To attract and retain skilled workers, your small business needs to offer more than competitive pay. Your benefits package matters, too — and benefits with favorable tax treatment can be even more valuable to prospective and existing employees. Open enrollment is...
Accurate books start with a basic understanding of how financial transactions flow through your accounts. Today’s accounting platforms automate much of the double-entry process, making bookkeeping faster and more efficient. But even with increasingly sophisticated...
Contributing as much as possible to tax-deferred retirement accounts such as traditional 401(k)s and IRAs is a common recommendation. Contributions generally are pretax or deductible, and the power of tax-deferred compounding can help turbocharge growth. But some...
Trading items or services — without exchanging cash — has long been common among small businesses. Today, some use online barter exchanges to facilitate trades. In addition to preserving cash flow, these types of transactions may expand your purchasing power, help you...
Shareholders sometimes provide funds to their businesses outside of their initial investment or regular capital contributions. These transfers — commonly referred to as shareholder advances — raise an important accounting question: Under U.S. Generally Accepted...
Disability insurance is a valuable benefit provided by many employers. It replaces a portion of the insured person’s income — typically 45% to 65% of pre-disability earnings — after a specified waiting period that starts when the person becomes disabled (as...
Many small businesses start out as sole proprietorships. This structure is simple and inexpensive to establish and maintain — and it gives the owner direct access to profits without having to take formal distributions. But it also makes your taxes more complicated...
From laptops and tablets to power tools and safety equipment, misplaced or mismanaged assets can quietly drain profits and disrupt operations. By tracking equipment and other assets with barcodes, your business can connect its physical property to its financial...
Businesses in economically distressed communities often have difficulty obtaining capital for expansion, equipment, facilities and other investments. The New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) encourages private investment in these underserved areas by offering federal income...
Whether you’re buying equipment, automating processes, launching a new product line or expanding your facilities, capital investment decisions shouldn’t be based on intuition alone. Your management team may identify several promising growth opportunities. Which ones...
