There is a lot to consider in starting your own business:  should you use an accounting outsourcing service, should you develop a business plan, how do you obtain sufficient funding, what marketing and many other questions.

It is also important to determine the organizational structure that best suits the business.   This decision will impact operating efficiency, the way you report income, the taxes you pay and your personal liability. 

Here are a few reasons business owners select each structure:

• Sole Proprietorship
  • Inexpensive to start and simple to run
  • One level of tax on net income
  • No separate tax return
• Partnership
  • Ownership not limited to one person
  • One level of tax on net income
  • Income and expenses allocation is unrelated to percentage of ownership
• S Corporation
  • Limited personal liability for shareholders
  • One level of tax on net income possible
• C Corporation
  • Limited personal liability for shareholders
  • Easy to transfer ownership/add investors
  • Perpetual continuity presumed
• LLC
  • Limited personal liability for members
  • All members can participate in management
  • Income and expenses may be allocated in a manner unrelated to percentage of ownership

Which structure is right for your business?   There are so many factors to consider, from business type to tax implications.  An outsource CPA has the background and expertise to help you make your decision and form your business properly from the start.  Dashboard Accounting can be your accounting outsourcing service.  We can also give you bookkeeping help by being your book keeping service.

In today’s world, sadly there are so many scams; anywhere from people trying to sell you something fake, to a person who is trying to pass that they are someone, who they are not. Theses scams are everywhere, in every industry, even the Accounting and Finance industry; With the Recent accounting scandals, highlighted by cases at Enron, Arthur Andersen, WorldCom and Qwest.

 That is a scary concept, due to the fact that your accountant has access to all of your financial information. Keep in mind that not all Accountants are “bad guys”. Most accountants do have integrity, reliability and are very trustworthy. There are a few different organizations accounting firms can be members of.

AIPB- The American Institute of Professional Bookkeepers

                http://www.aipb.org/

NACPB- National Association of Certified Public Bookkeepers

                http://www.nacpb.org/

NBA- National Bookkeepers Association

                http://www.nba.org/

The Ohio Society of CPAs

                http://www.ohioscpa.com/Content/home.aspx

Dashboard Accounting is an accounting outsourcing service that you can trust. Owner, Terri Ream, CPA, is dedicated to Integrity, Ethics, Quality and Confidentiality. Terri also makes sure her team is also dedicated and values the same values she has, ensuring the best service for clients. Dashboard Accounting wants to serve as the CFO — bookkeeping accountant for small to medium-sized Cleveland, Akron and northern Ohio. They offer Quick Book Accounting for small to medium sized business, including small business payroll services, controller services, and many other bookkeeping help services.

Contact Dashboard Accounting today and see how they can help you drive your business forward!

Financial success often comes at a price — and all that money you earn for your hard work is then taxed by the government. Small business accountant services from an outsource CPA can help your small business accounting to ensure you’re prepared for the changes ahead — especially when it comes to preparing and paying your taxes.

Everyone has to pay taxes — you can’t avoid it — but you CAN avoid paying too much.

As your income grows, and as you reap more rewards as a small-business owner, it helps to be aware of your personal bottom line — before your next bonus goes to the IRS instead of to your wallet.

You deserve to keep what you earn — or as much of it as possible!

Dashboard Accounting small business accountant services can help. As your small business accountant and outsourced book keeping services, we can also advise you, personally, on strategies to minimize your income tax implications. It’s the bookkeeping help that can actually save you money.

Something as simple as knowing your personal income tax rate can help you calculate your 2009 tax liability for unexpected income, retirement planning or investment income. We offer tools to help guide you as you estimate your average tax rate, your current tax bracket, and your marginal tax rate for the 2009 tax year — depending on your filing status (married, single, etc.)

For instance, if you’re married, and you’re planning on paying yourself $137,500 for 2009… well, you may want to consider a pay cut!  Earning anything over $137,050 moves you into a higher tax bracket — from 28% to 33% — which means you’ll hand over a whopping 5% more in taxes than had you stayed a slightly lower pay. 

Of course, many small business owners don’t realize this until it’s too late. The right accounting service — one that includes personal evaluation and advisory services as part of the package — can help you make the necessary adjustments to prepare for such situations. It’s like having a CFO without the added expense.

Analyzing “how much should a small business owner should pay themselves” is one example of how having the right outsource CPA and small business bookkeeping service can sometimes mean thousands in savings each year.

You can find out more, and check out our Marginal Tax Rate calculator at “Resources” at the Dashboard Accounting website, http://www.dashboardaccounting.com.

Dashboard Accounting’s reputation for providing quality, personalized financial guidance to small businesses is reflected in over 20 years of experience.  Dashboard Accounting is experienced in all matters of accounting, bookkeeping, controller, and financial reporting.  We utilize professional bookkeeping help and accountants to manage our clients’ bookkeeping and accounting with Quick Book accounting software.  By utilizing Real Time Book keeping service our team is able to organize and streamline the financial administration of small business owners. 

At Dashboard Accounting our mission is to…guide you, the small business owner, with professional outsource CPA analysis and forecasting of your critical financials…empower you for making sound business decisions…save you money with outsourced book keeping, tax, and controller services.

Dashboard Accounting may service anyone worldwide utilizing virtual bookkeeping.  You may access your data in REAL TIME with 24/7 REPORTING via your custom “Dashboard”, which clearly depicts your company’s performance on a one page report, utilizing easy to interpret graphs and charts.

You may not understand everything about small business bookkeeping and accounting, but you probably do know it takes both time and commitment to do a good job. 

Keeping track of your personal life – and your personal finances – can be a task in itself. You may find it easier to employ an outsource accountant to do the job for you, if that’s an option.

But when it comes to your business, getting the right accounting solution is huge! Making that decision – deciding what small business accountant to hire, who you can trust, who you can afford for accounting services – is crucial to your business.

The best small business accountant will partner with you, helping you navigate the details important to the success and growth of your company. Beyond what a simple software program (like quick book accounting software) can provide, the right accountant helps steer you toward your goals faster.

If you are a small business owner, you may simply need a outsourced book keeping service or bookkeeping help. These services help keep you up to date and organized; they can keep you posted on transactions that may not be known to you — or even clear to you — so you get an idea of what’s going on with your financials. Solid accounting keeps your business going forward. 

Figuring out payroll can be a headache unto itself. With so many different small business payroll services available, you need to have an idea of what you specifically need them to do for your business in order to find the right one.  It helps to find bookkeeping firms that treats your small business as well as it treats big companies. They should take the time to explain the accounting help they offer. Communication between both parties has to be open and trustworthy.  Professionalism is a must.

You’re already aware that the accounting of a business is a system of recording and summarizing financial transactions so the data can later be analyzed, or used to communicate with others. The accounting process packages financial information for a variety of individual or business purposes.

Small business and entrepreneurs just starting out should remember the Accounting Equation — The value of the things you own (called assets) is equal to the value of what you owe for the things (called liabilities), plus what you don’t owe for (called equity). Of course, transactions can get a lot more complicated… but these principles remain.

For a small business owner, however, financial matters need to be taken care of by a professional. Outsourcing accounting service may be the solution — and often the missing link — in an otherwise well-run business.

Basic knowledge of accounting and bookkeeping is something you need to have. But for today’s small business, small business bookkeeping services are a must for those passionate about success. Dashboard Accounting helps you drive your business forward.

Recognizing the point when you really need to concentrate on the income-producing aspects of your business and hire others to tend to the details is the first major challenge for an entrepreneur. Deciding then whether hiring an employee to keep the books or outsourcing the job to an accounting or bookkeeping firm for help comes next.

An accounting assistant must keep up-to-date record of all the company’s financial transactions into physical journals and ledgers or a computer based system. Periodically, every month, they balance books and create financial statements and other management reports. An accounting assistant receives record, deposits cash and pays the company’s bills. They balance bank statements regularly, investigate and correct discrepancies.  They calculate the payroll and issue payroll checks; they may oversee this function with an outsource payroll company. They also keep inventory records, calculate product costs, purchase supplies and prepare purchase orders.

If you plan on hiring a competent accountant assistant for bookkeeping help, expect to pay between $15 and $25 per hour. They may keep the accounts up to date, but you need to revise them to make sure they are correct and up to date. You have to make sure accounts are paid and entered into the system, in general you have to spend some time making sure the accounting is being done properly.

You can also outsource your daily accounting duties. There are several cost savings advantages with it. You won’t be paying for employer payroll tax expense, employee benefits and liability insurance. The cost then will be built into the consultant’s fee. You still save money because there will be no recruiting, interviewing and training costs.   In general your bookkeeping costs will be much less than those of a hired employee.

Most professional accounting assistants will have their own office space saving the space and cost of desk, computer, software, office supplies and the like. One of the best parts is that you can control the amount of money to be spent on the bookkeeping. The amount charged by the outsourcing firm will be for the amount of time they worked on your accounting records. You can then adjust their working hours form month to month.

Always remember to get what you paid for. The accounting records are the core of your business, and without excellent bookkeeping help you will have a harder time achieving success.

Spend a little time to become a Quick Book Pro.   The possibilities are endless.   In fact, Dashboard Accounting has put together a five part series to give you some “bookkeeping help”

 In Quick Book Pro Tips, Series 3 of 5,  learn how to customize your invoice.

Inside Quick Book accounting software, click the create invoices from the home page.  
 Select the Customize icon above the invoice. 

 Here you can:

• Add your company logo to the printed or e-mailed invoice and move it to a different spot on the invoice
• Add or change how your company name and contact information appear on the invoice
• Change the font that’s used for different fields
• Add or remove the status stamp (Paid, Pending, Received, etc.)

 To make additional changes, select the Layout designer at the bottom of the screen:

• Change the invoice title, including the font that’s used, and then move it to a different place on the form
• Rename the date, invoice number, bill to, and ship to fields
• Prevent $0.00 from printing on progress invoices
• Move your company logo to a different spot on the invoice
• Add or remove fields and columns on the invoice
• Print the customer balance on invoices
• Rename a field or column
• Change the order of the columns on the invoice
• Add special sections to the invoice, such as warranty information, legal disclaimers, notes to customers, or contractual details
• Add a remittance tear-off section or special instructions
• Add lines and borders around different fields on the invoice
• Align quantities on the printed invoice
• Add page numbers to the printed invoice
• Change the printer settings that are used when you print the invoice

Preview the form: The final step in customizing your form is seeing how the form looks onscreen and in print preview.

We have QuickBooks ProAdvisors on staff.  Contact Dashboard Accounting today, as your small business accountant, we can prepare customized forms for you and assist you with all other QuickBooks tasks.

Spend a little time to become a Quick Book Pro.   The possibilities are endless.   In fact, Dashboard Accounting has put together a five part series to give you some “bookkeeping help”.  Here are a few more tips to speed up your quick book accounting. 

• How often have you worked in QuickBooks and needed to add up numbers? Windows and QuickBooks both have calculators that you can pull up, but you really don’t need them.   If you are in an amount field on a check or other transaction, just pressing the number keys followed by a mathematical symbol (+, -, /, *) you will pull up the calculator. You can continue to enter numbers and math functions until you are done.  Press the Enter key to enter the amount into the number field. If you press the tab key you will lose the amount.

• Keyboard Tips Working with Dates.  When in a date field there are many ways to change the date. Of course you can type the date or you can pull up the calendar but there may be faster ways to get to a specific date.

1. Changing by a Few Days. If you only want to change a few days try using the Plus (+) or Minus (-) key to move forward or backwards. You can hold the key down and change dates quite quickly but I generally recommend this for a change of a few days.
2. Changing by Weeks. You can go back to the first day of the week by using the letter W and forward to the last day of the week by using the letter K.
3. Changing by Months. You can go back to the first day of the month by using the letter M and forward to the last day of the month by using the letter H.

Efforts spent becoming a QuickBooks Pro will help you decrease the time required to complete your bookkeeping.  Another way to obtain bookkeeping help is to contact Dashboard Accounting, our expertise allows us to offer very affordable solutions to your business.

Spend a little time to become a Quick Book Pro.   The possibilities are endless.   In fact, Dashboard Accounting has put together a five part series to give you some “bookkeeping help”. 

 Here are a few keyboard shortcuts to help with your bookkeeping:

  MOVING AROUND A WINDOW             SHORTCUT

   Next field                        Tab
   Previous field                    Shift + Tab
   Beginning of current field        Home
   End of current field              End
   Line below in detail area         Down Arrow
   Line above in detail area         Up Arrow
   Down one screen                   Page Down
   Up one screen                     Page Up
   Next word in field                Ctrl + Right Arrow
   Previous word in field            Ctrl + Left Arrow
   Close active window               Esc   or  Ctrl + F4

By learning a few new shortcuts, you will be able to complete your quick book accounting faster and become a Quick Book Pro.

Many small business owners would like help with their bookkeeping.  Are you one of them?

Are you…

• Trying to complete your bookkeeping at night?
• Paying for a  full-time bookkeeper but are not able to supervise the bookkeeper?
• Paying for a part-time bookkeeper but do not understand the financial statements?
• Wondering if you could reduce your expenses with outsourced bookkeeping?
• Not using small business payroll services and do not fully understand payroll software?

Dashboard Accounting can handle your outsource bookkeeping needs at a fraction of the cost you are paying your bookkeeper.  There are many other benefits using Dashboard Accounting for your part-time bookkeeping requirements. 

A few of the benefits include…

• You will have your own Accounting Department expertise to assist you with your business.
• Your payroll services will be accurately completed, on time.
• In addition to bookkeeping help, Dashboard Accounting will assist you with interpreting your financial data.

To gain all the benefits of outsourcing your bookkeeping contact Dashboard Accounting today!