Financial statements are critical to monitoring your business’s financial health. In addition to helping management make informed business decisions, year-end and interim financial statements may be required by lenders, investors and franchisors. Here’s an overview of two common accounting methods, along with the pros and cons of each method. 1. Cash basis Under the cash-basis [...]

In today’s uncertain marketplace, many businesses are stashing operating cash in their bank accounts, even though they might not have imminent plans to deploy their reserves. However, excessive “rainy day” funds could be an inefficient use of capital. Here’s a systematic approach to help estimate reasonable cash reserves and maximize your company’s return on long-term [...]

In today’s uncertain marketplace, many businesses are stashing operating cash in their bank accounts, even though they might not have imminent plans to deploy their reserves. However, excessive “rainy day” funds could be an inefficient use of capital. Here’s a systematic approach to help estimate reasonable cash reserves and maximize your company’s return on long-term [...]

If your business has significant inventory on its balance sheet, it can be costly. The carrying costs of inventory include warehousing, salaries, insurance, taxes, and transportation, as well as depreciation and shrinkage. Plus, tying up working capital in inventory detracts from other strategic investment opportunities. Reducing these costs can help improve a company’s profits and [...]

Financial reporting plays a key role when a business needs funds for continued operations and strategic investment opportunities. Lenders and investors will generally want to review your company’s financial statements before they give it money. Timely, reliable reports can increase the odds that a bank will approve your company’s loan application and equity investors will [...]

As audit season begins for calendar-year entities, it’s important to review issues that may arise during fieldwork. One common issue is materiality. This concept is used to determine what’s important enough to be included in — and what can be omitted from — a financial statement. Here’s how materiality is determined and used during an [...]

Technology is transforming the accounting profession. When businesses moved from paper ledgers to spreadsheets, it improved the timeliness, accuracy and integrity of accounting-related data. Likewise, cloud computing and the ability to remotely access real-time data have allowed accounting departments to be far more responsive to an increasingly distributed workforce. Artificial intelligence (AI) is the latest [...]

Technology is transforming the accounting profession. When businesses moved from paper ledgers to spreadsheets, it improved the timeliness, accuracy and integrity of accounting-related data. Likewise, cloud computing and the ability to remotely access real-time data have allowed accounting departments to be far more responsive to an increasingly distributed workforce. Artificial intelligence (AI) is the latest [...]