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Stephen Nelson - EzineArticles.com Expert Author
Seattle CPA Stephen L. Nelson was once called the Louis L'Amour of computer books by the Wall Street Journal because he's written more computer books (roughly 160 at last count) than any other author. Occasionally an adjunct tax professor at Golden Gate University, the nation's largest graduate tax school, Nelson also publishes three popular small business tax and accounting web sites (see extended author bio)
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Stephen Nelson Email Alerts
- Accounting Setup Tips For Limited Liability Companies
[Business:Accounting] Entrepreneurs and small business managers regularly select the limited liability company option for their new businesses. And for solid legal and tax reasons. Unfortunately, the financial record-keeping required for a limited liability corporation--particularly for the one owner LLC--can quickly become too darn complex. Sometimes, in fact, the extra bookkeeping complexity can turn the business owner's finances into a mess.
- Financial Planning Mistakes in Ramsey's Best-Selling Books
[Finance] Author, television show host and general good guy Dave Ramsey provides lots of useful financial planning advice for people in trouble. But one CPA points out that, for some individuals, Ramsey's information leads to financial miscalculation.
- Ayn Rand Didn't Know How to Write a Business Plan
[Business] Ayn Rand may inspire entrepreneurs with her energetic defense of free-market capitalism. But Ms. Rand has some goofy ideas when it gets down to the basics of writing a good business, as this author explains.
- LLC Versus LLP - What's the Difference?
[Legal:Corporations-LLC] As an accountant, many business owners ask me about the difference between an LLC and an LLP. Fortunately for them and for you, the LLC versus LLP question isn't too difficult to answer.
- Four Reasons You Don't Want to Put Real Estate Inside an S Corporation
[Real-Estate] Real estate investors regularly make a terrible mistake when setting up a company to hold their investments... they choose an S corporation. A tax accountant explains just some of the reasons this choice creates problems.
- Six Reasons Every Small Business Should Consider an LLC
[Business:Small-Business] Very small businesses often don't incorporate, assuming something like a corporation or limited liability company is too much work and too expensive. A traditional corporation usually doesn't make sense until a small business has become, well, rather big.
- Top Tips For Using QuickBooks For an eBay Store
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Auctions] Almost no matter how big your eBay business grows, you'll find it relatively easy to use QuickBooks for your eBay bookkeeping. Simply follow these five tips.
- Optimizing Your S Corporation Tax Breaks Through a Downturn
[Finance:Taxes] S Corporations now count as the most popular incorporation choice for small business corporations. But while the S corporation classification saves entrepreneurs taxes in a healthy economy, business owners need to take several tax planning precautions in a recession, as this article explains.
- Small Business Planning Tactics For a Recession
[Business:Small-Business] For many small business owners and managers, a contraction in the economy seems a "black swan" event... a crisis so unusual and unexpected as to prove almost un-manageable. But, in fact, contractions (whether you want to call them recessions or depressions) occur regularly. And experienced managers and mature businesses know to apply a handful of common sense tactics for getting through the rough times.
- Setting Low S Corporation Salaries
[Business:Accounting-Payroll] S corporations save their owners taxes by grinding down the heavy payroll tax that owners pay on their profits. But the small S corporation needs to be careful... set a shareholder-employee salary too low and the planned-for savings may trigger an IRS audit. In this article, CPA and tax professor Stephen L. Nelson discusses how long you can go...
- Four Tips For Simplifying Your S Corporation Accounting
[Business:Accounting] Small business corporations save their owners income and payroll taxes. And that's great. Unfortunately, these corporations can often overly-complicate the business's bookkeeping. In this article, CPA Stephen L. Nelson suggests four ways to simplify the small corporation's accounting.
- Bad Business Planning Mistakes in a Recession
[Business:Strategic-Planning] If you operate your own business, you probably think lots about the recession and what it means to your firm. And that thinking is good. Smart analysis should provide you with solid ideas about how to protect and grow your business over the next year.
- LLC Incorporation Myths
[Legal:Corporations-LLC] Business owners often struggle with whether or not they should form a limited liability company for a new entrepreneurial venture. And that maybe makes sense. Deciding to form a limited liability corporation requires thoughtful analysis.
- S Corporation Tax Planning Tips
[Finance:Taxes] S corporation's extra accounting complexity sometimes means that small business owners don't get all the savings they're legally entitled to. To make sure that you don't miss out on savings, be sure to apply the following tips.
- Debunking the Incorporation Tax Myths
[Finance:Taxes] Most weeks my CPA firm offices take a telephone call from a new small business owner looking for a tax accountant. Usually, after some chit-chat, the caller gets up the courage to ask awkwardly about those barely legal ways the savvy businessperson can reduce taxes by incorporating.
- Answering the LLC Versus S Corporation Question
[Legal:Corporations-LLC] Small business owners and entrepreneurs sometimes find the LLC vs S corporation question confusing. But one tax professor says the question is easy to answer if you understand how LLCs work.
- Using Individual Retirement Accounts to Start Your Own Business
[Business] Starting a business requires capital--and one place to get that capital is from one's IRA accounts. Predictably, however, the small business entrepreneur needs to be careful about using IRA funds to start a business, as one accountant explains.
- How to Write a Good Business Plan During a Bad Recession
[Business:Strategic-Planning] How one writes a business plan in recessionary economy works differently. One needs to approach the business plan from a different perspective. And one must make special efforts to avoid errors that in a good economy one would conveniently get away with.
- Business Bookkeeping Blunders & Accounting Errors
[Business:Accounting] As tax season approaches, many small business accountants, CPAs and bookkeepers find their anxiety levels increasing. In only a few short weeks, these accountants know they'll see silly bookkeeping errors in many of their small business clients' books--errors that have meant the business owners have paid too little or too much in taxes. Errors that mean the business owner hasn't really been able to effectively manage the finances of the business.
- CPA Tips For Firing a Financial Planner
[Finance] Do you really need to pay a financial planner five, ten or twenty thousand dollars a year to help you with your personal finances? Some CPAs say "no," as this article explains.
- Sidestepping Incorporation Scams
[Business:Entrepreneurialism] Small business incorporation can make wonderful legal and tax sense. No argument. But new entrepreneurs need to know that a handful of incorporation scams often ensnare small businesses.
- Protecting Assets With a Limited Liability Company
[Legal:Corporations-LLC] Looking for techniques you can use to better protect your business assets or investment wealth? A limited liability company may be just the ticket, says one tax accountant.
- Can Your Business Operate As an S Corporation?
[Legal:Corporations-LLC] Subchapter S corporation status often saves the small business owner thousands of dollars a year in taxes. But tight eligibility rules mean some small businesses can't qualify. In this article, a CPA explains who can and can't take advantage of S corporation status.
- Three Reasons You Shouldn't Incorporate Your Business
[Business:Small-Business] Small businesses often think about incorporating. That's not surprising given that incorporation usually reduces business risks and can save a business thousands in taxes. But despite those savings, very small businesses need to think carefully about incorporating because of the costs and administrative work.
- S Corporation Tax Errors You Don't Want To Make
[Business:Accounting] S corporations have become the most popular type of corporation in the county--which isn't surprising. An S corporation can save its owners tens of thousands of dollars in taxes each year. To reap those savings, however, the small business needs to avoid these five common S corporation tax blunders.
- 5 Reasons To Setup Shop As A Sole Proprietorship
[Legal:Corporations-LLC] Starting a small business? Confused about the incorporation option? Don't give up on the sole proprietorship alternative until you read one CPA's five reasons for keeping things simple with a sole proprietorship.
- How Do I Record Income Or Capital Gains?
[Finance] Do You Have Income or Capital Gains to Record? Just Follow These Simple Steps Outlined by a Certified Public Accountant.
- How Do I Update Mutual Fund Share Price Information?
[Investing:Mutual-Funds] Having trouble updating your mutual fund information? Follow these quick and easy steps by a Certified Public Accountant.
- How Do I Use Money For Payroll And Tax Returns?
[Business:Accounting-Payroll] Do you need to prepare payroll? What about tax returns? These easy instructions by a certified public accountant will show you how.
- How Do I Track Income And Expenses?
[Business:Accounting] Tracking Income - You track business income using the check register or account register. All you need to do is use a category that counts income. To do this, record a deposit in the usual way and then categorize the deposit as sales, revenue, or sales income.
- What Should I Look For In A Small Business Accounting Program?
[Business:Accounting] A small business accounting program should accomplish three tasks: track income and expenses, generate business forms, and keep detailed records for other assets and liabilities. Tracking Income and Expenses The task of tracking a business's income and expense is really the most important job of an accounting system. If you own or manage a small business, obviously, you need some tool for measuring your income and your cash flow.
- How Do I Record Additional Purchases?
[Finance:Personal-Finance] To record additional purchases of a mutual fund account, take the following steps: 1. Display the investment account register. Click the Accounts & Bills link, and then select Account List so that Money displays the Pick An Account To Use window. Then click the investment account.
- How Do I Prepare Income Or Cash Flow Statements For Real Estate Investments?
[Real-Estate:Investing] After you collect transaction data for your real estate investments, you can prepare a report that includes only your real estate income and expense categories and that organizes your information using your Properties classifications. To prepare such a report, take the following steps...
- How Do I Perform Record Keeping For Rental Income And Expense Amounts?
[Finance:Personal-Finance] After you have set up real estate income and expense categories and also created classifications for tracking the properties you own, you will find it very easy to do your bookkeeping with Money. You just need to make sure that you use the appropriate real estate income category to categorize any rent checks you receive as deposits. And, similarly, you need to use the appropriate real estate expense category to record any checks you write or other account withdrawals that are made because of expenses associated with owning, operating, or maintaining the property.
- How Do I Measure Profits And Cash Flow?
[Finance:Personal-Finance] If you use a Money account register to record your income and expenses, measuring profits is very easy. All you need to do is prepare a report that summarizes your income and expenses. Several of these reports, including the Monthly Cash Flow report and the Category Spending report (the third and fourth reports listed) let you summarize your profits.
- How Do I Keep Records For REIT And Direct Property Investments?
[Investing] In essence, a REIT is a company that owns apartment houses, office buildings, shopping centers, or sometimes real estate mortgages. A REIT investment works in the same way that a stock investment works. You buy and sell REIT shares in the same way that you buy and sell shares of a stock.
- How Do I Handle Bond Premiums And Bond Discounts?
[Finance] Bond premiums - If you buy a bond that pays an interest rate over and above the market interest rate, implicit in your purchase price is something called the bond premium. The bond premium is just the market's way of adjusting the price of a bond that pays too high of an interest rate. Bond premiums, unfortunately, present nightmarish difficulties for your record keeping.
- How Do I Create A Budget And Financial Plan?
[Finance:Budgeting] You can use the Money program to create a budget. By using Money for budgeting purposes, you can compare your actual spending to your budgeted spending. You use Money's Budget Planner tool to set up a budget.
- Working with Multiple Money Data Files
[Computers-and-Technology:Software] Need to keep the books for more than one small business? No problem says this CPA... just create a second Money data file.
- How Do I Back Up the Money Data File?
[Computers-and-Technology:Software] Protect your financial data by backing up your Microsoft Money data file. Backing up only takes a few simple steps.
- How Do I Void a Check?
[Finance:Personal-Finance] If you incorrectly record a check in a register, you need to void the check to show that the check wasn't actually used and will never be cashed. It's important to keep track of all the checks you've written, started to write, written but then not sent, and so on. You can do this by recording the checks in the register as voided checks.
- Using Microsoft Money For Online Banking
[Computers-and-Technology:Software] It's easy to setup and use Microsoft Money for online banking. Just use these easy-to-follow steps.
- Banking Online With Microsoft Money
[Computers-and-Technology:Software] Are you a Microsoft Money user wanting to simplify your financial affairs? Check out Money's easy-to-use online banking features.
- Reconciling A Credit Card Account In Microsoft Money
[Computers-and-Technology:Software] Want to keep accurate records of your credit card activity with Microsoft Money? You'll need to reconcile your credit cards by following these steps.
- Changing Report, Chart and Check Printing
[Computers-and-Technology:Software] Microsoft Money gives you a high degree of control over the way it prints your reports, charts and checks. You just need to follow the procedures this article describes.
- Customizing Microsoft Money Check-Printing
[Computers-and-Technology:Software] You can customize the way Microsoft Money prints checks. Just follow these simple procedures...
- Changing the Microsoft Money Categories
[Computers-and-Technology:Software] Want to categorize your personal financial or business financial data in a way that's different from what Money initially suggests? No problem, as this article explains.
- Importing Data To and Exporting Data From Microsoft Money
[Computers-and-Technology:Software] Trying to move financial data between Quicken and Microsoft Money or between Money and some other program? Money includes special tools for importing and exporting information.
- Changing Money's Handling of Data Entry and Editing
[Computers-and-Technology:Software] You can change the way that Microsoft Money has you enter and edit data. Follow these steps to do data entry 'your way!'
- Controlling the Way Money Handles
[Computers-and-Technology:Software] The newest breeds of personal finance software make heavy use of online services and Internet connectivity. Learn from this article how to control that power!
- Changing the Microsoft Money Window
[Computers-and-Technology:Software] Almost happy with Microsoft Money? Great, just customize the program so it works exactly the way you want!
- How Do I Sign Up For Online Banking Or Online Investing?
[Finance:Personal-Finance] Individuals and small businesses sometimes balk about using personal finance and small business accounting programs like Microsoft Money for online banking or online investing. However, the sign-up process is usually very straightforward. And--and here's the good news--the signup process is usually the only task that requires any true effort on your part.
- How Do I Start the Microsoft Money Program?
[Computers-and-Technology:Software] You start Money in the same manner that you start any Windows program. Starting the Money Program - If during the installation process you agreed to have shortcut icons placed on the Windows desktop, you can simply double-click the Money shortcut icon.
- How Do I Customize a Microsoft Money Report?
[Computers-and-Technology:Software] Want to customize a Microsoft Money report so it shows the information you want just the way you want it! Tap into the power of the Customize Button!
- How Do I Create A Microsoft Money Chart Or Graph?
[Computers-and-Technology:Software] Many of the financial reports that Money produces can also be shown in a chart or graph format. Sometimes, Money will by default produce a graphical version of a report. However, you can also create a graphical version of a report-a chart, in other words- by using the chart buttons, which appear in the bottom left corner of any report.
- Microsoft Money - How Do I Produce a Report or Chart?
[Computers-and-Technology:Software] The steps for producing a Money report or chart are very simple. In a nutshell, you just select the report you want and identify the range of transaction dates that should be included in the report. To produce a report or chart, take the following steps:
- Making Use of the Money Reports
[Computers-and-Technology:Software] You begin to really tap Money's power when you use the information from the Money account registers to summarize and organize your personal or business financial affairs. And the principle way you perform this summarization and organization is through Money's reports and charts feature.
- Will Reconciliation Correct And Detect All Errors?
[Computers-and-Technology:Software] There are several common errors that account reconciliation won't catch. We'll briefly describe these errors here, because if you know about them-and most importantly know their effect-you are less likely to make them. You also increase the chances that you'll detect and correct the errors.
- How Does Account Reconciliation Work?
[Computers-and-Technology:Software] Balancing, or reconciling, your bank accounts represents an important financial management task. By regularly reconciling your records with those of the bank, you improve the accuracy of your bookkeeping, you assure that bank errors haven't been made, and you also reduce the chance that you aren't the victim of fraudulent transactions, such as those perpetrated by a forger.
- How Do I Print a Check?
[Computers-and-Technology:Software] You don't need to print checks with Money. You can still write checks by hand. But Money lets you print checks easily, which can be a time saver-especially if you have a lot of checks to print. To print checks in Money, you record the checks in the account register in roughly the same way-and then tell Money to print the checks. To print a check, take the following steps:
- How Do I Record An Account Transfer?
[Computers-and-Technology:Software] To record an account transfer, you record the transfer in one of the accounts involved in the transfer. For example, if you are moving money from your checking account to your savings account, you record the transfer in either the checking or savings account. Predictably, all a transfer transaction really does is name the transfer amount and identify the two accounts.
- How Do I Record Automatic Withdrawals And Deposits?
[Computers-and-Technology:Software] Mechanically, automatic withdrawals work the same way as any other withdrawals. For example, paying your mortgage payment via an automatic withdrawal works identically to paying your mortgage payment using a check. Similarly, automatic deposits work the same way as regular manual deposits.
- How Do I Record Deposits?
[Computers-and-Technology:Software] You record deposits in the Money account register in roughly the same way that you record a deposit in a paper register. You note the source for the deposit along with the date and the amount. In the case of a payroll check, for example, you would indicate that the money is coming from your employer, the payday date, and the paycheck amount.
- Excel's Distribution Function - How and Why You Use This Tool
[Computers-and-Technology:Software] If you're working with a small sample (less than about 30 or 40) in Microsoft Excel, you can use the Student's t-test instead of the z-value or z-score to find the probability with which a value falls below a certain number or to test how far an individual observation is from the mean. To do
so, you use the TINV function.
- How Do I Install the Microsoft Money Software?
[Computers-and-Technology:Software] Installing the Money software is easy. All you need to do is insert the Money CD-ROM - this is the CD that comes in the Money box-in your CD-ROM drive. Then follow the on-screen instructions.
- Variance Calculations With Microsoft Excel
[Computers-and-Technology:Software] Excel provides useful statistical functions for finding the variance of a data set. In general, these variance functions retrieve a set of values stored in a worksheet range and then make the expected calculation.
- Excel Functions Made Easy
[Computers-and-Technology:Software] Excel provides several hundred prebuilt formulas, called functions, that provide a shortcut
to constructing complicated or lengthy formulas. In general, a function accepts input values, or arguments, then makes some calculation and returns a result.
- Choosing the Right Excel Chart Type
[Business:Small-Business] Trying to create better Excel charts for your presentations? The place to start is with the right Excel chart type.
- Understanding How Microsoft Excel Organizes To-Be-Charted Data
[Computers-and-Technology:Software] In order to easily work with Excel's Chart Wizard, you'll want to learn how Excel views to-be-plotted data. To easily use Excel for charting, you need to learn three key terms: data points, data series, and data categories.
- Normal Probability Distribution
[Computers-and-Technology:Software] Want to work with normal probability distributions? Microsoft Excel supplies some powerful statistic functions for probability analysis, as this short article shows.
- Linear Regression with Microsoft Excel
[Computers-and-Technology:Software] Want to perform linear regression? Microsoft Excel supplies some useful statistical functions, as this article explains.
- Gamma Probability Distributions with Microsoft Excel
[Computers-and-Technology:Software] Want to work with gamma probability distributions? Microsoft Excel supplies some useful functions, as this short article illustrates.
- Five Reasons to Use a Sole Proprietorship
[Business:Solo-Professionals] Getting ready to start your own business? You've got a bunch of different choices as to the entity type, including forming a corporation or a limited liability company. But don't make the mistake the over-looking the sole proprietorship option. For new entrepreneurs starting a small business, a sole proprietorship offers five big benefits.
- Fisher Transformations and Frequency Distributions with Microsoft Excel
[Computers-and-Technology:Software] Want to work with fisher transformations or frequency distributions? Microsoft Excel supplies some useful functions, including FISHER, FISHERINV and FREQUENCY.
- Exponential Probability Distributions with Microsoft Excel
[Computers-and-Technology:Software] To describe the time it takes to complete a task, you use the exponential probability distribution, For example, you can describe the time between arrivals of vehicles in a drive-through or the time required to load a crate of goods. Product lifetimes also often follow an exponential probability distribution.
- Confidence Interval Calculations with Microsoft Excel
[Computers-and-Technology:Software] Confidence intervals often give you useful insights into data sets you're trying to better understand. A confidence interval is the interval around a sample mean into which you expect the population mean to fall a certain percentage of the time.
- Chi-Square Distributions with Microsoft Excel
[Computers-and-Technology:Software] Need to work with chi square distributions? Don't forget that Microsoft Excel supplies powerful tools for performing just this sort of statistical analysis.
- Binomial Probability Distributions with Microsoft Excel
[Computers-and-Technology:Software] Need to work with binomial probability distributions? Don't forget that Microsoft Excel supplies powerful tools for performing just this sort of statistical analysis.
- Beta Probability Density Calculations with Microsoft Excel
[Computers-and-Technology:Software] Need to make Beta Probability calculations? Microsoft Excel supplies two useful statistical functions for making just these sorts of calculations, BETADIST and BETAINV.
- Hypergeometric Distributions with Microsoft Excel
[Computers-and-Technology:Software] Excel provides a sometimes useful statistical function for making hyper geometric distribution calculations. (Note: People sometimes call the distribution "hypergeometric" [one word] rather than a "hyper geometric" [two words].)
- Calculating Averages Using Excel Statistical Functions
[Computers-and-Technology:Software] Excel provides useful functions for finding the mean, median, and mode of a data set. In general, the functions look at a set of values and then make the expected calculation. For example, the mean functions, which calculate averages, take the sum of the values in the set and divide it by the number of values.
- Identifying Maximums and Minimums with Excel Functions
[Computers-and-Technology:Software] If you select a range of cells, you can have Excel find the largest, or maximum, value in the range. Similarly, you can have Excel find the smallest, or minimum, value in the range. Excel can identify such maximum or minimum values using its MAX and MIN functions.
- Correlation Measurements with Microsoft Excel
[Computers-and-Technology:Software] Excel provides useful statistical functions for measuring correlation between two variables. As a reminder, the benefit of using a correlation coefficient to measure the relationship between two variables as opposed to using covariance is that the unit of measurement doesn't matter.
- Using Excel for Statistical Analysis - Terms You Should Understand Before You Start
[Computers-and-Technology:Software] Excel provides an almost countless number of statistical tools you can use to analyze data
and make meaningful statements about it. However, without understanding the definitions of the statistical terms that Excel uses, the statistical tools offer little help.
- The Five Data Comparisons That Excel Charts Make
[Business:Accounting] Trying to figure out how to use Excel charts more effectively? Make sure you understand the five data comparisons that Excel charts make.
- Understanding How Microsoft Excel Builds Charts
[Business:Accounting] To get the best results from Excel's Chart Wizard, you'll want to learn the terminology that Excel uses to refer to the pieces and parts of the charts you build. Data markers are the graphical elements used to represent individual data point values in a chart. In the case of a line chart, for example, Excel uses uses symbols, or points, on a line to show data point values. These symbols or points are the data markers.
- Building Excel Formulas
[Business:Accounting] When you first start building Excel formulas, the formula construction process can seem way too complicated. But understanding a few simple rules makes the process easier than you might think.
- Using the Excel's Advanced Future Value Add-In Functions
[Investing] Microsoft Excel provides two special future value functions that most people never use. That's too bad. These two functions, FVSCHEDULE and RECEIVED, provide powerful and quick insights when performing investment analysis.
- Using the French Depreciation Add-In Functions
[Finance] Making French depreciation calculations? Microsoft Excel can help. Excel supplies two add-in functions specifically for making these calculations.
- Using the Dollar Pricing Add-In Functions
[Computers-and-Technology:Software] Trying to accurately convert security prices from fractional prices to dollar prices, or vice versa? Microsoft Excel can help. Excel supplies two add-in functions specifically for making these calculations.
- Using the Cumulative Interest and Principal Add-In Functions
[Computers-and-Technology:Software] Trying to accurately calculate cumulative interest and principal payments made for loans? Microsoft Excel can help. Excel supplies two functions specifically for calculating cumulative interest and principal payments on a loan.
- Using Excel's XIRR and XNPV Add-In Functions
[Finance] Making internal rate of return or net present value calculations with Microsoft Excel? Make sure you aren't unnecessarily limiting your options. In addition to the well-know IRR and NPV financial functions, Microsoft Excel also supplies two powerful add-in functions, XIRR and XNPV, that can expand your analytical possibilities.
- Using Microsoft Excel's Accrued Interest Add-In Functions
[Computers-and-Technology:Software] Making interest rate calculations? Microsoft Excel can help. Excel provides two functions that help you with accrued interest calculations for securities.
- Calculating Interest Rates with Microsoft Excel
[Computers-and-Technology:Software] Making interest rate calculations? Microsoft Excel can help. Excel's RATE, or interest rate, function lets you precisely calculate the implicit interest rate for a loan given the payment amount, loan amount, and number of payments.
- Calculating Present Values with Microsoft Excel
[Computers-and-Technology:Software] Making present value calculations, such as for loan analysis or investment planning? Microsoft Excel can help. Excel's PV, or present value, function lets you easily calculate the present, current day, value of a future cash flow or of a regular payment stream.
- Forecasting Future Values with Microsoft Excel
[Computers-and-Technology:Personal-Tech] Making future value calculations, such as for investment analysis or retirement planning? Microsoft Excel can help. Excel's FV, or future value, function lets you easily calculate how an initial investment or regular payment grows over time because of compound interest.
- Calculating the Time to Repay Loans
[Finance:Loans] Trying to calculate how long a loan will take to repay? Microsoft Excel can help. Excel's NPER, or number of periods, function lets you easily calculate how long repaying a loan will take given the loan interest rate, its balance, and the payment made.
- Breaking Loan Payments Into Principal and Interest Components
[Finance:Loans] Trying to break down a loan payment into its principal and interest components? Microsoft Excel can help. Excel's IPMT, or payment interest, function lets you easily calculate how much of a particular payment represents interest. Similarly, Excel's PPMT, or payment principal, function, lets you calculate how much of a payment represents principal.
- Using Microsoft Excel's Variable Declining Balance Depreciation Function
[Computers-and-Technology:Software] Making tax accounting depreciation calculations for return preparation or tax planning purposes? Microsoft Excel can help. Excel's VBD, or variable rate depreciation, function lets you easily calculate variable declining balance s depreciation amounts, including those based on the MACRS depreciation convention.
- Using Microsoft Excel's Straight-line and Sum-of-the-Years Digits Depreciation Functions
[Business:Small-Business] Analyzing real estate investments? Making book depreciation calculations? Microsoft Excel can help. Excel's SLN, or straight-line depreciation, function lets you easily calculate standard straight-line depreciation amounts. And Excel's SYD, or sum-of-the-years-digits, function lets you easily calculate standard sum of the year's digits depreciation.
- Using Microsoft Excel's Double Declining Balance Depreciation Function
[Business:Small-Business] Making financial forecasts or performing investment analyses that needs to include double declining balance depreciation? Microsoft Excel can help. Excel's DDB, or double declining balance, depreciation function lets you calculate 200% declining balance depreciation.
- Using Microsoft Excel's Declining Balance Depreciation Function
[Business:Small-Business] The DB function calculates fixed declining balance depreciation for an asset given the cost, it's salvage value, estimated economic life, the accounting period for which depreciation is being calculated, and, optionally, the number of month in first year. The DB function uses the following syntax:
- Working With a Cash Drawer Using Quicken
[Business:Small-Business] Quicken isn't set up very well to work with a cash drawer or cash register till. In fact, if you use a cash drawer or cash register, this condition indicates that you may want to step up to Quicken's big-brother product, QuickBooks. QuickBooks supports point-of-sale accounting, which means it works with cash registers to record sales.
- Quicken Record-Keeping Tricks
[Business:Accounting] Just getting started with the Quicken checkbook program? Here are some tips to ease your record-keeping.
- Why You Should Consider an Adjustable-Rate Mortgage
[Business:Small-Business] With an adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM), the interest rate on the loan is adjusted every 6 months or every 12 months, and as a result, the amount you pay is adjusted too. The lender adjusts the rate by pegging, or tying, the mortgage interest rate to a well-known and respected interest rate index. For example, one such index is the 6-month or 1-year Treasury Bill rate.
- Common Tax-Savings Opportunities for Businesses
[Business:Small-Business] One of the hidden benefits of owning your own business is the tax savings opportunities. Small business owners get three significant tax benefits not available or not as generously available to individual taxpayers and large businesses.
- Working with a Petty Cash Box
[Business:Small-Business] A common bookkeeping task that many small businesses and nonprofit organizations need to master is petty cash record-keeping. Why? A petty cash system makes it easy (or easier) for the entity to quickly and easily pay for small purchases. Unfortunately, careful tracking can be difficult...unless you use a checkbook program like Quicken.
- How to Handle Federal and State Payroll Paperwork
[Business:Small-Business] Few things are as exciting - or as scary - as hiring your first employee. Whether you're a small business that is doubling its work force (from one employee to two employees!) or a busy professional hiring your first household employee, it's a big step to suddenly assume the responsibility of regularly meeting a payroll.
- Should You Always Repay a Loan Early?
[Finance] When you work through the numbers, the savings that stem from early repayment of a loan can seem almost too good to be true. Can a few dollars a month really add up to, for example, $25,000 of savings?
- Understanding the Reconciliation Process
[Business:Small-Business] Balancing a bank account has a simple premise: The difference between what your records show as an account balance and what the bank's records show as an account balance should equal the sum of your uncleared payments and deposits.
- Using The Quicken Calculator
[Business:Small-Business] Find Yourself Reaching for a Calculator as You Use Quicken? Don't Quicken supplies its version of a hand-help calculator.
- Solving Common Tax-Preparation Problems
[Business:Small-Business] Still need to prepare your tax return? Quicken can help. But you need to avoid two common tax-software-related problems with using Quicken.
- Tips For Quicken And Microsoft Money Users
[Business:Accounting] Although your chances of being audited are probably remote, some of the people who read this will be audited. Here are some things you should do - and shouldn't do - if you get audited.
- Fixing Mistakes in your Quicken Registers
[Business:Small-Business] Your typing skills aren't perfect, of course. What's more, you will sometimes enter transactions into your Quicken registers using bad source documents (an erroneous deposit slip, for example). These little errors shouldn't cause you much concern, because Quicken provides a rich set of tools for fixing data-entry mistakes.
- Making IRA and 401(k) Mutual Investment Recordkeeping in Quicken Fast and Easy
[Business:Small-Business] Trying to track your IRA or 401(k) investments in Quicken? Here's a suggestion- Give up.
Here's my logic. It probably doesn't make sense to track tax-deferred mutual fund investments in Quicken. There’s no harm in doing so, but you don't get anything extra for your effort.
- Two Accounting Mistakes Business Owners Should Never Make
[Business:Accounting] Don't make these two accounting mistakes. The results could be horrific both to you and your business.
- The Sad Sorry Truth about Small Business Succession Planning
[Business:Small-Business] Trying to figure out what to do with your small business when you retire? CPA and business consultant Stephen L. Nelson offers some common-sensed advice.
- Preventing Embezzlement in a Small Business
[Business:Small-Business] Don't become a victim of small business embezzlement. Instead, follow these four simple prevention tips,
- Handling Tricky Stock Investment Transactions in Quicken
[Business:Small-Business] Using Quicken for your investment record-keeping? Tips for handling the tricky transactions.
- Another Reason to Require Vacations - Minimizing Employee Theft
[Business:Small-Business] Vacations can be a powerful tool for discovering employee embezzlement.
- How to Tell if You've Outgrown Quicken
[Business:Accounting] Using Quicken as your small business accounting solution? Thinking it maybe doesn't work as well as it should? Here's how to tell if you need to step from Quicken up to a fully-featured accounting program like QuickBooks.
- Calculating Your Small Business's Break-Even Point
[Business:Small-Business] Break-even analysis represents an old trick. Accountants and entrepreneurs have used the trick for decades. But don't let the familiarity of this simple tool breed contempt for its powerful insights says CPA and bestselling Quicken autor Stephen L. Nelson.
- How To Identify Great Book Ideas And Writing Opportunities
[Writing-and-Speaking:Writing] Best-selling books start out as great ideas. Here are some ideas from an experienced million-copy author and publisher for coming up with your great book ideas.
- Do You Really Need a Business Plan?
[Business:Entrepreneurialism] Do you truly need a business plan for that new business you're starting? Seattle CPA and QuickBooks and Quicken author Stephen L. Nelson explains when you do - and when you don't.
- Teaching a Teenager to Write - Five Suggestions from a Best-selling Author
[Writing-and-Speaking:Writing] Is your high school having trouble getting his or her school papers written? Best-selling author says these five tips may help...
- TurboTax Versus Your Accountant- Which is Better?
[Finance:Taxes-Tools] Most people can and should use a tax software program like TurboTax. The programs should be easy to use if you've got computer experience. Especially after the first year you use the software.
- Four Symptoms Your Small Business Accounting System Doesn't Work
[Business:Accounting] Ever wonder whether you're doing your small business accounting right?
Every year about this time, I see too many accounting systems that don’t work… QuickBooks and PeachTree and Microsoft Small Business Accounting programs that don’t do what their small business users want or need.
Sometimes, people know their accounting systems don’t work. And they don’t care. But, sadly, sometimes, the struggling small business person doesn’t even know his or her system isn’t working until it’s too late. Until the business fails because the owners don’t realize they aren’t making money.
- Three Easy Pension Plan Options for Small Businesses
[Business:Management] Thought about setting up a pension plan for your small business? Consider one of these easy options, says QuickBooks for Dummies author and former tax professor Stephen L. Nelson
- Understanding the New Energy Tax Credits for Homeowners
[Finance:Taxes] Global warming, dependence on foreign oil, high energy prices-yikes-one can't help but look for ways to conserve energy. Fortunately, the U.S. Congress thinks the same way. New tax laws provide three, sweet tax credits for taxpayers who make their principal residences more energy efficient in 2006 or 2007.
- The Social Security Meltdown: A $35 solution
[Finance:Personal-Finance] Worried about the future of Social Security? CPA and bestselling author Stephen L. Nelson says there's a simple fix you can implement right now that protects your financial future.
- Seven Reasons To Consider Working At A Small CPA Firm
[Business:Careers-Employment] Looking for an accounting job? Don't ignore the small firms, says CPA and QuickBooks for Dummies author Stephen L. Nelson. Small firms have some big benefits to offer.
- Tax Tips for the One Man (Woman) Business
[Finance:Taxes] Running a one-person business? Tired of the huge hit you take at tax time? Want to save money on your accounting and taxes? Consider these simple tips and tricks...
- The High Cost of My Bad Habits
[Finance:Personal-Finance] I got to thinking the other day about the lifetime cost of my bad habits, both those habits past and those present.
- Why Most Real Estate Investors are Doomed to Failure
[Real-Estate:Investing] Let me start by saying that, sure, real estate can be a good investment. Real estate provides a hedge against inflation. And real estate often amounts to a forced saving plan. But most of the people who've jumped onto the real estate investment bandwagon over the last few years are going to fail. Here's why-
- Calculating Depreciation For Your Investments
[Finance:Taxes] Analyzing real estate investments? Trying to understand the tax benefits of equipment depreciation? Make sure you tap Microsoft Excel's depreciation functions...
- Analyzing U.S. Treasury Bill Investments With Microsoft Excel
[Investing] Excel provides three add-in financial functions for analyzing United States Treasury bills- TBILLEQ, which calculates the bond-equivalent yields- TBILLPRICE, which calculates the price of a Treasury bill- and TBILLYIELD, which calculates the yield on a Treasury bill.
- Paying Off Your Mortgage- How To Run The Numbers
[Real-Estate:Mortgage-Refinance] Ever thought about paying off your mortgage early? Maybe you would like to be mortgage free by the time a child enters college. Or perhaps you need to be mortgage free to retire. In any case, tap the power of Microsoft Excel to figure out how quickly you can be mortgage-free.
- Forecasting the Future Value of Your 401(k) or 403(b)?
[Investing:IRA-401k] If you've got Microsoft Excel (or just about any other popular spreadsheet program) running on your computer, you can use its FV function to forecast the future value of your 401(k) or 403(b) account.
- Tax Traps To Avoid When Incorporating a Business
[Business:Entrepreneurialism] As a general rule, you can incorporate your business with no tax cost as long as you contribute all of your business's assets and liabilities to a corporation you control.
- Four Reasons Not to Form a Limited Liability Company
[Business:Entrepreneurialism] A limited liability company is often the perfect way to start a new business. But don't make the mistake of assuming a limited liability company, or LLC, is always the right choice. In some circumstances, says bestselling author and CPA Stephen L.Nelson, an LLC is really just a big mistake.
- The Dirty Little Secret About Roth-IRA Conversions- Why They Usually Don't Make Sense
[Finance:Taxes] My multimillionaire client Bill called me the other day. He wanted to talk about congress recently loosening the rules about who can convert regular IRA accounts to Roth-IRA accounts.
- Tax Tips for Real Estate Investors Using IRA Funds
[Finance:Taxes] You've seen the advertisements and news articles. IRA funds can be used to make real estate investments. But before you jump on this bandwagon, make sure you understand some of the tax planning angles related to this opportunity.
- Forming Your LLC in Nevada- Does It Really Work?
[Business:Entrepreneurialism] Thinking about forming your llc or corporation Nevada to save on state income taxes? Make sure you understand the three-factor apportionment formula
- Three Dumbest LLC Formation Mistakes
[Business:Entrepreneurialism] Getting ready to form an LLC? Don't make these common LLC formation mistakes!
- Tax Tips for New Ecommerce Entrepreneurs
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Ecommerce] New ecommerce entrepreneurs can find them confused and confounded by the tax and accounting requirements of their venture. And that's a shame- If someone's spotted a great new category and successfully built a web presence, heck, that someone shouldn't find themselves bogged down with the accounting minutia. The entrepreneur should focus on increasing traffic, expanding margins, and growing cash profits.
- Tax Traps for New Real Estate Investors
[Real-Estate:Investing] Thinking about investing in real estate? Don't get caught in any of these tax traps! These mistakes can cost you plenty.
- Tax Tips for Writers & Authors
[Finance:Taxes] Making a living as a writer? These tax tips could save you thousands of dollars a year.
- The Big Hidden Tax Benefits of Sole Proprietorship
[Business:Small-Business] Thinking about starting a business? Confused corporation vs. LLC choice? Don't ignore the sole proprietorship option. You may be able to save thousands of dollars in taxes with a sole proprietorship-and keep things simple!
- 8 Tips for Saving Money On Your Credit Cards
[Finance:Credit] Holiday shopping overloaded your credit cards? Worried about the finance charges
you'll soon start paying? Fortunately, you can use a bunch of different tactics to save
money on credit cards. Some suggestions follow-
- When IRAs, 401(k)s, and Other Tax-sheltered Investments Don't Make Sense
[Investing:IRA-401k] Every year about this time, people start talking about and considering things like
IRA contributions. Most of the time, tax-sheltered investments make great sense.
The federal and state governments have designed their tax laws to encourage such
savings. However, that said, there are three situations in which it may be a poor idea
to use tax-sheltered investments-
- Read This If You Can't Possibly Save Enough for Retirement
[Home-and-Family:Retirement] It's relatively easy to save for retirement when you're still young. Five thousand
dollars set aside for a new baby grows to an amount that generates over a $100,000
a year in current-day dollars if the money earns 12 percent annually and inflation
runs at 3 percent.
- Determining How Much Life Insurance You Need
[Insurance:Life-Annuities] When considering life insurance, you're planning and preparing for an event most of
us would rather not think about. But life insurance represents a critical step in
managing your personal finances and ensuring your family's well-being.
- Choosing and Using Credit Cards
[Finance:Credit] Credit cards are convenient, but they're also dangerous. A lot of people ruin their
financial lives by turning the phrase "charge it" into a reflex. It's a real problem, but
this article explains how to make good use of credit cards and how to choose a
good credit card. This information, by the way, applies both to using a credit card
for personal expenses and to using a credit card for business expenses.
- Free Money for Your Retirement?
[Home-and-Family:Retirement] Trying to figure out how to fund your retirement? At least make sure you're getting the
free money that's available.
- A CPA Talks About Buying Life Insurance
[Insurance:Life-Annuities] Every wanted to get life insurance advice from someone who isn't making a
commission from selling policies? Best-selling author & CPA Stephen L. Nelson
provides some objective advice about buying life insurance.
- How to Avoid Dumb Investment Mistakes
[Investing] Smart people sometimes make dumb mistakes when it comes to investing. Part of
the reason for this, I guess, is that most people don’'t have the time to learn what
they need to know to make good decisions. Another reason is that oftentimes when
you make a dumb mistake, somebody else-an investment salesperson, for example
-makes money. Fortunately, you can save yourself lots of money and a bunch of
headaches by not making bad investment decisions.
- Eight Rules for Buying Insurance of Any Kind
[Insurance] Insurance premiums can eat up a big chunk of your budget. Use these eight buying
rules to prudently save hundreds of dollars (or more) in what you pay in premiums.
- When QuickBooks Doesn't Balance
[Business:Management] After you've been using QuickBooks for while and have been balancing your account regularly, you will only irregularly have trouble reconciling it. However, if you are just getting started, you may have trouble getting your QuickBooks bank account to balance. For that reason, let me offer some suggestions for balancing a bank account that's causing you trouble.
- Brain-dead Mutual Fund Selection
[Investing:Mutual-Funds] About this time every year, the personal finance magazines will perform an annual ritual- Looking at how mutual funds have performed over the past year-and then using that information to suggest which mutual funds you should pick for the coming year. Sadly, this work is a complete waste of time.
- Quicken Investment Recordkeeping Tricks
[Investing] Quicken provides powerful investment record-keeping tools for individual investors. Unfortunately, once you step beyond investments like stocks, bonds, and mutual funds, the mechanics can get a little tricky. Here are some tips for handling common investments in Quicken.
- When to Use Microsoft Money for Mutual Fund Recordkeeping
[Investing] Using Microsoft Money for tracking your individual investments can become a huge project. Before starting, make sure you really need to go to all the effort.
- Fixing Quicken Calculation Errors
[Computers-and-Technology:Software] It is possible that the breakdown of a payment into principal and interest that Quicken makes will be incorrect. Rounding errors, payment delays, and perhaps even a bug in either Quicken's or the bank's calculations may mean that the loan balance that Quicken shows for a loan or mortgage is incorrect
- Three Rules of Thumb for Mortgage Refinancing
[Real-Estate:Mortgage-Refinance] Think you can make a refinancing decision simply by comparing rate? Think again. That comparison doesn't work if you want to truly save money.
- How Author Royalties Are Calculated
[Writing-and-Speaking:Writing] If you're going to make a living by writing books, you need to understand how a book royalty gets calculated. That's how you, the author, gets paid. This article provides a soup-to-nuts explanation of the whole process-all from an author-accountant-former publisher.
- S Corporation vs LLC- Which is Better?
[Business:Entrepreneurialism] "S Corporation or LLC?" is a common question for new business owners to ask. But the "S corp or LLC" question is difficult to answer because the correct response is usually "both."
- Writing Off Vehicles as Tax Deductions
[Finance:Taxes] Can you really write off a vehicle-say a new car or truck-as a business tax deduction. Often, the answer is yes. But you got to know the rules...
- Should You Use an LLC for Your Real Estate Investing? Probably-and Here's Why
[Real-Estate] Should you use an LLC for your real estate investing? Probably-and for two reasons that most investors know nothing about as this article explains.
- Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) Mean Big Tax Savings
[Insurance:Health] Concerned about the high cost of healthcare? Worried that your insurance doesn't cover all your costs? Fortunately, a partial solution may be just around the corner-one that can annually save you more than $1,000.
- How to Save Taxes with an S Corporation
[Finance:Taxes] Ever wondered why so many small businesses-more than 3,000,000 at last count-operate as an S corporation? Simple. An S corporation saves business owners thousands of dollars in taxes every year. Which means this tax planning opportunity is something every small business owner should consider.
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