Magazine

You just settled a tough negotiation with a prominent client. You’re excited, and taking a lower profit margin in the hopes that this will open doors for you. The client gave you 50% up front as a retainer fee. It seems perfect, but here’s the deal. The client isn’t paying you until they accept your final project. Here’s the deal, that milestone based project could be detrimental to your cash flow.

Businesses require people to run. That means that eventually, most businesses require more people. Congratulations, you’re hiring! But now what? Abacus the Accountant tackles finding an employee’s market worth, estimating how much you can realistically pay, and planning for the growth of your business in this week’s edition of Dear Abacus.

“Depreciation” came up in a meeting. A dictionary said it means “allocating the cost of a physical asset over its life expectancy to help companies earn revenue from an asset while expensing some of its cost each year it is being used, representing how much value has already been used.” Here’s what your accountant really means when she says “depreciation.”

Falling behind on your bookkeeping? Abacus the Accountant talks tips and tricks for getting back on track as well as some advice for keeping up with bookkeeping in the future. The best way to avoid falling behind in bookkeeping is to create a habit. Read more in this week’s edition of Dear Abacus.

You’re always a little uncertain when it comes to cash. Can you hire a new employee? Purchase that new technology? Every time you hit that “submit” button on payroll, you’re nervous- will your bank account be able to handle it? Your understanding of your cash situation is foggy. Here’s the deal, you need to establish a weekly cash flow sync up.

Today is Planning day. Like ocean tides, accountant work in a cycle. At the beginning of each month, the tide comes in with a tropical storm of reconciliations and mathematics while they work on month end close. At the end of the month, the tide goes back out and leaves accountants with time to catch up on projects and prepare for the next incoming tide.

You’re hungry to understand where your business stands. You’re thinking about this word “profitability.” You print off your Profit and Loss Statement and look at the top number and the bottom number. Somehow, things are not making sense to you. You feel incomplete, and a little confused. You’re really not even sure if you’re making any money. Here’s the deal. Perfect bookkeeping is not necessarily reporting your profitability.

Your final deliverable for your latest sale was was accepted, and you’re excited to see its impact on your bank account. You take a look and find that nothing really changed. You’re feeling discouraged. This was a big sale, and you were hoping the payout would add some cushion to your cash flow. Here’s the deal, more sales doesn’t necessarily mean more money in your bank.

By having a process to create and maintain employee personnel files, you can make sure you stay organized and meet all the requirements for employee documents you have to have on hand. Here is a process for creating personnel files, including easy to follow directions, tips and tricks, and an ingredients list for the perfect dish. Bon Appetit! Enjoy!

Your accountant is forecasting your cash runway. She says the cash runway is “the amount of time you can continue to operate if you don’t have any money coming in. Let’s say you have $60,000 in the bank and it costs you $10,000 just to operate, you have 6 months before it will run out.” Here’s what she really means when she talks about a “cash runway.”