Category: Accounting & Finance
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Tech Companies – Not For Your Grandfathers Bank
One of the questions I see the most is “why are banks so reluctant to loan to a technology company?” Where there are several answers for this, but the main one is “they don’t like things they can’t get their hands on.” Banking today has come far from what it was 10-15 years ago. Mobile…
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Taxaphobia – The Fear of Taxes
“The nation should have a tax system that looks like someone designed it on purpose.” ~William Simon Why are people so afraid of the subject of tax? Everyone has to pay them, some how or another. It doesn’t help AT ALL to plead ignorance. I’ve been noticing an upward trend the last few years…
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Time Wasted vs. Ethical Decision Making
It must be human nature, but people always look for shortcuts, especially when it comes to government standards and ethical boundaries. I do contribute this a great deal to performance. The sales person trying to get that last sale in before the deadline, money that is hidden for taxing or transfer purposes, contracts not following…
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Margin and Markup and two different things!
I know they both start with “M” and they both are used pretty frequently together. Other then that, they have entirely different meanings and one can hurt the other. Margin: The percentage margin is the percentage of the final selling price that is profit. Markup: A markup is what percentage of the cost price you…
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Read the fine print on the contract!
I review contracts frequently. It’s part of my job. I’m not a lawyer, but I need to protect my company. I have an understanding, through a finance and accounting basis, that I am obligated to protect. Aside from that, I also feel that businesses have to apply common sense and basic protection with any contract they…
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Silly Income Tax Errors
Ok I did grow up with Income Taxes all around me, but I don’t think that makes me biased when I have a sore spot for simple income tax errors that result in tremendous problems. There is one simple rule when dealing with the government: DO NOT MAKE MISTAKES! They are very hard to correct,…
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What is the difference between accounting and finance (and economics)?
I often get asked “what is the difference between Finance and Accounting?” Well I’m going to tell you, and I’ll even throw in a 3rd category in for you, Economics. For starters, Accounting dates back centuries, traced as far back as the 12th century to be exact. By the 15th century, it was widely used…
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On Your Mark, Get Set… Recession!!
There seem to be a vast number of technical definitions for the word ‘Recession.’ Although most of the financially based definitions seem to be more centered around GDP, they all reflect negatively. The best definition I found to match our current situation is “the state of the economy declines; a widespread decline in the GDP; and employment…
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The Importance of How You See Your Revenue
Not too many accountants realize that there are a number of methods written and established to change the way your company looks on paper. Revenue recognition is a simple way to have your company look vastly different in the eyes of an outsider. The basic rule is that there are either cash or accrual accounting…
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The AMT almost caused my Taxes to be late!
We get HAMMERED by the government when we do something late regarding our taxes. What’s going to happen when the government is late? Nothing. Why is this happening? Because the IRS failed to get off their ass and pass the 2007 AMT patch. What does this AMT patch do for me? The AMT is an…
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