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Better Business Travel AccountingFriday, May 20, 2011When employees travel frequently for business, it is vital to have an accounting process for travel expenses in place. How long after the trip will expense reports be due and how will they be filed? What information will be required and what are acceptable ranges for travel expenses? This will let employees know what is expected and keep the business running smoothly. In addition, travel is often one of the largest categories of business expense and, unfortunately, can be a target for fraud. Even minor travel expense fraud can add up over time. By having a process in place, you will not only be able to quickly manage expense reports, but set up a system for locating and looking into red flags that may point to fraud. For more information about what kinds of red flags to look for and the most frequent fraud schemes, this article on fraud examination has a great overview. Labels: Travel Expenses Posted by PEX Card
0 comments Best Practices for Your Construction Business BudgetWednesday, April 6, 2011When tax time comes around again, do you have a good handle on what that income number should be? If you are like many people in the construction industry, you may be taken by surprise by that number, often because it’s lower than you expected, especially when you take all the business expenses into account. In order to have a better idea of how your business is doing, the answer may be paying closer attention to your budget. You are detail-oriented about your construction projects and you may need to be just as focused on your finances. What has your money intake historically been and what are the market factors that can help you estimate future income? Is your income steady or do you have particularly busy times of year? Then, take a close look at your expenditures. Start with the ones that are fixed at the same amount each month. After that, look at all the costs that vary month to month and use past bills to get an average. Include expenses that will help your business grow, like advertising, as well as upkeep costs, like fixing broken equipment or buying new. Put this all in a spreadsheet and, most importantly, go back monthly or quarterly to compare actual numbers against your budget, adjusting your budgeted numbers as needed. Once you are using a detailed budget, you can assess your business and make informed decisions moving forward. For instance, you may realize that to cover costs and still bring in the net amount you’d like, you need to raise your rates. Or, you can find places where costs can be trimmed so that you can build an emergency fund for unplanned business expenses. However you use the information, having an accurate budget in place will help you manage your construction business. Labels: Small Business Posted by PEX Card
0 comments Should You Offer Financing?Friday, April 1, 2011For cash flow reasons, a small business usually wants to take advantage of financing options for large purchases, but would like every bill from customers to be paid in full and on time. However, sometimes it can make sense to offer financing to customers who may not have the cash to pay all upfront, but can pay little by little. This can be a great way to increase your customer base and customer loyalty. Here are some things to consider when debating offering financing:
Labels: Finance Tips Posted by PEX Card
0 comments Beware of Higher Fees at the ATMTuesday, March 29, 2011 Using the ATM is a common way for small businesses to get cash for employees who may need to make purchases. However, this may soon get more expensive. As of last year, banks can’t make as much money on overdraft charges and are looking to make up this shortfall elsewhere. Chase is leading the way with a new $5 charge to non-customers using Chase ATMs. Event TD Bank will now charge non-customers $2 per transaction, whereas in the past it has been free. PNC used to refund fees incurred when customers used ATMs at other banks and recently announced this will no longer be the case. If you have a branch of your bank conveniently around the corner, this might not have that big of an impact, but these per-transaction fees can add up quickly if you're ever in a situation where the ATM you’re using doesn’t belong to your bank. For this reason, employees traveling might be better off with a prepaid card instead of an ATM card that could rack up higher fees.Labels: SMB Tips Posted by PEX Card
0 comments Save Money on Business TravelFriday, March 25, 2011 Many businesses try to cut back on the amount of business travel in order to save money, but there is some travel that is necessarily. When employees must travel, having policies and procedures in place can help keep travel costs down and let employees know what is expected. In particular, there are some easy steps to take that can help keep hotel costs low:Choose hotels with free Internet – There are some hotels that charge a high daily rate for Internet access, while others include it in the price of the room. This should be a consideration since not all work can get done on the small screen of a smart phone. Stay outside a city and use public transportation – It can definitely be cheaper to stay outside of a city, but that cost might not be worth it if traffic makes it difficult to get to a meeting or event on time, especially for an employee that might not know the area well. Hotels near public transportation can bring hotel costs down without sacrificing mobility. Create a database of low cost hotels in frequented locations – Once you have found the inexpensive hotels with the features you need in areas employees travel to frequently, keep this information handy. It can be helpful to refer to this database when searching for low rates on online travel sites, so you know which options are worth booking. Labels: Travel Expenses Posted by PEX Card
0 comments Financing Disaster Relief to Support Workers on the GroundTuesday, March 22, 2011 The nature of disaster relief means that volunteers and workers need to be able to respond with speed and flexibility to changing conditions in order to best help victims. People coming to help respond to a disaster need to be able to quickly buy airline tickets and book hotel rooms. And once there, the people on the ground will need to purchase food and supplies when banks might not be back up and running, making payment for these purchases a logistical challenge.One way for relief organizations to quickly get these funds out to the teams is to use a prepaid debit card program like PEX Card. Money can be put on the cards in real time, anywhere in the world, getting purchasing power into the hands that need it. In addition, volunteers can be given new cards quickly and they can be deactivated when no longer needed. Having a prepaid card system in place before heading into a disaster zone can be vital to hit the ground running. Prepaid cards are also very useful during post-disaster reconstruction efforts. This will be important, for instance, in earthquake and tsunami struck Japan for years to come, as the country recovers and rebuilds. Labels: reloadable prepaid debit cards Posted by PEX Card
0 comments Deducting Entertainment ExpensesThursday, March 17, 2011We recently brought you information about tax deductions, but one place where deductions can be especially challenging is with entertainment expenses. Sometimes only half of an expense can be deducted and sometimes none. Sometimes a meal can only be deducted if work is discussed while sometimes a meal can be deducted even if business never comes up. If your business has entertainment expenses, these are rules that you should be aware of so that you collect the right information throughout the year and claim it correctly when filing taxes. This recent article from The Washington Post can help you keep it straight. When in doubt, it is always a good idea to consult with an accountant. Then, take what you’ve learned into account when entertaining clients or customers in the next fiscal year. Good luck with your taxes! Labels: IRS Posted by PEX Card
0 comments Managing Nonprofit ExpensesTuesday, March 15, 2011 Whether you are a church, a charity, or another type of nonprofit, you need to manage your expenses. In addition, you are often under the scrutiny of those giving you funding, making the goal of keeping costs low even more vital.Harness Volunteer Power: One of the largest expenses an organization has is staff. Whenever possible, consider reaching out for volunteers instead of full time employees. Perhaps a webmaster is willing to donate time to work on your website or maybe an accountant is willing to help with your finances. You don’t know if you don’t ask, so get the word out and create a team of volunteers. Collect Multiple Forms of Donation: Another way to cut expenses is to accept donations other than cash. Again, you never know what may be available unless you ask. Perhaps someone has extra furniture to donate that would be perfect for your rec room or an older car that is still in good condition for getting to fund raising events. Periodically Focus on Trimming the Budget: While your inclination might be to focus all your energy on growing membership, donations, or other funding sources, don’t neglect the budget. Go back to your budget throughout the year and compare it the actual dollars spent. Is your phone bill higher than expected? Maybe you could consider a VoIP service instead, so you have a flat monthly rate. Are you paying a lot in credit card fees? Perhaps it would make sense to work to pay off the debt and then move to a prepaid debit card instead to avoid racking up interest. For more tips and information about managing nonprofit expenses, consider following the Not-For-Profit Accounting Blog. Labels: expense management Posted by PEX Card
0 comments Tax Deduction Ideas for Small Business OwnersFriday, March 11, 2011We published a post last week with some general tax tips - one of them being, "know your deductions." We thought we would dive into some tax deduction ideas in a bit more detail this week. Some of this may help you with your 2010 taxes and some ideas may be helpful for planning ahead for 2011 taxes. For small business owners, tax time can be especially tricky. You probably have income that came from many different sources and have multiple business deductions, making the process a bit more complicated than it is the average tax payer. It is imperative to have an understanding of tax code and deductions, even if you have your taxes done by an accountant, because you need to be planning ahead and keeping relevant information throughout the year. One of the largest deductions available to small business owners who work out of their home is the home office itself. People used to think that taking a home office deduction raises an audit flag, but that isn’t necessarily the case. If you have an area of your house that you use exclusively for work, go ahead and claim it. Just remember to keep things like utility bills so that you can calculate how much to deduct. Other deductions that can help you out include transportation and meals. If business is discussed at a meal or if purchasing a meal out was necessary due to overnight business travel then it is usually deductible. It can be helpful to write on the receipt why it was business-related so you don't forget when tax time rolls around. For transportation, this deduction will involve either how much you paid for gas for business purposes during the year or how many miles were driven for business needs. Also, remember that if you have any certifications or licenses you or members of your team need for the job, that expense is also deductible. Of course, equipment and supplies needed for business can also be deducted. Just be sure to have a receipt on file for any expense over $75 and keep those receipts for seven years. When in doubt, using a professional tax preparer can be a good investment to make sure everything is reported correctly and you won't have a problem if you're ever audited. They also often find additional deductions that you may have missed. Labels: SMB Tips Posted by PEX Card
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