Blackwell Bookkeeping, LLC, 77 Blackwell Street, Barre, VT (2026)

09/08/2023

Our firm prides itself on being knowledgeable, thorough, and efficient.

But in the immortal words of Levar Burton, 'you don't have to take my word for it.'

https://www.google.com/search?q=blackwell+bookkeeping+google+reviews&oq=blackwell+bookkeeping+google+reviews&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIHCAEQABiiBDIHCAIQABiiBDIHCAMQABiiBDIHCAQQABiiBDIHCAUQABiiBNIBCDU2MzlqMGo3qAIAsAIA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 =0x4cb5079ed4a85f27:0xe43d9a3acdbc5675,1,,,,

09/07/2023

Oh, Statistics.

"64% of business owners do their own bookkeeping"

"60% of small business owners feel they aren't knowledgeable when it comes to accounting.:

Is this true? The majority of business owners use bookkeeping software and a majority of them don't feel they actually know how to use it?

This is bewildering, but unsurprising. We all take on tasks and projects, visualizing the goal without knowing how to get there. It is a great opportunity to learn a new skill or hobby.

With your business, however, why would you want to take that risk?

The financial penalties for incorrect bookkeeping from the IRS, state tax agencies and nothing to shake a stick at. Furthermore, the bill from your CPA may be penalty enough.

We're bookkeepers and we understand the pitfalls. We keep track of the deadlines. We can answer your questions.

Don't be a bad statistic.

08/11/2023

Why Hire a Bookkeeper?

Good Question.

I could go on at length over this and I'll probably write a few posts about it, but let's start with the most obvious ones:

#1 - Don't! You can do it yourself!
It's true and we'll be the first to tell owners that they can (we can train you). Most small business owners can handle the simple day in and day out, especially if they are sole props w/out employees. It does take time and diligence. Waiting until the end of the year to catch up on bookkeeping as tax deadlines loom, however, is a big no-no.

#2- Your time is valuable.
Yup. You're business is to generate business. Spending your time wracking your brain on reconciliations costs your money. The more time you spend on bookkeeping, the less time you have building your business (or with your family.

#3 - We're faster than you.
Sorry. What may feel like drudgery to you is our bread and butter. We work efficiently and accurately to keep books in line throughout the year. No surprises. No mistakes.

We love bookkeeping. We love helping our clients grow.

07/31/2023

Payroll: Show Me the Money (and file the taxes)

A few weeks back, before the massive flood of 2023, I had a conversation with an old friend who managed a small business for over a decade.
The business had ten employees or so and every two weeks, the manager would sit down for a few hours with the timesheets and tax tables to calculate paychecks and the withholdings. She would send the data (via FAX!) to their CPA who would file the appropriate tax forms and make payments to the agencies (Feds, VT Dept of Taxes, VT DoL). It took hours and, god forbid, there may be a mistake. Though she didn't have one, she may as well have been using an abacus.
Being a little nerdy, I though of the fun challenge of using the tax tables to calculate the payroll taxes and filling out the forms (941, WHT-436, C-101, btw). Oh! And though she didn't mention it, she likely had to calculate other taxes such as Sales & Use or Meals & Rooms.

It made me think about the payroll process today and the additional element of filing the taxes. Frankly, it's almost too easy.
Payroll companies like ADP, Paychex, QBO, and Payroll Matters abound that will issue checks, process direct deposits, process tax payments, file the payroll taxes and, at the end of the year, even send W2's to employees. Heck, with their online employee portals, savvy employees can download their W2's well before the January 31st deadline.
Mind you that there are still bookkeeping tasks that need to be done and no system is completely foolproof, and I have been that fool.
Payroll reports need to be entered to accurately reflect payroll tax expense vs. liability. In Vermont, if an employer does not offer healthcare (and has 5 or more FTE employees), there's a calculation of a healthcare contribution that the employer must pay. Not all processors do this correctly. Other states have a variety of payroll taxes based on county, city or district. As an employer, it's great to use a payroll processor, but you and/or your bookkeeper need to know the particular ins and outs of your tax obligations and filing schedules or the business could land in some hot, hot water.

Been there? Done that? Have more questions? I'd love to hear about it.

07/17/2023

Is it Business Or Is It Personal?

There's a statistic out there which tells you what percentage of businesses are 'small.' I don't know what that number is, but I know it's a large percentage. A majority. Furthermore, even large businesses usually start in that 'small' stage and other businesses will remain small by choice.

During this small stage, however, business owners will help themselves immensely by separating their personal expenses from their business books. Why? Because it can make the bookkeeping messy. I know, that's rather ambiguous, but let me give you a sense of what I'm talking about and one easy way to keep 'em separated.

First, I'll clarify that this is really directed towards the sole prop, 1040 schedule C folks and small LLC's. Maybe there's a credit card involved or a bank account with a mixture of business & personal expenses. You buy some office supplies from Amazon and then you see a little doo dad on sale and throw that in your cart before you check out. Gosh that was easy!

How does your bookkeeper (or you) know the difference 1, 2, 3 months later by looking at a statement if that Amazon charge is B or P? Do you download the receipts to verify? Do you split the transaction accordingly between the items to demonstrate the difference? Do you calculate the sales tax and shipping accordingly?

Is that recurring Spotify charge for home or for my business? Did I fill up the gas tank of my company vehicle or private? I see a charge at the hardware store, the grocery, from the electric company.......you see where I'm going?

The easiest solution: DON'T MIX THE TWO. Save yourself a headache. Open a bank account for your business and use it ONLY FOR YOUR BUSINESS. Want those great points you earn from a fancy credit card with your favorite sportsball team on it? Great! Use it ONLY FOR YOUR BUSINESS. Uh oh. You mixed up your card or forgot your personal at home. Settle down....it's only one expense and you'll remember that one.

Conversely, I've had clients that never take that fundamental step of establishing separate accounts and used one bank account for everything. Though their books could have been easy to manage, they were very hard and every transaction required extra scrutiny. I begged. I pleaded. They aren't my client anymore. I wanted to help them. I really did, but they couldn't even take the time to open a new account.

The next question: But how do I get paid???

07/11/2023

Distractions:
Sorry I haven't posted or written an article recently. I've been a bit distracted with family and now the 8+" of rain that fell in Barre over the course of the last 36 or so hours.

Though I do my best to keep schedules for both myself and my clients to maximize my efforts, I've been busy and Vermont is now dealing with a massive crisis.

I will get back to it, get the train back on the tracks, but today won't be that day. Stay safe, friends. Watch out for one another.

Photo Credit: Chris Alger

06/23/2023

Embezzlement & Fraud. Quietly Ugly.

The most common form of 'white-collar' crime, fraud and embezzlement are topics that I talk about with clients from Day 1.

E&F happen regularly and, often times, it will be years before it is discovered. By then, the money is out the door and, even if convicted and forced to pay restitution, the perpetrator cannot make the company whole again. The financial and emotional damage is devastating. The crime takes on a wide variety of forms. The techniques based on the opportunities available, the blind spots no one is watching.

Years ago I worked as a cook and assistant Food and Beverage Manager for a high-end steakhouse with over 60 locations. Among other things, the role of the F&B Manager included counting all the high-value items sold in the restaurant including steaks, lobsters, crab meat....I forget them all now. All the staff knew it. There was no theft. The restaurant hired a new cook and he was fired within two weeks because he thought no one was watching.

Why bring up such a dirty topic? Because, as a bookkeeper, I have in my possession the keys to the kingdom and the last thing I want is to have the finger pointed at me. I live and work in a small state with a small community and even an accusation could be disastrous.

More than that, I want my clients to examine their controls. I want them to review their procedures as it relates to both their inventory and their company finances. Who prepares and records daily deposits? Who is responsible for writing and reviewing checks? Who holds a company credit card and who reviews those receipts & transactions? Who has online access to the bank account*?

Though a professional auditor will examine these type of systems and make recommendations after the fact, it is worth your time to look for the holes in your systems to find flaws, make changes and develop more oversight. Small systems followed diligently by business owners and managers can save a business.

I see you nodding your head. You've got a story, too.

*did you know most banks will offer a locked down bookkeeper account from which we can view transactions and statements but cannot transfer money or pay bills from?

06/22/2023

When Bookkeeping Gets Personal

My clients run a variety of businesses in a wide range of 'industries.' Retail, food service, wholesale, child care, television, home cleaning.....no two are the same and that's part of the reason I enjoy bookkeeping. There's always something to learn.

A CPA I work with asked if I would be interested in taking on a client in a personal capacity. Their client didn't own a business per se, but all of us, every household is, in a sense, a business. All of us have Income, Expenses, Liabilities, Assets and Equity.

This situation is one where an older couple had difficulty keeping track of certain household expenses. Speaking with one of their children, we spoke about the different elements of their finances in broad terms. Some elements such as utilities are on auto payment, but other regular expenses were paid by check and, because there was not enough clarity on the checks and check register, some vendors were being double paid.

Not my standard bookkeeping client, and also one that likely didn't need my breadth of services. So how could I help?

I listened. I suggested a few different solutions that I use with my business clients to keep them on track:

- shared cloud-based spreadsheets that serve as check registers
- automatic email reminders for regular financial tasks
- asking caregivers and other hired help to email hours to track a/p

None of this is rocket science, but these are systems and techniques that I use to help my clients stay on task. Also, this is family. It's emotional. There's a fair amount of stress involved that is different than running a business.

There was a noticeable sense of relief in their voice that I could offer some simple ways to prevent double-payments, empower the parents (and the kids), and keep their A/P on point. To be frank, they don't need a bookkeeper.

Bookkeeping and financial accuracy isn't only for your business. It's for the home, too.

Do you have systems in place for your home? For your folks? Your kids?

06/21/2023

Reports, Reports, Reports!

One of the principal reasons you want to keep your books up to date, all nice and tidy, is for the superior reporting accuracy that you'll have. Have you, Mister or Missus Business Owner ever wondered out loud to yourself "I wonder if I'm even making any money?" Mhmmm.....you have and once you take a look at those reports, the data will help you make solid decisions relying on the actual numbers vs. your gut.

Financial reporting can provide you with a whole rainbow of reports that will answer those nagging questions: how much money do I owe to my vendors? How much money do folks owe me? Did my business make more money this month versus the same month last year? Should I place an order for widgets this month? Report generation is like having your own primitive AI for your business. With the right data, you can look at the past and present, making decisions for the future.

The #1 problem? Most business owners don't understand the reports and rely on one metric to determine if their business is "successful:" the balance in their bank account.

As bookkeepers, reports validate the accuracy of our work. We review the data because oftentimes, we can quickly tell if things are amiss (*and via reconciliations). If our clients don't understand and, thus, don't use the reports or ask questions, they are missing out on valuable information we are paid to aggregate.

One of the most fun things about my job? Educating clients on how to read their financials as a whole and watch the lightbulb go on above their head. Absolutely grand. We don't make business decisions on behalf of our clients. We can only provide the information. With a balance sheet and the P&L statements, we have a good base, but there are so many more reports on accounts receivable, accounts payable, payroll data, sales data, oh my! It's so difficult to chose a favorite!

If you've had that A-HA! moment, tells us when it clicked and why. If you haven't, it isn't too late to have your own!

06/20/2023

Reconciliations: It isn't always about forgiveness

An important part of what we do here at Blackwell Bookkeeping are asset and liability account reconciliation. In a nutshell, that's when we review a client's bank, loan and credit card statements to make sure that after all the monthly transactions, the books and the statements match up.

If we've done our job correctly throughout the month, this isn't a problem and all the transactions are categorized nice and neat. Our balance matches the bank balance. It is a time to verify our work and catch any problems early on.

Problems? What could be the problem?

Well, perhaps we'll see a check written six months ago that hasn't cleared. Perhaps there is a deposit entered into the books that we cooked to the wrong account. Occasionally, god forbid, we make a mistake and enter a transaction amount incorrectly. Heck, there have even been times when the bank has made a mistake! Monthly reconciliations prevent these small problems from compounding over time, lingering until the end of the year.

Reconciliations aren't limited to verifying bank accounts: tax liability accounts, credit cards, accounts related to employer/employee payroll contributions, inventory assets.....all of which are elements of your balance sheet that tells you the overall financial picture of your business.

Keeping your accounts reconciled on a monthly basis is a must for any size business and will prevent small problems compounding over time into bigger problems discovered a the end of the year.

Had reconciliation nightmares? Tell us about it. You have a shoulder to cry on.

06/19/2023

Quickbooks Desktop vs. Quickbooks Online: Do I have a choice?

This is a question that business owners have been asking frequently over the last 12 months. Since 2022, Intuit's "heavy-handed" approach towards Desktop users have sent many searching for alternatives. Big warning messages during start up signaling the end of software support coupled with the annual subscription pricing haven't made Inuit any more endearing.

But what to do?

I'll be honest. I use both and they do both have advantages over the other. Desktop doesn't require the internet, has a great module for bulk invoicing, and generally performs faster than QBO (and has that satisfying *beep* when entering a transaction). On the other hand, QBO's internet-reliant functionality does make bookkeeping tasks faster overall IF you utilize the bank-sync functions, the bill upload capability, and other elements Intuit tries to develop to improve the robust functionality.

The greatest challenge to transitioning from Desktop to QBO is the navigation: diving from the same bookkeeping interface QB Desktop has had for DECADES to the QBO setup....it takes valuable time to learn. Even the basics require the user to relearn how to perform their essential tasks. Couple that with the now-comparable price of the month QBO vs the new annual subscription model for Desktop and that's a tough pill to swallow for users.

Do you have a choice?
Yep. This is America. We have choices. There's Xero, Manager.io, Wave, Sage and more. Doesn't that present the users with the same problem of migrating all their historic date AND learning a new platform? Sure does. And that's a bit frustrating, feeling like Intuit has us over the barrel, daring us to jump.

So what should you do?
'Should' is a bad word. Frankly, I've been working more and more with QBO each year, especially after COVID shut the world down for a bit. It isn't perfect and, between the monthly subscription price increases and the occasional technical snafu, QBO can put me in quite the mood. On the other hand, there are a lot of functions that make my work more efficient and less prone to error. I consider that an overall win vs Desktop. My opinion, however, doesn't mean you 'should' make the switch.

Take your time. Think about it. If you want to talk about it a bit more, email or DM and we can have a chat.

Blackwell Bookkeeping, LLC

09/08/2023

09/07/2023

08/11/2023

07/31/2023

07/17/2023

07/11/2023

06/23/2023

06/22/2023

06/21/2023

06/20/2023

06/19/2023

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