If you run a business from a home office or business office, you know that “keeping the books” can be a tall order.  The demands of keeping your business running 24/7 simply have to come first.

Even if you’ve already purchased an “out of the box” financial software program, it’s no easy matter to set up that software to work for the highly individualized needs of your business. At Sapurstein & Associates, we know.

That’s why we offer special:

• Tax return preparation
• Part-time CFO services
• Bookkeeping services
• Controllership services

All of these are especially geared for small-to-medium sized businesses like yours. With more than twenty years of experience with all kinds of businesses, we know ways to get your bookkeeping system started and then keep it operating at peak efficiency.

Whether we help you once a month, once a quarter, or whenever you need us, using a combination of face to face meetings and remote computer access, there are dozens of ways an experienced small business CPA firm like ours can be of assistance.

If you are puzzled about what’s new in the tax law or don’t have time to really get to the heart of the vital information your books need to be able to relay to you, just remember – two heads are better than one.

So, let’s put our heads together – and find the precise financial solution to fit your needs.

If you are like most small business owners, you are so busy building your business, you may not have the time to do your own bookkeeping – let alone the expertise required to keep your books consistent, tax compliant, and accurate.

Having your books maintained in a knowledgeable, proactive way is vital to keeping your business running smoothly. Sapurstein & Associates can help. Consider talking to us about QuickBooks™. Sapurstein & Associates has an iFi QuickBooks™ solution where your company’s data is stored on a secure server with redundant backups that both of us can access.  In this way, you can perform as much of the bookkeeping responsibilities as you feel comfortable doing. We do the rest — expertly — and you have 24-hour access to your most recent company information.

Save headaches by knowing your books are done accurately and consistently. Save time by sharing your bookkeeping workload with us — we don’t even have to physically venture into your office.

Working with QuickBooks™ is one of our specialties. Contact Barry or Pat for more QuickBooks™ iFi details and a quote.

It’s true. Sapurstein & Associates is offering an hour of our time to sit down and talk CPA, financial business and tax issues with you. Free.

Why? Because we have experience with all things related to small and medium-sized Indiana businesses. And we’d like to help you take care of your accounting, bookkeeping, tax preparation and books – and show you how we can provide better information, servicing and understanding of your data and your business than just about anyone else. We figure if you meet with us, you’ll see what we mean.

If you want to get information on any matter related to small business accounting, finance, bookkeeping, accounting security, new regulations, tax code – and a whole lot of other related business and financial stuff — Sapurstein & Associates would like to talk with you.

For instance –we have a new service that can access your QuickBooks™ data through a secure iFi connection, where we can share all bookkeeping work with you. It makes your bookkeeping go much more smoothly – and helps eliminate costly errors.

Sapurstein CPAs are current on the latest Indiana and Federal tax codes pertaining to your business. And we’re very easy to work with. So call us to set an appointment for an hour of our time. Bring your questions and your files. It’s a good way to get a sense of how we might work together.

Give Barry or Leanne a call at Sapurstein & Associates at 317-706-0958.

Many small businesses purchase accounting software programs that claim to help “typical businesses” save money on CPAs, accountants and bookkeeper fees. The problem is that there isn’t just one type of “typical business.”

Most businesses don’t have the knowledge to customize a generic accounting software program to meet for the highly individual needs of their business. If you want it to save your business accounting time each quarter – and make it easy to each week, you will need to set up your software to mesh with your business.

Which parts of your software will need adjusting and adapting? Most preformatted chart of accounts provided by the software company lists the accounts in alphabetical order. Does you business run in alphabetical order? No, you want like-minded expenses grouped together so you can see what you are spending category by category.

Sapurstein & Associates can help you with your set up systems that work for your business  – on your system, on ours, or remotely. Our experience with many types of businesses helps us set up your books in intuitive ways that help your bookkeeping efficiency.

Sapurstein & Associates knows what questions to ask to get to the heart of what your books should be showcasing, without a lot of confusion. So next time you need business accounting or bookkeeping help, contact Sapurstein & Associates for answers that make sense for your business.

Managing payroll for a small business in Indiana is hard work. A recent national survey of accountants concerning issues surrounding payroll brought many issues to light that the accountants and CPAs at Sapurstein & Associates thought you might find interesting:

On the topic of accounting and financial reports:

Many employers create monthly financial statements. The “accounting department” of most companies expressed a preference for semi-monthly pay frequency where precisely one month of payroll expense is paid every month.

Most agreed that bi-weekly and weekly payroll frequencies required “payroll expense accruals” to correctly report payroll expense in a monthly financial statement.

On nonexempt hourly employees:

Employers who have nonexempt hourly employees are required by FLSA law to pay one and a half times the regular rate of pay for hours over the traditional 40 hour (7 day) workweek. The FLSA does not require overtime premium pay for extra hours in a day or work on a weekend. So this one and a half time rate solely involves around a “workweek”.

Semi-monthly pay periods seem to confuse this issue, since they do not correlate precisely to “workweeks.” These calculations are much easier with weekly and bi-weekly payrolls.

The conclusion of the survey found that:

Employers with exempt, salaried staff would be best served with a semi-monthly pay frequency, but agreed that as a general rule a bi-weekly pay frequency is consistent and less confusing than semi-monthly pay. However when overtime calculations are required, semi-monthly pay periods are more cumbersome than a bi-weekly payroll.

As difficult as it is to stay on top of payroll, it’s far trickier to stay on top of the rapidly shifting world of financial accounting, new state and federal regulations, HR, healthcare reform, and tax compliance issues. Sapurstein & Associates are small business accounting and bookkeeping experts. We’re happy to help.

As a small business and personal CPA firm for over 20 years, Sapurstein & Associates stays on top of tax law changes. We know the importance of preparing taxes precisely and documenting everything. Barry Sapurstein has seen many fraudulent or poorly prepared taxes.  It usually takes more time to correct and amend the returns than it would have to prepare the returns right in the first place.

If you need assistance preparing your taxes, use caution, especially when responding to ads for your tax return business. Be sure you understand that even if your return was prepared by an outside firm, you are legally responsible for what is filed. Tax evasion is a felony, punishable by up to five years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines.

Here’s what to know when you choose a return preparer:

• Check credentials. Only attorneys, CPAs (certified public accountants) and enrolled agents can represent taxpayers before the IRS in all matters including audits, collection and appeals.
• Find out if the preparer is affiliated with a professional organization i.e. NASA, ICPA or AICPA, that provides its members with continuing education and holds them to a code of ethics.
• Consider if the individual or firm will be around to answer questions in months or years after the tax return has been filed
• Avoid preparers who base their fee on a percentage of the refund.
• Reputable preparers will ask to see receipts and ask many questions to determine whether expenses, deductions and other items qualify.
• A tax professional will always make sure you understand your tax return before you sign it and will sign the tax return too, in addition to providing you with a copy
• Beginning January 1, 2011, all tax preparers must have their own PTIN (preparer tax identification number) per IRS regulations. Verify that the individual completing your return has the IRS required PTIN.

Want to talk turkey about taxes? Sapurstein & Associates is here to help, and your first hour’s consultation is free. Email Pat to begin the conversation:  pat@sapursteincpas.com.

Free is good, whether it’s a free hamburger or a free hour of expertise. That’s why Sapurstein & Associates is offering a free hour of our time to sit down and talk business with you.

Sapurstein & Associates has experience with all things related to small and medium-sized Indiana businesses, including:

• business and personal tax preparation
• small business accounting
• bookkeeping
• related software systems including QuickBooks™, and
• accounting security.

A new service is accessing your QuickBooks™ data through a secure iFi connection, where we can share the bookkeeping work with you. We invite you to take advantage of our knowledge and business tax acumen.

You will find our CPAs easy to work with and current on the latest Indiana and Federal tax codes pertaining to your business. So come in and bring your questions, dilemmas… even a file or two. We will ask you a bunch of questions to get an idea of how your business runs and then, we’ll listen while you ask your questions. It’s a good way to get a sense of how we might work together.

Give Pat a call at Sapurstein & Associates at 317-706-0958, or email her at pat@sapursteininccpas.com. We’ll get you on our calendar right away.

Your company does not have to purchase QuickBooks software. It will be accessing QuickBooks data files on a secure iFi internet connection.

Your company’s data is password protected and is stored on servers with redundant backups in a secure location.

Your company has iFi internet access to its data 24/7 from anywhere in the world using our secure internet connection.

Your company can do as much or as little of the bookkeeping as is appropriate for your needs.

Call Pat at 317-706-0958 or email pat@sapursteincpas.com to discuss how Sapurstein & Associates QuickBooks hosting can benefit your company.

Sometimes the team at Sapurstein & Associates gets a quizzical look when we mention Internet access to your company’s QuickBooks™ data. “What does this mean?” is the first question we get.  The answer is the client company uses an iFi secure internet connection to access its data file through the use of Sapurstein & Associates Premier Edition QuickBooks software. The client’s data is housed on secure servers with redundant backups.

QuickBooks is now the number one bookkeeping and accounting software used by small businesses worldwide. Through iFi Internet access to client QuickBooks data, the professionals at Sapurstein & Associates and the client can share the bookkeeping workload. The client has their most up to date financial information at their fingertips 24/7 through a secure iFi Internet connection from anywhere in the world.  When the client is entering data into the system and has a question, a Sapurstein & Associates’ professional can logon and work the client through their problem.

For your peace of mind, the Premier Edition QuickBooks software that the client accesses is updated each year.

Internet access to QuickBooks data files, what a wonderful client-centered concept! Let us show how it can simplify the bookkeeping needs for your company. Call Pat at 317-706-0958 or email her at pat@sapursteincpas.com to find out how.

Great question! As with most small business owners, you are so busy building your business, you may not have the time or often, the expertise to do your own bookkeeping.  Having your books maintained in a knowledgeable, proactive way by a firm that is familiar with your specific industry is a great way to begin answering this question.

Bookkeeping — the bottom line for any small business – can often be accomplished more efficiently and save your organization money by signing your company up for Sapurstein & Associates, can remote access your data anytime or anywhere.

Through Sapurstein & Associates you are provided remote access to this accounting software program without you having to purchase the software. So what exactly do we mean by “remote access?”  The accounting software is located in a remote location (in this case, a secure network facility with redundant offsite backups) and you access it via the internet with your own protected password.

How does this benefit you? Let’s say you want to do some of your own bookkeeping such as entering your invoices to the customers, but you don’t have the time to complete other bookkeeping tasks, Sapurstein & Associates can do that for you and you can view your company books at any time from any place that has access to the internet.

You save money by not having to purchase the software. You can save time by sharing the bookkeeping workload with Sapurstein & Associates and we can do our work for you without physically coming into your office and disrupting your workflow. We understand the ins and outs of QuickBooks and can save you time and money with our bookkeeping expertise. Working with QuickBooks is one of our specialties.

Sapurstein & Associates has great ideas to keep your small business efficient and on track. Contact us for details that can save you time AND money!