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​In Pursuit of Profit

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2/24/2025

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Closing the Books for Businesses That Are No Longer Operating

 
Closing the Books for Businesses That Are No Longer Operating
When preparing for business operations to cease, there are numerous factors to consider, including closing the books. Ensuring the final close is done accurately is crucial for protecting financial interests and complying with business regulations.

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2/12/2024

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Get Your Financial House in Order – How to Move Beyond "Checking the Box"

 
Every January people make resolutions, and by February most have abandoned them. Why? Because the idea of change is appealing, but the actual work required to do it isn’t. 
get-your-financial-house-in-order
An accountant trying to make time for meaningful organizational change this year.
​Similarly, the beginning of the year brings excitement for business planning. Business leaders are filled with optimism over the idea of starting out the year right by getting their financial house in order so they can streamline and improve to avoid the pain points they dealt with in the year prior. But, then just like the people who decide they’re going to start working out and buy a treadmill only to let it collect dust, mangers and executives fall back into the same habits of “business as usual.” 

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1/23/2024

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Prioritizing your Accounting Needs

 
Any good accountant will tell you that their to-do list is unfinished. Why? The best accountants know that there’s always something that can be improved or verified or updated and they do their best to stay on top of everything, but every company has finite resources to allocate, and their time is limited as well. 
prioritizing-your-accounting-needs
An accountant making a list of accounting priorities.
​Maturity in business acumen comes from knowing what to prioritize for the greatest return. Whether you are handling it in-house or outsourcing your accounting activities, knowing where to devote limited resources is crucial for good decision making.

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But how do you know where to start? What’s the most critical thing that absolutely needs to be done first? What will offer significant benefits down the road when more resources become available? And what would be nice to do eventually, but isn’t essential? And what should you avoid doing entirely?
Obviously, there’s not a single right answer to these questions because every organization has different business needs. However, there’s a framework that you can use to make these kinds of decisions, regardless of individual circumstances, so you know what to do now, soon, later, and never. 

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11/17/2023

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How to Handle Excess Inventory

 
what to do about excess inventory
Originally published: 1/12/2022
Updated: 11/13/2023


Census Bureau data indicates that U.S. retailers were holding onto $732 billion in inventory in July of 2022, which was a 21% increase compared to the year prior. Held inventory peaked in the US at the end of 2022, and while companies have made strides to work some of that down in the more than a year since, it remains high in many industries with consumer purchasing still depressed by economic conditions.

If your company is carrying an abundance of inventory, it is important to act quickly to get it off your books and out of your warehouses. Use this guide to understand why excess inventory is so costly, and what to do about it!


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10/18/2023

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How to Build an Accounting Succession Plan

 
What will it look like when your accountant leaves? Will it cause a sudden upheaval?
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Hopefully, when your accountant leaves they will go about it the right away – respectfully communicating their intentions clearly, giving sufficient notice, handing off responsibilities smoothly, and leaving on good terms. 
build-an-accounting-succession-plan
Corporate succession planning concept.
However, you can’t guarantee that the process will go this well. Sure, you can communicate that you expect employees to bring this kind of tact to the transition, but you cannot control their timing or actions during the process (and sometimes neither can they depending on the circumstances involved!). Instead, you need to have a formal succession plan in place to safeguard the business against the kind of disruption that can happen when an accountant leaves unexpectedly. 

The time to get ready is now!

Plan for your accountant’s departure before you need to do it so you can be properly prepared.​

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8/21/2023

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Understanding Strategic Business Drivers

 
Originally published: 1/13/2020 - Updated: 8/17/2023
If you've mapped out your company's operating strategies before considering your strategic business drivers, you may be putting the cart before the horse. 
strategic-business-drivers-revenue-drivers
Your organization's strategy is a critical statement that outlines how you expect to achieve certain goals. But what are the underlying drivers of your company's beliefs, actions, and desire for success? Defining these should come first, and then your corresponding strategies and projects will follow.

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7/5/2023

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5 Accounting Must-Haves for High-Growth Companies

 
As accounting services providers, we regularly talk to businesses that are growing too fast for their accounting activities to keep up. Either the companies we talk to have processes that don’t scale well when the organization is going through rapid growth, or they do not have the right tools or personnel in place to handle the inevitable increase in work that accompanies growth. 
Picture
A trend line climbing up a set of stairs incrementally, indicating growth.
Either way, they typically come to us with their books in disarray looking for someone that can get them back on track and put the foundational elements in place for them to manage continued growth more effectively.

Their goal is not simply to have clean books for the mere sake of doing so. Their goal is to have the kind of accurate and timely financial information needed for strategic decision-making – enabling yesterday’s growth to fuel tomorrow’s growth as well. They understand that sustainable growth must be built on a solid financial foundation.

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6/16/2023

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How Often Should you do a Bank Reconciliation?

 
Picture
​Originally published: 7/31/2018

When we published this article originally, it was almost two years before the pandemic changed day-to-day accounting activities and the way bookkeepers and accountants work. What we have seen in the years since is an uptick in financial professionals asking questions around the timing for things like reconciliations and reporting. The monthly or quarterly schedules they once leaned on for basic accounting activities seem to have gone by the wayside in favor of more frequent, or even real-time, generation and analysis.

Bank reconciliations in particular are becoming increasingly important for organizations in today’s rapidly shifting business landscape. As financial transactions are getting more complex, cyber fraud is becoming more prevalent, compliance requirements are increasing, and timely financial decision-making is more important than ever before, bank reconciliations are at the epicenter of today’s accounting activities.

 

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2/27/2023

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55 Questions Every Business Should Be Able to Answer by The End of The Year

 
In today’s rapidly changing business environment business strategists from every industry and background have offered their input on what business owners should be doing to pivot, respond, reposition, and rethink their operations. And yet, what business owners are facing today looks an awfully lot like what they faced last year and 5 years ago and 10 years ago, although the specifics may vary. 
Questions Every Business Should Be Able to Answer
A stack of sticky notes with question marks on them.
We are in a time of change because that’s what the business world does – change. Whether innovation happens slowly or quickly and whether advancements are small or massive in scope, the world doesn’t stand still. 

Amid the ever sweeping winds of change business owners must return to the core of management – asking the right questions to keep their businesses moving along at the same pace. 

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1/11/2023

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How to Adjust Prices for Inflation

 
Inflation continues to pose a problem for businesses for two reasons: increased prices and changing consumer behavior. As the cost of goods rises businesses must determine how they will handle their expenses increasing while also juggling shifting consumer demand.  
How to Adjust Prices for Inflation
The word “inflation” appearing from underneath ripped paper.
In an article on how consumers are responding to inflation Andy Pandharikar explains, 
For many years, the inflation rate in the United States has been relatively low, hovering around 2%. However, in recent months, that rate has increased dramatically, nearing 7%. However, if we measure according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ methodology from 1980 that figure exceeds 13%. Inflation in specific categories like ground beef has been even higher, nearing 20%. As prices rise more quickly than wages, many consumers are finding it difficult to afford basic needs.
Of course, the risk for businesses is significant. Improperly managed pricing can either cost the company its customers or its profits, either of which ends in failure. Prices need to hit a sweet spot where they can generate profitable revenue and are because enough people are buying.

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