Monthly Archives: December 2013

Resolve To Go Paperless Now!

Shoeboxed is one of my favorite tools because it helps me stay organized and paperless for a minimal fee. My business has been paperless from the start. In fact, I scanned all my own documents for a while. And then the paper started piling up. So did my stress level every time I saw those piles of paper.

Enter Shoeboxed. Now I stuff everything I need scanned into an envelope (provided by Shoeboxed) and drop it in the mail. Problem solved.

Several months ago, I became an Ambassador for Shoeboxed. That essentially means I promote them and they promote me. I had to apply to become one of their ambassadors and was fortunate to be selected. Being an ambassador also means I have my very own sign up page for the Shoeboxed service where you can get 20% off your first 6 months of the service. It also means I earn a small commission when someone signs up via my personal link. However, that does not in any way affect the price you pay for the Shoeboxed service.

This is that time of year when in between holiday preparations, we start resolving to improve various areas of our lives. So start right now. Stop feeling guilty every time you see THAT PILE of paper on your desk. No more wasted time looking for a receipt. Shoeboxed will scan all that paper for you and help you organize everything on their website.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a nice clean desk? No mountain of paper tumbling onto the floor. Imagine how happy your tax person will be when you invite them as a user to your Shoeboxed account instead of handing them a bag of paper receipts.

Invest just 5 minutes to sign up now. Shoeboxed will mail you envelopes to fill with your receipts and you will be able to see your desk again.

Go PaperlessKnow what else? Shoeboxed is running a contest among their ambassadors to see who can sign up the most people between now and January 15, 2014. Yes, I might win a prize, but I really just want you get out from under those piles of paper. If you do sign up for Shoeboxed and comment on this post, I’ll send you something cool. (Ok, so I’m suffering from a bit of holiday stress and haven’t picked a cool prize yet, but when I do, it will be cool.)

 

When to Hire an Accountant

There are many articles written regarding when to hire an accountant, and opinions vary. Here’s my take on when and why you should hire an accountant.

Setting up accounting software

There are some tasks involved with running a business you should not attempt on your own and this is one of them. What are the most common problems I come across?

  • Adding an excessive amount of income and expense accounts (categories).
  • Not entering beginning bank and other account balances.ID-100200640

Most business owners complain about doing their own accounting but set up an overly complicated system when attempting it on their own. Be nice to yourself and keep it simple! Better yet, get professional help. Continue reading →

When to Set Up Accounting Software For Your Business

ID-10058688I am often asked when a business owner should set up accounting software for their new business. The short answer: the moment you decide to start a business.

The moment you decide to start a business you start incurring expenses; web domains, business licensing, logo design, product development, legal fees, etc. These start-up expenses must be tracked not only to get all those deductions on your tax return, but to know the financial facts about your new business.

Xero cloud accounting software has partner editions available for as little as $9 per month for start-up businesses. As your business grows there are subscription levels to grow with you. This also allows you to stay with the same software as your business grows and avoids the additional expense of converting to new software. Once you know how to use the software, your learning curve is limited to learning features newly added to the software or just now becoming important to your business.

Here’s something else to consider. The sooner you set up accounting software for your business, the sooner you build the habit of tracking income and expenses as well as building a budget and learning to read your financial statements.