5 End-of-Year Accounting To Dos

As the end of the year approaches, it’s time to get some of your finances in order. You still have plenty of time until tax season, but closing out the year organized and ahead is critical for success, as well as helping ease the tax strain of spring. Today we’re sharing some of our most important accounting items to tackle before we enter 2018.

List of 5 End-of-Year Accounting To-Dos

  1. Prep W2 and 1099 Tax Forms Early: Start preparing your payroll compliance documents for employees and contractors right away, and get them sent out no later than January 31st. This will help keep your finances accounted for as well as keep you in compliance with the IRS.
  2. Collect All Payments: If you have outstanding invoices, uncashed checks, or invoices not yet sent, now is the time to reissue or follow up. Make it a goal to close out all accounts receivable by the end of the year so you can begin preparing for tax season, as well as bringing in all your company deserves.
  3. Assess Tax Preparation: Don’t wait until March to begin preparing for your income tax. Small businesses in particular can be hit hard by fines and taxes if they aren’t prepared. If you aren’t a seasoned tax professional, then find one to assist you – and quick. Avoid expensive surprises and take advantage of savings and incentives.
  4. Financial Runway: How much money do you actually have? What are you financial goals for 2018? A shareholders or board meeting to prepare for 2018 can help you set the budget, prepare financial goals, plan for large purchases or hires, and just generally get everyone on the same page for the company’s future.
  5. Top Good, Top Bad: Take this opportunity at the end of the year to take a look at 2017. Determine, with a team if necessary, your top “good” accomplishment and your top “bad” misstep or failure. How did they happen? What can you do to encourage or prevent them in the future? Does your plan for 2018 factor in these realities? Some reflection can really set up your accounting to succeed in 2018.

Finally, if you are feeling a little rusty, unfulfilled, overwhelmed, or looking to expand your accounting skills, consider setting accounting education goals for 2018 with Universal Accounting School. We can help you get where you want to go.

What is Color Accounting?

The world of accounting and financial analysis is ever-broadening. By honing your skills and expanding what you know about your field you can increase your personal profits or become an invaluable asset to your company. How sharp are your skills? Could you use an augmented refresher course?

If you’re an accountant re-entering the field, changing jobs, struggling with a new challenge, thinking of striking out on your own, or preparing to embark on a career change to accounting or bookkeeping, it might be the perfect time to consider Color Accounting.

What is Color Accounting?

Color Accounting is a self-study workshop designed to teach the essentials of accounting and bookkeeping in a fast and simplified format. The foundational principles of accounting can be complex and difficult to grasp or retain, especially if you’re a highly visual individual. Color Accounting uses color, diagrams, shapes, graphs, and simple practices to illustrate how accounting works on a micro and macro scale.

How Can Color Accounting Help?

Color Accounting is frequently reviewed as the best course accountants and MBA students have ever taken, because it compiles and explains the most fundamental parts of business accounting in a way that anyone can process and master. Color Accounting can help you understand accounting and business financials if you’ve struggled in your business courses or you want to sharpen your accounting skills.

Who Benefits from Color Accounting?

Color Accounting is perfect for any individual who wants to be better with their business mathematics. Everyone from seasoned accountants to brand new students have taken Color Accounting with glowing reviews and real-life application. Color Accounting can boost your skills to prepare you for a raise or to transition into running your own accounting firm. Color Accounting can help new or struggling students, or especially those who have taken a hiatus from accounting or bookkeeping and are returning to the field.

How Do I Certify in Color Accounting?

Color Accounting is one of the many robust courses offered by Universal Accounting School. Color Accounting is a self-study workshop that you take wherever you are, on your own time. It can count for credit and you may be eligible for scholarships or financial aid. Color Accounting begins with a box of educational materials mailed to your home or business, then hands on practice, videos, and help. This makes it the perfect option for anyone needing an edge in their accounting practice.

If you think Color Accounting might be right for you or you’re interested in more information, give us a call or live chat with us today. We can help you become a master accountant.

 

The Importance of Client Retention

Many businesses focus their growth efforts on new business. That’s definitely an important component of any business and a successful growth model, but it can be putting the cart before the horse. Before you focus on opening new areas for new customers, it’s time you take a look at your client retention.

Client retention is the critical lifeblood of any business. If your business is unable to keep clients, you are unlikely to remain profitable over time. Keeping your clients happy and coming back is actually the most successful way to sustainably grow your business. What exactly will client retention mean for you?

  • 80/20 Rule for Revenue: Did you know what 80% of your profits will come from 20% of your existing client base? Do you know who those clients are? If not, it’s time to take a closer look at your clientele. What are their demographics? What services and products are you providing them? Are their needs being met?
  • Earn More: Now that you know your existing clients are your future revenue, how can you create that change? Maybe you need to keep them engaged with reminder emails, helpful tips, or consultations. Many businesses find increased revenue by creating new products, services, or packages for their existing customers to create a better experience while generating more income.
  • Decrease Cost: We have some more statistics for you. Did you know it’s 10x more expensive to sign a new customer to your business than to keep an existing customer? Therefore you will do much better to keep your existing customers happy and returning than to spend 10x the cost on a new customer.
  • Better Marketing: When you shift your priority to client retention and working with clients for the long haul, you are learning more and more about what they need, who they are, and what works. Once you’re ready to more actively pursue new clientele you’ll be better equipped to target and acquire them.
  • Improved Business: Working to retain clients improves your services and process much more than simply finding new ones, because you are more aware of your business practices and onboarding routines. Keeping your existing clients will improve your entire business for the future.

If you operate a small accounting or bookkeeping business, you need to learn what client retention can do for you. Universal Accounting School offers courses and coaching to help you learn the principles of client retention, marketing, and growth that can help you increase your revenue and improve your practice.

Why Choose Universal Accounting?

You’re ready to do something different, but you’re not quite sure just what. Maybe you’re an accountant thinking about branching out on your own. Maybe you have your own accounting or bookkeeping practice, but you know you could be doing better. Maybe you’re ready to begin marketing or online measures to increase revenue or expand your clientele. So what are you going to do? Read another book? Buy another how-to manual? Pay someone else for services you don’t understand?

Instead, you should choose Universal Accounting. Universal Accounting exists to help accountants, firms, entrepreneurs, and bookkeepers alike meet their goals. Whether your goals are financial, growth, project-oriented, or simply personal professional goals, Universal Accounting can give you the tools you need to meet those goals.

Why Should You Choose Universal Accounting?

  • Universal Accounting has been helping accountants and bookkeepers take their business to the next level for over a decade. We have helped individuals start their own businesses, grow their businesses, learn marketing techniques, retain clients, and even expand to more employees or branches. We’ve been doing this for a long time, and we know what works.
  • Hands-On. Universal Accounting uses hands-on education methods to prepare you for the real world of owning your own business or creating manageable growth. We help you immediately apply principles to your business, and we never speak in theoretical terms. Everything we do is designed to be used directly in the real world.
  • Your Time. You can get certified or enroll in coaching from anywhere in the world, and in any working situation. Nights, weekends, lunch breaks, or early mornings might be best for you, and it will work. Universal Accounting is available on your time and at your pace to help you take important steps without having to quit your job or sacrifice a social life.
  • Our courses and coaching are specifically catered to your needs, because we know that you and your practice are unique. You don’t need a one-size-fits-all method – you need an expert who can tailor their advice and lessons for your exact situation. That’s what you deserve.

What are you waiting for? You could soon be pursuing the life and business and profits that flood your dreams, and achieving them! With Universal Accounting School you can make your dreams a reality, without large expense or disrupting your life. And once you’re ready… we can start right away. So come see what we can do for you!

 

Bookkeeping vs. Accounting

To the layman, bookkeeping and accounting sound like the same thing. Isn’t it just compiling lists of numbers and formulas to understand what’s going on financially for a company? There are, however, differences between bookkeeping and accounting which can help you better understand the needs of y our company or small business.

Every business needs bookkeeping AND accounting, though many begin only with bookkeeping. Bookkeeping is the process of recording each of your financial transactions –  sales and purchases. It’s the basic math needed to keep your business profitable and to be sure that you don’t run out of money or inventory. Bookkeeping is the first critical step to keep your business alive. When you’re ready to get more serious, or as your business scales far beyond your initial bookkeeping skills, it’s time for some accounting.

Accounting is much more than just bookkeeping. Accountants do keep track of daily transactions, but instead of simply keeping track of the company’s assets, accountants take all of those purchases and expenditures into deep analysis for the good of the company. Accounting includes the analysis, classification, summary, and even recommendation.

Accounting is a more complicated process than bookkeeping, which is why accountants need further certification than bookkeepers. Accountants need a bachelor’s degree or a CPA certification before they can provide accounting services for a company. Accountants are able to look at the data and determine what is happening for the company on a day-to-day basis, and then make recommendations for future moves, price changes, or other relevant details to benefit the business. Accountants are able to see what business owners and operators cannot, simply by analyzing the data.

We recommend that everyone utilizes accounting practices for your business, as accountants can offer much more applicable services to help maximize your business profits. Bookkeeping is also important, and employing a bookkeeper you trust to catalog your finances is the best way to keep your business healthy and operating efficiently.

Do you need bookkeeping help? Are you looking to take your business from bookkeeping to accounting? Are you a bookkeeper looking to improve your certification to offer accounting services? If you are interested in the services of bookkeeping, accounting, or maximizing your business profits, Universal Accounting School offers courses and certification to help you meet your business goals. We help people learn bookkeeping skills, advance to a CPA level certification, offer profitable accounting services for others, and more. If you’re ready to take the next steps, come see how Universal Accounting can help.

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