February, 2019

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Top 11 Small Business Accounting Tips to Save You Time and Money

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Top 11 Small Business Accounting Tips. Separate business and personal expenses. Track every business expense. Accurately record income. Consider hiring a professional, even if temporarily. Automate accounting practices with accounting software. Dedicate time to update your books. Keep tabs on labor costs. Be prepared for major expenses. Maintain inventory records.

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Debugging the Postgres query planner

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Postgres is our database of choice, and we love it. (Even when things go wrong.

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Top 11 Small Business Accounting Tips to Save You Time and Money

Fundera

Top 11 Small Business Accounting Tips. Separate business and personal expenses. Track every business expense. Accurately record income. Consider hiring a professional, even if temporarily. Automate accounting practices with accounting software. Dedicate time to update your books. Keep tabs on labor costs. Be prepared for major expenses. Maintain inventory records.

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Selling a Small Business: A Step-by-Step Guide

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Every small business owner pours more than long hours into their company to make it succeed. There’s plenty of tears, sacrifices, and struggles to make a small business stand on its own two feet—all of which make the decision to sell all the more complicated. Selling a small business can be a complicated process, both emotionally and logistically. You’ll have to get your organization in tip-top shape before entertaining serious offers, make sure that your financials are rock-solid, and invest a

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18 Business Books You Can Finish on Your Lunch Break (Infographic)

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Everyone is constantly reading. Between texts, emails, social media, and articles, that’s hundreds to thousands of words read every day. Yet the typical American has only read 4 books in the last 12 months. It can be hard in our always-on lifestyle to set aside time to read a book. Between your long commute, desk lunches, and endless responsibilities, it can be difficult to find quiet time for reading.

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The 6 Best Places to Advertise Your Business Online

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It may seem like a jungle out there when you start to examine all the possible places to advertise your business online, but we’re here to guide you through this crowded (and often confusing) space. No matter how small your budget or how you decide to apportion it, allotting some of your advertising spend toward web-based promotion is a smart move. According to Unbounce, people who arrive at your website via a paid advertisement are 50% more likely to buy your product than those who came from an

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An Immigrant’s Guide to Funding and Starting a Business

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Starting a business in the US is no easy feat, especially if you’re an immigrant. From overcoming language barriers to obtaining the right to legally open and operate a business on American soil, immigrant entrepreneurs certainly face their share of hardship. Despite these obstacles, immigrants still do very well in the US as business owners. According to a report by Fiscal Policy, immigrant small business owners accounted for 30% of overall small business owner growth in America between 1990 an

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The Best Restaurant Accounting Software for 2019

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Best Restaurant Accounting Software for 2019. Restaurant365: Best all-in-one accounting solution. QuickBooks Online: Best integrated solution. FreshBooks: Best budget option. TouchBistro: Best point of sale system with accounting functions. ZipBooks: Best free option. Running a restaurant is hard work. There are the long days and nights, staffing issues, and tons of requirements to make sure you’re in compliance with all applicable state and local laws and health codes.

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Stripe vs. PayPal vs. Square: Which Is Right for Your Business?

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Stripe vs. Square vs. PayPal, Summarized. Stripe is an online payment API that’s best fit for high-tech business-to-consumer ecommerce companies. PayPal offers online checkout experiences, invoicing, and in-person payments best fit for ecommerce companies that need easy online payments. Square offers POS systems, online checkout experiences, and invoicing best fit for brick-and-mortar businesses.

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Are You Ready for The Next Generation? How to Prep Your Workplace for Gen Z (Infographic)

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The youngest millennial is 22 years old, while the oldest is well into their adulthood at 36. The next generation is now reaching adulthood and the workforce. Known as Generation Z, the i Generation, Net Gen, and Digital Natives — it’s clear popular culture is still undecided on Gen Z’s identity. Though their impact on workforce characteristics is still a mystery to many, Generation Z is already different than those who came before them.

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15 Essential Accounting Tasks for Business Owners—and When to Get Them Done

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15 Essential Accounting Tasks for Business Owners. Update your financial data. Deposit cash and checks. Reconcile payments and receipts. Update inventory records. Back up your data. Pay vendors and suppliers. Review employee timesheets. Compare your month-to-date P&L to your budget. Scan documents and receipts. Review bank and credit card statements and reconciliation reports.

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The Best Accounting Methods for Small Business (and How to Choose)

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Accounting Methods for Small Businesses. The two primary accounting methods for small business owners are cash basis and accrual basis. In cash basis accounting, income is recorded when received and expenses are recorded when paid. In accrual basis accounting, income is recorded when earned and expenses are recorded when incurred. Any business is free to use accrual accounting.

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How to Find a QuickBooks ProAdvisor: A Step-by-Step Guide

Fundera

How to Find a QuickBooks ProAdvisor. To find a QuickBooks ProAdvisor for your small business, make a list of the traits you are looking for in an accountant. Then be prepared to do some internet sleuthing to find someone that matches your desired profile. You can also use the quickbooks.intuit.com/find-an-accountant/ website to find local QuickBooks ProAdvisors.

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How to Write and Print Checks in QuickBooks Online

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These days, you might not find yourself creating and printing checks in QuickBooks Online too often. You likely pay your bills with online banking, a business credit card, or your bookkeeper uses Bill.com to manage payables for you. That being said, sometimes it’s necessary to create and print checks in QuickBooks Online. So, in this article, I’ll walk you through how to do just that, step by step.

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The Best Business Rewards Credit Cards for 2019

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The Best Business Rewards Credit Cards for 2019. Best for Flat-Rate Cash Back: Capital One Spark Cash for Business. Best for Bonus Category Spending: American Express SimplyCash Plus. Best for Signup Bonus: Chase Ink Business Preferred. Best for Flat-Rate Travel Rewards: Capital One Spark Miles for Business. Best No-Fee Rewards Card: American Express Blue Business Plus.

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Cash Basis Accounting: Everything Business Owners Need to Know

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Cash basis accounting is preferred by many business owners—and accountants!—because it’s easy to implement, maintain, and understand. Since most businesses in the U.S. are cash basis taxpayers , it just makes sense for most small businesses to use cash basis accounting, right? Sometimes. But cash basis accounting usually only shows you part of your financial picture.

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QuickBooks Financial Statements: Reviewing Business Financials in QuickBooks

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How Do I Create QuickBooks Financial Statements? You can generate QuickBooks financial statements under the reports section of your QuickBooks dashboard. Prepare an up-to-date profit and loss statement, balance sheet, and statement of cash flows. You can customize the time period, and drill down into detailed information, such as what portion of your profits came up from a specific customer.

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Personal Guarantees: Everything You Need to Know Before Signing

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What Is a Personal Guarantee? A personal guarantee is, essentially, a legal promise by the individual business owner or owners that they will repay any outstanding business debt if the business fails to do so. If you’re applying for a small business loan , you’re likely full of optimism—as you should be! Trying to secure financing without being positive about how the money could help your business is a recipe for disaster, especially if you’re loan application includes a person

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How to Find a QuickBooks ProAdvisor: A Step-by-Step Guide

Fundera

How to Find a QuickBooks ProAdvisor. To find a QuickBooks ProAdvisor for your small business, make a list of the traits you are looking for in an accountant. Then be prepared to do some internet sleuthing to find someone that matches your desired profile. You can also use the quickbooks.intuit.com/find-an-accountant/ website to find local QuickBooks ProAdvisors.

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Workers Compensation Insurance for Small Business Owners

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What Is Workers Compensation Insurance? Workers compensation insurance covers medical expenses and lost wages when employees sustain work-related injuries or illnesses. Workers compensation also pays death benefits to families of employees who pass away as a result. In all states but Texas, most employers are legally required to purchase workers compensation insurance.

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Contract Brewing: How to Start a Brewing Company for Cheap

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Craft beer is in the middle of a huge growth period. This $26 billion segment of the brewing industry began to spike in 2012, and hasn’t shown signs of slowing down some six years later. But as budding brewmasters look to start their own businesses, few can afford to invest the amount of capital—usually anywhere from $100,000 to $1 million —to open up their own facility.

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Accrual Basis of Accounting: What Small Business Owners Need to Know

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You might have heard or read the terms “accrual basis” and “cash basis” in regards to accounting. If you ask three accountants which basis you should use for your business, you are likely to get three different answers. This is because each basis is used for different purposes, and the accountant’s answer will be colored by their perspective of how you should be using your financial statements.

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The Small Business Health Options Program: What Businesses Need to Know

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What Is the Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP)? The Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) is the government-run health exchange where small business owners can obtain health or dental coverage for themselves and their employees. SHOP is open to businesses with one to 50 employees. Each state has a SHOP marketplace offering access to participating health plans.

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Form 2553 Instructions: How and Where to File

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What Is Form 2553? Businesses must file Form 2553 with the IRS to elect to be taxed as an S-corporation. The form is due no later than two months and 15 days after the beginning of the tax year in which the election takes effect. After electing S-corp status, the company is taxed as a pass-through entity, so the business’s income and losses are reflected on the owners’ personal tax returns.

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Invoice Factoring vs. Invoice Financing: What’s the Difference?

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Invoice Factoring vs. Invoice Financing. The main difference between invoice factoring vs. invoice financing is who collects on the business’s unpaid invoices. In invoice financing, the customer retains full control of collections. In invoice factoring, the factoring company purchases the unpaid invoices and takes over collections. In both cases, businesses are advanced around 80% of their unpaid invoices upfront, with the remaining financing (minus fees) coming after the customer has paid

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Can I Have 2 Business Bank Accounts?

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As a small business owner, it can be challenging to keep track of your company’s financials—be they daily cash flow concerns or long-term tax preparedness. Separating your operating cash from your long-term money needs, such as small business taxes, can be crucial for keeping your money straight. Every small business needs to start off with a business checking account , for sure, but you might also ask yourself, “Can I have two business bank accounts?

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Professional Liability Insurance: Does Your Small Business Need It?

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What Is Professional Liability Insurance? Professional liability insurance, also called errors and omissions or professional indemnity insurance, protects service businesses from the cost of defending negligence lawsuits and other claims of service-related errors. Service professionals and business owners who provide expert advice should purchase professional liability coverage.

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Benefit Corporation vs. B Corporation: What’s the Difference?

Fundera

It is not uncommon to get benefit corporations and B corporations mixed up. These two business entities share similar names, making it easy to assume that their duties would also be similar. This is not the case when it comes to benefit corporations vs. B corporations. How can you tell benefit corporations vs. B corps apart from each other? Let’s take a look at how each entity differs from each other, and what they have in common besides similar names.

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Credit Repair Services: Best Providers and Scams to Watch out For

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Best Credit Repair Services. Best Overall: Key Credit Repair. Best Value: Sky Blue Credit. Best Expertise: Lexington Law. Best Customer Service: Credit Saint Credit Restoration. Best for Long-Term Use: The Credit People. One of the most important factors in a business loan application is your credit score. And of course, credit is equally important for personal milestones, such as buying a home or car.

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Invoice Factoring vs. Invoice Financing: What’s the Difference?

Fundera

Invoice Factoring vs. Invoice Financing. The main difference between invoice factoring vs. invoice financing is who collects on the business’s unpaid invoices. In invoice financing, the customer retains full control of collections. In invoice factoring, the factoring company purchases the unpaid invoices and takes over collections. In both cases, businesses are advanced around 80% of their unpaid invoices upfront, with the remaining financing (minus fees) coming after the customer has paid