Where accounting makes "cents"

  𝑫𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒂 𝒃𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒌𝒆𝒆𝒑𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒄𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒕? 𝑶𝒓 𝒃𝒐𝒕𝒉?! While the roles overlap, businesses often start with a bookkeeper and as the business grows the owners hope that the bookkeeper can grow with the increasing responsibilities. Often times that’s not the case but business owners will not implement a change. There’s no one size fits all approach but business owners need to understand that bookkeepers are the ones responsible for keeping the data while accountants are the ones responsible for analyzing the data. 𝘈𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘹𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘢𝘹 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘹𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘻𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘹 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝐇𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐫𝐚 𝐬𝐞𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐡𝐮𝐫?...

  𝐈𝐟 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐚𝐲 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐢𝐱 𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦. While smaller projects can simply be billed with an invoice, larger projects usually require a progress billing application on an AIA G702 & G703. These pay apps give a summary of contract value, previous billed, current billed, retainage withheld and current amount due. It also tells how much remains to bill, how much has been paid and details scope of work with change orders. A large portion of my day includes reviewing subcontractor pay apps for accuracy and often fixing and returning the pay app for revisions. 5 Common payment application problems are: 1.      Pay apps sent in after the monthly due date 2.      Overbilling for future expenses 3.      Excluding supporting documents 4.  ...

Are you in the construction business and systematically find additional expenses ate through the final gross profit of completed jobs? How about finding out at project completion that the initial bid was grossly understated and you’re not exactly sure where the money went? Many Contractors and Developers overlook indirect cost allocations in their bids and budgets on future projects, these costs can have a significant impact on the overall project bottom line. Some of the larger line items that are not captured in budgets are the payroll burden for laborers and office administration fees. These costs are not specifically allocable to a defined contract but are a shared resource in order to get the project to completion. #construction   #constructionaccountant   #jobcost   #accountant   #advisory   #consultant   #constructionconsultant   #palmbeachaccountant   #newyorkaccountant   #stamfordaccountant   #jobcostaccounting   #indirectc...

  Know thy Bookkeeper – Here’s a Fraud Flag for Thought… Fraud can occur at any point in your business life cycle. Think about how your bookkeeper touches your funds, products and records and ask the following questions: 1. Are your accounting records a mess? 2. Does your bookkeeper refuse to delegate? 3. Does your bookkeeper seem to have a lifestyle inconsistent with their salary? 4. Has your bookkeeper asked to be a signer on your bank accounts? 5. Does your bookkeeper ask for approval when making transfers? Many business owners don’t bring in a qualified accounting professional because they want to save money, so they leave the bookkeeper to run the business without adequate supervision, specialized skills and no separation of duties. Most people are honest but some are not! Have you met a long-time bookkeeper that is complacent and hates doing their job so they do the bare minimum? Well I have and most times I cannot advise business owners on how to save money because of cases ...