If you think your accountant’s skills are only helpful at tax time, think again. As a small business owner, accounting is vital to your business in various ways you may not realize. A trusted accountant can be one of your top allies in establishing and maintaining a successful business. Read on to learn our top tips about how accounting can help your business succeed.

Accountants are usually the first to come to mind when you consider general bookkeeping tasks and filing taxes; however, an experienced accountant can be a tremendous asset to any small business as part of its financial advisory team. Here are five ways accounting can benefit your business.

1. Accounting keeps your business finances organized.

Simply put, accounting is the way a business tracks financial activity. As a small business owner, you probably already know you can’t run a successful business without accounting. When you consider the numerous financial actions that occur in a business on an ongoing basis, you can imagine how easy it can be to become adrift in a sea of receipts, invoices, bank statements, and financial forms. Accounting solves this problem by implementing a record-keeping system to maintain all of your business’s financial records and activity. With that information at your fingertips, you are always organized and able to pull any records you need at a moment’s notice.

2. Accounting ensures that you’re keenly aware of your business’s financial position.

Once your business finances are organized, you will use that information to generate reports that help you understand your business’s financial position. You may think you don’t have time to run a business and tackle accounting, which is understandable. Most business owners happily outsource accounting to a qualified firm. If that’s the route you choose for your business, you need to discuss your financial position with your accountant. They can help you understand the reports and statements that reflect where your business stands financially. This knowledge is vital to making the best decisions for your company.

3. Accounting guides decision-making regarding your small business.

With ongoing and accurate insight into your small business’s finances, you will understand how your business performs and make wise decisions that are data-driven, not gut-influenced. For example, let’s say your main product requires a component that could be purchased from an outside source or manufactured by your company in-house. It will be easy to decide whether to purchase or produce that component for the best financial outcome with reliable accounting. This fact-based approach goes a long way in avoiding costly decision-making errors over the life of your business.

4. Accounting makes it easy to track accountability and financial errors.

No one wants to consider fraud as an issue in their business; however, a 2019 research study exploring fraud in small businesses found that 30 percent of small businesses experience fraud. The most common type is asset misappropriation. A sound accounting system can remove any worry that such an occurrence gets out of hand. With your pulse on your business’s finances via accurate and timely accounting reports, an issue will be detected sooner rather than later, which could save you thousands of dollars in the long run.

5. Accounting can help you grow your business.

With regular financial statements and insights such as cash flow projections and potential expenditures, you can plan for your business’s future more accurately. Decisions like whether to purchase new equipment, when to expand and when to add (or cut) employees are all decisions accounting can help you make.

So, in addition to budgeting, preparing taxes, and monitoring income and expenditures, accounting can breathe the life of growth into your small business and provide you with peace of mind knowing you are doing all that you can to ensure success.

Contact our accounting firm to get started.

Source for point 4, above: Bunn, Esther; Ethridge, Jack; and Crow, Kaili, “Fraud in Small Businesses: A Preliminary Study” (2019). Faculty Publications. 34.

When you start a business, there are endless decisions to make. Among the most important is how to structure your business. Why is it so significant? Because the structure you choose will affect how your business is taxed and the degree to which you (and other owners) can be held personally liable. Here’s an overview of the various structures.

Sole Proprietorship

This is a popular structure for single-owner businesses. No separate business entity is formed, although the business may have a name (often referred to as a DBA, short for “doing business as”). A sole proprietorship does not limit liability, but insurance may be purchased.

You report your business income and expenses on Schedule C, an attachment to your personal income tax return (Form 1040). Net earnings the business generates are subject to both self-employment taxes and income taxes. Sole proprietors may have employees but don’t take paychecks themselves.

Limited Liability Company

If you want protection for your personal assets in the event your business is sued, you might prefer a limited liability company (LLC). An LLC is a separate legal entity that can have one or more owners (called “members”). Usually, income is taxed to the owners individually, and earnings are subject to self-employment taxes.

Note: It’s not unusual for lenders to require a small LLC’s owners to personally guarantee any business loans.

Corporation

A corporation is a separate legal entity that can transact business in its own name and files corporate income tax returns. Like an LLC, a corporation can have one or more owners (shareholders). Shareholders generally are protected from personal liability but can be held responsible for repaying any business debts they’ve personally guaranteed.

If you make a “Subchapter S” election, shareholders will be taxed individually on their share of corporate income. This structure generally avoids federal income taxes at the corporate level.

Partnership

In certain respects, a partnership is similar to an LLC or an S corporation. However, partnerships must have at least one general partner who is personally liable for the partnership’s debts and obligations. Profits and losses are divided among the partners and taxed to them individually.

You face plenty of challenges as a small business owner. Finding ways to protect yourself against lawsuits is a major one. You may be able to add protection by structuring your business as a corporation or limited liability company (LLC). Both these entities may shield the owners’ or members’ personal assets from the company’s debts and liabilities.

The protection isn’t bulletproof, however. Requirements must be met, and the separation between the owners or LLC members and the business must be clearly established. Evidence to the contrary could spell trouble.

The Corporate Veil

In the face of a legal challenge, if you’re not following proper protocol, a court may decide your business isn’t being operated as a separate entity from the owner(s) — despite the existence of a corporation or LLC. That could lead to a legal decision to “pierce the corporate veil,” a term that means the owners’/members’ personal assets can be used to satisfy business debts and liabilities.

Follow Formalities

Corporations must meet strict state requirements regarding bylaws, director and shareholder meetings, issuing stock and recording transfers, fulfilling annual state filing requirements, and paying corporate taxes. There are fewer requirements for LLCs, but members would be wise to follow the guidelines for corporations.

Document Diligently

The best way to show that your business is operating properly is to document everything. Keep minutes of all major management meetings and record all business activities and decisions. Keep these records with your other formal business documents (including contracts your company is party to) for a minimum of seven years.

Capitalize but Don’t Commingle

It takes money to run a business. There are several ways to capitalize your business: You and the other owners or members might fund it, you might take out a loan, or you might find new partners who are willing to fund you. Regardless of what method you choose, be sure to document all important financial transactions.

Never commingle your personal assets with business assets. Establish separate bank accounts and credit cards for your business, keep property and equipment separate, and file separate income tax returns.

Science fiction movies and books may portray artificial intelligence as a human-like giant brain with thousands of wires coming from it that control whole cities and their populations. The reality today is that artificial intelligence is unobtrusive, everywhere, and we are interacting with it multiple times daily without always recognizing that we are.

Artificial intelligence is being used by large corporations in a range of areas, including sales, marketing, customer service, employee training/coaching, and logistics. Small businesses can also employ artificial intelligence to improve customer service, reduce costs, and help drive revenues.

What It Is

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a branch of computer science that focuses on building smart machines capable of performing tasks that typically require human intelligence. Essentially, it endeavors to simulate human intelligence in machines. Examples of AI applications many people are familiar with include smart assistants (such as Siri and Alexa) and virtual agents that interact with customers and guide them to possible solutions. Looking ahead, self-driving trucks and cars are in various stages of development, and some vehicles already have self-driving features.

Customer Service

AI can be deployed through the use of chatbots to handle a variety of tasks, such as directing callers to the function they want (e.g., automatic payments). On a more complex level, AI can be used online to help customers with product search and discovery and respond to requests with relevant recommendations. Businesses can use data gathered from AI chatbot customer interactions to identify where in the process problems may arise and what these problems are so that they can be eliminated in the future.

Logistics

Moving goods from one point to another requires up-to-the-minute data so that what is being shipped is shipped in the most efficient and cost-effective way possible. Certain AI programs can predict points where congestion may happen and help redirect trucks and vans so that they avoid bottlenecks and slowdowns. AI essentially streamlines the supply chain. It can do something similar when it comes to warehouse management — identifying choke points that slow the movement of goods from point A to point B.

Marketing

AI marketing sets out to leverage customer data and machine learning to anticipate a customer’s next move and to nudge that customer toward either buying something or increasing his or her average order value. Businesses are using AI to attract, nurture, and convert prospects.

By tracking a customer’s online searches, AI programs can identify what products an individual might be interested in and may be considering buying. AI can target that individual with ads highlighting products or services previously identified as being of interest to the customer. This approach essentially uses machine learning to offer personalized product recommendations.

Sales Training

AI can be used to coach salespeople to improve their sales skills and help them increase their percentage of successful sales calls. AI programs exist that can analyze a number of variables that are used by the most successful salespeople and use that data to identify strategies that can be replicated and utilized by other salespeople within the organization.

As with any technology, there are costs involved in incorporating AI into a company’s operations. A financial professional can assist you in analyzing the costs and potential financial benefits of any new technological enhancements your small business may be considering.