Erica Sporer The Best Use of Your Financial Statements – Nipping Problems in the Bud New businesses are usually fraught with financial problems: margins too low, debt too high, not enough cash, not enough profits. That’s normal and to be expected. How you deal with these initial setbacks, though, can mean the difference between success and failure … Read more
The Best Use of Your Financial Statements – Calculating Crucial Financial Ratios The idea of calculating financial ratios can seem intimidating, but it’s really much easier than it sounds. A ratio is really just a fraction, expressed in a slightly different way to let you see how two numbers compare to one another. You actually … Read more
The Best Use of Your Financial Statements – Vertical and Horizontal Analysis The two simplest ways to analyze your financial statements are vertically and horizontally. A vertical analysis shows you the relationships among components of one financial statement, measured as percentages. On your balance sheet, each asset is shown as a percentage of total assets; … Read more
The Best Use of Your Financial Statements – What Can Your Statements Tell You? At face value, your financial statements tell you a lot about your company’s performance. The statement of profit and loss lets you know how much the company sold, and whether those sales resulted in overall profitability. The balance sheet tells you … Read more
The Income Tax Impact – Tax Planning Strategies Tax planning strategies range from the very simple to the excruciatingly complex, but they all have one thing in common: they seek to minimize your overall tax bill. There are dozens of means available to help you accomplish this goal, from gray areas to loopholes to income … Read more
The Income Tax Impact – Your Payment Strategy Impacts Your Personal Taxes Like most of the other tax issues surrounding your business, the impact on your personal tax return depends on the entity you’ve chosen for your company. No matter which business structure you’ve used, though, if your company has earned profits (and even sometimes … Read more
The Income Tax Impact – Different Ways to Pay Yourself One of the reasons you started a business was to make some money. Once your business is profitable, you have to decide whether, when, and how you want to transfer some of that money into your personal accounts. The different ways you can do that, … Read more
The Income Tax Impact – Introducing Business Tax Forms For every business entity, there’s a separate income tax form. Even those entities that don’t have to pay any income taxes on their own still have tax returns to fill out; these are referred to as informational returns. Plus, no matter what type of business structure … Read more
The Income Tax Impact – Different Income Taxation for Different Entities The way to determine your company’s income taxes depends wholly on its entity. Each entity comes with its own tax forms, not to mention unique tax benefits and drawbacks. Overall, though, there are really only two basic categories that your company’s income taxes could … Read more
The Income Tax Impact – Financial Statements Flow into Tax Returns The first time you look at any business tax return form, you’ll see that it resembles your financial statements, without the numbers filled in yet. That’s really all the tax return is, after all: a standard form on which to report your company’s revenues, … Read more
