Returning Value Blog

The month-end close is a pain point for many small to midsize businesses. While internal accounting teams often aim to wrap up the close within three days, a recent survey found that half the respondents actually take six days or longer to close the books. What can your organization do to help streamline this process? Leveraging cloud-based technology tools like QuickBooks® can be a game changer.

Many businesses turn to independent contractors to help manage costs, especially during times of staffing shortages and inflation. If you’re among them, ensuring these workers are properly classified for federal tax purposes is crucial. Misclassifying employees as independent contractors can result in expensive consequences if the IRS steps in and reclassifies them. It could lead to audits, back taxes, penalties, and even lawsuits.

For many businesses, accounts receivable (AR) are more than just a line item on the balance sheet. This account provides a key indicator of potential cash flow, customer relationships and overall financial health. So proactive AR management is critical. The AR aging report has long been a cornerstone of expediting collections and reducing credit risk, but it’s taken on greater significance with the implementation of new accounting rules for recognizing credit losses.

Many balance sheet items are reported at historical cost. However, current accounting standards require organizations that follow U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) to report certain assets and liabilities at “fair value.” This shift aims to enhance transparency and reflect an entity’s current financial position more accurately. However, estimating fair value can involve significant judgment and subjectivity, especially when observable market data is unavailable.

Some tax sins are much worse than others. An example is failing to pay over federal income and employment taxes that have been withheld from employees’ paychecks. In this situation, the IRS can assess the trust fund recovery penalty, also called the 100% penalty, against any responsible person.

Understanding your business’s financial health is essential for long-term success. QuickBooks® offers a powerful reporting tool suite that can provide critical insights to support decision-making and help you comply with accounting and tax rules.

Accurate financial records help business owners manage cash flow, tax obligations, and strategic planning. QuickBooks® is one of the most widely used bookkeeping software solutions for small and midsize businesses, offering a comprehensive suite of tools designed to simplify financial management and support business growth.

In a business world marked by uncertainty, month-end and year-end accounting challenges have remained a constant. The resolution of the recent political season and the Federal Reserve’s lowering of interest rates may have given organizations an overall renewed sense of optimism and the momentum to tackle those challenges. However, the complexity and volume of financial tasks during these periods can overwhelm even the most seasoned accounting teams, placing intense pressure on those that may lack the necessary resources. In this article, we explore how outsourcing accounting functions may provide a viable way to alleviate that pressure. 

How often do you reconcile your company’s internal financial records against your bank statements? Bank reconciliations are an essential internal control procedure that busy owners and managers sometimes overlook or neglect. Here’s why it pays to perform them regularly.

A chart of accounts is the foundation of accurate financial reporting, so it needs to be set up correctly. A disorganized chart or one that lumps transactions into broad, undefined “buckets” of data can make it difficult for management to evaluate financial performance and identify unmet customer needs — or open the door to accounting errors and fraud. Here’s some guidance on how to create a robust chart that’s right for your situation.