Futures Forum - Business Tips

This Months Topic: Bookkeeping and Tax Season

By Gillian Chapman

April 2010 - Did you know that there is a local business support organization, paid for by the Federal Government that was created purely to support small business and the local economy?

 Let me introduce the Prince Edward Lennox & Addington Community Futures Development Corporation. I agree, it does have the most cumbersome name on the face of the planet, so it’s often called PELA (pronounced Pella), because time is money, so let’s not waste it!

We have a staff of professionals with great experience and knowledge that we want to share with the business community, so we will be providing monthly business tips in this column. If there is a particular business issue that you would like some feedback on, drop us a line at info@pelacfdc.ca, and we will research it and put it in the column to share with the business community.

As the tax season is upon us, here are a few tips that might help with the smooth running of your books. Firstly, recognize your strengths and weaknesses. If you are one of these people that hears the words "tax”, "books”, "year-end” and breaks into a cold sweat , its probably fair to say that book-keeping is not one of your strengths. Admit it. There’s no shame in that. If you are spending hours stressing over your accounts, and that’s taking you away from the revenue generating part of your business, Stop doing it! Now we’re not suggesting for a moment that you ignore your books and taxes, but believe it or not, there are people out there that love this sort of stuff, and will be quite happy to take it off your hands for a reasonable fee. They will also do it in a fraction of the time, and do a much better job of it. They are called ‘book-keepers’. They are a rare and quiet breed, usually wearing glasses, and working from their home, or they can form a small colony called an accountants office. They usually respond to the following distress call. "Help me….if I look at another tax return I’m going to die”. That being said, you will need to provide a certain level of information to them. Remember, Garbage in, Garbage out. Keep expense receipts, and make notes that will help the book-keeper to allocate them correctly. Note down business mileage, and the job it relates to. When it comes to the year end, the important date is the date you get the bill, not the date it was paid, so make sure you include all the bills and client invoices to the year end date in the package, envelope, or shoe box you provide to your book-keeper. Be nice to your book-keeper. A kind word and a smile will go a long way. Remember, they are doing the job you hate. Love them for it!

Business Advice provide by Gillian Chapman,

Business Development Manager, PELA CFDC.

Building YOUR community, One small business at a time.