Month: March 2018
If you operate your small business as a limited liability company, you may already know that setting up Microsoft’s Small Business Accounting software can be sort of confusing. Fortunately, you can use four easy tips to assure that your new accounting software works as it should.
Tip #1: Pretend the LLC Is Something Else (for Accounting)
A limited liability company, for tax return preparation and bookkeeping purposes, always gets treated as something else.
An LLC with a single owner, or member, is treated as a sole proprietorship if the LLC operates an active trade or business, for example. And a limited liability company with multiple owners, or members, is treated as a partnership. (Note: The owners of an LLC corporation technically are labeled “members”.)
Limited liability companies may also elect for tax return preparation purposes to be treated as regular corporations (called C corporations) or as Subchapter S corporations.
The preceding discussion points to a first technique for correctly installing Microsoft’s accounting program for an LLC. When you run the installation wizard, do not tell the software you’re setting up a limited liability company. Instead, tell the installation program that you’re the type of business taxpayer (sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation or whatever) that the LLC will be treated as.
Correctly identifying the sort of taxpayer your LLC is means the accounting software gets setup in a way that works for your tax accounting.
Tip #2: Account for Single-member LLCs Inside the Parent LLC
A common asset protection technique is to have a parent LLC or a parent corporation own child LLCs and then have each child LLC own a chunk of the business. A retail chain with multiple locations, for example, might use a separate LLC for each outlet.
This sort of parent-child LLC structure makes legal sense. But for accounting purposes–and this is the tip–you don’t want to put the different LLCs into separate accounting datafiles. Rather, you want to track each child LLC’s accounts, income and deductions inside its parent’s accounting datafile.
This combination means that for tax accounting purposes, and as is appropriate, the parent and the children combine their income and deductions within a single Microsoft Small Business Accounting data file.
Tip #3: Use the Chart of Accounts to Identify LLC Assets and Debts
One other wrinkle should be mentioned related to combining LLC accounting records, however: Because each limited liability company is a different legal entity, you should use different accounts to track the assets owned by and liabilities owed by the separate limited liability companies.
Each LLC should have its own separate bank account, for example. Each LLC should track its own accounts receivable, furniture and fixtures using specific-to-that-LLC asset accounts. And each LLC should use track its debts with specific-to-that-LLC liability accounts.
Tip #4: Customize Forms for Each LLC as Necessary
As just mentioned, you can and should combine the parent LLC and the child LLC transactions within a single accounting datafile. However, you still want to recognize and visually highlight the separate legal identity of the parent LLC and of any child LLCs.
Within Microsoft Small Business Accounting, the easiest method of maintaining this separate identity is through customized forms for each entity. If an LLC invoices customers or clients, for example, that LLC should have its own customized invoice or statement form that uses that LLC’s name. If an LLC issues purchase orders, that LLC should have its own custom purchase order that (again) uses the LLC’s name. Obviously, if an LLC has its own bank account, that bank account will have its own check forms with the LLC name.
Note: Within the Microsoft accounting software program, the form windows provide options for customizing the form.
An accounting package is for communication and maintaining your financial records. The package produces information that tells specific things about the company. An accounting package provides the information regarding the finances of the business at the owners fingertips. The software should include accounts receivable, accounts payable, order entry, inventory control, cost accounting, payroll and fixed assets accounting. The general ledger should show transactions in four different categories. These categories include the account assets, liabilities, income and expenses.
The type of information needed from an accounting software program should be accurate, fulfill managements needs and be easy to use. As well as accuracy, relevancy and simplicity an accounting system should be set up so that it does not require an inordinate amount of time to maintain. The accounting system should be easy enough to understand so that a CPA is not required to operate it or interpret its output. Many small business owners are going to QuickBooks, as this is a relatively easy system to use. This software is very user friendly. Files can be transferred easily and the reports are easy to read. QuickBooks is one of many options offered. You should select the accounting package that best suits your business needs.
It is best to make sure that whoever is going to be running your accounting system has some knowledge of computers and accounting. Even though QuickBooks and other accounting software can be very user friendly, theperson running it will still need a certain amount of accounting knowledge. It might even be beneficial for the person running the accounting system to take a class or two in basic Accounting at your local community college.
If you are just starting your business and are looking at different software packages to purchase, many offer a 30 day trial or a demo version so that you can see what will work best for you.
For more information about accounting software programs, contact us today.
IAC Professionals is a single source for contracting qualified professionals to assist you with your most critical business needs. They offer a wide range of outsourcing solution which include Accounting, Bookkeeping, Virtual Assistants, Company Formation and Business Consulting.
As your business starts to grow, it is important for you to consider investing in accounting software like Quickbooks San Antonio. Such computer program will enable you to do your bookkeeping and help you track sales and inventory so much easier. Besides Quickbooks, another accounting software that is also popular is Peachtree. To help you decide which of these two to use in your company, simply read on.
One of the characteristics of accounting software that many people are looking for is ease of use. Since the ones that are handling bookkeeping in your company do not necessarily have to be accountants, you should pick a computer program that does not really require a steep learning curve. In this aspect, Quickbooks is ahead of Peachtree. Many people will tell you that the interface, menu titles and screens of Quickbooks software are all self-explanatory.
Strong customer support is another reason why Quickbooks is considered as the leader in the accounting software industry. It is quite easy to find online help for this particular program. Even those who are not fond of reading quick help books will surely find a way to master the program because there are many Quickbooks San Antonio tutors on the Internet. Besides, more people know how to operate Quickbooks because this is the software used by accounting and business students in various schools and universities in Texas.
When it comes to availability of features, you can also count on Quickbooks to provide more. Peachtree can give you functionalities that will enable you to perform basic accounting processes. However, if you are looking for software that can help you with your invoicing, credit card transactions, financial reporting and even payroll subscriptions, then you should seriously consider investing in Quickbooks.
Come to think of it, the financial reports are important aspects of accounting. With the help of accounting computer programs, it is a lot easier to produce different types of financial reports in a jiffy. Many people say that it is easier to create a customized financial report in Quickbooks than in Peachtree. Even if you are not familiar with this feature, you can still use it after you seek help from Quickbooks San Antonio experts.
Both Peachtree and Quickbooks are really effective when it comes to keeping track of your sales, inventories, cash, expenses and many other accounting concerns. However, QB is easier to understand and navigate. If you want to learn more about QB there are several Quickbooks ProAdvisors in San Antonio to help you get the job done.
E-Accounting: Problems and Prospects
Shraddha Verma Assistant Professor G.C.R.G Memorial Trust Group of Institutions Lucknow
Abstract
E-Accounting refers to Electronic Accounting, a term used to describe an accounting system that relies on computer technology for capturing and processing financial data in organizations. The manual accounting systems consisted of paper ledgers, typewriters and calculators. Typewriters were used to type invoices and cheques, and all calculations were performed using calculators. Now E-Accounting or Online Accounting is new development in field of accounting which can save the cost associated in accounting, it minimizes the paper work, Thus, source documents and accounting records exist in digital form instead of on paper in an electronic accounting system. with the help of various management applications like ERP,CRM ,project management e-accounting can be done. In E-Accounting the accountant and employer both feel satisfaction because , this is cheap and without software defaults or failure . Your accounts saves in online server or database , so there is no need to record manually, it does not require any software installation. A survey will be conducted among accounting agencies in order to provide evidence for the hypotheses. E-accounting problems & prospects research paper able to find out some of the basic problems, and prospects in e-accounting in the field of accounting and the research is exploratory in nature. This paper is based on a limited initial review of the literature and provides a brief summary of the theoretical part of the study. It should be regarded as a research proposal of an ongoing research project and as such it may develop and change in the process.
keywords: E-Accounting,Accounts payable, Book-keeping, accouts receiveables.
Introduction
E-Accounting is new development in field of accounting. It means all your transactions will record in online server or data base. E-accounting involves performing regular accounting functions, accounting research and the accounting training and education through various computer based /internet based accounting tools such as: digital tool kits, various internet resources, international web-based materials, institute and company databases which are internet based, web links, internet based accounting software and electronic financial spreadsheet tools to provide efficient decision making. The terms E-Accounting and financial information system are used to refer to any accounting system that depends on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for performing its information system functions. An E-accounting system could be thought of as an inter-organisational system because of its capability to electronically integrate a set of firms. In many operational applications the accounting entries can be generated as a by-product of the underlying transactions. A computerized accounting system is able to handle financial data efficiently, but the true value of an accounting system was that it was able to generate immediate reports regarding the company.
E-accounting involves performing regular accounting functions, accounting research and the accounting training and education through various computer based /internet based accounting tools such as digital tool kits, various internet resources, international web-based materials, institute and company databases which are internet based, web links, internet based accounting software and electronic financial spreadsheet tools to provide efficient decision making. Online accounting through a web application is typically based on a simple monthly charge and zero-administration approach to help businesses concentrate on core activities and avoid the hidden costs associated with traditional accounting software such as installation, upgrades, exchanging data files, backup and disaster recovery. E-accounting does not have a standard definition but merely refers to the changes in accounting due to computing and networking technologies Uses Accounts payable- is a file or account sub-ledger that records amounts that a person or company owes to suppliers, but has not paid yet (a form of debt), sometimes referred as trade payables. When an invoice is received, it is added to the file, and then removed when it is paid. Thus, the A/P is a form of credit that suppliers offer to their customers by allowing them to pay for a product or service after it has already been received. Accounts receivable- also known as Debtors, is money owed to a business by its clients (customers) and shown on its Balance Sheet as an asset. It is one of a series of accounting transactions dealing with the billing of a customer for goods and services that the customer has ordered. Bookkeeping- On a company’s balance sheet, accounts receivable is the money owed to that company by entities outside of the company. The receivables owed by the company’s customers are called trade receivables. Account receivables are classified as current assets assuming that they are due within one year. To record a journal entry for a sale on account, one must debit a receivable and credit a revenue account. When the customer pays off their accounts, one debits cash and credits the receivable in the journal entry. The ending balance on the trial balance sheet for accounts receivable is usually a debit. Business organizations which have become too large to perform such tasks by hand (or small ones that could but prefer not to do them by hand) will generally use accounting software on a computer to perform this task. Online Bookkeeping Process Understanding The Need V Pilot Project V Client Satisfaction V Agreements V Necessary Training V Actual Outsourcing V Implementation V Quality Check V Final Output
PRONTO-Xi Financials is a complete financial management software tool that allows you to automate many of your financial processes, establish greater security around those processes, manage cash flow better and gain enhanced insights into your operations. The functionality can be scaled up or down to suit your individual business needs making it suitable for businesses of any size. Integrate your financial management tasks to drive efficiency throughout your operations Focus on the data output rather than collecting the data in the first place Make better business decisions with accurate data captured and delivered to you in a timely fashion via robust business processes Complete set of financial tools including General Ledger, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Fixed Assets and Payroll
key functionality & benefits
Period End close – produce accurate quarterly and annual financial statements for individual business units or your entire business that comply with regulatory, organisational and stakeholder requirements. Corporate Risk and Governance Compliance – develop structures and business processes to comply with organisational and recognised compliance standards. Integrate your financial supply chain – strengthen every aspect of your financial supply chain with integrated, robust processes, including establishing electronic purchase request and authorisation limits. Streamline payments and invoices – improve your Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable management and drive payment efficiencies. Multi-company consolidations – consolidate any number of companies quickly and easily. Cash flow management – track, identify and manage your cash flow, liquidity and your exposed financial risk quickly and easily via integrated, automated processes. Monitor financial performance – report on key financial metrics and develop an accurate understanding of your true financial position at any point in time.
Company’s all accounting project can easily outsourced by E-Accounting system:
A.P.O. A.P.O means accounting process outsourced APO is the new and developed form of BPO according to research report APO is growing very fast. This industry has jumped 60% annual growing rate. This industry has reached up to 60 cr. Of Rs.
Pay pal Payment system is popularizing in Online Accounting Some of Indian professional accountant gives the accounting services to USA customers under A.P.O. Now they can easily get their service amount from paypal way . Paypal gives you the facility of withdrawing your service fee with following ways:
a) If you want to deposit your service amount in your bank account in India for more than RS. 7000 you can easily transfer without any cost of transferring , if upto RS. 6999.99 you want to transfer in your account you will charge Rs. 50 b) You can get the cheque by giving request in the website under your paypal account c) You can also withdraw funds to your card also.
Willis and ACE Achieve e-Accounting First in London Insurance Market The London-based operations of ACE, a leading insurance company, and Willis Limited, the UK insurance broker, announced the successful launch of a full electronic accounting process between the two companies -a London Market Group (LMG) Non Bureau project first. E-Accounting is a data-based process for facilitating financial agreement and subsequent settlement of premiums and claims with insurance carriers, and replaces paper in the accounting and settlement process. E-Accounting substantially improves the quality, integrity and certainty of process, allowing Willis and carriers to synchronise their operations and improve client service. Implementation benefits include: prompt advice of premium and claims due, enabling simpler reconciliation improved settlement cycle resulting in speedier premium and claim settlement the secure exchange of critical closing and settlement information reduction in queries and early query resolution Graham Card, Executive Director and Business Lead for Willis’ e-Accounting roll-out, said: -London Market modernisation has long advocated the elimination of paper from the process and the introduction of electronic accounting. This is a major reform that will show benefits for both parties in the future.- -ACE are continually looking at ways to improve service to clients, making payment of premium easier and payment of claims faster. e-Accounting and closer collaboration with our clients will enable ACE to achieve this. -This project with Willis has been a great success with a real sense of partnership, and ACE is looking forward to working with Willis to expand the use of e-Accounting capabilities further with our clients and the wider market through the LMG sponsored Non Bureau project.- Willis and XL Implement e-Accounting London, UK, September 26, 2011 -The London-based operations of XL Group plc, a leading global insurer, and Willis Limited, the principal UK broking company of global insurance broker Willis Group Holdings plc (NYSE:WSH), announced the successful launch of a full electronic accounting process between the two companies. Through better synchronisation between brokers and carriers, the online system markedly improves client service by enhancing the quality, transparency and integrity of the accounting and settlement process. Willis Group Holdings plc (NYSE:WSH), announced the successful launch of a full electronic accounting process between the two companies. Through better synchronisation between brokers and carriers, the online system markedly improves client service by enhancing the quality, transparency and integrity of the accounting and settlement process.
However, with the introduction of PC-based Accounting Systems, both the computer hardware and the accounting software have become cheaper, creating an opportunity for organisation to adopt e-accounting. Nevertheless, there are several factors that determine whether an organization adopts e-accounting or not. Studying the factors that influence computer adoption, internet adoption and accounting software adoption
Relationships between company size and Internet Adoption
Company size Internet (No of employees) connected 50-99 41 % 10-49 30 % 1-9 16 % Objective
The objective of this research is first to describe the present state of the art of e-accounting in organisation bookkeeping agencies in U.P region(mainly lucknow) as well as identify managers’ intentions towards adoption of e-accounting ;what are the problems they are facing with the adoption of E-Accounting and the future prospects of E-Accounting system second to empirically study factors that influence the adoption of e-accounting, and third to study the problems that e-accounting may have in general and more specifically on the accounting procedures and practice in small and organisations bookkeeping agencies that have adopted an e-accounting system.
Research Methodology
The data for this research was collected by means of a questionnaire. Questions are both open ended and closed ended. The study was, for practical reasons, the research is done in the UP region (mainly lucknow) . Besides, demographic data including gender, age, position in organization, accounting background, professional qualification, experience in current system, level of understanding and knowledge related to the system, were measured by different scales. Finally a data of total of 90 persons were collected generating a positive response rate of approximately 35%. I have identified 12 questions that most effectively measure the no. of persons acquiring e-accounting in their organisation:
Q1. What kind of firm do you have?
Q2. How many no. of accounting staff do you have?
Q3. Does your firm use computers in operations?
Q4. Does your firm make use of accounting software in operations?
Q5. What kind of accounting software’s are used?
Q6. What are the aim of implementing E-Accounting?
Q7. What problems are faced by the firm while implementing E-Accounting?
Q8. What ways do you suggest for improving the system for easily access to E-Accounting?
On the basis of the data collected from both medium & small firms we found that only 35% of the firm out of hundred is successful in implementing E-Accounting. The firms like ACE & Willis a leading insurance company, and Willis Limited, the UK insurance broker, announced the successful launch of a full electronic accounting process and for the positive respondents the goal of implementing e-accounting are timely information management, large storage capacity, reduction of clerical work, cost effectiveness. Whereas for the left percentage 38.8% face problems like lack of constant supply of electricity, frequent breakdown of the system, inability to import/export data, inability of the system to support large volume of data or all of the former problems in implementing E-Accounting.
Findings and Suggestions
To further investigate the actual benefits of e-accounting, empirical studies of some ten small and medium-sized accounting agencies will be undertaken. These companies will be selected among the adopters group and chosen with the help of reference lists from software application providers and from information gathered in previous studies. The main data collection method will be face-to-face, structured interviews with managers of these organisations or, when necessary, telephone interviews. All interviews are planned to be tape recorded. The firms are facing problems in — Data security – All your data resides on a remote server: however, a back up can be taken regularly. Speed – Most of the currently available online office suites require a high broadband Internet connection. Lack some features available on the offline office suites: but this is progressively becoming available (MS LIVE, Google online-Suite, Think free, Zoho Office, Internet Office .Biz and e-Desk Online) A network connection (usually Internet access) is required to send and receive changes. That is, internet dependence makes it more difficult to work offline and also most of the firms don’t want to invest in purchasing accounting software. The results also indicate that interpersonal communication channels, such as training sessions and consulting, are considered as the most useful ways to achieve knowledge of new e-accounting innovations. Internet is also considered as a useful means of providing information. The use of accounting software makes the task easier and also saves the valuable time.
Conclusion
The study provides strong evidence that the use of E-Accounting has contributed to the effectiveness of tasks as expected. The study shows that the use of E-Accounting may improve the effectiveness of accounting and reporting tasks, budgeting, controlling and auditing which may reflect on the organizational effectiveness as well. An improved quality in the system may provide better support for the tasks performed by the system. This study finds that the most significant impacts of E-Accounting are on accounting and reporting and budgeting task performance respectively.Future studies could place more focus on the inter-organizational factors affecting the adoption rate. Moreover, future research could focus on the attitudes and resources of the business partners of accounting agencies. The contribution of this study will be twofold. First, the contribution of this study lies in the empirical analysis of the determinants of e-accounting adoption. The results of the study may give some evidence on the managers’ intentions of small and medium-sized accounting agencies towards e-accounting and thus predict future use of e-accounting systems. Second, this study aims at providing some understandings of the actual benefits of the use of e-accounting systems.
References
OECD, 1998. SMEs and Electronic Commerce. Working Party on SMEs to the OECD Ministerial Conference on Electronic Commerce. October 1998, Ottawa. http://www.oecd.org/dsti/sti/it/ec/prod/sme18e.pdf (October 7, 1999).
Amidu, M. and Abor, J. (2005), Accounting Information and Management of SMEs in Ghana, The African Journal of Finance and Management, 14(1), pp. 15 – 23.
Doost, R. K, (1999), Computers and Accounting: Where Do We go from Here? Managerial Auditing Journal, 14(9), pp. 487 – 488.
Accounting Act (AA, Kirjanpitolaki ) 1336/30.12.1997
Hall, J. (2007). Accounting information systems. Quebec, Canada: Thomson Higher Education.
http://www.experiment-resources.com/empirical-research.html#ixzz1d0dAXLDg
www.acegroup.com/uk
http://www.experiment-resources.com/research-paper-outline.html#ixzz1cjx5E1mq
When it comes to securities holdings, often times showing a loss isnt a bad thing. This happens when there are benefits to recognizing losses on securities, such as deferring capital gains (and their associated taxes) to a later time. This is where tax lot accounting software becomes a crucial weapon that every broker should have at their disposal.
This piece of software automatically tracks important information for each piece of security that is a part of a brokers portfolio, including dates of purchase and sale, cost basis reporting and transaction size. By doing so, brokers can more easily identify ways to minimize the current value of investment by minimizing the capital gains released, making it easier to lessen the one-time tax burden placed by a range of investments.
One excellent financial services software tool that helps provide assistance in this area is the Active Trader Tax Lot Accounting System (ATTLAS) provided by Davidsohn Global Technologies. Along with providing detailed tax lot accounting even at high transactional volumes, ATTLAS helps companies come into global regulatory compliance with laws both abroad and at home such as the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. ATTLAS provides reconciliation reporting which ensures that tax lot accounting information matches with the core records along with identification and basis adjustments on wash sales.