Thursday 21 June 2012

How Bookkeepers Can Get to Inbox Zero and Stay There in Five Easy Steps

How many emails do you receive on a daily basis? How many emails do you lose track of on a daily basis because you just cannot keep up? What is that big number of Unread emails that haunts you at night and greets you the first thing every morning? Is a Zero inbox even possible for someone who runs a bookkeeping business?

Even for busy business owners, even at tax time, it is possible to get to Inbox Zero and stay there. Here's how with a little effort and even more knowledge:

  1. Set up your email application so that it closely matches your data flow. All of the popular email clients allow you to set up working folders in addition to the regular default folders of inbox, drafts, sent, and trash. Depending on your email client, these folders are called labels, tags, or Folders! You can also make subfolders for each category. Keep your folders to a minimum, however. Having too many folders and subfolders is counterproductive. Make sure that the auto-delete function is OFF.
  2. Processing your email using rules. Read your emails in order. Jumping around based on the email headline only takes more time and causes more confusion. As you read the email, ask yourself: What is this? What needs to be done? All emails fall into one of four categories: the email requires no action; the email requires less than 2 minutes of action; the email requires more than two minutes of action; or the email contains important information that you need to keep. Decide the proper category for the email immediately upon reading it.
  3. A full inbox is almost always the result of indecision and inaction. Make it a habit to decide on the fate of the email right then and there. a. If the email requires no action, delete it. b. If the email requires an action that takes less than 2 minutes, do the action immediately, and then delete the email. c. If the email requires action that will take more than 2 minutes, move it to one of your working folders which you have set up either by client or by project. Move it now, and then delete the email. d. If the email has information that you need now or in the future, file it in your Documents folder for the client or project, or move/forward it to your CRM app. Once the email is moved, delete it.
  4. Don't over file your emails. You don't need an email file and a document and/or project/client file. Depending on your business setup, you can keep all documents filed by client or by project and forward all relevant emails to the client or project file. From there, you can manage all of your business documents with your online document sharing system, LedgerDocs. Everything is in one place and everyone who needs to have access can search and find those documents and emails easily.
  5. Once you have achieved Inbox Zero, it will take just a little discipline to keep it that way. Set regular times during your workday to check your email and stick to those times only. Turn off all email notifications those bells and dings will drive you crazy and seriously reduce your productivity. Every time you check your email, process it as directed above. Set a time during your day, mid-afternoon is a good time to go through your working files to ensure that everything is on your task list. At the end of the day, do one final check to make sure your inbox is at zero, shut the door, enjoy your evening, and get a good night's sleep without counting unread emails in sheep's clothing.

LedgerDocs vs. SkyDrive for Your Financial Documents

This is the second installment of our series about the benefits to you of selecting LedgerDocs for your business document management and storage needs versus using one of four popular online storage solutions. In our last post, we compared LedgerDocs with Dropbox, the #1 general document storage application, and LedgerDocs is the superior choice for businesses, bookkeepers, and accountants. This post will outline the reasons why LedgerDocs, which is specifically designed for the unique document management needs of bookkeepers, accountants, and businesses, is still the best choice over SkyDrive by Microsoft.

SkyDrive is a relatively new online application from Microsoft that gives users access to all of their files on most browsers, smart phones (especially Windows phones), and tablets. There are dedicated apps for Windows phones and iPhones and iPads; all other smart phones can access SkyDrive via their phone browser. The Microsoft OneNote application is also available through SkyDrive. Files of all types and all sizes can be easily uploaded and shared with emailed links. If your office and your team are standardized on PCs and Microsoft Office, SkyDrive is an especially good solution for your general files and sharing.

SkyDrive is free for up to 2GB of document storage, and the top pricing level is US$50/annually for an additional 100GB of online storage. In order to access the documents, users must also have the Microsoft Office Suite and OneNote installed on their PC computers. If you have a Windows shop, SkyDrive is a good general solution.

For managing the financial documents your business needs to access and store every day, LedgerDocs is designed to manage all of your financial documents in its secure online storage system. All of your cheques, invoices, bank statements, project documents, and receipts can be stored by project, and securely shared with your team members, bookkeeper, and accountant depending on permissions you set. With LedgerDocs, you can:

  1. Setup customized project folders and subfolders to file and manage all of your financial records.
  2. Take pictures of your receipts and send them directly by email to LedgerDocs from your iPhone, Android phone, or Blackberry.
  3. Type notes to your bookkeeper or accountant.
  4. Search, browse, and annotate your documents right within your browser without having to open the actual documents in another application.
  5. Stay productive away from the office with the dedicated free and universal iPhone and iPad apps.

SkyDrive is a great solution for your general online storage needs; especially if you use PCs and Microsoft Desktop Office Suite products. But if you are a business owner, bookkeeper, or accountant, LedgerDocs offers you exceptional enhanced benefits that are based on your projects and the ability to set up your online files to suit your circumstances and have everything you need for your financial documents all in one place.

LedgerDocs has a 60-day free trial so that you can find out why it is the superior choice for your business document management and storage solutions. Pricing starts at only US$4/month for 1 project, 2 users, and 50 document uploads to just US$99/month for 10 projects, 10 users, and 10,000 uploaded documents per month.

Tuesday 19 June 2012

GST/HST And The Construction Industry

Contractors, who are GST/HST registrants, collect GST/HST on behalf of the applicable government entity. A contractor, carrying on business in Canada, must register for GST/HST and obtain a “business number” if its revenues exceed $30,000 in a single calendar quarter or in four consecutive calendar quarters.


From an accounting perspective, GST and HST collected on a contractor’s sales are not revenues of the contractor, but liabilities. Contractors who are GST/HST registrants are also eligible to claim, for refund, the GST/HST paid on all of their purchases in the form of input tax credits. The net payable (receivable) is remitted to (refunded by) CRA on a periodic basis (monthly, quarterly, annually).


General Timing Rules

Generally, GST/HST becomes payable on the date payment is made or the date payment becomes due, whichever is the earlier date. For GST/HST purposes, payment becomes due the earliest of the day: (i) the invoice is first issued; (ii) the contractor would have issued an invoice, except for an undue delay; and (iii) the recipient (client) is required to pay an amount to the contractor under a written agreement. However, it is important to remember that there are special timing rules that apply to certain types of construction payments.


Special Timing Rules For Certified Progress Payments

It is very common in the construction industry for the contract to provide for monthly or other periodic payments to the contractor based upon the value of work completed as certified by someone other than the contractor. When the scheduled work is completed, an application for payment is issued. Subsequently, the payment certifier, usually an engineer or architect, issues a certificate stating the value of work completed and the value of materials delivered to the site as of the date of the application. The client/owner is then required by the contract to pay the amount certified within a certain period of time after the engineer, or architect has issued the certificate.


In this situation, the application for payment is NOT considered to be an invoice for GST/HST purposes, since it is only a request that a certificate for payment be issued. Therefore, GST/HST does not become payable when the application is issued.


Where an invoice is not issued in respect of the certified amount, GST/HST becomes payable on the amount certified on the day the client pays the amount, or on the day the client has to pay the amount under the terms of the contract, whichever day is earlier.


Example: A contractor submits a monthly progress application on June 30th for work performed in the previous 30-day period. That amount is certified on July 8th and is due and payable under the contract on July 18th. No invoice is issued in respect of the certified amount. The GST is payable on the certified amount on July 18th, unless payment is made earlier.

The same timing situation would apply in the case of progress payments made under subcontract agreements where such agreements state that payments to the subcontractor are dependant upon the amount being certified.


Completed Construction Contracts

A special GST/HST provision applies to written construction contracts when the billing or invoice has been unduly delayed. Where the construction work has been substantially completed, (90% or more) and the owner has not paid for the work, or the payment has not become due, GST/HST becomes payable on the last day of the month following the month in which the work was substantially completed.


Example: The contractor substantially completes a project on October 20th but has not billed the owner and the owner has not paid the contractor. GST/HST is payable on November 30th.


Special Timing Rules For Holdbacks

Payments on construction contracts are normally subject to statutory holdbacks under applicable provincial lien legislation. GST/HST payable on the holdback amount does not become payable until the day the holdback amount is paid or the day on which the holdback period expires under the written agreement or applicable legislation, whichever is earlier.


Example: A contractor submits a monthly progress draw on June 30th for work performed in the previous 30-day period. That amount is subject to a statutory holdback of 10%. The statutory holdback period does not expire until September. The GST/HST on the holdback amount would not be payable until September unless payment of the holdback amount is made earlier.


Builder Lien Holdbacks

GST/HST is payable on a builder lien holdback only when the holdback is released. When a lien is filed, the portion of the holdback that is withheld to satisfy the lien is not released. Often this amount is paid into court. GST/HST is payable on that amount on the day the holdback amount is paid out or the day it becomes payable, whichever is earlier.


Source: LedgersOnline Bookkeeping Services & Accounting Services Online (blog)

Friday 23 March 2012

Choosing Bookkeeping Software for Your Small Business

Before evaluating products and features, you may want to consider these 5 bookkeeping related points:


1. Spend the time to define your requirements

The first step is to decide what you need. Any accounting software will perform the core accounting functions of general ledger, accounts receivable, accounts payable and the cash functions. But often you need more, depending on your industry and on how your business works.


2. Consider “learning costs”

You can easily find good accounting software for free. However, even free software isn’t totally free. Learning software is often a bigger cost in time and effort than the initial cost. You should consider the ease of use of the software, your experience in using a particular tool and take into account the training costs in case you have staff.


3. Help and customer support

You’ll need some help to learn the software and you’ll likely need on-going support too. Is the only help available a manual? Is it through a toll free number? Maybe you can get local help? Often local accounting firms are experts on the major software products.


4. Consider whether you can upgrade

As your business grows, you may require more from your accounting services. You can’t forecast now what will happen in two years, but you can choose software that you can upgrade to more power smoothly. If you have to switch to a different brand, you have to pay the start-up training costs all over again.


5. Make the most of it

Generating tax forms and government documents is one of the attributes of a bookkeeping services package. That’s staying out of trouble. But accounting is much more powerful than just staying out of trouble. The right software can help you produce reports that help you make decisions. Better information can save you money and lead to more profits.