Category: Running a Business

Having customers who drag their feet on payments can be an accounting nightmare. First of all, your small business needs that revenue to pay expenses. And second, chasing after late-paying clients can be time-consuming or expensive. Certainly, there are collection agencies you can work with to help with the collection process, but you’ll have to give up 25-50% of the amount due to that collection agency. A better solution to collect on what’s owed to you is to use debt… Read More

As a small business owner, paying your own salary may come at the end of a very long list of expenses.  Understandably, you might take less money out when you first start your business and get it profitable, but after a while, you’ll need to determine the best way to pay yourself and how much. There are two primary options: treat yourself like an employee and pay yourself a salary, or take an owner’s draw. Each has slightly different tax… Read More

As a small business owner 20 or so years ago, one of my most confusing and frustrating tasks was reconciling my credit card transactions. They were deposited in my business bank account with a lag of several days from the time the transaction was completed, and at the time, I don’t think I completely understood exactly what a merchant account was or how it worked. I just knew I needed to have one to process credit cards. If your business… Read More

If financial terms like income and expense, debits and credits, and balance sheet make you cringe, you probably aren’t alone. Most small business owners don’t have a degree in accounting. And unless you have the budget to hire an in-house accounting department, you might not know what your options are in terms of making sure your bookkeeping gets done properly and on time. Online bookkeeping services are a hybrid of bookkeeping software and professional accounting. You get the benefit of the… Read More

“Disregarded entity” is a term used to describe how a business is classified for  tax purposes. A disregarded entity is one that is disregarded (or ignored) as an entity separate from its owner.  While the business may need to file an informational tax return, the income from the business is reported on the owner’s personal tax return. Here’s what you need to know about disregarded entities as a small business owner.  An Overview of Disregarded Entities While the term “disregarded… Read More