Year End Checklist

Businesses worry about more than just gearing up for holiday festivities at year end. During this time they experience ‘crunch mode’ in order to complete many year-end tasks. Including closing their books, compiling annual statements, and meeting tax deadlines. Year-end requires a diligent approach to financial reporting. There are several steps that will help your business at year-end to ensure accuracy and compliance. To ease this process for you, we have put together a checklist for a seamless year-end review.

Get Organized

• Now is a great time to embrace that accounting software you have been eyeing for awhile. It will help with efficiency, as well as accuracy.
• Not ready to take on an accounting system? That is ok! However, you will want to organize your paper trail. Performing this task through out the year, helps to ensure you have comprehensive documentation of expenses.

Review the Trial Balance

• After organizing your financial data, review the Trial Balance report. You will want to review the balances of your business’ accounts. Also, make sure to review the activity of accounts with zero balances.
• Analyze balances for variances—incorrect debits or credits, unexpected account balances. Also, review the classifications of all transactions. If there are any misclassifications, be sure to resolve these.
• Make sure to prepare reconciliations for the bank statements, credit card statements, and statements from third-party providers.

Payroll Expense Reconciliation

• Payroll expenses are prone to error; therefore, it is important to reconcile the payroll expenses with the 941, 940, and SUTA tax returns.
• To avoid penalties, ensuring compliance with the IRS regulations is essential.

Review Accounts Payable and Receivable

• Review both the A/P and A/R aging reports
• Ensure there is no missing information, and the outstanding balances, not only are accurate, but reconcile to the Trial Balance report balances.
  • Accounts Payable: this means that all bills and bill payments have been recorded.
  • Accounts Receivable: All invoices are recorded and have been sent out to customers. Any payments from customers have also been recorded.

Work-from-Home State Tax Implications

• Asses the state tax implications for remote workers
• Document all employees’ work locations, accounting for potential tax liabilities for different states.
• Review rules for additional tax filings based on each state’s regulations.

Take Inventory of Property and Equipment

• Do not forget to review your fixed assets, including those with remote employees.
• Document any new assets, disposals, and modifications and update the fixed asset listing.
• Ensure the depreciation balance is accurate for the year.

Review Trends

• Reviewing trends helps to ensure that all financial data is complete and accurate.
• Fluctuations will pose red flags and will require a deep dive into what is going on. Ultimately, identifying misclassifications, missing entries, etc.
• Assessing the trends should be done over several periods. At year-end it is recommended to perform this over multiple years.

A thorough year-end checklist is an indispensable tool for any business. While this checklist provides guidance, it does not cover every detail of the year-end process. Our team helps facilitate a proactive approach ensuring your business is prepared for year-end challenges throughout the year.

Originally written by Cheryl Jefferson Cooke

Updated and additional content provided by Elizabeth Partlow

Joint Ventures

A joint venture is a business arrangement where two or more businesses work together on a specific project or business activity. They combine resources and expertise to achieve common goals.  This collaboration is a way for businesses to pursue opportunities, share risks, and leverage each other’s strengths. However, businesses can still maintain a degree of independence. These ventures do require careful planning and clear communication between the parties. This helps to ensure the success of the venture and to manage potential conflicts. While there are many types, each provides a number of benefits for businesses.

Types of Joint Ventures

Joint ventures come in many different forms to meet the specific goals and needs of the parties. There are four common types, which are:

• Project Based Joint Venture: Is a temporary and strategic collaboration between two or more independent entities. Entities execute a specific project or a series of interconnected projects. It has a beginning and end date and focuses exclusively on the successful completion of the project’s goals and objectives. Common industries for these ventures are construction, engineering, and real estate development.
• Function-Based Joint Venture: Multiple entities perform specific business functions or activities. Each entity brings unique strengths, capabilities, and/or resources to the table. These ventures leverage the distinct skills of each entity to attain common objectives. The manufacturing, marketing, and research and development are a few industries that use this joint venture.

• Vertical Joint Venture: Is a strategic collaboration between multiple entities at different stages of a supply chain or production process within a specific industry. The primary goal is to improve coordination, efficiency, and competitiveness. This is done by leveraging the unique strengths and capabilities of each entity. Also, they formalize their collaboration through a structured agreement. Some of these ventures create new legal entities to oversee joint operations. The agriculture and automotive sectors often used these ventures.

• Horizontal Joint Venture: A strategic collaboration joining entities that operate within the same industry. This venture is designed to combine the entities resources, expertise, and capabilities to achieve their goals. While improving their competitiveness within the industry. Additionally, these joint ventures promote resource sharing, risk reduction, and the ability to capitalize on economies of scale.

Benefits of Joint Ventures

There are many advantages businesses that seek when choosing to collaborate and form joint ventures. First, there is resource sharing. The entities combine their resources, while reducing their costs.

Also, risk mitigation occurs. Risk is spread amongst all the businesses, helping to provide a safety net regarding unforeseen challenges. Joint ventures also open doors to new markets, and new customers. Lastly, by combining forces, companies can achieve a stronger competitive position in their industry, making it more challenging for competitors to match their capabilities.

Joint ventures provide many benefits to businesses. However, not understanding them can cause joint ventures to seem somewhat daunting. Allow our team of experts to help you!

Contributed by Elizabeth Partlow

Navigating the Roller Coaster: The Top Reasons Small Businesses Bite the Dust

Introduction: The Thrills and Spills of Small Business Ventures 

Embarking on a small business journey is like hopping onto a roller coaster of entrepreneurship. It’s a wild ride with steep climbs, heart-pounding drops, and unexpected twists and turns. While some businesses manage to secure their seatbelts and thrive, others plummet to the ground. But what exactly causes these businesses to nosedive? Let’s unravel the mysteries behind their fates. 

1. Unforeseen Financial Abyss 

Money makes the world go ’round, and the lack thereof can quickly halt a promising business. Many startups underestimate the financial demands of running a business, leaving them without a cushion to weather tough times. From operational expenses to unexpected emergencies, not having a solid financial plan can be a one-way ticket to failure. 

2. Blind Spots in Market Research

You can’t shoot in the dark and expect to hit a bullseye. Similarly, diving headfirst into a market without proper research can leave you shooting blanks. Failing to understand your target audience, competitors, and market trends can lead to products or services that miss the mark entirely. 

3. Leadership Limbo

A ship without a captain is destined to drift astray. In the business realm, effective leadership is the rudder that steers the ship toward success. Inexperienced or ineffective leadership can create confusion, lack of direction, and a disengaged team. It’s essential to have a strong leader at the helm who can navigate through challenges with finesse. 

4. Marketing Mayhem

If a tree falls in the forest and no one’s around to hear it, does it make a sound? Similarly, if a business offers fantastic products or services but fails to market them effectively, it might as well be invisible. Poor marketing and lack of brand visibility can lead to a lackluster customer base and, ultimately, business failure. 

5. Scaling Stumbles

The grass might be greener on the other side, but attempting to expand too quickly can lead to a tumble down the hill. Premature scaling, without a strong foundation and a clear growth strategy, can strain resources and destabilize a business. It’s important to crawl before walking and walk before running. 

6. Quality Quagmire

Cutting corners on quality might save a dime today, but it can cost you a dollar tomorrow. Delivering subpar products or services can tarnish your reputation and drive customers away. Maintaining high quality should be non-negotiable to build trust and credibility. 

7. Technological Turmoil

Living in the stone age while your competitors zoom past on the information superhighway? That’s a recipe for disaster. Ignoring technological advancements or failing to adapt to them can render your business outdated and inefficient. 

Conclusion: Navigating the Entrepreneurial Maze

In the turbulent world of small businesses, the journey from startup to success is far from predictable. It’s a thrilling ride that demands resilience, strategic planning, and adaptability. Understanding the potential pitfalls and taking proactive measures to avoid them can significantly increase the odds of staying on the track to triumph. 

Looking to shift your focus to growing the business? Virtual CFO provides GovCon-centric strategic accounting for small businesses providing services in technology, architecture, engineering, aerospace, and project management industries.  

We know your pain points – let us help you relieve them – schedule a consult. 

Payroll Management

For most businesses payroll is one of the largest expenses. It includes not only employee salaries, but also benefits, taxes, and other related costs. Due to this payroll management is a vital function for businesses. The payroll process is more than just paychecks and requires meticulous record keeping. Regardless of your business’ size, effectively managing payroll is essential from a compliance standpoint, as well as for overall business success. 

Importance of Payroll Management

Payroll management is the process of overseeing the financial aspects of employees’ compensation. It is crucial for businesses as it plays a pivotal role in its overall financial health. There are several reasons proper payroll management is important for a business. To begin with, businesses must adhere to various federal, state, and local labor laws and tax regulations. Accurate payroll ensures compliance with these laws. Also, having accurate payroll records is vital for both internal purposes and regulatory compliance. These records provide a historical record of employee compensation, deductions, and tax withholdings, which is crucial during audits or when dealing with employee inquiries. It can also help businesses budget for labor costs, ensuring financial stability and preventing cash flow problems. Lastly, and in some regards, the most important, it maintains employee morale and trust. Errors or delays in payment can lead to dissatisfaction and affect employee retention.

How Outsourcing Helps Small Businesses with Payroll Management 

Outsourcing is a strategic decision that can benefit businesses in many ways. First, by outsourcing payroll responsibilities, your business can streamline their operations. Allowing you more time to focus on core activities. Also, this allows the experts to navigate the complex tax laws and labor regulations. Ultimately, increasing accuracy, while simultaneously minimizing the risk of costly errors and penalties. Another benefit is that it reduces costs for your business. The need for in-house payroll staff and software no longer exists.  Lastly, outsourcing payroll management redirects resources towards other important aspects of the business. You now have the opportunity and resources to focus on growing and developing your business.

Payroll management is key for businesses to ensure legal compliance, financial stability, employee satisfaction, and operational efficiency. Outsourcing payroll to a team of experts can help your business achieve all this, and more.

Contributed by Elizabeth Partlow

10 Reasons Why Job Cost Accounting is Important for Engineering 

Many professional service industries work on a contract or project basis. Knowing how much each client or project brings to the equity of the firm is paramount.  Basic accounting will not provide the level of insight that you desire into the company’s financial health and profitability of the projects that you take on.  Engineering is one such industry where managing the profitability of your projects is key.  This makes job cost accounting crucial for engineering projects for several reasons: 

1. Budget Management: Accurate job cost tracking helps in managing project budgets effectively. By monitoring costs in real-time, engineers and project managers can identify potential cost overruns early and take corrective actions to keep the project on budget.
2. Resource Allocation: Knowing the specific costs associated with different tasks, materials, and labor allows for efficient allocation of resources. Engineers can make informed decisions about where to allocate resources to ensure tasks are completed within budget and on schedule.  Staffing shortages will create backlogs on projects, reducing the revenue you can actually bill for.
3. Cost Control: Detailed job cost data allows for better cost control throughout the project’s lifecycle. If certain tasks or phases of the project are costing more than anticipated, adjustments can be made to mitigate these overages and bring the project back in line with the budget.  This is especially important for fixed price projects.
4. Performance Evaluation: Job cost analysis provides insights into the performance of various aspects of the project. It allows engineers and project managers to compare actual costs against the estimated costs and assess whether the project is progressing as planned.
5. Profitability Analysis: For engineering firms, understanding job costs is essential for evaluating project profitability. Accurate cost tracking enables firms to calculate their profit margins accurately, helping them make informed decisions about future project bids and resource allocations.  Historical profitability analysis provides insight into the clients you want to accept in the future.
6. Decision Making: Detailed job cost data aids in making informed decisions throughout the project’s lifecycle. Engineers can identify areas where cost-saving measures can be applied without compromising the project’s quality or schedule.
7. Risk Management: Job cost tracking helps identify potential cost-related risks early on. By recognizing cost trends that deviate from the plan, engineers can take proactive measures to mitigate risks and avoid larger problems down the line.
8. Client Communication: Transparent and accurate job cost reporting enhances communication with clients. It allows clients to understand how their money is being used and provides reassurance that the project is being managed effectively.
9. Benchmarking and Lessons Learned: By analyzing historical job cost data, engineering firms can identify patterns and trends that contribute to successful projects. This information can be used to refine future cost estimates, project planning, and resource allocation.
10. Legal and Regulatory Compliance: Some engineering projects may have legal and regulatory requirements related to cost reporting and tracking. Proper job cost documentation ensures compliance with these requirements.  Compliance with Federal Acquisition Regulations or similar for federal or state government contracts requires strict compliance.  

In summary, job cost tracking is essential for managing budgets, allocating resources, controlling costs, evaluating performance, making informed decisions, assessing profitability, managing risks, communicating with stakeholders, and complying with legal and regulatory standards in engineering projects. It provides the data needed to ensure projects are completed successfully, on time, and within budget.  

Are you a Professional Services Firm? Outsourcing your accounting can provide real-time job cost data and free up time for you to make better use of the information.  Virtual CFO provides GovCon-centric strategic accounting for small businesses providing services in technology, architecture, engineering, aerospace, and project management industries whether you have government contracts or not.  

We know your pain points – let us help you relieve them – schedule a consult.