to Export your Invoices.

• Hit on the white gear icon and choose the Export to QuickBooks

Depending on your browser, you might be prompted to verify the downloading of your file at this point. Confirm the request to download and ensure and note that in which folder your file gets downloaded.

The file name will default to “accounting_start date_end date.iif” The start date could be the first date being exported and the end date is the last date being exported.

• Open your Company and Quick Books Application and choose File>Utilities>Import>IIF Files. Locate where your file was downloaded to and choose it.

• Once you choose the file that you want to import, you should get a message in a few minutes confirming that your file has been imported.

  How Does QuickBooks Desktop make it Easier for You to Manage Bill Payments?

  Too often, we’ve seen confusion over issues such as vendors with zero total balances listed in bills, open A/P reports, and which is why the owner has been paid still showing as open. They are often the result of a check written to owner against A/P, as opposed to paying a bill through the open bills screen.

  It’s an understandable mistake to produce if one is a newcomer to QuickBooks or doesn’t regularly handle accounts payable.
  

  With the brand new version, It has added a notice screen to the write checks window, which you should choose to open the bill for whilst the payee:

Your Bill Payment Options in QuickBooks Desktop

If you choose to write your check, you can proceed to the write checks screen and create your check. Just ensure it’s not a check to Accounts Payable.

If the intention was to pay a bill, Go to Pay Bills button which will take you to the Pay Bills window filtered for that vendor.

If the users are running a product based company and having complicated inventory needs then the users must opt for QuickBooks Desktop. However, if the users are running a service-based business then QuickBooks online is the optimal choice for them.