Black Shirt Day!

Vancouver Bookkeeping Black Shirt Day

Communities and other businesses around us support this positive initiative and it gives us all an opportunity to raise awareness.

I would like us to join in by wearing black for Black Shirt Day this Friday, Jan 15th. This Friday is Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday who is a famous civil rights activist. Black people have been discriminated against for far too long so he stood up and spoke out about this issue. By wearing a black shirt this Friday we acknowledge the ongoing battle against discrimination and anti-black racism in Canada and around the world. We hope you will join us this Friday by wearing black. Every small action matters.

Vancouver Bookkeeping Black Shirt Day
Vancouver Bookkeeping Black Shirt Day
Vancouver Bookkeeping Black Shirt Day
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Pink Shirt Day

Vancouver Bookkeepers Staff

Celebrated annually around the globe, Pink Shirt Day began in Canada in 2007 when two students took a stand against homophobic bullying, after a peer was bullied for wearing a pink shirt. In Aotearoa, Pink Shirt Day aims to create schools, workplaces, communities and whānau where all people feel safe, valued and respected. Register to join the movement!

Bullying is when someone deliberately tries to hurt someone else they think is weaker than they are. In many cases, bullying is repeated over and over and can cause a lot of pain that lasts a long time. It can even lead to things like depression, anxiety and low self-esteem.

Bullying happens in many ways, but some common forms of bullying are verbal (teasing, name-calling), physical (hitting, kicking, pushing, breaking someone’s toys or favourite things) or social (leaving someone out, spreading rumours).

Cyberbullying is using social media or other technology like texting to threaten, embarrass or even damage a person’s reputation.

While bullying affects so many people physically, emotionally and mentally, we know there are many students, parents, schools and community members that want to know what they can do to help. Every contribution, whether it’s joining us in wearing pink on February 26, 2020 to show you’re taking a stand, or making an effort to practice kindness and acceptance, or even giving a donation or fundraising for programs that make a difference, can change a life.

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How To Select A Reliable Bookkeeper For Your Business

Bookkeeping Services Vancouver

Choosing a professional bookkeeper in Vancouver can be challenging if you are running a small business. It does not matter how big your company is, but it is essential to record the money flow of your company. With the lack of understanding, many small business owners tend to mess around this. Most of them fail in selecting the best Bookkeeper for their business. 

Well organized bookkeeping is not only a crucial factor for maintaining a good relationship with the Canadian government but also it is one of the best ways to improve your profits in your business. When it comes to financial decision making, proper bookkeeping plays a significant role. Poor bookkeeping practices will lead your business to failure. So here are a few things you can look for when hiring a bookkeeper.

Getting the Best Small Business Bookkeeper

Bookkeeper SelectionWith the rapid development in modern technology and the availability of the Internet has made it easy for small business owners to open their businesses. However, selecting the best Bookkeeper who will stay with you by your side, explaining the ways of reducing your cost, is still a challenging task. It is sad to say that many bookkeepers are inaccurate and inefficient. However, there is still a handful of bookkeepers who are competent in what they do. Here are a few things you should look for when choosing your small business bookkeeper.

Bookkeeping companies deal with the financial side of your company. So it is really essential to keep the confidentiality of the information you exchange as a bookkeeper. Therefore, the reliability of a bookkeeper is pretty crucial. It would be best if you looked for companies that demonstrate higher professionalism and integrity. You can also get the reviews from their existing customers for the efficiency and confidentiality of their services.

Bookkeeping Knowledge with Modern Software

Every Bookkeeper should have the ability to understand the importance of your company’s income, expenses, assets, liabilities and equity. They should also have a clear understanding of real time customization of your reports. Your Bookkeeper should not be another person who will just take care of your financial statements. Instead, a bookkeeper should walk the extra mile paving the way to maximize your profit or guiding along the way of maximizing your profit. Manual bookkeeping is long gone now. Make sure your Bookkeeper is comfortable using modern accounting software such as QuickBooks, Xero or Wave.

A bookkeeper should be well-organized and detail-oriented. If a bookkeeper is not organized then that means your financial statements are nor organized as well. Therefore, no matter the interpretation, reporting and retrieval of data, being organized is an essential behavior of a bookkeeping agent

A bookkeeper should be an excellent communicator, as well. Since they are dealing with numbers, they have to have the ability to explain the numbers correctly so that their clients can picture the figures accurately. You have to be sure that your Bookkeeper listens to you and explains things well. 

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XERO or QuickBooks? Which One is the Best Accounting Software?

Xero Vs Quickbooks

XERO and QuickBooks Online are two software with several standard features, but you can decide which to select according to your accounting needs. The comparison which will follow will help you to select the software that suits you.

When to use QuickBooks Online?

If you are looking for a software that allows a large number of users, XERO is your best bet because it allows unlimited users. However, for software most accountants rely on, QuickBooks Online will be the best one to pick. You can set up QuickBooks by yourself without much trouble because they have created an ecosystem of ProAdvisors in North America. This means you need not run here and there looking for local accountants to set your software up. In addition to that, QuickBooks comprise live telephone and chat support. Moreover, you can receive a 50% off from QuickBooks online for that for a limited period.

When to Use XERO

XERO is more affordable than QuickBooks when it comes to a way to process payroll for staff with less than ten employees. Plus, it does not cost you anything for additional users.

How XERO and QuickBooks are Assessed

There are some features that accountant software should fundamentally include. We used a few criteria to compare the two software like their costs, how easy they are to use, setting up and customer support. They are as follows.
· Cost – Pricing plans affordable for small businesses
· Ease of Setup/Use – Setting up the software is effortless, and the software is perceptive
· Manage Accounts Receivable – Charging customers and trace open balances
· Manage Account Payable – Tracing unpaid bills and track payments
· Give Other Users Access – Allowing access for other users (like your bookkeeper)
· Customer Support Options – Accessing customer support and available self-help tools
· Payroll Processing – Computing paychecks and paying payroll taxes

After testing both software using the above criteria, the results show that both met all the given options except for one instance. XERO software does not have any live customer support available. QuickBooks Online, on the other hand, features live customer support in all support plans. So here goes our recommendation under this categorization: QuickBooks Online.

Small Business Bookkeeping VancouverAvailable Features and Pricing

Under these criteria, XERO and QuickBooks Online are very similar to each other. However, as the massive ecosystem and its customer service of QuickBooks Online are exceptions that XERO does not possess, QuickBooks Online gets the lead again. This ecosystem it has makes it easier for you to find a professional accountant or a bookkeeper with expertise in the software.

Accounts Receivable

Both their active accounts receivable modules allow you to create custom invoices, email invoices to your customers and receive online payments. You can also list a detailed accounts receivable ageing report to confirm the unpaid invoices.

Accounts Payable

Managing bills in QuickBooks Online is only possible in two plans out of three plans. The QuickBooks Online Essentials and QuickBooks Online Plus. However, this is available in all three plans offered in XERO.

Allowing Access to Other Users

Both software allows multiple users to your bookkeeping data, but, the number of users allowed by some of the QuickBooks Online plans is limited. QuickBooks Online Essentials allows up to five users when QuickBooks Online Plus allows seven users. XERO allows unlimited users to access your data and so beats QuickBooks Online under this topic.

Bank and Credit Card Integration

Both XERO and QuickBooks Online are capable of connecting with your bank account or your credit card accounts. Then it will automatically download the data into the bookkeeping software. In fact, it is a matter of minutes when it comes to QuickBooks Online.

Inventory

Though both software allows you to keep track of what you are selling, they are not available on starter plans. However, it is available in QuickBooks Online Plus, XERO Growing and XERO Premium editions.

Multi Currency

Same as the inventory tracking, multicurrency is only available in advanced plans like QuickBooks Online Plus and XERO Premium 10. It will help you to do transactions with customers in different countries, and then exchange rate calculations will be done by the software itself.

1099 Reporting

Plans such as QuickBooks Online Plus, XERO Growing and XERO Premium plan grants you this feature allowing you to track payments made to contractors. This way, you can meet the 1099 reporting requirements.

Budgeting and Forecasting

XERO does not contain this feature in any of their plans. QuickBooks Online, on the other hand, does have this feature but only in the best pricing plan: QuickBooks Online Plus. Using this, you can create income and expense budgets and create budgets for jobs or customers in particular.

Payroll

You will find satisfying payroll options in both XERO and QuickBooks Online.

We hope this guide assisted you in deciding which software you will need according to your status of the business. Contact the best Vancouver Bookkeeper for more information.

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Bookkeeping Tips for Small Businesses

Bookkeeping Tips For Small Businesses

Can you be another small business bookkeeping owner to fill out spreadsheets to keep your records? It is a little old school. If you are not much into math and all you know how compelling it is, right? But bookkeepers are the markers of your path, and they tell a lot about how far you have made. Some people still go through these old stage bookkeeping and never make it to the time they intend to. So, since the significance of bookkeeping makes the process imperative, why not look at alternative routes to ease your way a little? Here are some tips for easy bookkeeping for your financial success.

Segregate Business and Personal Finances

Getting expenses mixed up is a common mistake among small scale business bookkeeping that makes things a little annoying. You need to open a business bank account and get a separate business credit card. That will help you to get rid of these additional confusion as one of the first things as soon as you start a business. This way, you can separate your accounts and make your business have its credit rate growing.

Have Things Automated

As I mentioned before, filling out spreadsheets and adding up numbers manually is an out-dated way to deal with your business data. Instead, you can use cloud-based software and do business banking online. Then you can sync your bookkeeping software with your business bank account to keep things updated and precise. The cloud will back up your critical financial data automatically and safely, leaving nothing to worry.

Take Professional Guidance

Having your accountant to see if there are any efficient and timely accounting software and knowing you’d advantage from it is another way to ease things up. But here, your accountant must be capable of setting up the software for your usage and show you how to utilize it.

Small Business Bookkeeping

Do Regular Financial Checkups

Keeping off your mind from the accounts for a while will result in you many ill effects. Outdated invoices, bounced cheques, and numbers will not make any sense. Make sure you check everything is in order on a regular footing so you won’t miss a thing.

Quarterly Analysis

Examine each bookkeeping and accounting records you have of your business quarterly. Pay attention to any new tendencies, such as escalating or declining sales, yearly income, or if there is an increase of late-paying customers. Your accountant can also help you see through the existing conditions. Proper bookkeeping will prepare yourself for a substantial future investment or if you plan to move your business to a larger scale.

Keep Business Expense Records

Numerous tax code changes were made for the year 2018. So, you need to take a piece of advice from your accountant regarding the taxes. That will help you to identify what type of expenses you have and how much of a reduction you are planning to make for the following year. Keep detailed records for anything you lay claim. Digitizing and scanning receipts will help you save time. And always use a business credit card for business purchasing. This will make expense tracking simple and easy.

Use a time tracking software to keep eyes on your employee’s hours You can use cloud-based software for this task too; to clock in and clock out your employees’ devices such as smartphones, tablets, or computers. There is software created for different industries, and you can track several things such as overtime, PTO, and computing payrolls. Things are made easy for you by technology.

Stay Alert for Accounts Receivables

Customers need to pay on time. If some of them delay their dues, it might affect your business’s cash flow. Contact late payers to inform about their delayed payments. If a customer is suffering from financial problems, discuss it with them and makeup to satisfiable payment plans to levy at least some of the due amount.

Know When to Pay

For an unimpeded path towards your financial success, keep off things that can cut you short. Pay attention to your tax deadlines and separate a portion for due tax bills to evade any fines you might be getting in the future. You can sync your cloud-based calendar with the IRS website’s tax calendar for businesses to always remain alert and know when the next tax deadline is.

Receive Help from the SCORE

Getting a SCORE mentor will help you with not only small business bookkeeping but also many other financial facets. They can help you with bookkeeping and even recommend you, qualified local accountants. So, if you don’t already have one, make haste.
Using these few steps you can substitute the conventional bookkeeping with new technological tactics recording your data accurately, efficiently and up-to-date. However, it is still best to take professional help using above steps, for successful bookkeeping.

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