Tag Archives: business

Financial Planning, HR and Payroll

Effective Accounting and Payroll is Crucial for a Booming Business

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Many of you might not exactly know the true essence of accounting and payroll, especially to those who are starting up a new business. An idea and a business plan are important to start a business and a strategy is paramount for building a business. However, no one has ever thought of accounting, which is the building block to a booming business.

Why is Accounting Important

Accounting provides entrepreneurs with a clear picture of the business, the rate of success and failure. Though entrepreneurs are not a fan of going through heaps of financial documents, though they are the most important and informative documents of a business. Effective record keeping is essential and helps keep owners informed of the expenses and revenues.

Owners also keep copious records for legal and tax purposes. Accounting is a collective term comprising of various types like cost, management, finance etc. Accounting helps focus on costs of running a business, which involves production and non-production costs, and management. For a new business, focusing on and managing costs is the key to success.

Payroll in Relation to Accounting

Another factor crucial to managing a business is payroll. It is a branch of accounting, which relates with production units, time or a fixed salary. It is the financial record of employees, their wages, salaries, net pay, bonuses and deductions. It is very important to pay your employees on time, no matter what size of amount is paid. Effective payroll calculations and timely transfer might not be as important to employer as it is to the employee.

Employers can also lose huge amounts if execution of the payroll process consists of errors. In small companies, an accountant will deal with all of the financial statements like, payroll, journals etc., whereas in large companies, different individuals are hired to perform different roles. A company’s payroll system influences the morale of its employees and motivates them to work harder especially if bonus payments or share options are linking to the basic pay.

Managing Payroll System

Managing payroll system is also important for tax deductions and lowering tax bills. Often companies use accounting and payroll software, who forget to ask themselves these important questions:

  • What are my ongoing annual costs, and what does it include?
  • Can I use the same software as my competitor?
  • Is the software compatible with others I use?
  • What are the limitations in functions offered by the software?
  • Is the support staff experienced enough to provide the technical support needed?
  • Is the software easy for everybody to use at my company?

Businesses spend a lot of time and money in searching for the right software. Integrating unsuitable software in the business system can be costly to replace and disrupt the day-to-day business functions. No software is compatible with every business and not all software covers every function of a specific business.

Outsourcing a business’s accounting and payroll functions is very common these days and effective results are achieved. Large firms often have their own accounts and payroll departments but outsourcing can help reduce costs and time spent, and a test run might help to lock in on your choice.

HR and Payroll

HR Tools for All Businesses

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Human Resources is one of the most difficult departments to handle in a business. It has a lot of aspects to it and its assets, the employees, are the key to the whole organization. Good HR management techniques can make or break the entire organization!

There are some tools available online that can greatly help facilitate the HR processes in order to smoothly run the whole department.

Employee Cost Calculator

This calculator requires you to set the default expenses that incur for each employee. These include the equipments cost, the training costs and many other recruitment costs. While hiring the employee, you can either simply put in the numbers or use the default ones to calculate how much the employee is going to cost you exactly.

While this may seem like an unnecessary tool, it is not. At the time of hiring, there are so many aspects to consider that you usually forget a cost or two before calculating the hourly rate for your employee. These small miscalculations, as a whole, can cost you a lot more than you can imagine. This is why it is advisable to keep an Employee Cost Calculator in hand when hiring new employees.

Federal Poster Advisor

The U.S. Department of Labor requires all businesses to put up posters for related laws and regulations across the organization for all employees. The Federal Poster Advisor can help you identify the compulsory posters that you need for your office and provide you with a printable download version of them.

All you have to do is input some relevant details about your business to allow the tool to provide you with a list of posters that apply to your business sector. These posters can include ones for:

  • Equal Employment Opportunity
  • Employee Polygraph Protection Act
  • Fair Labor Standards and Minimum Wage
  • Family and Medical Leave Act

This tool is an excellent method of employing the rules and regulations set by the U.S. Department of Labor without having penalty imposed on your business.

Interview Questions Generator

No matter how expert you are at taking interviews, you can still miss out on important questions that may help you assess the prospective employee candidate for your organization. To help you out, you can use the Interview Questions Generator that has a built in set of questions that can help you assess the potential employee on a number of aspects including:

  • Leadership Skills
  • Teamwork Attitude
  • Interpersonal and Communication Skills
  • Out of the Box Thinking Skills
  • Analytical Skills

Only a good interview, that helps evaluate the prospective employee from all angles, can help you find the ideal candidate for the job on offer.

Salary Benchmarking Tool

This tool helps you find out just how much the salary is being offered for a particular job position in different states of U.S. Using this tool, you can get a compensation report and an hourly rate report for a number of different job positions from a library covering over 800 positions in the U.S. Once you know the popular benchmark, you can easily set your own salary rate for the position at your organization.

Financial Planning

Motivating Employees for More Productivity

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Motivating employees is one of the key tasks of the human resource department of any business. What most business owners and human resource managers fail to realize is that the aim is not to motivate people but to create an environment which instills motivation in all employees.

Letting Employees Use their Own Creativity

The traditional methods of financial rewards and extreme control by HR managers are likely to fail in today’s environment, where innovation and creativity are extreme necessities. What managers need to do to motivate people is allow them to use their strengths the way they think is best and make them genuinely interested in their work. One of the best ways of doing it is structuring the task at hand in a way that each employee can work using his personal style, without having to adapt much or fear punishment in case of failure.

For example, if you think that a particular employee is more of a follower than a leader, then, assign him tasks with set guidelines, where little or no innovation is required. If you feel that a particular employee will excel more as a leader, giving him a task with restrictions will most likely cause friction and result in failure. Instead, give him a more managerial task, where result is more important than the journey to the result and where he or she can innovate and put his or her ideas to test.

Hygiene and Motivational Factors

Furthermore, there are many other factors that help motivate employees. These can be divided in two groups: hygiene factors and motivational factors. The hygiene factors are important in a way that if they are not present, the employee will feel demotivated but on their own, they result in little motivation. This means that in spite of the presence of all the hygiene factors, there are likely to be situations where the motivation is below expected levels. These hygiene factors include salary, benefits, physical working environment, job status and job security.

These hygiene factors are all superficial and cannot contribute so much in motivating employees. What really makes the employees truly dedicated is work itself. If the work has little or no value, the employee will feel demotivated. The employees need to feel that his or her work is important to the organization and their contribution matters. They should feel that they are being given responsibility and acknowledged for all work done.

Let the Employees Grow

Furthermore, employees expect growth, not only in terms of financial salary and job status, but also in terms of work assigned. For example, if an employee has always been given a low level, basic task, he or she should gradually be assigned to a more difficult task that requires more skills and effort. This will make the employee feel important and recognized. It makes them feel productive and motivates them to work harder.

Materialistic factors like job status and salary can motivate employees to only an extent. What will really drive and motivate them to work harder and be more productive is their genuine love for the work that they do. Assign employees the work that they enjoy doing and reward them with growth prospects and acknowledgments. These motivational factors will go a long way in encouraging employees than the traditional hygiene factors.

Tax Tips

Ten steps on how we save you money

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Save_Money1

Ten steps on how we save you money:

1. We save you money by automating your accounting department. By doing so, you save on direct/indirect payroll, overhead costs as well as technology costs. Your data is saved on our dedicated secure server in an SAS70 certified data center. You will have absolutely no computer or software costs. We also eliminate your hiring and training headaches. Our skilled, experienced professionals handle your daily accounting and bookkeeping. We will help you develop standardized and consistent policies and procedures to streamline the accounting process for you.

2. We save you money by implementing numerous tax strategies. You save on taxes with our proactive accounting and tax advice and guidance. We have more than 100 tax planning strategies, which we will gradually implement as we monitor the progress of your business. You will be amazed to see how the implementation of just one, sound tax strategy can help you save way more money than our fees for the entire year.

3. We save you money by not allowing you to pay any penalties to the IRS or state authorities. You are guaranteed never to pay any penalties due to our strict adherence to deadlines. We will handle all your required filings in the most efficient and timely manner. If we don’t file any forms or make a tax deposit on time, then we will pay any tax penalties on your behalf.

4. We save you money by valuing your time. Your phone calls and emails will be returned within 24 hours. We will finish any tasks requested by you within 48 hours. We are easily accessible through phone, email, chat, Skype and other social media. We will complete your bookkeeping by the end of every month, or you will not be charged for that month.

5. We save you money with our audit protection plan. If you get audited or receive a notice from the IRS, all you have to do is just forward it to us, and we will take care of the rest. We will represent you and correspond with the IRS on your behalf. You will not have to pay any fees for our additional work.

6. You save money by automating your payroll and HR process. We process your payroll online with direct deposit, make tax payments electronically, prepare quarterly payroll tax returns, 1099s and sales tax returns and submit them electronically. We will also automate your time sheets, vacation benefits, expense reimbursements and HR functions through our Human Resource Information System (HRIS).

7. You save money by having a CPA firm by your side throughout the year. We provide unlimited consultation regarding accounting, tax, marketing and business matters throughout the year.  You also have access to our resource library and your own online portal.

8. You save money with our marketing consultation. We meet with hundreds of entrepreneurs throughout the year, and will share with you the many outstanding marketing strategies that are being implemented by other successful businesses.

9.We save you money by automating your A/P and A/R departments. All you have to do is to scan, fax, or email your paperwork to us, your capable accountants, and your hassles are no more. For A/P (bills) we keep track of all your due dates, set an approval process and automatically pay on the scheduled date. For A/R (invoices), we email or post your invoices, so you have no more hassle with printing, postage and mailing.

10. Your savings will be significantly higher with our accounting packages than with any other accounting firm. You will know what your fees will be well in advance, so there will be no unpleasant surprises. On average, our fees are far less than our competitors’. So you receive superior quality of work for a low, fixed monthly fee.

Tax Tips

Sitting Down with a Tampa CPA and Preparing for Next Year

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Tax time can be a stress filled time of the year for everyone. For both business owners and individuals alike, the race is on to file on time and accurately, to maximize deductions and to minimize penalties. The slightest mistake on tax forms can cause a company to lose out on valuable deductions, and being late by a week can add up in interest. Whether it is business taxes, personal taxes, or both, between January and April, everyone is pressed for time, trying to get all their paperwork in order to meet that April 15th deadline. After everything is filed, all that needs to be done is to wait and see if everything goes through as planned. By the time September rolls around, often the last thing on peoples’ minds is sitting down with their Tampa CPA and reviewing their tax plan for next year.

With no deadlines looming, September is the perfect time to do a financial performance review with your Tampa CPA.  With the details from last year’s returns, including any missed opportunities and prior losses, fresh in mind, it can be beneficial for everyone to start thinking now about what they want for next year’s taxes. For both business owners and individuals, starting the tax planning process in the fall works greatly to their advantage in the spring.

Having regular quarterly consultations with your Tampa CPA can benefit any business.  From planning for any potential tax issues that may come up, to doing a financial check up and ensuring your business is on the right track, to doing tax research on your behalf, so that you and your business can maximize your after-tax income. A consultation ahead of time can help you plot your course for next year.

And even if the taxes that need to be planned are strictly personal taxes, a consultation with a Tampa CPA months ahead of time, can yield great results. From income splitting to maximizing family and household deductions, being proactive with tax planning can pay off for individuals.  CPA’s can help structure your cash flow to help you pay for things such as vacation homes, education, and discovering which investments are best for you.

And, if you are in the market for a new Tampa CPA, now is the best time to look. As many offer free consultations, you can shop around and see which one meets your business, personal, or family’s needs, without the rush or pressure that comes from looking at tax time. You will have the opportunity to review their credentials ahead of time and ask around and determine which CPA you chose to hire. The right CPA is as crucial to your financial health as a doctor is to your physical wellbeing.

Tax time doesn’t need to be stressful. Sitting down with a Tampa CPA now, in September, rather than waiting until March or April, can benefit anyone. With no deadlines looming and no pressure to file on time, individuals and business owners alike can take the time to make the right decisions for their specific needs.

CPA

An Accountant in Tampa Can Help Your Business Dreams Soar

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As a business owner in Tampa, Florida, you’ve got a lot on your mind. You’re extremely good at what you do, but the heart of a business can’t keep beating without all the peripheral things that keep the money flowing: bookkeeping, human resources, taxes, financial planning. There’s so much to keep track of that it can seem overwhelming when you’re trying to live your dream of building, selling, creating, repairing and generally getting wonderful things done. But, as a smart business owner, you know that one of the best ways to get things done to their maximum potential is to delegate to an expert. That’s why many business owners look for accountants in Tampa to help lift the burden of finances from their business.

There are several reasons an accountant in Tampa in an excellent business choice. The factor that draws many people to look for an accounting expert is the problem of time. Dealing with money takes time, and correcting financial mistakes can take a lot of time. And let’s face it: money is math, and not everyone has a talent for math! Who wants to spend hours or even days tracking down a mathematical error when a qualified accountant can do the job quickly and correctly, leaving you headache-free?

Correctness is also an important factor that makes an accountant in Tampa a decision that business owners won’t regret. Beyond the fact that accountants are probably better at dealing with numbers than anyone else on your staff, they know all the tricks to avoid errors and simplify processes that don’t need to be complicated. An accountant won’t make the mistakes that a beginner would, and they will most likely be willing to help you make their job easier by showing you fast and easy ways to handle your finances.

Last, but absolutely not least, many Tampa business owners choose to hire an accountant in Tampa because accountants can help your business make money. How much money? You may be surprised! Accountants have more tricks up their sleeves than just making your bookkeeping and HR department run smoothly. They can implement tax strategies that can help you make money all year long. They know where to look for money leaks and how to stop those gaps for you. An accountant in Tampa is as much an expert at their job as you are at yours, and with their help, your business has nowhere to grow but upwards!

There are many different ways to go into business in Tampa. Whether you’re running a small shop or a big corporation, whether you’re selling computers or fixing cars, whether your dream is to serve the perfect burger or to build homes that will last for generations, you’re in it for the dream as much as for the money. So why not give yourself the extra time (not to mention the extra money) to chase that dream even further? An accountant can help your business climb higher than you ever thought possible. Look up an accountant in Tampa today and see how far your business dreams can go!

Financial Planning

How An Accountant in Tampa can Help with the Bad Side of Money

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This blog article looks at the negative side to money, keeping track of it, budgeting, expenses, and doing taxes, and shows why an accountant is useful for alleviating some of that money related stress.

Money might not equal happiness, but it certainly proves itself to be pretty useful, and fun, from time to time. Do you know what is not fun? Money is not fun. At least the whole accounting, bookkeeping, budgeting and generally keeping track of expenses aspect of money is not fun. Luckily for all of those people who find keeping track of money to be tedious, or confusing there are professionals who like it, and can do it well, people who work as accountants.

An accountant handles the boring aspect of money like bookkeeping for a business. They get to go through your company’s transactions and make sure everything on the company credit card and in the company bank account balances. They check the numbers to see why the business books aren’t balancing so that the business owner does not have to worry about that.

 

Keeping track of money can be simple.

 

Accountants live and breathe money, numbers, calculations, and keeping detailed records. Since they can get a handle on your Tampa company’s books, an accountant in Tampa can also provide a summary and statements of your company’s finances. Investors, stockholders, creditors, and employees find these reviews. An accountant in Tampa would be able to do a review on your company, and let you know if you could be saving money in somewhere. Maybe your company is unknowingly wasting money on something it does not need. An accountant would be able to find where the money hole is, and figure out how to patch that hole up.

 

The other part of money people don’t like, even those who say they like budgeting and keeping track of expenses, is the taxes. No one wants an audit from the Internal Revenue Services. No company wants to find out they accidentally miscalculated some number on a line of the giant tax form they had to file. No one wants to get audited, but it happens. An accountant in Tampa however can help you fill out your tax forms, and can help you if you have tax problems, such as you forgot to file your taxes on time, or if they IRS suddenly wants to talk to you.

 

Keeping track of expenses, budgeting, and doing taxes can be a stressful for any business. Why not hire SK Financial to help you with the boring, and stressful aspects of money, and let you focus on the business your company needs to.

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