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3 years 41 weeks ago

In most small businesses, the owners handle the financial data and recording themselves, and come tax time, they hand it over to a CPA. “My business is small,” they might think, “and I only have a few transactions a month; when I get big enough to hire employees, I’ll hire an office assistant to do it for me.” There are two problems with this proposal. First, by the time a business reaches that point, it will be much harder to change, adjust, or repair their bookkeeping practices. Second, the typical office assistant does not have the expertise to make those kinds of changes.

3 years 41 weeks ago

You've probably noticed the website looks a bit different--we finally uploaded the full version on Monday. Please check back frequently as we add content, and feel free to send us requests or suggestions of what you'd like to see.

In addition, we have a new assistant on our team. Laura will introduce herself in the next week or so.

3 years 44 weeks ago

Backyard Bookkeeper is looking for an office assistant to do some basic clerical work and data entry, with the potential to grow into a full-blown bookkeeping job. We will train the right person.

3 years 51 weeks ago

We've noticed over the past year or so that multi-level marketing and direct sales companies have really taken off--probably because of the recession and the fact that people are looking for ways to earn extra income. If you are one of these, we wish you the best of luck in your new business! I'm not much of a sales(wo)man myself, and I admire those that are good at it.

4 years 5 days ago

One of the most wonderful things about the world we live in today is that knowledge is free. Anyone can go to the library and check out books on accounting, taxes, or Quickbooks. Anyone can go online and research a particular question or problem, and if the answer hasn't already been published somewhere, you can pose the question on a public forum and have it answered by experts within days or even hours. This is why no one at Backyard Bookkeeper will ever treat our knowledge as proprietary.

4 years 4 weeks ago

I came across a question today on Intuit's forums about how to clean up old open balances, both for vendors and for customers, without messing up the financial statements. This is something I've been meaning to write about for a while, but I haven't gotten around to it until now. So here is at least the first part of Backyard Bookkeeper's guide to cleaning up old mistakes.

4 years 4 weeks ago

I'd like to say a few words about what Backyard Bookkeeper does. Alex said to me today, "I know what sets you apart from other bookkeepers: the difference is that you do bookkeeping because you love it, and others do bookkeeping because their clients think it's boring." It's true! I do love bookkeeping. I love to organize, figure out solutions to unique problems, set up good systems, find and fix mistakes, help people stop making mistakes, get clients caught up, and . . . . The list goes on.

4 years 5 weeks ago

This post is a general tax guide for those who don't "get" taxes--a little bit of background information to get you started.

4 years 7 weeks ago

I received an email this evening from some friends who are trying to figure out TaxCut (H&R Block's software). One of them started a new business last year, so they have some business income, and now the software is asking them all sorts of questions about car expenses and hobby income. (By the way, the line-by-line IRS instructions for schedule C can be found here. You might find them helpful.)

4 years 7 weeks ago

I just wanted to post a few thoughts today about taxes. Modern media has really demonized the IRS, and it's really unfair and counterproductive, because now when people get behind, they are more inclined to run and hide. The fact is that's the worst thing you can do. The best course of action is to be proactive and contact them first. Have you ever called the IRS? They're really very nice. Much nicer, to be honest, than any collection agency. There's even a new link up on the IRS website about what your payment options are if you can't pay your balance in full by the due date.

4 years 7 weeks ago

As I've contacted prospective clients recently, I keep hearing the same complaint, which goes something like this: "My accountant just isn't very helpful. I know I'm missing out on some tax breaks, but they don't ever give me any ideas on what else I can deduct, and I for sure haven't earned as much as my profit and loss statement says I have."

4 years 11 weeks ago

These days, everyone is talking about how to cut costs: lay off employees, decrease operating expenses, and pay off debts. It's the primary strategy businesses are using to survive the recession, but it has the unfortunate effect of filtering through to all sectors of the economy. For example, as a manufacturer's financial situation worsens, they have to lay off employees. Since the employees have less money, they spend less at the store. The store buys less product from the manufacturer because revenues are down, so the manufacturer continues to lose money and has to cut costs again, i.e.

4 years 32 weeks ago

What kind of records do you need to keep? Although the answer depends on what kind of business you run, there are some hard and fast rules you should keep. IRS Publication 583 is a great resource for small businesses about what records need to be kept. Here are some of my own thoughts on the issue.

Accounts Payable:

4 years 33 weeks ago

Newton's third law is as follows: For a force there is always an equal and opposite reaction: or the forces of two bodies on each other are always equal and are directed in opposite directions.

4 years 44 weeks ago

Backyard Bookkeeper was born in April 2008 when I listened to someone complain about how long it took him to do the taxes for his business because he hadn't ever gotten around to investing in accounting software. He dreaded doing his taxes every year because it could take him up to three weeks to tally everything up by hand.

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