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Prepare to Meet With Your New Bookkeeper in Elkhorn, WI

admin | August 1, 2015

Countless businesses in the United States make frequent bookkeeping errors. In many cases, they go unnoticed, although ignoring bookkeeping errors can easily lead to much greater problems later on. Having a sound understanding of your current finances is critical as a business owner. If you find that you do not have time to properly take care of your books, you should consider hiring a professional bookkeeper in Elkhorn, WI.

If you are just getting around to hiring a bookkeeper, then chances are you have never met with one before. Hopefully you have already read some useful tips on how to hire the right bookkeeper for your business, but once you have made your decision, you might be wondering how to prepare for your first meeting. It always pays to get started on the right foot, so here are some quick tips to help you arrive prepared for your first meeting with a bookkeeper.

Learn a little about bookkeeping in advance

As a business owner, you hopefully already have a basic understanding of the accounting cycle and how to properly record your business transactions. There is a chance, however, that you are completely unfamiliar with accounting and bookkeeping practices. If that’s the case, do some research online, buy a book or even consider taking a short course offered by a local college in order to learn some of the basics.

By having a better understanding of bookkeeping practices, you can ask better questions, get a broader understanding of whether you truly need a bookkeeper in Elkhorn, WI and if nothing else, you will learn some important things in the process.

Keep accurate and thorough financial records

In addition to having a basic understanding of bookkeeping, it is important to keep your books current and have a hard or digital copy on hand for your first meeting. This will allow your bookkeeper to get right into the truly important information. If you show up without concrete information, you will not get particularly good advice. Getting the most out of your meeting will require that the bookkeeper is able to get straight into the numbers. Bringing everything will also demonstrate to the bookkeeper that you are organized and prepared to take hold of your business’ financial future.

If you hire a bookkeeper in Elkhorn, WI, you most likely want to get your finances better organized. While this is definitely something your bookkeeper can help you accomplish, it pays to get somewhat organized before your first meeting. This will help you ensure you bring along important tax and expenditure information, and once you have hired a bookkeeper, it will help them get to work faster. Remember that you are paying for a service—you should expect them to do the work that truly requires experience and expertise, not just organizational work attempting to find old tax records. To get the most out of your investment in a bookkeeper, get organized before your first meeting.

Get informed, get organized and bring your records along to your first meeting. Follow these simple tips and your first meeting with a bookkeeper in Elkhorn, WI will go much more smoothly. Consider calling today to learn more about bookkeeping services, and for the specific documentation you should expect to bring along for your first meeting.

Do You Have Back Taxes? Take Care of Them Today!

admin | July 15, 2015

Tax season is one of those times that comes around each year that’s too big to ignore—it’s like the red-headed stepchild of holidays. That being said, even though you might not like it, it’s still important to go through the yearly routine: collect your documents and spend some quality time with any one of the tax preparation services in Elkhorn, WI.

But what happens if you skip tax day?

It’s a horrifying thought: tax season comes and goes and you forget to file! What do you do? What happens to you? How do you make it right?

In this situation, you’d be looking at back taxes: taxes that are past due and still owed for previous years. It’s actually a problem that many people and businesses face for one reason or another and despite the fear that comes with being on the IRS’ bad side, it’s actually not all that hard to fix.

Back taxes should be handled by a tax professional for a couple of reasons. First, you’re likely going to have to file specially. Second, unless you’re entitled to a huge refund, you’re likely going to owe a penalty on the late taxes. And finally, there’s a risk of being audited, which means you’re going to want a real pro in your corner.

If you’re seeking tax preparation services in Elkhorn, WI for back taxes, look no further than A Plus Accounting LLC Traveling Bean Counters! We can help you make amends with Uncle Sam and make sure all of your future returns are signed, sealed and delivered when tax season rolls around in future years.

Three Reasons to Outsource Bookkeeping and Payroll in Elkhorn, WI

admin | July 8, 2015

There are a few golden rules in the world of small business and most of them involve taking charge of your finances and keeping them in good standing. Unfortunately, this is often where small business owners have the most trouble and frequently, many small businesses are put in jeopardy because of a simple yet costly financial mistake, like messing up a tax filing or forgetting to issue paychecks!

Take a look at three good reasons to hand off your bookkeeping and payroll in Elkhorn, WI to a professional and how you can avoid unfortunate financial situations:

Happy employees are productive employees; unpaid employees are far from happy employees. An accountant or payroll professional will make sure your employees get paid on time and in full, to prevent staff turnover and other workforce issues.
If your books aren’t adding up or leveling out, Uncle Sam is going to have some tough questions for you… and you’re not likely going to have very good answers for him. A bookkeeping professional will make sure you’re on the right side of the law when it comes to your finances.
Maintaining a consistent, thorough paper trail is going to make for a more sustainable business model. If you can count on your bookkeeping and payroll in Elkhorn, WI to be perfectly documented, you’re taking one step closer to financial peace of mind.

Need more reasons to outsource bookkeeping and payroll? Give the professionals at A Plus Accounting LLC Traveling Bean Counters a call today to learn more!

What is Accounting?

admin | July 1, 2015

Ask most people what they think accounting in Elkhorn, WI entails and you’re going to get a wide variety of responses… most of them centered around managing money. While this is definitely in the ballpark of what an accountant does, accounting is much more than just recording transactions and tracking down cash! There are really two distinct facets of accounting:

Recording transactions and managing cash flow.
Organizing, retrieving, summarizing and presenting data regarding cash flow.

Now, even the above explanations are pretty generalized and that’s because the job of an accountant might vary tremendously depending on the employer—a small business accountant might be tasked with presenting profit and loss data to owners and management, while a personal accountant might be more entrenched with tax filings and asset allocation. This isn’t to say that accounting duties can’t overlap, however—they often do!

Accounting in Elkhorn, WI might seem like a complicated numbers game and it often is, but at the root of it all, it’s more than just a suit sitting behind a desk balancing books for a business—it’s a skilled professional making sure that the numbers add up and the business (or person) stays financially sound.

Ease Your Mind with Payroll Services in Elkhorn, WI

admin | June 15, 2015

If you are considering outsourcing your company’s payroll services, chances are you have discovered it can be a detail-oriented and time-consuming process. Today, many companies are finding there are a handful of perks that come with shifting management of these responsibilities to external payroll services in Elkhorn, WI. The following are among the benefits of outsourcing a company’s payroll:

Cost-effectiveness: Having your in-house employees work on payroll can quickly drain a budget, especially for small businesses with fewer than 20 employees. If you add up factors such as staff hours dedicated to payroll, printing and distributing checks and creating relevant forms and documents, you may find that these costs are more than you anticipated. These “small” expenses can amount to thousands of dollars and consume valuable employee time. You may discover that a payroll services provider can handle just as much of the work for a fraction of your current costs.

Accuracy and dependability: At best, a payroll mistake can cost a company the time and money it takes to correct the error. At worst, a payroll mistake can lead to severe setbacks and penalties from the IRS. By hiring a service to take care of your payroll, you can rest easy knowing that professionals are guaranteeing this portion of your company’s finances will be processed correctly. Not only can you depend on a service to properly handle these financial matters, you can also trust that payroll will be processed like clockwork. Should an employee fall ill, go on vacation or resign, your payroll will still be completed and delivered on time.

Clear responsibility: A critical way that payroll services can help to ease your mind is by establishing that if a mistake is made during the processing of your payroll, the service provider is held accountable for correcting it. The responsibilities of your payroll service provider also extend to the safety of your documents. Sometimes, especially in the case of small businesses, accessing technologies that help protect your information is not a viable option. Professional services are designed to keep your information confidential and protected while it’s in their hands.

Increased productivity: Having a professional service handle your payroll removes the burden of this process from you and your employees. This allows employee energy to be redirected toward revenue-generating areas of your business. It also means that zero company time will be dedicated to hiring, training, supervising or even terminating and replacing payroll employees. This alone will increase productivity across all channels, and may allow your business to function on a leaner number of workers. Finally, if your business needs involve seasonal workers, you won’t have to slow productivity by processing payroll for an influx of temporary employees. Payroll services quickly handle all the details, leaving your time free to focus on your business.

Bringing on skillful, efficient professionals for payroll services in Elkhorn, WI has the potential to impact your business in countless constructive ways. For more information on how payroll services can transform your company’s payroll process, contact a trusted professional at A Plus Accounting LLC Traveling Bean Counters.

Monday:	8 AM - 4 PM
Tuesday:	8 AM - 4 PM
Wednesday:	8 AM - 4 PM
Thursday:	8 AM - 4 PM
Friday:	By Appt Only
Saturday:	By Appt Only
Sunday:	Closed