Monthly Archives: August 2013

The Best Accountants Can be Trusted with Sensitive Information

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On August 26th, rapper Fat Joe will head to prison after a tax evasion conviction in December of 2012. He will serve four months for failing to pay taxes on over $1 million in income during 2007 and 2008. Failing to pay income taxes is a very serious violation of the law, and Fat Joe might be lucky to only be serving four months.

Where the story interesting, however, is in the fact that Fat Joe is claiming his failure to pay taxes is the fault of a suspect accountant. You would imagine that a millionaire rapper would only employ the best accountantsfat joe could have used the help of the best accountants to avoid jail time, but apparently that is not the case. Either he is not telling the truth regarding the unpaid taxes, or Joe needs a little help interviewing his employees and choosing the best in the field. Surely, he could have afforded an accountant who would ensure that his taxes were paid and that he remained a free man.

This story is relevant to every business owner or manager because almost every business entity has an accountant or a group of accountants working on their behalf. You would hope that you only have the best accountants on your team, but how do you know? If your accountant can’t be trusted with highly sensitive and important information, you could find yourself unwittingly in the middle of a serious problem. Assuming Fat Joe is telling the truth regarding his case,  that is exactly what has happened to him.

Vetting any accountant before they are trusted with your information and tax responsibilities is an important process. You should take the time to check references and work history thoroughly, especially considering how much trust you will be placing in their hands. Using GoodAccountants.com to locate a list of qualified accountants within your area will make finding the best accountants simple and straightforward. Once you have an accountant that you know can be trusted with even the most sensitive of materials, you will feel as if a weight has been lifted off your shoulders. Get started choosing your accountant today to ensure that you don’t suffer the same fate as poor Fat Joe.

Technology is Changing the Game for Small Business Accountants

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small business accountantsNew legislation in New Zealand is poised to make life easier on small business accountants and small business owners alike. The relationship between those two groups has always been a difficult one, with business owners struggling to see the value in retaining accountants to handle tasks that they may be able to do on their own. However, historically strict reporting requirements by the government has dictated that accountants ‘jump through the hoops’ to comply with the law even when it is not helping the business and is leading to countless hours of duplicated work.

Among other things, what this new finance law promises to do is set aside various ‘carve-outs’ for entities such as small businesses, small charities, and other organizations. This means that the old one-size-fits-all approach to financial reporting compliance will go out the door. Large corporations have very little in common with small businesses – but until now they have had the same requirements to comply with reporting law. Small business accountants are certainly grateful for this change, as it has the potential to greatly streamline what they can provide to small businesses when technology is leveraged.

Using so-called ‘cloud’ computing services, small business owners and small business accountants can now be on the same page at the same time, even if they are not physically in the same location. What this means is accountants will have the ability to view live data and offer more consulting and analytical services to business owners, rather than just spending their time preparing forms to submit to the government. When an accountant can take on a more advisory role, the value of their time and service is much easier for a small business owner to understand and appreciate. This could mean more employment opportunities within small businesses on a more regular basis.

Talented small business accountants all across the country can be located quickly and easily using GoodAccountants.com. Having a long-term working relationship with an accountant is one of the best intangible assets a business can have, especially in this technological age where so much more information can be shared with the push of a button. Find your own ideal accountant today and see what opportunities open up for your business.

Use a Find a CFO Service to Take Your Business to a New Level

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find a cfo with goodaccountants.com - time incs new cfo jeffrey bairstowEarlier this week, Time Inc. named Jeffrey Bairstow  as its new Chief Financial Officer, or CFO. Mr. Bairstow is experienced with the complex transition required to take traditionally print mediums like newspapers and move them into the digital world successfully. Also, Mr. Bairstow has the financial acumen to make this change while sustaining profitability and guiding the company in the right direction for years to come.

While the business you own or run is not likely as large as Time Inc., that doesn’t mean you can’t use a CFO to improve the future of your company. Many small businesses make the mistake of assuming they aren’t large enough to employ the services of a CFO and miss out on a great opportunity. Using a find a CFO service to locate perfect candidates, you could quickly find just the right person to steer your business in a profitable direction.

So why is a CFO a good idea for your business? There are many skills that a qualified CFO can bring to a business that might not exist with any of the current staff and management. Things like capital acquisition, government regulation, cost control measures, and more can be managed by the newly-hired CFO. In some cases, these might be areas of the business that have never been looked at before. It is not uncommon for a small business to undergo a significant transformation and improvement shortly after bringing on a CFO.

A find a CFO service online, such as the services offered at GoodAccountants.com, will be able to help you quickly locate potential candidates in a short period of time. What would have once been an intimidating and time consuming (not to mention expensive) process is now simple and affordable. Good people with the skills to serve as CFO are out there, and a find a CFO service will help bring them to your attention. Your calendar will fill up quickly with scheduled interviews and the search to locate your first-ever CFO isn’t likely to take much longer than it took for you to read this article (okay – maybe a little longer than that). Hiring a CFO might be just the push your business needs to take that next step and experience growth and profits that never before seemed possible.

Use a Tax Accounting Company to Take the Hassle Out of Form 941

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a tax accounting company can help you fill out form 941If you own or operate a business that employs at least one employee on a regular basis, you will need to fill out and submit the Form 941 to the IRS on a quarterly basis. This form identifies the individuals that are on your payroll, the amount of withholding and other payroll taxes that you have kept from their paychecks, and is accompanied by the appropriate payment when it is sent to the government.

Are you tired of filling this form out by yourself each month, or are you concerned you don’t have the knowledge to do it correctly? While the Form 941 is not the most complex accounting task in the world, it can still be a headache for many business owners. With that said, retaining the services of a tax accounting company to shoulder the load and complete this form for you is a great choice. GoodAccountants.com is a great place to find qualified accountants that you can be confident will complete your forms in an accurate and timely manner.

While all tax matters are taken very seriously by the government, employment taxes are watched especially closely. If a business withholds pay from employees for tax purposes and that money is not properly accounted for on Form 941, it will be viewed as a crime. You surely have no intent of stealing or cheating the system, but filling out these forms incorrectly could land you in a position you never expected to be in. A good tax accounting company will prevent this from being a possibility and you can spend your time on things you want to be doing – like successfully running the business.

If you don’t know who to contact for a reliable tax accounting company, start your search at GoodAccountants.com and sort through a long list of capable businesses that can come to your aid. Spending the money it costs to retain the services of one of these companies will more than pay for itself in peace of mind and confidence that your Form 941 is being filed correctly every quarter.