There’s nothing quite like the end of the year to help remind you about how busy you’ve been for the past 11 and a half months.

So, to put a bow on our 2018, we’ve got a short list of our best bookkeeping blogs and our guide on how to pay yourself.

If you’re spending a lot of time with us, there’s a decent chance that you’re in the northern hemisphere, and that means it’s winter! Here’s my favorite warm drink recipe, a mexican mocha, as a little treat from me to you this season!

Inside Out Mexican Mocha Recipe

This can be used with a regular 8 ounce cup of coffee or with a double espresso shot :)

• 1 cup powdered sugar

• ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

• 2 generous tsp of cinnamon

• 2 tsp nutmeg

• 1 tsp cayenne pepper (1 ½ if you like things a little spicy, like me)

• Use 3 Tbsp per serving, mix into a regular cup of coffee or your favorite espresso drink.

• Enjoy!

End of the Year Blog Roundup

Are you ready? Here are our top 3 Bookkeeping...

Can you believe that 2018 is almost done??!

We certainly can’t! It doesn’t seem to matter how organized your are, when you have a lot of stuff to do, it’s almost like time passes faster. And since I’d get in trouble if this blog became a discussion about relativity, we’ll skip to the good part and cover 4 Tips and Tricks to help you make sure your books are where they need to be!

4 Ways to Ensure your Books are Ready for the New Year

If you’ve kept up with our blogs throughout 2018, you might be familiar with some of these tips, but that won’t make them any less useful.

Whether you’ve mostly kept up with your books for the year, or you’re staring down multiple months of transactions, read on for some ways to save your time and sanity!

1 The Chart of Accounts

Your Chart of Accounts, or CoA, is your friend! It contains all of the categories that you use to keep your bookkeeping records as well as the Bank accounts you use. If you need more information on the CoA ...

In our last blog post, we talked about Quickbooks Online integrated applications for tracking mileage. This week we’re still talking QBO integrations, but now it’s all about TIME!

In your small business, time is quite literally money, whether it’s billable to your client or the hours that go into figuring out your payroll, you absolutely must be tracking work hours!

Time Management

Tracking your and your employee’s time is important, obviously. But, like most things in business.... Just because it’s important doesn’t mean it’s convenient or easy though!

Time tracking applications exist to save you time and to help prevent mistakes. Many options allow you to code different pay rates, set schedules or approve time, and view basic reports on how much time and money are going to different types of work.

All of the applications we’re covering here will integrate directly with Quickbooks Online, making it easier to accurately track your payroll liabilities and keep your b...

 Mileage Matters

We’re going to cut to the chase here: mileage deductions are one of the most frequently missed deductions on business tax returns. It’s not a small deduction either, Intuit reports that mileage deductions average out to over $600 per self-employed subscriber.

That’s money you could be saving on taxes every single year. 

Mileage Tracking Apps

Quickbooks Online offers a plethora of apps you can use to make your experience better. Here we’ve got a list of the best software apps that you can use to track your business mileage!

Quickbooks Online Self Employed

If you are a sole proprietor and use a Schedule C for your small business, then you should consider using Quickbooks Self-Employed. It’s mobile phone app allows you to record your mileage and directly populate your tax forms through Intuit’s Turbotax software.

Mileage tracking doesn’t cost any extra on top of the Self-Employed subscription. Intuit offers a bundle package that gives you Tur...

Why do we need to reconcile our bank & credit card accounts?

To keep it simple... Because we want to make sure the transactions reflected in your business records match the transactions recorded by your bank.

We use bank (and credit card) statements to double check that the accounts in our bookkeeping system, accurately reflect the transactions in the physical account they represent.

The use of systems like double-entry bookkeeping help ensure that you enter the correct numbers in the right places; bank reconciliations is the "bow" you tie on your account that lets you know that all of your transactions were recorded correctly, then they match the actual transactions and balances in your bank accounts to make sure you didn't make any mistakes.

Now you might be wondering, do ALL of my accounts need to be reconciled?  The simple answer is no.  But to help you know which accounts do need to reconciled, here's a quick refresher about how your accounts in your bookkeeping system ...

How much can your business REALLY afford to pay you?

You made the leap to self employment and struck out on your own. BRAVO! 

If you’re anything like us, you made that jump because you wanted to have financial freedom, flexibility, and to continue doing something that you love.  And if you’re really like us, you didn’t plan on working for free.

Don’t get me wrong, we totally get it, it’s a very fine line!  If you pay yourself too little, you can’t afford to eat; on the other hand, if you pay yourself too much, you might put your business at risk and not be able to afford important business expenses (like rent, payroll, or paper).  But how do you find the right balance?

Well it may be a fine line, but we’ve worked hard to take the guesswork out of the equation.  You can find our business owner paycheck calculator here.

But before I get into that let’s talk a little bit about your business!

Business, Profits, and Pay

Ideally, you should be paying yourself out of your profit. ...

Tax season is many things, but no one describes it as fun. In our combined 25+ years of accounting and media experience we’ve seen the gamut of incredible and incredibly bad situations. Whether you’ve suffered from being unprepared, overwhelmed, or confused, we’ve been there with clients before, and we’re not going to let you go through it alone!

That's why we're going over some of the strategies we discuss in our free Tax Savings Guide.

Whatever the reason you dread tax time, we have ways that you can save yourself both headaches and money.

Tips to Save on Your Small Business Taxes:

Below are a couple of ways to help you save money on your small business tax return. Secure more deductions on your tax return and be less stressed in the process; it’s easier than you think! If you’re not familiar with the perks of good bookkeeping, you should check out this blog post breaking down exactly why it is so useful to your business.

Business vs Personal Expenses

It might see...

Previously we covered the difference between Bookkeeping and Accounting and the definition of Bookkeeping, so now that you know what it is, we’ll show you how to use it!

If Bookkeeping is the act of recording financial transactions, then a bookkeeping system is a system designed to record and view these financial transactions!

Basic Small Business Bookkeeping Overview 

Let’s briefly recap some important ingredients in this financial pie!

There are several basic (but very important parts) of a bookkeeping system: the basis, the entry system, and the usage of bookkeeping or accounting tools.

Basis refers to which method you’ve chosen to record financial transactions.....  cash or accrual basis?

Entry System refers to single or double-entry bookkeeping. It is closely tied to your tool of choice, as well. We highly recommend that you use double entry for bookkeeping, it is more accurate and provides you with more data. To make double entry bookkeeping easier, we also reco...

Quickbooks Online, or QBO, is a convenient cloud-based software that helps with your bookkeeping, financial health, and planning for your small business. It’s adored by both accountants and businesses alike!

Its simple-to-use features help save you time and money while it goes to work helping you manage the finances of your business.  Leaving you with the flexibility to work wherever you have internet access.

QBO is the bookkeeping software that we use with ALL of our hundreds of clients, and we’re going to go over a lot of the features that will be helpful to you here!

Features for Everyone

QBO has a lot of features. Frankly, it can be a little overwhelming if you’ve never used any financial software before. We don’t want you to feel out of your element though, so we’re going to walk you through the most useful features that QBO has to offer so you can confidently start managing the finances for your small business!

Overview

Quickbooks Online offers 3 tiers of pricing...

In our last blog we went over the best bookkeeping software available to you as a small business owner. Now we’re going to break down the two most popular and widely used programs, Quickbooks Online and Quickbooks Desktop. We use Quickbooks Online, or QBO because, for us it is the best option, but we’ll go over both programs with you here!

Feature Review

Both versions of Quickbooks offer you solid bookkeeping abilities, complete with double-entry for added accuracy. They each include features like invoicing, estimates, built-in reports, and the ever important ability to track expenses and income.

Desktop allows you to recalculate and rebill for job costs, where QBO doesn’t.  Desktop also lets you include discounts by customer.

Meanwhile QBO doesn't required software to be installed on a machine, and sharing your data with your accountant and staff is both instant and secure.  Quickbooks Online offers scheduled invoices and payments. It also includes 24/7 online supp...