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Tax Traps for Nonprofits
Don't assume that since the federal government doesn't tax most nonprofit income that it doesn't require nonprofits to comply with tax-reporting requirements. Just like for-profit businesses, nonprofits [more…]
What Does an Accountant Do?
Most people don’t realize the importance of the accounting department in keeping a business operating without hitches and delays. That’s probably because accountants oversee many of the back-office functions [more…]
Transactions and Balance Sheets in Accounting
A balance sheet is a snapshot of the financial condition of a business at an instant in time — the most important moment in time being at the end of the last day of the income statement period. The balance [more…]
Accounting For Canadians For Dummies Cheat Sheet
Every business and not-for-profit entity needs a reliable accounting system to facilitate day-to-day operations and to prepare financial statements, tax returns, and internal reports to managers. This [more…]
Building Blocks of a Bookkeeping System
Your bookkeeping system is built on a few key elements fundamental to keeping your books in order. With these building blocks, any bookkeeper can set up a solid system for tracking all the business’s transactions [more…]
Key Steps for Keeping the Books
Bookkeeping is, among other things, a step-by-step process that lets you methodically track the transactions in your company’s books. Monitoring a transaction every step of the way helps bookkeepers keep [more…]
Tips for Controlling Your Business Cash
Although bookkeepers are the ones who record what happens to your business’s cash, they aren’t the only ones who control where that cash goes. Controlling your company’s money is important; a business’s [more…]
Calculating Cash Flow with the Current Ratio
In bookkeeping, the current ratio compares your current assets to your current liabilities. This ratio provides a quick glimpse of your company’s cash flow — its ability to pay its bills. The formula for [more…]
Testing Cash Flow with the Acid Test or Quick Ratio
In bookkeeping, the acid test or quick ratioevaluates your company’s current assets and liabilities, but it’s a stricter test of cash flow than the similar current ratio. Many lenders prefer the acid test [more…]
Important Differences between U.S. and International Accounting Standards
Your intermediate accounting textbook homes in on generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) in the United States, but, where applicable, points out international perspectives for accounting for the [more…]
What Does Intermediate Accounting Cover?
Intermediate accounting delves into the more complex, more challenging aspects of accounting practices. It covers topics and accounting situations that go beyond the basics, including the following: [more…]
How to Calculate VAT
Calculating the VAT (Value Added Tax) element of any transaction can be a confusing sum at the best of times. Following these simple steps can help you get it right: [more…]
Can Your Business Make Money?
Can your business idea leave you rolling in used tenners? Even with the most thorough of market research and the best business plan in the world, you’re not on to a winner unless your business idea can [more…]
Main Tasks of Business Accounting
Getting your head around business finance is not easy. To help you get started, here’s a list of the most important tasks of business accounting and their meaning. [more…]
How to Safeguard Your Nonprofit’s Financial Systems
Even in a small nonprofit organization, you want to establish careful practices about how you handle money and financial documents. If you have a one-person office, creating all the following controls [more…]
How to Document Goods and Services Donated to Your Nonprofit
Some nonprofit organizations benefit from donated goods and services rather than, or in addition to, contributed and earned cash. Suppose, for example, that a local business provides office space for your [more…]
How to Work with Your Nonprofit Budget
Your nonprofit budget isn’t capable of getting up and walking out of the room, but it needs to be an “active document.” If you simply create it once a year to keep in a file folder and submit with grant [more…]
How to Keep Your Nonprofit’s Books Organized and Current
After you’ve created a budget, you need to set up a system for keeping consistent, organized records of your nonprofit’s financial information. You may choose to do your bookkeeping by hand or with accounting [more…]
Exactly What Are Annuities?
Annuities are a series of payments paid or received over a period of time. A typical example is rent payments made to a property owner. Annuities also include bond payments — companies issue bonds when [more…]
What Is Financial Accounting?
Financial accounting involves the process of preparing financial statements for a business. This extravaganza involves three major components: accounting information, type of business entity, and user [more…]
What Is the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)?
In response to the stock market crash of 1929 and the ensuing Great Depression, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 created the SEC. The SEC’s mission is to make sure publicly traded companies tell the [more…]
What Is the AICPA?
Although the SEC governs publicly traded companies, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) has the responsibility for making sure privately traded companies toe the line. [more…]
What Is the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB)?
The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) is one of three organizations primarily in charge of setting U.S. GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles). The other two are the Securities and Exchange [more…]
What Is the FASB Accounting Standards Codification?
As of July 1, 2009, the FASB Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) became the single source of authoritative generally accepted accounting principles [more…]
