Everything You Need to Know About the Business Travel Tax Deduction

Tax Planning

Self-employed people and small business owners are generally allowed to deduct business travel expenses when they are required to travel away from home for business purposes. However, you need to ensure that you understand the definition of home from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and what ordinary and necessary expenses are to ensure you deduct your business travel expenses accurately. Here is what to know about the business travel tax deduction from TMD Accounting.

What Are Ordinary and Necessary Expenses?

The first thing you should understand is how the IRS defines ordinary and necessary expenses. Ordinary expenses are those that are accepted and common within your industry. Necessary expenses are those that are appropriate and helpful for your company.

How the IRS Defines Home

Your business travel expenses can be claimed when you are away from your business home, which is not necessarily where you live. The city in which your business is located is your business’s tax home, which might not be the same place where your family lives.

For example, imagine that you live in Colorado Springs, Colorado and have a permanent business location in Denver. Just because you might stay during the workweek in hotels in Denver and eat out, you won’t be able to deduct those expenses from your taxes or the costs of your transportation when you drive back to Colorado Springs on the weekends. This is because Denver will be your business’s tax home, so you can’t take deductions for your ordinary and necessary expenses during your time there.

Deductible Transportation Expenses

If you have to travel for business by bus, train, or plane, you can deduct the cost of your ticket and baggage fees. If you have to pay for a last-minute ticket, you can claim the higher price as an expense. However, if you pay for the ticket using your frequent-flyer miles, you won’t be able to deduct it.

Transportation expenses can be deducted when you have to travel away from your business’s location for business reasons. For example, if you have to fly from Denver to Los Angeles for a work conference, you can deduct the cost of your airfare to and from Los Angeles. You can also deduct the cost of renting a car in LA while you are there. The IRS allows you to deduct the actual costs or the standard mileage rate. During the first half of 2022, the standard rate was 58.5 cents per mile. For the second half, the mileage standard rate was increased to 62.5 cents per mile. You can also deduct parking fees and tolls you might have to pay during your business trip.

Deductible Taxi Fares

While you are away on business, you can also deduct the fares you pay for taxis or shuttles. The following types of fares you pay can be deducted:

  • Fares paid to get to and from the airport, train station, and your hotel
  • Fares paid to and from your hotel and your work location
  • Fares paid to and from clients in the city

For car rentals, you can deduct the expense as long as you exclusively use the vehicle for business. if you also use it for personal reasons, only deduct the portion of the rental costs that you used for business. For example, if you are in LA and drive to the conference and then back and forth to a few client locations, you can deduct the mileage and rental car expenses for those trips. However, if you later decide to go out to dinner or a movie from your hotel, you can’t deduct the expenses involved with that.

Deductible Incidental Expenses

You can also deduct the costs of your hotel, business meals, and tips as long as they are reasonable under the circumstances. Your meal deduction is limited to half of the actual cost of your meal or the standard meal allowance. The meal allowance is based on the federal per diem rate based on when and where you travel.

In general, business travelers can only deduct 50% of their meals. However, in 2022, the IRS is allowing business travelers to deduct the full cost of business-related meals and beverages that they purchase at a restaurant. If you decide to take the standard meal allowance, the deductible amount for incidental expenses is $5 per day for tips given to staff at your hotel, baggage carriers, or porters. It is still a good idea to keep receipts and track of the actual costs you pay.

What Qualifies as a Business Trip?

To qualify as a business trip and qualify for the business travel tax deduction, your trip must meet each of the following criteria:

  • Your trip caused you to leave your business’s tax home for more than a normal work day
  • Your trip must primarily consist of business
  • Your trip should qualify as an ordinary and necessary expense
  • Your trip should be planned in advance

Speak to an Accounting Professional

If you are unsure which expenses you can deduct under the business travel deduction, you should speak to the accounting and tax professionals at TMD Accounting. We can review your receipts and the purpose of your trip and explain what can and can’t be included. To learn more, call us today at 1-856-228-2205.

Best Practices For Effective Budgeting and Forecasting

Accounting

If you are a small business owner, you are always on a search to improve your bottom line. Forecasting and budgeting your expenses is one of the best ways to boost your revenue. With that, you can ensure your business is on track for both short- and long-term goals. Here are some of the best practices to incorporate into your business for effective budgeting and forecasting.

Create a Budget

Effective budgeting and forecasting need to start with a plan. You cannot make a solid business decision without a budget. Your business needs to create a budget and stick to it. This step can help your operations stay on track. With a budget, you have a road map to track the progress of the business. Once you have created a budget, please do not ignore it. A budget is there for a reason: to help manage your expenses and other costs.

Plan for Short- and Long-Term Business Expenses

If you want effective budgeting and bookkeeping, you must always plan for your business’s short- and long-term expenses. With this plan, you can ensure you have the necessary resources to meet your current and future financial needs. Take time to list all of your current expenses, including both variable and fixed ones. By doing that, you can see where the money is going for each month. After that, consider your long-term goals. Whether you have to make improvements or expand your business, you need to factor those long-term costs into your business plan.

Always Anticipate Changes

Unfortunately, income and expenses will not stay the same. If you want to ensure your finances stay on track, you always need to anticipate those changes. While it may seem like an impossible task, you will want to review your financial statements regularly with your accountant. With a quick meeting, you can see where all the money is heading and whether there are any potential problems on the horizon.

After that, you can always make adjustments to your budget. If you are spending more than expected, adjust the figures so that your budgeting remains accurate. Forecasting is not always exact, but you can use these best practices to prevent any problems that could harm the financial future of your business.

Forecast To Predict Trends

Forecasting can help with your financial planning and budgeting. Look at past trends and use them to predict future patterns. You can make more informed decisions about where to spend money. There are several ways to forecast your financial future. No matter the method you use, you need to collect accurate data. Also, it is crucial to revise and review your forecasts as new data becomes available. Forecasting can be an invaluable source to help you make better decisions for your business by continuously updating your budgeting and examining the current data.

Review Your Budget

As previously mentioned, your budget will change. You should not think of a budget as a stationary number. Schedule a time to review your budget with your bookkeeper or accountant. If you need to make adjustments to keep you on track, that does not mean there is a problem. All businesses review their budgets from time to time. Use your budget as a tool to track your income and expenses. You can make better decisions about allocating resources and managing your operations with a budget.

Seek Experienced Financial Help

Forecasting and budgeting are vital tools for both small and large businesses. When you have a clear picture of your finances, you will be able to make better decisions. However, many business owners do not know where to start and often struggle to manage their expenses.

In those cases, you may want to seek professional help for your bookkeeping and accounting duties. Many business owners struggle to keep up with books, budgets, and other financial responsibilities. While you may not want to spare the extra expense, think about these professional services as an investment in your business.

An experienced and qualified accountant can offer some guidance and expertise to help improve your bottom line. With their help, you can develop a budget that will work for your business needs, giving you more clarity to make significant financial decisions. You should never be afraid to ask for help, especially regarding your finances.

Effective Budgeting and Forecasting Benefits

An effective budget can help your business save money and keep track of any spending. Along with that, it can help forecast your future income and expenses, which might help if you need to tighten costs down the road.

Don’t forget about forecasting. This tool is vital for making informed decisions for expansions, investments, and other financial moves. When you have effective budgeting and forecasting, you can make the most of your existing resources and keep all those finances on track for your business.

Budgeting helps your business in the present, and forecasting is essential for those future plans. With these best practices, you can ensure that your data is accurate, helping to move the business in the right direction.

Reach Out To an Experienced Accounting Firm

At TMD Accounting, we have over 40 years of experience helping small and big businesses reach their financial goals in Gloucester County. We are here for your business if you need help with bookkeeping, taxes, payroll, or financial planning. We provide affordable, flexible, and reliable solutions for your accounting needs. Schedule a consultation by calling 856-228-2205.

How to Find the Right Small-Business Tax Advisor for Your Business

Tax Planning

Having a small-business tax advisor can help your business save money on taxes by working with you year-round. This is a certified professional who prepares and files business tax returns, provides financial and tax advice, and represents businesses when they are audited by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Certified tax advisors also perform record-keeping duties and help with tax planning to maximize your business’s returns. The tax advisor you choose should be experienced, qualified, and have specific knowledge about business taxes. Here is some information from TMD Accounting about how to find the right tax advisor for your small business.

What Are Tax Advisors for Small Businesses?

The IRS allows anyone to serve as a small-business tax consultant as long as they get a preparer tax identification number (PTIN) from the agency. However, you should look for a professional firm that offers both small business account services and business tax advice. The professional you choose should also be certified as a tax advisor by the IRS. Certified tax advisors have additional education, skill, and expertise requirements and can also represent you in case of an audit.

Enrolled agents are licensed tax professionals who must pass a specialized exam showing their tax proficiency and/or have worked for the IRS for at least five years.

Certified public accountants (CPAs) must pass the CPA exam and follow the requirements for CPAs. They are accounting professionals offering multiple services, including tax advice, preparation, and filing.

Finally, attorneys must pass the bar exam to obtain a license to practice law in their state. While all lawyers are included in this category, a business owner should look for an attorney who focuses on tax law and business taxes.

If you are searching for a tax advisor for your business, you should choose someone who falls into one of the three categories listed above. Make sure the professional you choose has experience with business taxes instead of personal taxes. Finding a certified tax advisor who is also familiar with your industry and with small businesses is even better.

How a Tax Advisor Can Benefit Your Small Business

A good business tax advisor can help your business in numerous ways throughout the year instead of just at tax time. Your tax advisor should provide you with all of the following benefits:

• Providing important information and advice to aid you in tax decisions
• Setting up a record-keeping system tailored to your business and its needs
• Preparing business tax forms and helping your business claim all of the deductions to which it should be entitled and highlighting red flags that could get your business in trouble with the IRS
• Providing advice and guidance when you are dealing with the IRS
• Representing you before the IRS during audits and investigations

Finding a Tax Advisor for Your Small Business

The first place to start is to ask your business’s accountant or bookkeeper for referrals and recommendations. If you are already working with a CPA for small business accounting services, they might also have the necessary experience to provide you with business tax advising services. You can also ask other business owners that you know and trust for their recommendations for business tax advisors in your area.

You can also ask your friends, banker, family, or attorney for recommendations and referrals to qualified business tax advisors in your area. Get several names. Look for listings in newspapers, directories, trade journals, referral panels, and professional associations. Look for CPA societies in your area or check online at www.cpadirectory.com for a CPA. If you want to find an enrolled agent, you can ask for help from the National Association of Enrolled Agents at www.naea.org. However, if you check an organization, you should consider referrals as the organization’s certification that it recommends the CPAs or EAs or that the names provided to you are competent professionals.

Once you have a small list of names, interview a minimum of three firms or individuals. Treat the consultation like an interview. You want to both test the prospective advisor’s knowledge and ensure that they are a good fit for your company. Ask them about their experience, certification, and their knowledge of your industry and of working with small businesses. Ask about the types of tax issues small businesses might face and how they address them. Ask if the prospective advisor represents clients during audits before the IRS.

Ask the tax advisor about any success stories they can share and the types of strategies they employ when dealing with tax problems. You want to make sure the advisor you choose doesn’t use overly aggressive strategies that could potentially get your business in trouble.

Once you have completed your consultations, don’t rush to make a decision. Consider which prospective advisor made you feel confident in their knowledge and ability to help your business with its taxes. Make sure you choose an advisor with whom you feel comfortable since you will have an ongoing professional relationship. Finally, search for a tax advisor in the fall or summer instead of trying to find someone during tax season.

Find an Accountant for My Small Business

If you are searching for a full-service accounting firm to handle all of your business’s accounting and tax needs, you should consider TMD accounting. We provide a full range of accounting services for small businesses, including tax advice and preparation. Call us today for a consultation at 1-856-228-2205.

Accounts Receivable Services for a More Efficient Business

Accounting

Are you looking to become a more profitable and efficient business? Accounts receivable services may be able to help. Small business accounting services can streamline your billing process, ensuring that payments are received on time. Additionally, outsourcing these accounts receivable services allow you to focus on other parts of your business. Here is how accounts receivable services can help you have a more efficient business.

What Are Accounts Receivable?

Accounts receivable is the money a business has a right to receive because it provides services or goods on credit. In short, it is the money customers owe for services or products that have not been paid. For example, if your business sells a product on credit, a customer will have a certain period to pay you for the product. In many cases, the time frame is 30 days.

Your business must record the sale as an account receivable on the balance sheet. Once the company reviews the money, the account receivable would be removed from the balance sheet and replaced with cash. As you may tell, these accounts play a vital role in your bookkeeping since they represent future revenue. Accounts receivable will give your company insight into your overall cash flow and when you can expect timely payments from customers.

Generally, companies with higher amounts of accounts receivable could have more difficulty collecting payments from their customers than those businesses with fewer accounts. Customers who owe a large amount of money could default on their payments, meaning you could lose out on that income.

What Are Accounts Receivable Services?

You can track your customers’ payments and manage your cash flow with a professional accounts receivable service. These services handle many tasks, such as collections, invoicing, and customer service. An account receivable service will also allow you to gain insight into your customers’ behaviors. Also, accounts receivable services can optimize your billing and collection process, helping identify or correct trends. All these services can streamline the billing process, helping improve your bottom line.

Why You Need an AR Service

Using accounts receivable services will provide your business with the resources and tools to streamline invoicing, collections, and payment processes. There are plenty of benefits, and they include:

 

Reduce Administrative Costs

With an AR service, your business can save time and money by allowing them to handle all aspects of collections and invoicing, including sending payment reminders and following up with customers.

Improve Cash Flow

These AR services can help you get money faster into your account by using automated invoice processing that can optimize your cash flow.

Keep a Focus on Your Business

Managing accounts receivable can be time-consuming, especially if there is no dedicated person or staff to handle these responsibilities. Outsourcing your accounts receivable tasks allow you to free up time to operate your business. With that, you can help grow your company and generate more revenue.

Increase Insight Into Your Customer Base

These AR services will give insight into your customers’ behaviors, including payment trends and patterns. With this information, you can improve your business planning and customer relations. You can see these trends to understand your clients’ spending patterns so that you can tailor your services and products to their needs.

Choosing an Accounts Receivables Service

These professionals are here to help improve and manage your cash flow. Along with that, they can help you reduce the time you spend on administrative tasks. Most AR services will cover a few areas in accounting and bookkeeping, such as reporting, invoicing, collections, and customer services. An AR service can reduce administrative costs, improve cash flow, and increase efficiency.

There are several things to consider when it comes time to choose an accounts receivable provider. First, when it comes time to find an accountant for my small business, they should have the experience and reputation to handle most of these tasks. You need to choose a company that can meet your specific needs. Some accounts receivable services will be able to provide you with generalized services. However, others may only specialize in a particular area. Choose one that will work best for your business operations.

Accounts Receivable Services Offer Many Benefits

When you need to keep your company’s financial accounts up-to-date and accurate, consider choosing an accounts receivable service for your business. Without help, tracking invoices or transactions with customers can become difficult. Selecting a professional AR service provider is essential to pursuing a healthy financial future.

Accounts receivable management is essential to all businesses, but it doesn’t have to be a hassle. When you want to ensure timely customer payments, you need to consider outsourcing these services. With that, you can save time, money, and headaches. Think of these services as an investment in your business. Your AR team will take care of those critical tasks as you manage other aspects of the business. By partnering with a reputable accounts receivable company, all of your invoices will be paid on time and in full.

Looking for a South Jersey Accountant?

If you are ready to choose a professional AR team for your business, reach out to TMD Accounting. We have over 40 years of experience helping companies with their accounting needs in the Gloucester County area. We are a family-owned and -operated business. We pride ourselves on being an affordable, reliable, and flexible solution for your accounting needs. Our team wants to help your business grow. One way to do that is by outsourcing your accounts receivable services. Schedule a consultation by calling 856-228-2205.

Understanding Your Small Business’s Financial Statements

Small Business

Your business’s financial statements can be a key tool for managing your business. However, many businesses are confused by financial statements and don’t know what they mean or how they can be used. Here is some information from the professionals at TMD Accounting about your financial statements and how they can be used.

What Financial Statements Include

A financial statement tells you where your business money is, including its origin, how it was spent, and the current financial standing of your company. You can see this information by using the three primary types of financial statements, including your income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement.

These documents give you the following information:

  • The assets you currently have
  • Your business’s liabilities
  • The value of your ownership
  • Total sales/gross revenues
  • Losses and expenses
  • Net income
  • Cash flow, including the sources of money and how it has been used
  • Cash on hand at the start and end of a period

All of these types of information are crucial for your business so that you can make better decisions. Financial statements are an important component of running a financially stable and profitable business.

Why Financial Statements Are Important

Your financial statements will provide you with your business’s operational results, its current cash flow, and its current financial standing. They are important for all of the following reasons:

  • Documenting your business’s financial activities
  • Summarizing important accounting information about your business
  • Providing stakeholders with an accurate picture of your company’s financial situation

Lenders use financial statements to assess your level of risk when determining whether to extend credit to your business. They also include information that might be required under accounting standards and the law and contain the data that you need to complete your business tax returns.

What Is In Each Type of Statement?

You can analyze how your company is performing by using your financial statements.

The income statement will include information about your business’s total revenues, the cost of the goods or services sold, and other costs during a set period. It will then provide information about your company’s net income or a net loss.

Your balance sheet will provide data about your total assets, liabilities, and equity.

Your cash flow statement gives you information about your company’s financing, operations, inflows and outflows, and long-term debt.

How to Use Your Financial Statements

When you receive your financial statements, take a look at your income statement and treat it as a report card for your business. This might also be called a profit-and-loss statement and tells you how your business is doing over time. In the income statement, you can see the expenses your company has incurred and the revenue it has generated during the relevant period.

Income Statement

Your income statement can be used to gain an understanding of your business’s profitability and the steps that you can take to increase its profits. For example, you might see that you should cut back on some unnecessary expenses or focus on more profitable products or services. If you are searching for funding, investors will want to see your income statement to assess your degree of risk when deciding whether to give your company credit or venture capital.

However, your income statement won’t reveal the overall strength or weakness of your financial condition, show a list of your assets and liabilities, or show how money is flowing in ad out of your business.

Balance Sheet

Your balance sheet lets you see how strong or weak your business’s current financial condition is. Many investors typically begin by reviewing a business’s balance sheet to get an understanding of its financial condition. Your balance sheet includes key information on a specific date rather than your business’s profitability over a set period. It helps to show your business’s stability and how much liquidity it has. A balance sheet will include a list of your business assets, its liabilities, and the equity you have in it. The information included in a balance sheet can help show your business’s net value, your debt, how well your assets are being managed, and whether you are easily able to convert assets into cash when necessary. You can also see changes in your equity, earnings, inventory, and accounts payable and receivable by comparing information from your balance sheets.

Cash Flow Statements

You can use your cash flow statement to determine whether you have enough money coming in to sustain your business operations. Even if your business is profitable, it can still fail if you have cash going out of your business faster than it’s coming in. Reviewing your cash flow statement can help you to better manage where your money is going to increase your business’s chance of success.

Investors want to see cash flow statements to see evidence you can manage your business’s cash and have the resources to handle times when gaps in the in-flow of cash occur.

Find an Accountant for My Small Business

TMD Accounting offers small business accounting services and can help you set up and understand your business’s financial statements. Working with our experienced South Jersey accounting professionals might help to improve your business’s profitability by identifying areas that need work. To learn more, schedule a consultation by calling us at 1-856-228-2205.

What Financial Statements Does A Small Business Need?

Small Business

Many business owners are intimidated by those financial statements. However, you need to learn some of the basics of these statements to get a clearer picture of your financial health. No matter how big or small your business, these three financial reports are vital to your success. The balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow statement are must-haves for your business. Let’s break down how these sheets work and affect your small business.

Balance Sheet

The balance sheet is also called the statement of financial position. This financial statement tracks your liabilities, assets, and owner-held equity. The balance sheet can indicate the approximate cash value of the business. Lenders will look at your risk and collateral, which can affect if you will receive funding for your business when you need it. There are two vital parts of the balance sheet: assets and liabilities.

Assets are everything that a business owns. For example, some assets can include signed service contracts or showroom stock. There are two types of assets: short- and long-term. Short-term assets will last for one year or less and can include cash, prepaid expenses, and inventory. On the other hand, the business must own its long-term assets for over a year. These examples include tools, property, and equipment. A company may also own intangible assets such as trademarks, copyrights, and patents.

Liabilities are everything that the business owes to a vendor or creditor. A liability may include a business loan balance. Like assets, there are short- and long-term liabilities. A business must pay all current liabilities within a year, including small business loans, payroll, and lines of credit. Long-term liabilities, including deferred income tax and mortgages, are paid over longer periods.

Along with assets and liabilities, owner-held equity is equally important. This equity is the cash value of the company. It is calculated as the assets minus those liabilities. The amount left over is the owner-held equity.

Income Statement

The income statement is often called a profit and loss statement. This statement accounts for the business’s revenues, gains, expenses, and losses. With this statement, you can gauge the profitability of the current operations. You can also use this statement to decide whether to cut or expand operations.

There are several parts to an income statement. Revenue is the income from operations and accounts. You can gain revenue from primary activities or secondary activities. Some primary activities include services rendered or product sales. Secondary activities include rent from a vacated space or accruing interest from an account.

Gains come from other future income, such as selling your assets. Expenses are derived from operations. Like revenue, these expenses can come from primary or secondary activities. Primary activities include expenses incurred from maintaining normal operating revenue. Secondary revenue often includes expenses incurred outside of the operating revenue. Losses are the value loss from selling assets, such as settling overdue taxes.

With this statement, you can see the profitability of the company. Income statements are formatted in two ways: single-step or multi-step. In a single-step statement, there will be one category for income and the other for expenses. However, these statements are not always reliable as they cannot calculate the profitability and efficiency ratio. For that reason, many small businesses use multi-step statements to separate the expense account based on their functions. Multi-step statements give owners a more rounded view of their financial health.

Cash Flow Statement

The cash flow statement is a detailed accounting of the cash generated by the business. How does a cash flow statement differ from an income statement? The income statement shows what the businesses have generated on an accrual basis. The cash flow statement will show the actual funds that have come into the business accounts. With these statements, you will know how much money is available to pay expenses or invest in the business. Any significant discrepancies between the cash flow and income statements could mean problems in business operations.

There are critical points in the cash flow statement. The operating cash flow statement is the cash paid from and to your account from the actual business operations. The income and expenses from selling and buying assets are called the investing cash flow. Investing cash flow can include buying operating equipment or selling real estate assets.

The cash actions related to the company’s stocks and bonds are called the financing cash flow. This cash flow might include paying dividends to the owners of repurchased stocks. When an owner draws on a small business account, that is known as a financing cash flow.

Cash flow statements can include other details, including document losses and gains of non-cash assets and miscellaneous cash actions. When you put this information together, you can see the location of the cash and how it moves in your business.

Understanding your financial statements can be complex. Finding reliable small business accounting services can help you to create and decipher these statements for your business. Knowing your finances is vital for any business. Without these statements, you will not know the financial health of your small business.

Need a South Jersey Accountant for My Small Business?

At TMD Accounting, we have small business solutions for you. Our family-owned and -operated South Jersey accounting firm has helped those businesses in Gloucester County for over 40 years. Whether you need help with payroll, taxes, accounting, or bookkeeping, we are your flexible and affordable way to manage your business. Schedule your consultation by calling 856-228-2205.

Types of Errors in Small Business Accounting

Accounting, Small Business

When you have a small business, you do not want to make any type of accounting errors. These errors could throw off your books and lead to penalties from the IRS. If there are errors, it is crucial to spot and correct them. Here are some of the types of errors found in small business accounting.

Error of Duplication

Sometimes, you may have recorded a debit or credit twice in the books. Many of these errors are made when several people handle the bookkeeping duties. Also, when more than one invoice is sent to your business, you may put a double entry in the books. While many duplicate entries are minor, those significant amounts can seriously impact your business, leading you to understate or overstate your income.

Error of Omission

On the other hand, if you fail to enter a financial transaction in the books, that is known as an error of omission. These errors can overstate or understate your income and affect the balance sheet. For those errors of omission in the accounting process, it can significantly impact the trial balance, which is the report for the accounts in the general ledger. Anytime you misplace an invoice or receipt, it can lead to those errors of omission in your accounting books.

Error of Original Entry

This type of error means that someone entered incorrect information into the books. A receipt or invoice should back up all entries. In this case, an individual made the original entry, but the bookkeeper may have transposed the numbers. Like other errors, this one can have a significant impact on the books.

Error of Commission

In some cases, the numbers do not make it to the right place. Errors of commission occur when the item is entered in the wrong spot. For example, you could post the items to the accounts receivable account rather than the account payable, or someone had applied a customer’s payment to another invoice. These errors can affect the balance sheet and income statement.

Compensating Error

In some situations, one account error is balanced out by an error in another account. For example, an incorrect entry in the inventory and a corresponding error in the account payables may cancel each other. These errors do not affect the trial balance since they are both opposite and equal, but they are still errors in your books.

Error of Principle

When an accounting error is made on both sides of the transaction, that is known as an error of principle. Often, these errors happen when the individual recording the transaction does not grasp the basic accounting principles. For example, a fixed asset purchase is entered as an operating expense. These errors will not affect the trial balance. One way to correct these issues is by hiring a professional to handle your books.

Error of Entry Reversal

You may find those reversing entries at the end of the accounting period. In some cases, a credit will be posted as debit, or an invoice is listed in the accounts payable instead of accounts receivable.

Preventing Business Accounting Errors

You can prevent those accounting errors with a few tips. First, you always want to have someone capable of understanding accounting and bookkeeping in charge of the entries. They should be accurate with their typing. In many cases, transposing numbers can throw off an entire ledger. Your would-be bookkeeper needs to understand those financial statements and know where to enter the entries.

While it may be tempting to handle the bookkeeping and accounting yourself, hiring a professional team can make life easier for everyone. An experienced firm understands the basics of the bookkeeping and accounting world. By using professional services, you can ensure there will be no entry mistakes in those books. You can save money using a friend or family member, but an experienced and reputable accountant must adhere to specific guidelines to produce accurate reports for your small business. Get some peace of mind and hire a professional for the job.

When you hire a professional bookkeeper, they will compare bank accounts to the accounting ledger. With that, they will correct any errors before those mistakes lead to big problems. Bookkeepers will also help you stay on track. Hire those small business accounting services for the job. They will track all your financial transactions, whether big or small.

Errors Can Be Costly

As a small business, you need to understand your costs. All businesses need to know whether they are operating at a loss or profit. With those mistakes, you could underestimate or overestimate your costs, leading to financial problems down the road. One error can cause many headaches for your business, making it a nightmare to straighten out. Plus, you can even face penalties from the IRS if that mistake leads to filing incorrect taxes.

While mistakes can happen, and no one is perfect, you need accuracy with your financial statements, balance sheets, and the rest of your books. Hiring a reputable and experienced bookkeeping and accounting firm can help you avoid those mistakes.

When you need a South Jersey accountant for my small business, reach out to TMD Accounting. We are a family-owned and -operated business that has been serving the community of Gloucester County for over 40 years. Our team has helped many small businesses in the area. We are your flexible, reliable, and affordable choice when you need accounting, bookkeeping, and tax services in the area. Schedule your consultation by calling 856-228-2205.

Understanding a Restaurant Cash Flow Statement

Accounting

Some restaurants might raise money with outside financing or by selling assets. However, the majority of the cash should come from its cash flow. Why is understanding cash flow necessary for your restaurant? Here are a few things to understand about these cash flow statements.

What Is Cash Flow?

This term is the amount of money you have made from food and beverage minus what you spent on operating costs. Understanding the restaurant’s cash flow can help budget for expenses and allow investors to see the potential in your business. If you want to calculate your restaurant’s cash flow, you can use the following formula:

Cash Inflow – Cash Outflow = Total Restaurant Cash Flow

However, there are a couple of things to take into consideration. You will need to know your inflow and outflow of cash. For the inflow, you need to add up all the money that comes into your restaurant during a specific period, including food and beverage sales. You can also include merchandise sales, received loans, catering and event money, and other items your restaurant has sold. That is known as your cash inflow.

Next, you need to determine your cash outflow. During this stage, you will want to add your operating costs for the same period. These expenses include utilities, inventory, rent, insurance, payroll, restaurant furniture, kitchen supplies, and appliances. Adding all of those expenses will give you the cash outflow.

With those two figures, you can calculate your total restaurant cash flow.

Reading the Restaurant Cash Flow Statement

There are three crucial statements for restaurants that help manage finances: the balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow statement. The restaurant’s cash flow statement will determine whether your company is financially healthy. These cash flow statements are broken into three categories:

  • Cash flow from operating activities
  • Cash flow from investing activities
  • Cash flow from financing activities

However, the two most important aspects of the cash flow statement are financing cash and net income.

Financing cash will show that your restaurant has borrowed money or raised funds by selling stock. To an investor, your financing cash will show whether you have the money to pay dividends.

As you may have guessed, the amount of money the business produces is called the net income. This figure does not tell the whole story. Instead of relying on a single number, investors will look at the cash flows. If the restaurant’s cash flow is smaller than the net income, it could be a sign that the company is losing money.

Restaurant Cash Flow Management Tips

Now that you understand the basics of a restaurant’s cash flow statement, how can you properly manage your cash? First, you may want to work with our small business accounting services. We can provide advice to help manage those expenses and assets.

Aside from that, here are a couple of tips for your business.

Have a Restaurant Cash Flow Forecast

By analyzing your restaurant’s point of sales system, you can guess the amount of cash flow for the upcoming year. While sales can always change, you will have a little more insight into what you should be making for the forthcoming year. You can then decide whether to cut back on spending or invest more money into the business. A restaurant cash flow statement allows you to create seasonal budgets. With that, you can navigate those ups and downs in the industry.

Streamlining Your Costs

If you are unhappy with your restaurant’s cash flow, you might want to reduce overhead costs. Take time to talk to vendors and utility providers about whether you can lower your payments. You may want to remove low-profile or less popular items from the menu. Also, you could reassess your schedule and cut down on staffing hours.

Don’t Rely on Credit

When you have to pay back those debts, it can take a massive chunk out of your restaurant’s cash flow. Instead of relying on credit, you might want to talk to vendors about getting a discount when paying in full.

Get Those Books in Order

While bookkeeping is not a glamorous part of the job, you must stay on top of your books and accounting. A clearer picture can give you a more accurate look at your financial health. If you don’t want to handle this responsibility, consider hiring a professional to take on the bookkeeping and accounting tasks.

Diversify the Vendors

When you rely on one vendor, it may be convenient, but it can put you in a bad situation if something happens to their business. You can get the best deal and negotiate on those prices by working with multiple vendors. Plus, you will always have a fallback if a company goes out of business or runs out of an item.

Save for Emergencies

With a large cash flow, you might want to spend it on something big for the restaurant. However, take a portion of that money and set it aside for emergencies. If you are prepared for expenses, you will not scramble to take out a high-interest loan or pay on credit in an emergency.

A restaurant cash flow statement is vital to understanding the financial picture of your business. Without it, you will not know whether you’re making money or spending too much of it.

When you need an accountant for your small business, reach out to TMD Accounting. Our family-owned and -operated business has been serving the community of Gloucester County for over 40 years. We are a flexible and affordable way to keep track of your restaurant finances, including those cash flow statements. Schedule your consultation by calling 856-228-2205.

The Importance of Financial Planning for Small Businesses

Small Business, Tax Planning

One of the driving factors in ensuring your business is successful is whether you have a strong financial plan. The plan you create should control how you operate your business over a set period that depends on its projections. Financial planning is a process through which you assess the competitive environment, the goals you have for your business, the resources you need, your budget, and the risks that could arise. In other words, your financial plan helps to prepare you for the future. Regardless of the industry in which your business operates, financial planning is essential. The accounting team at TMD Accounting is prepared to assist you with the process no matter your business type.

How a Financial Plan Can Benefit Your Business

There are multiple benefits of financial planning for small businesses. Below are some of the key advantages planning can offer.

1. Helps to Define Your Goals

Having clearly defined goals can help you understand what your business wants to achieve over the next year or more. For example, if you are trying to create a product to fill a market need, you use your plan to create benchmarks to ensure you are on target. No matter what the goals for your business might be, having them clearly defined in your financial plan can help to provide a roadmap to guide your actions.

2. Helps to Manage Cash Flow

In your financial plan, you will include information about your business’s expected cash flow. While you’ll likely initially spend more than you have coming in, you will have to determine the expense level that is acceptable and establish ways to keep your business on track by easily measuring its cash flow.

3. Assist You With Setting Your Budget

During the financial planning process, you will set your business’s budget. Starting with your overall budget for the quarter or year, you will then break it down into specific, smaller budgets for different areas of your business while ensuring that how much you allocate to each is ordered in importance. A budget helps each team to understand its constraints and the resources it has available to meet its goals. Setting individual budgets for different teams can also help you to track the progress of your company and its spending overall.

4. Identifying Areas for Cost Reduction

Financial planning helps you identify areas in which you can save money. If you’ve been in business for a while, you can first review what you’ve spent and how quickly your business is growing. Identify unnecessary expenses and those that are over-inflated, and trim them accordingly in your budget for the upcoming year.

5. Mitigating Risks

A great aspect of financial planning is that it helps you to identify and mitigate risks that your company could face. You should include controls for inefficiencies, losses that can be covered with insurance, and protection against internal theft or fraud. A part of financial planning involves identifying the risks that apply to your particular type of business, ordering them in their order of priority, and determining strategies to implement to mitigate risks to help to reduce your chance of losses.

6. Managing Crises

Having a plan in place can be helpful whenever your company faces a crisis. During a crisis, you should review and rework your financial plan accordingly to include your response and which strategies to employ.

7. Easier Fundraising

If you need capital funding from an investor or bank, one of the first things you will be asked for is a copy of your business plan. Investors want to know what your plan is for growing your business, the risks you face, and how you will use your money wisely.

Your financial plan should provide all of these types of information to prospective investors so that they can get a clear idea of your business goals and the projections you have about the future. Even if you are not currently looking for funds, having a plan can come in handy if and when you are.

8. Serving as a Roadmap for Growth

Your financial plan helps you assess your business’s current situation and project where you see your business going in the future. Your larger business plan will accomplish these goals on a broad level and discuss information about your target markets, how many employees you need, and the services or products you plan to offer.

The financial section of your plan should include data showing how you will work to reach your goals and what you will need to invest to get there. Determine how much you expect your business to grow, the expenses you’ll have, and how much revenue you project to come in.

9. Building Trust Through Transparency

The financial planning process can help your company to build trust with both investors and your staff. When you are transparent with your employees, it helps to build their trust in you and your business. Employees want to know that the company they work for is managed effectively and working to be successful. You can share your financial plan with your employees in meetings so that they can also offer input from their experiences.

Talk to a South Jersey Accountant for My Small Business

If you are searching for small business accounting services and help with your financial planning, speak to the professionals at TMD Accounting. We are a full-service accounting firm that serves companies in many industries. Call us today to schedule an appointment at 1-856-228-2205.

Tax Deductions for Small Business Owners Working From Home

Small Business, Tax Planning

Many small business owners have a space inside their homes where they work. These business owners can make certain deductions on their taxes. Remember, there are a few rules from the IRS concerning these write-offs. If you want to know what tax deductions you can take, here are a few points to consider.

The “Exclusive Test”

While you may work out of your home, not all spaces can be claimed as a home office. According to the IRS, you must be able to show that a portion of your home is a principal place of business. You must exclusively use that space to work. If you don’t have a dedicated space in your home, you cannot take the home office deduction. This is known as the “exclusive test” by the IRS.

For example, a spare room in your home can be claimed as a business office and deducted from your taxes. However, you cannot claim a living room or bedroom because those areas are used for personal purposes. There are a few exceptions, such as individuals using their home as a daycare or businesses storing inventory in the home.

You must also be an independent contractor or registered business owner to take the home office deduction. Anyone working from home as a business employee is not eligible for the deduction. The IRS rules about this deduction can be confusing. If you have questions, our small business accounting services can help to address your concerns.

Will These Deductions Cause an Audit?

Some people worry whether taking the home office deduction will cause the IRS to audit their returns. Yes, the IRS does have strict rules, but you will not get an automatic audit with these deductions. There are ways to reduce your chances of an audit.

First, you will want to ensure you qualify for all those deductions. Maintain accurate records of your purchases and expenses. You will want to keep those personal and business expenses separate. The IRS has a system that can detect any red flags. For example, the system will compare your situation with others in your industry. Making higher claims than the average person in the industry could signal a problem with the IRS. Remember that IRS audits are rare, but you should always be prepared with the proper paperwork and documentation for your deductions.

Tax Deduction for a Home-Based Business

Those home office-related deductions are based on the percentage of space that you use for the business. You will need to divide your office’s square footage by your home’s total square footage. With that number, you can deduct the right percentage of each home expense. Sometimes, you can deduct your office’s homeowner’s insurance and association fees, mortgage insurance, and cleaning service. Utilities can also be deducted from your business taxes, including electricity, water, phone, and internet.

If you make upgrades or repairs to the space, then you can write those expenses off. However, the amount of the write-offs will depend on whether the repairs benefitted your office or the entire home. While you may want to deduct every expense for your home office, you really need to hire a professional to look over your business taxes.

Over the years, the IRS has been cracking down on fraudulent deductions. You want to make sure that these deductions are appropriate for your situation.

Other Business Expenses

What else can you deduct from your taxes? There are plenty of standard deductions for other business expenses. For something to be qualified as deductible, that expense must be considered “ordinary and necessary.” What does that mean? The expense must be common and also helpful for your industry. For example, you cannot take a lavish vacation and deduct the expenses, claiming it was a necessary part of your business.

There are some common business expenses for your taxes.

If your business manufactures products or purchases items for resale, then you can deduct the cost of goods sold. You may write off direct labor costs, factory overhead, storage fees, and the cost of the raw products on your taxes.

Capital expenses are the costs that are required to operate your business. There are three types of capital expenses: business assets, improvements, and startup costs.

You may deduct certain car expenses if you use the vehicle as a part of the business. Like the home office write-off, you can deduct a certain percentage of the car’s usage. For example, business owners can calculate the miles driven for business purposes to receive a deduction.

You might be able to deduct rental expenses if you do not own the business property. In some situations, the interest could be deducted if an owner borrowed money for the business. You can also deduct state, local, federal, and foreign taxes from your taxes.

Travel expenses are also eligible, but you can only claim them if you reimburse those costs under an accountable plan. Once again, travel expenses must be related to the business and not for personal use.

Any supplies or materials are deductible from your taxes. Plus, professional services are also considered a business expense. You can write off those fees from a lawyer, bookkeeper, or an accounting firm.

Finally, all of your business development and marketing expenses are eligible for a write-off. These business expenses are used to find and keep clients. With that, you can deduct them from your yearly taxes.

Many people are hesitant to take some deductions off their taxes. The IRS provides detailed explanations of these expenses on their website, which can help you determine what is eligible for a deduction. Completing your taxes can be challenging, especially for small business owners working from home. You may want to find an experienced accountant for your small business to help make the correct deductions on your taxes.

Need a South Jersey Accountant for Your Small Business?

At TMD Accounting, we have over 40 years of helping small businesses in the Gloucester County area. Our team can assist with your taxes, payroll, and bookkeeping needs. When you need a flexible and affordable option, we are here to help. Schedule a consultation by calling us at 856-228-2205.

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