Posted by myarticlenetwork on August 28, 2010
Every business, whether brand-new or well-established, is required to keep a thorough record of all of the company’s financial undertakings. Many business owners find it a challenge to decide where to make best use of their money, time, and physical contributions. Add to those important decisions the fact that many business owners also have no experience with bookkeeping and you can see how this could make for a very stressful situation. For these reasons there are a number of benefits to outsourcing your bookkeeping needs as a business. The main benefit is the simple fact that you will now be able to focus on other things, such as liaising with clients, handling your human resources and marketing your business along with plenty of other important aspects to running a business. Along with these benefits you will also be safe in the knowledge your books are being kept to a high standard and you will be passed on any important information regarding your accounts by those professionals.
However there are also reasons supporting the argument for a business owner covering their own bookkeeping. One thing every business owner should consider is the massive benefit to understanding the intricacies of their business finances. If a business owner knows how to handle their own bookkeeping they will have a deeper understanding of not only their finances but their business as a whole. They will also be able to use this information to influence the quality of their business decisions in the future. The best way to have a deep understanding of your company finances is to understand the bookkeeping process and how it relates to accounting yourself. Having a clear idea of where the numbers originate can be beneficial to your perspective of the business as a whole. There is also the fact that having accountants tell you about your finances will never compare to having a deeper understanding of them yourself, no matter how good they are.
The choice is ultimately yours, but it will depend on how much money you have to spend and your own limitations. The benefits to either method speak for themselves. Even if you do decide to take on your own bookkeeping you should seek professional help when you are initially learning the ropes. This will allow you to effectively learn how to take care of your financial reports and once you are competent enough you can do the bookkeeping with confidence. However even once you achieve this stage of competency you should hire professionals from time to time to keep you updated with any changes to the process, because financial regulations are liable to change over time, meaning you may be able to pay less in taxes or will be able to avoid penalties for doing something outside of the new guidelines.
If you liked this, try : Penrith Local Bookkeepers
Posted by myarticlenetwork on February 9, 2010
Raleigh NC Accountant
W. Marc Gilfillan, CPA, NC, individual and business CPA and Tax expert, shares about the history of taxes…
Between 1868 to 1913, about ninety percent of the national government’s revenue was gotten from taxes on alcohol and tobacco. While the Civil War was occurring there was a brief income tax, but it was not until 1913 that the sixteenth Amendment permitted Congress to tax incomes “from whatever sources derived.” The initial 1040’s were due on March 1, 1914. No money was taken from paychecks and none was sent in with the return. Each taxpayer’s computations were checked by IRS field agents and a bill mailed to the taxpayer on June 1st.
1766 – Colony leaders got together to extinguish British taxes in place by the Stamp Act. The Stamp Act Congress, as it was called, was the beginning of the American independence movement and the origin of the modern U.S.
1782 – The first Congress under the Articles of Confederation formed. This Congress had no taxing powers.
1789 – America granted a newly formed Congress the ability to tax. Without taxing powers, the initial Congress of the United States scantly lasted seven years before being dubbed a failed attempt; the 2nd Congress, granted taxation powers, is still going strong after almost 300 years. If you’re feeling the pressure with today’s taxes, call a CPA for Tax Preparation in Raleigh, NC for all your tax-related needs!
1792 – Alexander Hamilton coerces Congress into passing an excise tax on whiskey to raise revenue and curb alcohol consumption. On the western frontier whiskey was the basic mode of exchange, and the 25% tax was a bit difficult to deal with. By 1794 the area was in open rebellion. The father of the Internal Revenue Service was created to enforce the tax. Go here if you want help from a modern-day CPA firm in Raleigh, NC.
1832 – The national debt that remained after the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 is finally accounted for and paid. The South sees no reason for continued high import taxes that increase prices for Southern consumers and promote industrial monopolies in the North.
1850 – John C. Calhoun of South Carolina tells Congress that the South might leave the Union because heavy taxation in the South raised funds that were spent in the North, causing a great change in money from the South to the North.
Stay tuned for Parts 2 and 3 of the Timeline of US Tax Policy!
http://www.marccpa.com/
Posted by myarticlenetwork on December 15, 2009
Holiday home owners here in the UK who rent their house out for a large proportion of the year are expected to be hit by a new stealth tax in 2010. Around 60,000 holiday home owners will be affected by the new taxes, wth each one being charged an extra £4000 every year.
The taxes will affect those who offer their house to rent for atleast 140 days a year. Fortunately for some, out of those 140 days, the holiday home has to be rented for atleast 70 days. It wouldn’t come as a surprise if we saw some home owners offering their home for atmost 139 days a year.
The reason why these taxes will be coming in is because, according to the Treasury, the current ones break European laws. This is because currently, holiday home owners are classed as traders, meaning they pay less taxes on certain things. These new guidelines will mean that the home owners will now be classed as investors which means that will be required to pay tax.
Although these new taxes won’t be good for holiday home owners, they are good for the Government. With over 60,000 UK holiday home owners being affected by the new stealth taxes, the Government looks to make a £20 million income. Although the Government will be getting an extra £20 million a year from these taxes, it could end up being worse for them than it first appears.
This new stealth tax won’t come as good news for holiday home owners. The majority of second home owners already pay high prices for things like maintenance and holiday cottage insurance. Now as a result of the new stealth taxes, holiday home owners won’t be making as much income and this could end up forcing some homes to close. According to tourism experts, the news taxes could result in the tourist industry loosing £200 million each year. Not only will the tourist industry lose money because of less tourists finding places to stay, but jobs will also be lost due to so many closing holiday homes. Yet more unwelcomed news for the recession.
If you are after insurance for holiday homes based in the UK, or just overseas property insurance for your holiday home overseas, Schofields is the place to go.
Posted by myarticlenetwork on November 21, 2009
We’ve all used them, spreadsheets, whether it’s to do a simple list of items, or whether you are looking to create advanced sums for business forecasts. Although they are not really good enough for our uses, we still manage to put up with them. This is mainly because the majority of people would put up with a free one that comes bundled in when you buy your pc, rather than forking out the cash for a decent package.
Although there are several downsides to spreadsheets, they are useful for some tasks. The biggest pluses is that they can manage simple calculations, create graphs using the data, and create easy to manage business forecasts. These all come in handy for certain jobs. However, because of the amount of downsides they have, they aren’t useful for tasks like tracking your companies’ UK fixed assets.
Even though spreadsheets intially sound useful for managing asset data, they can’t compete against an asset tracking software UK package.
Up until a certain point, a spreadsheet would prove to be useful for asset management, however, as obtain more and more assets and you wish to store more data about the assets, the spreadsheet becomes redundant.
Here are some features you should look out for when buying an asset management software suite.
- It must be able to store enough information for your use. Although a standard spreadsheet has the ability to store vasts amount of data, in some cases it may not be sufficient. The information stored may also not be detailed enough.
- They must be able to match the structure of the company. If the asset sites in a number of sectors within the company, a spreadsheet cannot reflect this type of structure.
- They should be able to be restructured quite easily. Once you start creating a more advanced spreadsheet, it then becomes tough to add new data and alter the structure.
- It should be able to calculate a number of depreciation rates on several items. If different assets had been bought at different stages, but they were connected, like a computer and a keyboard. The software should be capable enough to store individual price depreciation levels.
- It should be able to cope with re-lifeing of assets. If you are re-assessing assets and find that an item has now become useful, you should be able to alter the depreciation levels for that item.
- Must be able to create structured reports. Spreadsheets make it difficult to create useful, structured data reports.
Those were just a few of the points that a specifically designed asset management software package must include. Also it’s the reason why a spreadsheet is not good for adding asset data to a fixed asset register.
