Accounting and Tax Guide (Page 14)

5 Small Business Accounting Tips to Prepare for a Financial Audit

You don’t need to have your masters in accounting to know when your small business is about to be hit with an audit. When it comes down to it, the IRS will surely let you know when they are about to storm your offices and invade your books. It can be an invasive experience, but it can really help if you are prepared. Preparing for a financial audit is a little bit like preparing your business for a potential financial tsunami. If you don’t want your... ❯❯❯

5 Signs Your Business Needs a CPA

Unless you hold a degree in accounting, it is very unlikely that you have the same skillset and knowledge as a certified public accountant (CPA). And while you may be able to get by for a while running the finances and keeping the books for your small business, especially with practically foolproof modern tools like QuickBooks on your side, the truth is that you have other tasks to occupy your time when it comes to keeping your business afloat, and you... ❯❯❯

Benefits of completing an ACCA accreditation

Many accountants can be forgiven for thinking that the extra effort to completing the ACCA accreditation is just too much after years and years of study. However, by gaining the extra qualification students are presented with extra opportunities for future development. Below are some benefits which getting the extra qualification can have. Intrinsic learning The accreditation goes into more detail on areas that will affect working life. At university,... ❯❯❯

5 Essential Tax Planning Tips for the Self-Employed

When you’re self-employed, there are a lot of things you’ll have to do on your own on behalf of your business. On the upside, you get to be your own boss, setting your preferred work hours, taking on the clients you prefer, and basically running the whole show as you see fit without a cavalcade of supervisors looking over your shoulder and micromanaging your every move. On the other hand, you’re also solely responsible for making sure you have jobs lined... ❯❯❯

How to Combat Credit Card Debt

Love them or hate them there is no denying that credit cards have both great pros and difficult cons, but the cons are few if you use your credit card prudently and always remain in control of your debt and repayments. Problems arise when things slip slightly and your debt gets out of control, once you lose your footing it is very difficult to get back on top of this and you could easily fall into a never ending debt cycle. It is important to know... ❯❯❯

How to Conduct a Job Analysis for Your Business

A Job Description lists the duties and functions of a job title. A Job Analysis comes first and answers different questions. Job Analysis is the process of collecting the information and input used to build the Job Description. Why need job descriptions? No matter how small your business, job descriptions are critical for your management. Descriptions help recruit qualified and capable applicants. The job description forms the basis for the... ❯❯❯

Two Insurance Products you Never Knew Existed

According to recent research conducted by the Association of British Insurers (ABI), financial service providers in the UK are now paying out a staggering £187 million each day to claimants. This represents a huge sum of money, while it also offers a fascinating insight into the diverse and often complex nature of the insurance industry and its individual products. There are a host of insurance products that the majority of consumers are entirely unaware... ❯❯❯

Is the taxi business for you?

Are you sick of calling up your local taxi firm on a drizzly Saturday night, only to have the line ring constantly engaged? Do you dread getting into the car with a man who persists in chewing your ear off and then charges you for the pleasure of hearing his worldly insights? Maybe following these mishaps, you had a light bulb moment and uncovered a big fat gap in the market. Things to consider Do plenty of research to begin with. What exactly are the... ❯❯❯

Online Tax Laws and Paypal: What You Need to Know

In 1998, Congress promised to keep the internet tax free when it passed the Internet Tax Freedom Act. However, that promise was quickly forgotten, just a few years later, when Senate approved online tax legislation. This law states that, starting in 2011; online sellers would have to report their sales information to the IRS for taxation. This created a huge inconvenience for many vendors and their online clientele. Summary of Online Tax Legislation ... ❯❯❯

Explaining "Hybrid Debt"

Hybrid debt is used by investors to describe securities that flow back and forth between debt and equity. It is not actually any form of debt at all, it is just a preferred investment instrument used by investors to help businesses expand and grow. (If you are taking any business intelligence courses, this may be discusses in the financial section of the teaching.) Hybrid debt, like any other debt, is used by businesses when investors invest in the... ❯❯❯

The benefits of a theatrical approach to management training

Drama has provided a form of entertainment across many different cultures and time periods, but it's also frequently used for much more. The theatre turns a spotlight on the human condition and many practitioners have used this spotlight to educate and inform as well as to entertain. Plato was philosophising and educating through drama as far back as the 4th Century BC, while a Saxon nun named Hrosvitha wrote plays to educate her largely illiterate... ❯❯❯

Top 5 Accounting and Tax Planning Tips for Small Businesses

Chances are you started your small business because you accrued years of experience in a certain market and found you were seriously good at your job. Perhaps you continued to get raises and new titles, with more responsibility and additional people reporting directly to you. But at some point you realized you could take that experience and start making those millions for yourself instead of some corporate shareholders. If you successfully pair a great... ❯❯❯

A Guide To Conveyancing

A conveyancer or appropriately licensed solicitor is the person responsible for the legal transfer of the title of properties from one person to another. There are two key stages to the process: the exchanging of contracts, which transfers the ‘equitable title,’ and the completion – at which the ‘legal title’ is passed over. To buy a property, it is essential to ensure that the seller has the full ownership of the property and is entitled to sell it. It... ❯❯❯

Basics of mortgage calculation – Essential steps for you to follow

Doing proper calculations before taking out a mortgage loan is extremely essential. All the calculations will help you to get an idea about how much you can afford to borrow as a home loan. There are interest rates that your lender will charge, processing fees and some other loan related expenses that you’ve to manage as part of your mortgage loan. There are numerous mortgage calculators that you can use to calculate a mortgage and realize exactly how... ❯❯❯

Why Forex Trading Could be your Way to Create an Extra Income

In these austere times more and more people are looking for new ways to make money, for ways to diversify their income streams. Let’s face it, even people who are financially comfortable wouldn’t usually say no to another income stream and one route that is increasingly popular is forex trading. What is forex trading? Forex trading is trading on the foreign exchange market, on the changes in value of different currencies. For people in the know this is... ❯❯❯

5 Benefits of Cloud Accounting Systems

As technology continues to evolve, so do the ways entrepreneurs harness it to streamline their business practices. The emergence of the internet as a primary form of modern communication now allows even the smallest business to tap into a nearly limitless pool of potential clients. Mobile technology gives companies the ability to manage daily tasks from the road at any time of the day or night. And cloud computing fills in the gaps for remote productivity,... ❯❯❯

5 Tax Write-Offs That Every Homeowner Should Be Aware Of

You’ve probably heard that owning a home entitles you to all kinds of breaks come tax time, but you might not have the foggiest notion of what write-offs you’re eligible for. While there are a lot more than five out there, and you should definitely discuss your options with a professional tax prep specialist, here are just a few that you should know about from the get-go. Mortgage interest. You can’t write off your monthly mortgage payment, per se, but... ❯❯❯

Tax Efficient Investments in 2013/14

Investing wisely is about more than just putting money away on a regular basis. It’s also about more than just finding the savings account or investment opportunity that offers the highest interest rates or ROI. Wise investors should always take into account the tax limitations of each particular tax year, from April to April, in order to make the most of each investment opportunity. This is because, with the majority of investments, you will need to pay... ❯❯❯

An Introduction to Binary Options

Binary options are increasingly popular financial products, which offer an all or nothing scenario. They are available in a number of different markets, and may be known by alternate names, including digital options or fixed return options. In short, the payoff is either a fixed and particular amount of an asset, or nothing. The term binary does of course refer to the fact that there are only two potential outcomes. There is little uncertainty with... ❯❯❯

Is Your Garden Harming Your Home’s Value?

With the property market showing some signs of making a recovery, more and more people are thinking about selling their homes and moving into something new. Of course, one of the main considerations is the price you get for your current property, which is why homeowners may spend a considerable amount of time ensuring that their house is the best it can be. While there are obvious home improvements that will increase resale value, many people forget about... ❯❯❯