Choosing a Business Accountant With Your Goals in Mind

One thing most business owners don't enjoy is keeping up with the accounts. And that's why it can often be easier and quicker to hire the services of an accountant. However, for most, it isn't as straight-forward as that. You have to consider what tasks you will continue to do on your own, and the results you expect your accountant to deliver.

Doing Your Own Accounts

If you intend to go it alone with your accounting, it is worthwhile knowing that you will likely require the services of an accountant at one point in the future. For example, some limited companies are required to have their accounts audited. Although you may think that you will spend more money through using the services of an accountant, you may find that you end up spending more on tax; getting less attractive financing options; and that you sacrifice time on filling in returns that should be spent growing your business.

Sector Experience

It's great to work with an accounting firm that has experience with clients in your sector. The firm will then not only be able to take care of your paperwork but also give you advice on the future direction of your business. Ask your potential accountant for examples of clients similar to you that they've worked with. If they can't, then ask accountants in Southend why they think they're right for the job.

An Accounting Firm or an Accountant?

If you work with a larger accounting firm then it is likely that you will have access to experience in more areas. Larger firms have experience in dealing with business consultancy, taxation, mergers & acquisitions, auditing and other complimentary services. However, their prices will definitely be higher. They have more expenses and, as a services firm, they don't get much economies of scale.

An individual accountant, on the other hand, will form a closer bond with you and your business. They might not have direct access to all of the experience on hand, but you are more likely to be able to get their services for a cheaper price. An individual accountant might not be able to perform certain legal requirements for your business. It is best to ask them about this, and how they get around it, before using their services. For many small business owners, though, this will not be a problem.

Recommendation

It's always best to get references from other business owners before choosing an accounting company or accountant. Find out about the experiences other have had, whether they completed work on time, whether they offered tips for their business, and whether they found their service to be satisfactory.

Prices

Agree prices before you have any work carried out. Some accountants charge a fixed annual fee whilst others charge per hours worked. Evaluate your business and work out which is the most cost effective route for you.

Relationship

If your business grows as expected, chances are that you will be spending a lot of time with your accountant. Make sure that you find one that you trust and can get on with as a person. The right accountant can not only help you with your books but also act as a friend and advisor through good and bad times.

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Bookkeeping Software Spreadsheets Are Essential Small Business Accounting Tools

Businesses generally make extensive use of spreadsheets both in accountant and all other business fields. Being a numerically based system of analyzing information spreadsheets are used throughout every accounting function as the technique presents an ideal basis to maintain accuracy and automate the collection of financial information.

Every small business needs to keep records of sales invoices and income received and purchase invoices in respect of expenses. It is not sufficient for accounting and taxation purposes for these receipts and payments to be left in the office or the back of a van in a carrier bag. At some stage these prime bookkeeping documents need to be processed.

Processing the financial documents related to a business enterprise basically means they need to be listed. For taxation and financial control purposes the invoices also need to be added up and analyzed. The most basic method would be to simply make a list of the sales income and a second list of the purchase expenses.

Using a manual method of listing the information falls short of the analysis required and is more time consuming that using a little technology to both ensure the summation is accurate and the analysis simplified. Listing the sales and expenses of a small business on spreadsheets is no more difficult then a manual paper system and has tremendous advantages in automating and ensuring accuracy.

Hence the use of bookkeeping spreadsheets to prepare the accounting information required.
Instead of listing the items on a paper list the items can be just as easily listed on a spreadsheet which will add up the items as required without the requirement to double check the adding up is accurate. Such a list has a history in accounting term as a sales day book and a purchase day book.

To achieve the required analysis of sales and purchases all that is required is to write into the top of each of the spreadsheet columns the titles of the analysis headings required. Then repeat the value of each transaction in the total column into the analysis columns. Use the spreadsheet technology to add up each column and you have an effective bookkeeping spreadsheet.

Preparing such a bookkeeping spreadsheet might and often does suffice the needs of the smallest business enterprise and is a close step towards achieving a valuable tool for this purpose, bookkeeping software. Bookkeeping software can be as simple as a home produced spreadsheet but with additional facets that can have significant financial benefits to the business.

Bookkeeping software produced on spreadsheets would normally be a series of spreadsheets with the columns preset and titled and formulae written into the sheet to automatically add up each column. In addition the columns used would normally be restricted to general headings to include a full analysis of all items.

Small businesses that might produce their own spreadsheet would often do this on an annual basis. Bookkeeping software is much more likely to provide these bookkeeping spreadsheet templates on a monthly basis to enable a degree of financial control to be exercised by the small business.

That is the second real value of bookkeeping spreadsheets, the ability to provide the business with financial information and through that data financial control over the business activities. The first value is of course the simplicity of listing with automated summation of the figures.

Small businesses can also benefit from professionally produced bookkeeping spreadsheets that have been specifically arranged not just to produce a list of income and expenses but also in a way that analyze that information in the way the small business requires it. There are two main requirements of the way the financial records are analyzed being to produce a financial profit and loss account for the business on a periodic basis but also to provide the totals of the categories required for taxation purposes.

Buying a piece of bookkeeping software written on spreadsheets can thus become an essential tool for the business. The essential element being to both make the accounting simple and easy as listing items, automated analysis and summation assisting the financial control and improved financial performance while also producing the benefits of being analyzed to make the completion of annual tax return forms easier.

Everyone in business wants to make a profit making financial control important. Everyone in business has to fill in tax forms and submit accounts in the tax authority format. Bookkeeping spreadsheets provide an essential accounting tool for every business to achieve these objectives.

Terry Cartwright a qualified accountant at DIY Accounting in the UK designs Accounting Software on excel spreadsheets providing complete Small Business Accounting Software solutions with single and double entry Bookkeeping Software for both limited companies and self employed business.

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Safe Investing - Where to Start

It is great that many people are now searching for good financial advice. With past generations, the typical financial advice passed down from parents to children was: buy a home, pay it off as quickly as possible and then - if you are really good at managing your money - buy an investment property.

Unfortunately, there are still a lot of people who think this is the safest and smartest way of increasing their wealth. Banks are still encouraging their mortgagees to pay off their homes "in only 8 years!". There are even investment books that herald how quickly you can pay off your mortgage. Just follow these steps. But it's the wrong long-term investment strategy. It always was and still is today.

Why? Because, firstly, you have broken the first and most important rule of investing: Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Good investors understand and apply the rules of diversification. What happens if the property market falls? What happens if interest rates rise? Good investors know that residential property is the lowest performing category in the property sector. And then of accountant there are all the problems associated with maintaining good tenancies and avoiding cashflow problems.

So what are the basics of sound, practical and realistic investing? Risk, return and timeframes.

RISK

All investments incur varying amounts of risk. This is caused by many factors: inflation, economic downturns, interest rate changes, movements in the market, wrong market timing, not diversifying your portfolio, borrowing risks or simply choosing the wrong investments.

However the good news is - risk can be managed. Good financial planning always includes planning for risk. The steps include:

• Determining your risk profile
• Understanding the risk levels of each investment asset class
• Determining your timeframes
• Creating a solid overall plan
• Reviewing your plan at regular intervals

RETURN

There is an old, yet generally true saying in investing: The greater the return, the higher the risk - or loss of your investment. However, when you establish a calculated plan that allows for risk management, you can plan for the level of risk involved.

There is also many factors to be considered in the relationship between risk and return: The higher the short-term risk, the greater potential return in the long term. That is why assets such as shares, which may wildly fluctuate in the short-term, predictably outperformed other asset classes in the long term.

So, what constitutes return? When we talk about return on your investment we refer to the increase (or decrease - negative return) you receive from that investment. This arises from two sources: distributions (from either interest income or dividends paid) or capital growth of the asset.

TIMEFRAMES

Once you have an understanding of the relationships between risk and returns on investments, you can see how important it is to plan, set and maintain the right timeframes.

The timeframe is the essential glue that holds the financial plan together. Get them wrong and your whole plan falls apart. Get them right and your plan should purr along nicely, with only the minimum review.

THE 8TH WONDER OF THE WORLD

John D. Rockerfeller called Compound Interest the 8th Wonder of the World and for good reason too. Compound interest refers to the cumulative effect of re-investing the interest or returns that you receive on your investment. Interest is then paid on both the original sum invested and the accumulated interest. This has a major impact on the growth of your investments.

For example, if you invested 20,000 and received 10% interest per annum - not compounded - in 20 years you have the original $20,000 plus $40,000 in interest, equalled to a total of $60,000 at the end of the 15 year period. However, if you used the same scenario but compounded your interest, i.e. reinvested it back into the investment, you would have over $146,500. Also, the more you add to your investments over that period of time, the greater your investment will grow. For example, if you added an additional $200 per month, you will have doubled that amount to $298,000.

When investing, it is therefore critical to the growth of your principle sum to ensure that the returns from your investment are compounded and, if possible, keep adding additional payments as you go. This, of course, is easier when you are within your working years. Later when you retire, you will be expecting to live off the returns from your investment and, therefore, the compounding effect will lose its effect.

Also, it is important to point out that the longer you invest and the sooner you start has a profound effect on the total sum you will have to retire on. A regular saving plan that quickly converts your savings into investments is the best strategy to follow, particularly for newcomers and novices to the investment scene, or for those who do not have a lot of cash reserves to start with.

Copyright Ann M Marosy 2008. Ann Marosy is an accountant, consultant, and former university lecturer. She was formally the Financial Controller of the Fortune 500 Company, Jardine Matheson, and Finalist of SA Executive Woman of the Year.

Ann is the author and creator of 'The Money Program: How to Manage the 6 Stages of Wealth'. For more details visit: http://www.moneta.com.au

Hays MacIntyre.