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Your first task for local SEO is to list your business location so you will begin to show up on Google Maps. Once you register with Google as a business and your listing start to show up on Google Maps, potential clients will be able to find your location easily, along with your phone number, photos, a link to your website, your address with directions, and other pertinent information.

The post Understanding Local SEO for Small Accounting Firms appeared first on MoneyThumb.

We are coming up quickly to the tax deadline of April 15th, so if you are needing signatures from you online clients to complete their tax returns, you can get their signature easily by using E-Signature technology.

Prior to 2015 only handwritten signatures or signatures captured on signature pads were accepted for forms 8878 and 8879, which authorize an Electronic Return Originator (ERO) to e-file tax returns to the IRS. In March 2014, new IRS rules allowed the forms to be signed by taxpayers electronically, making it easier for you, the accountants and tax preparers for clients, to electronically file customers’ tax returns. The Rules of Thumb blog from MoneyThumb has listed the following three rules you must follow for using an E-Signature:

IRS Mandates

The first step in selecting secure, reliable e-signature technology is to make sure it meets IRS mandates for e-signatures. For IRS documents, an e-signature service must do the following:

1. Identify the person who signed the document. E-signature providers must be able to calibrate their identity authentication processes to specifically meet IRS requirements, beginning with the basics: your personally identifiable information.

A signer must provide his name, Social Security number, address, and date of birth and the information given must be consistent with information provided through record checks with credit bureaus or similar databases. E-signature technology must be able to record this information, too.

For a remote signer, the software must also use knowledge-based authentication (KBA) to further verify the taxpayer’s identity. This process asks the signer a series of detailed questions generated from information found in public databases that are typically not known by anyone other than the signer (and isn’t easily found in someone’s wallet).

The software must record that a signer successfully passed this form of authentication, per National Institute of Standards and Technology requirements. And after three tries – you’re out. If there are three failed KBA attempts, the signer must authorize the documents with a handwritten signature. Also, if there is more than one taxpayer on the return, the signature process must be designed to authenticate each taxpayer separately.

2. Retain integrity of electronic records. Each e-signature must be linked to its respective electronic record, or there should be proof that the signature is a valid one. An e-signature should not be able to be removed, copied, or transferred to falsify a digital record.

Once signed, the document must have the ability not to be tampered with, so the e-signature service must use techniques to lock a document and prevent it from being modified. Storage systems must also contain a retrieval system with an index and the ability to reproduce legible hard copies of electronic records.

3. Create a digital paper trail. For IRS compliance, e-signature technology must record the digital image of the signed form, the date and time of the signature, the taxpayer’s computer IP address, the taxpayer’s login identification/user name, identity verification (the taxpayer’s KBA results showing he passed), and an audit trail that reflects the completion of the process by the signer. The ERO must keep this information on hand and be able to provide it to the IRS as requested.

As an accountant or other tax preparers, if you follow the 3 above steps the Rules of Thumb blog from MoneyThumb has suggested when using E-Signature for client's to sign their tax documents, you should have no trouble at all.

The post Tips for Using E-Signature for Tax Returns appeared first on MoneyThumb.

For many small business owners and home accountants, keeping track of where money is coming from and going to started on a spreadsheet. After all, practically every computer comes with some type of spreadsheet program, and nearly everyone knows the basics of how to use it. At first glance, online accounting programs can look more complicated than the familiar spreadsheet standby.

The truth is, however, that online accounting systems can be a lot easier to use than most spreadsheet programs. These programs come loaded with the data fields that business owners need: they’re easily able to perform complicated functions, and they produce reports that make your business data understandable to others.

Easy Spreadsheet Set Up

The most time-consuming part of using an ordinary spreadsheet to track your financial data is setting up the file. Starting from a blank grid, it can take hours to create a few basic forms that just allow you to track expenses and income received. More complicated forms, such as sheets to track tax liabilities, can take much longer to set up. Furthermore, every time there is a change in tax law or your billing/tracking methods, it’s necessary to change the spreadsheets. With an online accounting program, however, the forms and fields are already set up. Entering client and supplier data or revenue and expense data is simply a matter of data entry; there’s no need to set up new fields. A valuable feature of online systems is the ability to download bank data directly into your spreadsheets – a major time saver.

Simple Calculations

Once your data is entered into a spreadsheet, managing the program to give you the numbers you need can be tricky. While it’s fairly easy to add or compute an average, more complicated functions can be difficult to figure out. For example, if you want to compute the average of a group of prices that falls between a certain date range, you need to be an advanced user to understand how your spreadsheet organizes data and the functions needed to reorganize it the way you want. With an online accounting program, however, these functions are already built into the program. With the click of a button, you can re-organize your data and find sums and averages for any range of data that you specify; complicated functions are no longer out of reach, and comparisons of data groups are simple.

Clear, Customizable Reports

Finally, online accounting programs are able to generate reports that are easily understood by people both inside and outside of your company. In addition to standard accounting reports, with these programs you can effortlessly pull data for your tax consultant, provide a report on specified clients or suppliers for review by government regulators, or produce easy to view charts and graphs for potential investors. You’ll be able to produce a report on only the data you want to show in a matter of minutes.

An online accounting system is almost always a better choice for a business owner than setting up and managing an in-house, unique set of spreadsheets. While a new online accounting program may take a few minutes to learn, it can pay off many times over in the hours of time saved and in its ease of future use.

The post How Online Accounting Systems are Simpler than Spreadsheets appeared first on MoneyThumb.

As an accountant who owns their own small business, adding new clients is always a goal, and learning how to advertise online is especially important. You are offering a range of services that most people need, yet they don’t know how to go about finding a trustworthy accountant online, one they can learn to trust with their money and accounting concerns or where to look for reliable financial advisers. Advertising can help you spread the word about your accounting business and market yourself and your services to a growing number of customers.

Here are some great tips for the best ways to advertise your accounting business online:

1. Use search engine optimization (SEO)

Search engine optimization, also known as SEO, is a great promotion and advertising tool. By using SEO, you will be able to select keywords that match your accounting services so that every time someone googles a relevant information your website will come up. The idea is to rank as high as possible in the search engine pages such as Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc. Just make sure to select appropriate keywords in your accounting niche that truly represent your services. If you don’t know how to employ SEO, you can hire an SEO professional to analyze your finance business and fine-tune your strategy to increase the traffic to your accounting website.

2. Link your website to other websites

Linking your accounting website to other websites that offer relevant services or more information about a particular topic will help you impress your customers, but will also rank your website higher in the search engines. The point is to increase your website’s traffic through increased visibility and to offer your visitors an excellent customer experience. Choose your links carefully and add additional content that will make your website a trusted and reliable source of accounting information.

3. Employ targeted advertising

Targeted advertising can help you place relevant ads based on a selection of demographic data, consumer preferences, and consumer behavior. For example, you may be an accountant who specializes in small business. People who own small businesses online, especially new startups, are your target audience. By knowing exactly who your customers are, you can target them using social networking sites, industry websites, or small online publishers.

     4. Send out industry newsletters

Industry newsletters will help you follow the finance and accounting industry and adjust your services to customer needs. In addition, they can bring you closer to potential customers; people who are interested in accounting and other financial products, but don’t know where to look. Focus your marketing efforts on the customers you have already done business with and open up to new ones through newsletters and promotional emails.

6. Offer accounting and finance seminars

Finance is a complicated science for most people. Offering accounting and finance seminars to people who are looking for accountants, help with retirement, investments, or simply to learn how to keep a budget, an accounting or finance seminar can be exactly what they need. Furthermore, you will be able to broaden your customer base and gain new customers. These people can easily become advocates of your accounting business through mouth-to-mouth advertising, thus compensating you for your hard work.

The post How to Advertise Your Accounting Business Online appeared first on MoneyThumb.

Although traditional accounting software is still the standard for the majority of small businesses, many business owners are making the leap to cloud-based accounting. To help you decide which is best for your small business, below are some pros and cons of both types of software, traditional and cloud-based:

Traditional Accounting Software

Small businesses have relied on traditional accounting software such as QuickBooks for years. Longevity means a large number of expert users, support guides, and other documentation that can keep you up to speed. Experts agree that desktop programs are usually more feature-rich and powerful than cloud-based competitors, and you don’t need a fast Internet connection (or any Internet connection at all) for most features. Finally, this is a one-time expense. You pay for your software and can use it indefinitely without shelling out more cash (at least until you need to upgrade to a new program).

Of course, one major con of traditional accounting software is that access is limited to wherever you’ve installed it. This can also make it hard to use collaboratively — this is typically a one-user-at-a-time scenario for small businesses. You have to be extra careful to back up your data, which could be swallowed up in the black hole of a computer crash or malware attack. Finally, you’ll need to periodically check for software updates to keep things running smoothly and take advantage of new features.

Cloud-Based Accounting Software

One of the biggest advantages of cloud-based accounting is accessibility. As long as you can get online, you’ll be able to access your account. Because the software lives online, you won’t have to worry about updates and backing up your work — that’s all automatic. You’ll also be able to collaborate more easily with others, and can even work simultaneously if your platform allows multiple users. You can link up your account with your bank or other cloud-based applications such as PayPal, which can save you from some tedious data entry.

Still, since cloud-based accounting is relatively new, you may find there are fewer experts to guide you, and industry-specific platforms are rare. Depending on your needs, you may also find some advanced features are missing, such as customer relations management or purchase order control. Price can also be a big downside here: You’ll have to pay month after month for a cloud-based service. At roughly $20 a month (the price of a low- to mid-tier cloud accounting solution) it will take you about a year to equal what you might pay for basic traditional accounting software — however, you’ll still keep paying after that, and prices for premium cloud accounting run $30, $40, or even more a month.

What About Security?

Many small-business owners have been reluctant to put their financial data online because of security concerns. Certainly, no one wants their account numbers in the hands of hackers. However, most experts agree this concern is overblown, and shouldn’t dissuade you if you’re thinking of moving your accounting to the cloud. After all, your data is probably more at risk on your old desktop or laptop, whether that’s from a computer crash, a virus, a theft, or even something like a fire. In contrast, cloud accounting companies know their own businesses are at stake in the event of a major data breach, so they spend a lot of time and money keeping their security top-notch.

Bottom Line

If you need features or truly industry-specific support that you can’t find in cloud accounting, it may still be best for you to choose traditional accounting software. Otherwise, it probably makes the most sense to head online.

You may find in your journey toward cloud based accounting that you need one of our file converters. Check out our product recommender to find out which one that would be.

The post Which is Best for Your Business Needs, Traditional or Cloud-Based Accounting Software? appeared first on MoneyThumb.

We have found such a great article and infographic from the Intuit blog and QuickBooks that we simply must share it with our readers. The article has a list of 21 things to do and when to do them for your small business accounting, and has even broken down these tasks by daily, monthly, quarterly and yearly. What a great tool! Below we have provided a snippet of the beginning of the checklist:

Small Business Accounting Checklist: 21 Things to Do and When to Do Them

Managing your business finances does not have to be eat-your-spinach drudgery. The key, of course, is to create a realistic plan with a budget, record your transactions correctly, review your results regularly and always keep good records. Your comfort level with the three basic financial reports that evaluate your fiscal health is also essential: the balance sheet, income statement and cash flow statement.

When is it time to do what? The following checklist lays out a recommended timeline to take care of the accounting functions that will keep you attuned to the state of your business and streamline your tax preparation. Read through for in-depth coverage of your required tasks, or skip to the end to see a handy infographic to use as a visual checklist.

Daily Accounting Tasks

1. Check Cash Position

Since cash is the fuel for your business, you never want to be running near empty. Start your day by checking how much cash you have on hand. Knowing how much you expect to receive and how much you expect to pay during the upcoming week/month is important, too—but it is not gas in your tank.

Read the rest of the article and view the infographic HERE.

If you have found this blog post helpful, please take a moment to share on your social media pages. Thanks!

The post Small Business Accounting Checklist: 21 Things to Do and When to Do Them appeared first on MoneyThumb.

As an Accountant or a CPA, can you establish a reputation within a specific profession?Our opinion is that doing so is very likely. After all, there are plenty of people who do the same job. They are unique because they socialize together, hold each other accountable, settle disputes away from public scrutiny, and often ask for referrals when seeking professional services.

Here are nine ways to proceed to build your clientele within a specific profession:

1. Choose the profession and get one client first.  As an example throughout this article, let's use teachers or police officers as your target client. Find just one person in the profession and do a great job for them. Always explain how you are helping so they understand your value.

2. Learn about their profession. What are the issues unique to their field? For police and teachers, it might be understanding early retirement ages and the prospect of second careers. Your client(s) will gladly explain.

3. Coach your clients. You’ve studied the field and understand the issues. You would like to add more clients from their field. Who do they know facing similar issues? Can they explain how you’ve helped them? Provide introductions?

4. Socialize with them. You’ve heard about “cop bars” on TV. Teachers also normally find a way to gather together. Frequent the right places. Your client can help. Be yourself. You will likely be absorbed into the group. Accounting is a prestigious profession. People want to know you.

5. Those you know. The average American knows 600 people, according to the New York Times. You have circles of friends from the gym, house of worship, country club, and your child’s school. Which ones are teachers or police officers? Get to know them a little better, at least well enough for them to ask, “What do you do?”

6. Those you don’t know. Most major cities have professional associations. It’s likely you belong to one for accounting professionals. Do some Google research and build a list of professional teacher or police officer societies in your area. Don’t assume there’s just one. Visit the membership section of the association’s website. Does it have associate memberships for people not employed in the field, but provide services used by those in your chosen niche? Often the answer is yes. You’ll likely see banks, insurance firms, and financial services firms listed.

7. Join and be visible. Joining isn’t likely to be cheap, but you are raising your visibility. Back to the website. Does the association have dinner speakers? What could you address? Volunteer – almost every organization needs worker bees.

8. Sell the firm. Tout the advantages and reputation of your firm, then position yourself as their contact within the firm who can bring the specialized help they may need for their field.

9. Publish. Specialty societies often have newsletters and magazines. They need relevant content, even better if it’s free. What can you provide? This builds name recognition within the profession.

People who have been in the same profession for a good amount of time, they are the ones who understand that profession backwards and forwards. Follow the steps above to become their go to person when it comes to their accounting needs.

The post For Accountants and CPAs: How to Prospect for New Clients Within a Specific Profession appeared first on MoneyThumb.

Defining bookkeeping

Bookkeeping is an indispensable subset of accounting. Bookkeeping refers to the process of accumulating, organizing, storing, and accessing the financial information base of an entity, which is needed for two basic purposes:

• Facilitating the day-to-day operations of the entity

• Preparing financial statements, tax returns, and internal reports to managers

Bookkeeping (also called recordkeeping) can be thought of as the financial information infrastructure of an entity. The financial information base should be complete, accurate, and timely. Every recordkeeping system needs quality controls built into it, which are called internal controls.

Defining accounting

The term accounting is much broader, going into the realm of designing the bookkeeping system, establishing controls to make sure the system is working well, and analyzing and verifying the recorded information. Accountants give orders; bookkeepers follow them.

Accounting encompasses the problems in measuring the financial effects of economic activity. Furthermore, accounting includes the function of financial reporting of values and performance measures to those that need the information. Business managers, investors, and many others depend on financial reports for information about the performance and condition of the entity.

Accountants design the internal controls for the bookkeeping system, which serve to minimize errors in recording the large number of activities that businesses engage in. The internal controls that accountants design are also relied on to detect and deter theft, embezzlement, fraud, and dishonest behavior of all kinds.

Accountants prepare reports based on the information accumulated by the bookkeeping process: financial statements, tax returns, and various confidential reports to managers. Measuring profit is a critical task that accountants perform — a task that depends on the accuracy of the information recorded by the bookkeeper. The accountant decides how to measure sales revenue and expenses to determine the profit or loss for the period.

Hopefully, this post will clear up any questions you have had about the actual difference between accounting and bookkeeping. However, if you still have questions about the differences, take a minute to read the Wikipedia post on Bookkeeping and Accounting.

So what do you consider yourself, if you are in this field, an accountant or a bookkeeper? We look forward to your answers and also to your feedback on our post.

Have a great day!

The post The Difference Between Bookkeeping and Accounting appeared first on MoneyThumb.

QuickBooks is one of the most popular accounting software systems, so it is a good bet that many of you reading this MoneyThumb blog post are already using at least the desktop version of QuickBooks.

The Advantages of QuickBooks Online

Even though the desktop version of QuickBooks--QuickBooks Pro--gets the job done, below is a list of advantages the online version has over the desktop version:

• Capture receipts on your phone--Snap a photo of your receipt and easily attach it to any transaction using the QuickBooks mobile app.
• Less data entry--QuickBooks online automatically downloads and categorizes bank and credit card transactions.
• Work from anywhere--Turn a spare moment into a productive minute. Send invoices, reconcile accounts, run payroll, and more on your phone.
• Get answers anytime--Keep tabs on your business from your pocket. Access customer info, late invoices, and more from your smart phone.
• Share books with your accountant--Your accountant can access your books remotely to answer questions, fix problems, and do anything needed to get you ready for tax time.
• Access on PC and Mac--With QuickBooks Online, you and your team can access the books on either device.

Those are a few of the major advantages of QuickBooks online vs. QuickBooks Pro, the desktop version. Another advantage all around, for both versions, is the comprehensive support and assistance offered by Intuit, the creator of QuickBooks. You can even test drive their software for 30 days without having to enter your credit card!

QuickBooks also has a great Import and/or Convert Resource Center, where you can find answers to all of your questions about switching to QuickBooks online, helpful videos, and chat. There is no reason that anyone can't begin with QuickBooks, whether it be the desktop version or the mobile app, using the resources offered.

For instance, below is a video on How to Customize Reports in QuickBooks:

As the saying goes, Time is Money, so if you are looking for a way to move forward with the latest technology in order to save time, and thus make more money, MoneyThumb highly recommends you try out QuickBooks Online.

The majority of this blog post has been dedicated to individuals or small businesses who handle their own accounting. However, this section of the Intuit website has all the necessary information for professional accountants too. Check out the info there if you want to provide the best and latest for your clients.

The post The Advantages of Using QuickBooks Online appeared first on MoneyThumb.

MoneyThumb is proud to introduce PDF+, the only optical character recognition (OCR) software designed specifically for reading scanned bank statements. PDF+ quickly and efficiently converts data from scanned documents and other PDF statements that contain images or internal encryption into usable data.

What is OCR?

OCR recognizes image based documents and translates them into data electronic devices can recognize. OCR technology is already being used to extract text and characters from books and magazines to preserve data into a digital format.The technology can identify everything from text to non-textual elements, such as images, columns, and rows. MoneyThumb's PDF+ is the first platform to implement this new and effective technology specifically to bank statements and bookkeeping forms.

What PDF+ Can do for You.

That means it can take read-only PDFs or scanned documents, interpret them, and deliver the data into an editable file. Whether you use desktop or online accounting methods, PDF+ can make life easier. Simply convert your scanned PDF documents to today’s most popular digital accounting formats:

• QuickBooks
• Quicken
• Excel
• MoneyDance
• Xero
• Zoho
• AceMoney
• Ynab

PDF+ can drastically reduce the amount of time spent manually entering data onto complex accounting systems. Furthermore, it removes the chances of human error, making your data as accurate as possible.

MoneyThumb currently offers PDF+ software bundles and express subscriptions. Software bundles include MoneyThumb’s classic conversion software (yours for life, upon purchase) with a one-year subscription to PDF+ OCR capabilities. For those looking to satisfy a short-term need, the express subscriptions give you access to MoneyThumb’s OCR services for 50 days at a lower cost.

All it takes to get this new technology on your computer is a simple download. You’re mere minutes away from supercharging your conversion software for PDFs.

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The post MoneyThumb Welcomes OCR to the Family appeared first on MoneyThumb.